September 11, 2017

Tasty Thali from Tasty Tiffin – Delivered straight to the Office

Tasty Tiffin in Nottingham are a food delivery service providing Punjabi food for office workers (and other hungry people) at lunch time.

We tried them out last week and found them to be really good, sending us as promised a whole lot of ‘fresh, healthy, delicious food’ right to our desks.

You need at least a minimum of 4 people to place and order, or I suppose the ability to eat 4 meals?

They have a simple menu to choose from with three options, veg thali, meat thali, or a chaat meal. There is a different selection each day as well.

We ordered the Veg Thali which was £3.99 each and that was to prove to be great value

 

Anyway enough of the deets! let looks at the eats!

Veg Thali

I ordered the Veggie Thali which on this day comprised of a Tharka Dal, Seasonal vegetables, Onion Rice, and Naan.

The Tharka dal was described as “yellow split lentils cooked with onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic, fresh tomatoes topped with cumin seeds with coriander’ No Otters!

It was quite nice, perhaps a little bit watery, but it had a good gentle level of spice and taste.

The seasonal vegetables were described as being ‘cooked with onions, ginger, fresh green chillies, fenugreek seeds and mild spices’ essentially it was a pot filled mostly with potatoes which were also pretty tasty, slightly tame, but perhaps that is the best thing to eat at lunchtime.

It also had carrot and green bean in it as well. The fenugreek seeds gave the whole dish a little bit of that tangy aniseed taste, just a hint though.

The Onion rice was described as being a ‘fluffy basmati rice with mild spices and onions’ which to be honest was not that much of a revelation if you think about it 🙂
My pot of rice had some thinly sliced cooked onion mixed into it as well, which I think was deliberate and not just an accident, they added a nice little bit of crunch.

The basic plan and strategy used to eat this was to basically mop up as much of the watery dal as I could with the little slices of naan bread, then to mix some of the rice into
the dal as well to make it a bit thicker. Basically then just spooning bits from each pot together (I don’t really need to tell you how to eat though)

I really liked it and would most certainly try then again

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To get your hands on your own platter of  Tasty Tiffin

They say

Call us on 07842 558654 Or if you don’t fancy giving us a call, send us a message on Facebook!

I do not know where they live, they are out there on the web, but a real person turned up to feed us, so it wasn’t like a virtual pixel chef.

Check out their Facebook and Twitter Feeds if you want to see more of their food and what they are up to

Posted by on September 11, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Nottingham City Centre.

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September 9, 2017

Breakfast and Brunch at The Black Cat Cafe in Ruddington

The Black Cat Cafe in Ruddington has been open for about a year now and is in the same location as Mathew’s Deli and Cafe. I had driven past quite a few times and saw the name change and had just assumed that it was just that a rebrand, but then I read up and found out that they had bought the place back in August 2016.

I have been in a couple of times recently and I was happy to find that is basically the same inside, has the same feel, vibe and relaxed atmosphere as before.  They still have all the lovely cakes, pies, scotch eggs and assorted other snack items on the counter, and they still seem to have a pretty good selection of lunch and breakfast items.

Breakfast Menu

The Black Cat breakfast menu, which is also available at lunchtime, looks to have been expanded a little bit and has many of my go to favorites on it. In addition to the Full English Breakfast (which I did end up picking) they also have some of my most loved brunch snacks such as Eggs Benedict and Eggs Royale.

I liked the sound of the Eggs Benedict as they describe that as being an “English muffin topped with poached free range eggs, grilled bacon and homemade hollandaise sauce” for £5.50. I probably would have ordered that until I saw that I could also get a small breakfast for the same price 🙂 I am such a glutton.

I was also pretty close to getting the “American Pancakes with Bacon and maple syrup” for £5, but I just put that on hold for a while, perhaps for another visit 🙂

Full English Breakfast

I ordered the Full English Breakfast which I was very happy with. I loved the way that it was presented with a little stack of black pudding, hash brown, mushroom, and grilled tomato forming a little tottering breakfast tower. The Sausage was pretty crispy, well done, and was nice and meaty with some good flavour. The menu said that it was award winning. The bacon was of quality with some lovely meaty bite and a nice bit of gentle saltiness. I loved that my perfectly cooked fried egg arrived with just a little sprinkle of pepper and salt on the yolk.

The smaller plate for £5.50 was more than enough, that stack of stuff on the plate made it look deceptively small. I am not sure that I would have eaten the larger option which was 2 eggs, 2 sausage, and 2 bacon without feeling really full. Who are we kidding? You know I could have stuffed it down 🙂

Jacket Potato options

I came in to the Black Cat Café a week or so earlier with Alison for lunch when we fancied a jacket potato. They have a pretty good selection on the menu here with some great sounding house specials. I quite fancied getting the one topped with “Homemade Chilli con carne, Guacomole & Sour Cream” for £5.50, or even just a Classic topped with “Tuna Mayo” for £4

Chorizo Beans and Mature Butter

I ended up ordering one of their salt baked jacket potatoes topped with Chorizo Beans and Mature Cheddar. It was really good but not quite as expected, they seemed to have left a critical comma off the menu, so I got one topped with  Chorizo, Beans, and Mature Cheddar. I was thinking of some magical Chorizo Beans mixture 😦

It was a generous size and a decent portion for a lunchtime dish, and I did really enjoy it anyway. There was a lot of sliced fried salty slices of Chorizo mixed in to the topping, a rather generous amount and enough to justify that price of £5.50. I like the Mature cheddar, it was really decent and they were plenty of beans and lots of butter too. Lovely stuff

The salt baked potato is super, I always eat my potato skin and I like it when they have been cooked properly in the oven and when you sprinkle salt on before cooking? Oh, then it is even better!

Some Cakes we also Ate

I like eating at the Black Cat Café, they have some great food to eat in and to take away. On the counter they have some super fresh local sausage rolls and scotch eggs which I struggle to resist every time I pass by.

If you like cake and cake type of stuff, then you will be very happy with anything you order to go with your cup of tea or coffee.

The Black Cat Café is located on the main high straight that runs through Ruddington Village.

24D High Street, Ruddington to be precise

Check out their Website for all the menus

and also check them out on Facebook and Twitter too

 

 

Posted by on September 9, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Ruddington and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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September 4, 2017

Sunday Lunch at Fellows, Morton and Clayton

The Fellows Morton and Clayton pub on Canal Street has recently re-opened after a short closure. This is great news as it has been such a stalwart of both the Canalside and Nottinghamshire real ale pub scene for many years.

I think a few of us feared the worst when the shutters went up on the door back in April so it was with some relief that we saw it reopen last month under the umbrella of the eversosensible pub group.

For those of you who have not heard of them, they also include pubs such as Watson Fothergills and The Castle amongst others.

I had popped in on Friday evening for a quick pint to see what sort of menu they had, it seemed to have most of the pub classics such as Fish and Chips, Pies, and Burgers, and also some a little different such as Lamb’s Liver and Bacon. Someone had commented that they thought the prices were a little high for a pub and to be honest I was thinking the same when I saw that the Fish and Chips was £10.95 but then again up the hill at Watson Fothergills it is £11.95 so as they are the same pub family maybe it is all equal.

I don’t mind paying a little bit more if the food is good so I was going to wait until I dined before I worked out the value 🙂

After all I have had a lot of nice meals at Watson Fothergills (read more blog posts here)

Sunday Chalkboard

I came back to Fellows Morton & Clayton on Sunday planning to get a bite to eat, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they also had a Sunday menu which to my delight included a Sunday Roast.

I took my time pondering my options between Roast Topside of Beef, Roast Chicken Breast, and Roast Leg of Pork.

They all came with garlic and rosemary roast potatoes, creamy mash, Yorkshire pudding, braised red cabbage, fresh vegetables and gravy.

There was a vegetarian option of a Nut Roast but I wasn’t having any of that I was all over the possibility of having Roast Beef #YUM

Sunday Lunch Menu

The Roast Topside was the more expensive of the Roast Dinners being priced on the menu at £12.50 compared to the Roast Chicken at £10.95. I paid contactless and just shoved the receipt in my pocket, when I got home I saw that it was charged at £10.95 so either the menu is wrong or I owe these guys a couple of quid.

Note: I did as you will see in a minute, I did get served the beef, and not the chicken, so the till knew what was going on 🙂

Roast Topside of Beef

Presentation wise I was pretty impressed by the plateful that arrived at my table piled high with Roast Dinner goodness. My eyes were drawn to the large well formed Yorkshire Pudding teeterring on top of a pile of fluffy mashed potato and thick slices of meat.

I could see some slices of roasted parsnip leaning on the mash and there was definitely some other green stuff lurking within. It was worth a photograph (several to be honest).

Lets Look Inside 🙂

I did of course end up spreading it all out so that I could see what I had got and if there was anything else tucked away in that mound of food. “Let the dog see the rabbit” as they say.

I was pretty happy with what I found, as well as the beef, mashed potato, roast potato, and parsnips, I also found carrot, cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, some green snap peapods and a slice of stuffing that was poking out of the Yorkshire pud. Excellent I like a lot of different veg with my Sunday Roast Dinners.

It was all very well cooked, I like my veg with a bit of a bite left in it, and this plate delivered on that front. For some people the broccoli might have been a bit too hard, but that is bad luck for them not for me 🙂

I really for once liked the Roast Parsnips, I am not usually a fan, but I suppose it depends on who cooks them and if they do it properly 🙂

I would have liked a little bit more gravy, but I didn’t ask for more so that was my fault, I am sure they would have been happy to provide a bit more. I think we get spoiled at home with so much the food needs to build a ‘gravy boat’. In the end I probably had almost just enough as that red cabbage was pretty juicy anyway adding a lot of moistness to the dish, and I had a nice pint of beer on the go as well to help wash it all down.

This was a pretty high quality effort and well above your average pub standard, so I would say that the price was pretty fair in the end. I liked that it came on a proper plate, a plate that was hot so that the food stayed hot, I like that everything was cooked properly and that it was all piping hot when it arrived. The only things I would change would be to ask for my beef to be a little bit pinker, and a little bit more gravy on the side.

 

Fellows Morton& Clayton doesn’t seem to have changed that much in terms of the layout, it did seem a bit brighter and a bit cleaner. The down step back area was laid out a lot more like a restaurant and the bar staff were all in smart uniforms which made the place feel a little bit classier and perhaps more professional looking.

The staff were all very friendly and the new landlady seemed to be lovely and was keeping the show going.

It is just a joy to have the place back alive after the shock of seeing it closing the doors. It is also good to find a place with a Sunday Lunch that I know my mum will be happy eating.

 

I think I will be back on one of the nights that they do the specials as that seems like quite good value. I quite fancy both the Fish and Chips, and I fancy the Pie and a Pint.

What is a man to do?

If the other food is as good as the Sunday Roasts then I am pretty sure I am going to be happy!

The Deets

Fellows, Morton & Clayton is located at 54 Canal Street in Nottingham right on the banks of the Canal.

Check them out on their new Facebook Page

 

Posted by on September 4, 2017 in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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September 2, 2017

The Flying Circus Pub in Newark – Nice Spot with Local Beers

The Flying Circus Pub was a great find on our recent the pub bimble around Newark. Martin is looking particularly keen to get inside and check out the claim on the chalkboard  that they have “Newark’s Largest Range of Beer”

So was I but you know the post needed a picture 🙂

On their website they claim that  “you’ll be challenged with beer you may not have seen or tasted before. Here, there are no major corporate lager giants, and wherever possible we have used handcrafted small batch breweries”

That sound like my sort of place!

Norwegian Blue – A Newark Brewery Beer

Inside it was as expected with a whole load of beers on the pump that I had not seen before. We opted for a pint of Norwegian Blue, which is a ‘Newark Brewery Beer’. The choice did have a lot to do with the Monty Python reference to the Dead Parrot sketch but also to the fact that it was a local Newark product. We love a bit of local at The Nottingham Food Blog!

I really enjoyed this pint, it was very refreshing and very easy to drink. If we had not been on a bit of a beer bimble mission then we may well have stayed here for a while to sup a couple more of these beauties. The notes on the Newark Brewery website describe the beer as “Deep golden modern pale ale. Grapefruit & orange citrus notes”

Food wise I was really tempted by the chalkboard offer of their ‘legendary’ Cuban Sandwich. Even looking back at it now as I write I really wished that I had eaten one. I do love a good Cuban sandwich and have yet to locate a decent one in the UK so this is a great reason to pop back to the Flying Circus on another day.

The Flying Circus had a fantastic hidden away outside seating area alongside the pub and out back. It featured the Barrel House which I understand is opened up when they have events at the pub. It had a load of pumps so looked like they also had plenty of real ales on offer outside too.

At first we thought we had found a different pub next door, but that was just the surprise at how much space this place was taking up and how good it all looked.

This is definitely one to add to the Newark list, and even though I am not a massive fan of live music, this place looks to be a great place to come if you are as they had a nice stage inside for the bands to play at, and also a lot of seats right down the back of the garden for those like me who want a quiet spot while my mates are rocking out inside 🙂

The Flying Circus Pub in Newark is located on the main road through the town

53 Castlegate, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1BE
T: 01636 302 444 E: info@flyingcircuspub.com

You can also check them out on their Facebook Page

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You can check out The Newark Brewery on the website and also their Facebook Page and Twitter Feed

 

 

Posted by on September 2, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Newark and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

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August 25, 2017

Breakfast at The Bank Pub in the Market Square

The Bank Pub on the Market Square in Nottingham is located in the building that formerly hosted the Barclays Bank, an establishment that for many years I trusted to look after my hard earned piles of cash.

These days however I have transferred my late night Friday trust to the pub known as the Bank to provide me and my mate Martin with some late night pre bus adult beverages.

I would not say that we were regulars, but we seem to sit on exactly the same table each week, and the ladies behind the bar seem to know what our default drink order is. Oh dear indeed :

Breakfast Menu

We usually arrive well after food service has stopped and that also nearly always ends up with some drunken discussion about the menu and a question of who it is that actually comes here in the morning to eat the breakfast! They open at 9am you know!

So anyway, the conversation usually starts (every week) with my comment that you could get a basic breakfast of bacon, sausage, fried egg, hash brown, bean, tomato, and toast for just £2.99.

This usually moves onto a discussion of the next options of the Large breakfast and the Mega Breakfast and some sort of trading options whereby

‘If I got the Mega-breakfast which comes with three pork sausages, would you trade your bacon‘, followed by the realisation that we cannot eat 6 sausages, or 6 slices of bacon,. etc

I suppose you have to be there, but trust me this is long in depth conversation about food, mostly gluttony, but essentially a meal that we were never going to eat 🙂

Well until we made a pact to turn up and eat one of the goddam things 🙂

The Large Breakfast

 

“And so It was that it came to pass”

We met up at the sensible time of 10am, found our usual table and ordered the more sensible option of the Large Breakfast which was Two bacon, Two Sausage, Two egg, Tomato, beans, mushroom, hash brown, beans and toast for £4.99.

I figured that it would not be sensible to order a large gin and tonic so instead I added an everlasting mug of tea for a quid and I was all set.

The Large Breakfast

OK so now the reality of the situation. It was ‘fair to middling’ if I was pushed to give a verdict on the plateful.

I liked my fried eggs as the yolk was still runny, and I liked my toast as it was at least well browned. The bacon was harmless enough and the sausages had a decent flavour.

I wasn’t very keen on the tomato, the mushroom was OK, but the beans looked to have been cooked to within an inch of sadness.

It was pretty much what I had expected if I am honest, a big filling plate of food to set you up for the day, but without any great frills, bells or whistles.

I was happy enough with my lot and the staff here at The Bank are always smiling and friendly, so I had no real complaints.

I would say that the best value would be to get that £2.99 breakfast as that is probably plenty enough of the greasy fried stuff first thing in the morning!

It is probably a better deal if you are staying in a nearby hotel and need something at a decent price.

The Bank is located at 8-9 BeastMarket Hill in Nottingham right by the Old Market Square.

The buses from South Notts stop pretty much right outside

It is usually pretty empty late on so you get served pretty quickly 🙂

 

Posted by on August 25, 2017 in Nottingham City Centre and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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August 21, 2017

Nottingham Caribbean Carnival 2017 – Jerk Chicken Please and lots of it!

This past Sunday was the Nottingham Caribbean Carnival on the Trent Embankment next to the Meadows. This carnival has been running since 1970 when a group of West Indians, mainly from the island of St Kitts, held a carnival parade in the Meadows.

Since then I can recall it being held on the Forest recreation ground but for the last couple of years at least, I have seen and been to it, on the embankment playing fields just over the suspension bridge. I also hear it as I live by the river on the other side of the water, which is my personal joy 🙂

We went along purely with the intention of finding some Caribbean Food, perhaps a cheeky beer, but essentially ‘Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas’ was high on the list!

Jerk Chicken at Caribbean Taste

We got there early to scope the place out and found more food stalls than I expected and there was Lots of chicken being cooked all over the place!

This chap at the Caribbean Taste stand was really on the job! I took this picture about 12.15 when we first walked in, and he was still piling stuff on that charcoal grill when we left  at about 5pm. I was well pleased to see him in action as he seemed to be on his element and was even posing with pride as I took this picture.

Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas

There were so many stalls selling the dream of  Jerk Chicken on the bone with ‘Rice and Peas’. I did choose to get mine from the guys at ‘Caribbean Taste’ just because of the effort on the grill!

So I ended up with some chopped up chicken, a big spoonful of rice topped off with a dollop of some of the gravy from the stewed chicken curry and a great big splash of BBQ sauce on top of the chicken. It looked to be a really large portion for my £6.50.

It was all very tasty and hit the spot but…

To be honest I was quite disapointed with the level of heat in the Jerk, I like mine much hotter than this and even when the seasoning is less spicy, I do like some hot spicy gravy to go with the dish that I can mix up into my rice. I didn’t really get that here.

To be fair! you really did get a lot of chicken for your money, and it was pretty good eating. I didn’t finish all the rice as that was less exciting than the chicken spice wise, although I could see whole chillies floating about on the top of the serving dish, so maybe I have just become immune to the spice levels these days.

I kind of felt that they had played it safe by toning it down a little. I also really would have just like one of those big pieces of chicken to pull apart all caveman like. Sauce and grease all over my face, that would have been Ace 🙂

Don’t get me wrong though, it was really good and some hipster will probably sell you something half as good from a van that Daddy bought for twice the price at some point #beaware 🙂

Stick with the professionals!

Lamb Patty

I also had a lamb patty which was really good, even if they did insist on warming it up in a microwave! I really don’t do nuclear powered cooking 🙂

This had a lot more spice in the gravy and plenty of minced up lamb inside it. The pastry was pretty good as well, nice and flaky and I could feel the lard seeping into my ass as I chowed my way through this hand sized treat.

It was really hard to pick out the commercially made patties from the home made ones as you were browsing the stalls. In the end we just picked this one from P.K Spices as it looked the most rustic, and by rustic we meant slightly ugly and misshapen 🙂

There was a lot of good food and a lot of people soaking up the parade and the music. It was a lot of fun and I even made a feathered friend as I was strolling around chilling out.

Not sure that Polly was that keen 🙂

Some other temptations

 

 

Posted by on August 21, 2017 in Nottingham, The Meadows, Trent Bridge, Wilford and tagged , , , , , , , .

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August 17, 2017

Notts Station Street Food Market – featuring Rubys Street Kitchen and Smiffy’s Smoke Shack

This week I was back up at Station Street, trying out some more stalls at the Street Food Market set up by Wolf Down Pop ups this week on Thursday it was Ruby’s Street Kitchen and Smiffy’s Smoke Shack, so Indian and BBQ for lunch? tasty!

First up was the Sheffield based “Ruby’s Street Kitchen” selling their take on Mumbai Street Food.

I had seen on Twitter that they were going to be here and I was keen to see what they had to give us. I have spent some time living and working in India and they were always telling us not to eat the food off the streets (we paid no attention) so I was kind of really interested to see what these guys were going to have.

The first impressions were good as that sign on their stall was so reminiscent of the signage and advertising I was used to seeing in India, this was going to be good!

XL Veg Samosa with Chickpea Chat

I wanted to try food from both stalls at the market so I decided to just have one of the smaller sized dishes that they had on offer.

I had the XL Veg Samosa with Chickpea Chat and salad. I really like the Chickpea Chat which had a nice medium spice, the salad seemed to be red onion and coriander.

The Samosa was pretty tasty and quite light. It was filled with peas, onion, carrot, potato, broad bean, and randomly some sweetcorn. It was also pretty good value for just £4

Ruby’s Mumbai Street Food Menu

Now on their Facebook Page I read that “We don’t just do Indian Street Food…we are in love with many of the best foods in the world! We strive to reflect the flavours and just make food that makes you go mmmm”.

When I took a look at their menu board and saw that they had so much great stuff on offer, well I could see where they were coming from.

I hope that they come back again as I really want to try so much of their fare! Top of that list is their ‘Award Winning Mumbai Vad Burger”. I saw a picture 🙂

 

Smiffy’s Smoke Shack

Next up was a Pit Chilli-Cheese Dog from Smiffy’s Smoke Shack. I saw these guys here last week and so this week I was making sure that I tried something from their stall.

Those of you who know me, know that I am kind of sceptical about the whole English USA BBQ scene, but you also know that I am game to give everyone who tries a go 🙂

I saw a picture of some ribs on Twitter and that was enough to make me think, plus the guy behind the counter looks like someone who cooks BBQ and might have a Pit 🙂

Pit Chilli-Cheese Dog

The Chili Cheese Dog had a lot going for it, the toppings of Pit Chilli and melted cheese sauce were both really good. The chili was quite thick, a bit smoky and a little bit sweet. It actually was a very meaty topping which I quite liked. More often than not your traditional BBQ chili topping is more of a meat gravy, so it was interesting to get this served this way.

The Dog was tasty, but it wasn’t quite the right beast for this job, it didn’t quite have that ‘snap’ to the bite that you need with a truly great hot dog. I was talking to the guy running the show and he told me that they have a lot of other sausages on offer back at the shack so maybe I will try one of those next time I visit.

At the time in a tweet I described it as ‘yummy, messy and fun’ and it was, I liked it even though most of it seemed to end up smeared across my face!

After ordering I had chatted to them and found out they are currently a pop-up at the Last Chance Saloon up on Stoney Street in the Creative Quarter.

It was enough to get me thinking that I really needed to get my ass up to the Last Chance Saloon to give them another go 🙂

I checked out the menu and see that they have ‘burnt ends’. I love burnt ends so guess what I will be looking for? 🙂

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The Street Food Market is located underneath the arches of the bridge that the Trams run over next to Nottingham Train Station.

The street is called Station Street and the market is open on Thursdays and Fridays.

Check out other posts on the Nottingham Food Blog – “Notts Station Street Food Market – The Gravy Train Street Food stall serving up some Classic Poutine at Wolf Down Pop-Ups”

Posted by on August 17, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Centre and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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August 15, 2017

Tasty Taco’s and Tiny Rebel Brew at the Junkyard Pour House and Bottle Shop

Junkyard ‘Bottle Shop and Pour House’ on Bridlesmith Walk is one of my favourite watering holes in the city. This last Tuesday I took a stroll up there for a bite to eat and a beer.

When I first started visiting the place back in 2015 I was looking for some of the tastes from the States where I had been living for a number of years. Recently I had been back living over in North Carolina which had a really amazing craft beer and brewery scene, and also a lot of these bottles shops and pour houses.

I had finally found out what it was really based on. Junkyard has a very similar vibe, ok so it is a little bit more ‘Nottingham’ and has maybe too many of the beautiful people strutting their stuff on a Friday night for my comfort. But, If you hit the place up midweek or mid afternoon when it is quieter, well then it is my kind of drinking den!

Taco Tuesday

As it was a Tuesday and they had a little chalkboard advertising a couple of Taco specials, I decided that it must be Taco Tuesday! I really am not sure why I though that 🙂 Somewhat Super Subliminal!

Grazin Smalls – Taco Menu

The daily offer here at Junkyard is two taco for £8, so I picked the “Texas Brisket Chili” taco from the specials board, and the “Beef Cheek with Mojo Marinade” off the ‘Grazin Smalls’ menu.

I did like the sound of a lot of the other combinations, the ‘Seabass with chimichurri’ intrigues me, as does the ‘Shredded duck leg with kecap manis and pickled cucumber’.

If this all played out as I hoped then I could invisage another Taco Tuesday stroll back here soon #anyexcuse 🙂

The Taco Arrived

Both Tacos looked very similar when they arrived at the bar in their box. It would have been nice and helpful if someone told me which one was which. Luckily I have eaten food before so I worked it out 🙂

The Beef Cheek was excellent, it was very tender almost ‘melt in your mouth tender’. It was packed with rich beefy flavour, which played off well with the toppings that had a sweet pickle tang with a nice crunch. There was a gentle yet well intentioned level of spice,  and lots of freshness from the cilantro.

There was a nice citric note too which was probably from the mojo marinade. Mojo sauce typically being a mix of juices such and lemon, ornage, and lime, mixed up with garlic, onion and usually oregano. As this place is an American joint in inspiration I am guessing that this was a nod to a Miami Cuban style of cooking.

All in all it was a great Taco, great flavour, great texture. Perhaps it was not your everyday or run of the mill choice, but I would say that you miss this one at your food peril, it was excellent

The Beef Brisket Chili Taco

The Texas chili was not a bad effort, although I would describe it as more like a shredded beef, sort of like pulled pork. It was a nice and gentle affair, perhaps I should have gambled on the green chilli pork carnitas instead?

Drinks wise I was in for a treat as they had just had a Tiny Rebel Brewery Takeover.

There was a great selection on offer pouring all the way from a ‘Bohemian Lager’ to a ‘Marshmellow Porter’

I had my eyes peeled looking for a sour or a saison, I was to be in luck as they had one of each. Guess what happened next?

Tiny Rebel Mojito Sour

The Mojito Sour was a fantastic drink, lighter in alcohol and very refreshing. It even smelled nice, hints of mint and some gentle sour. It was probably the most enjoyable one that I have had in the UK. It was quite light alcohol wise too at just a mere 3.8% ABV. It was so good that I popped back in again later in the week just to try it again!

It is one of the limited releases that they have brewed so I might have been lucky to get my hands on one! On the Tiny Rebel Brewery website they describe this brew as

“Mojito Sour – we’ve taken the classic cocktail and beer-ified it! Kaffir Lime and Peppermint leaves in the boil gives this ale a citrusy, minty flavour which is given the signature zing of fresh citrus by kettle souring’

I am not sure I have had a mojito before, I might be tempted now 🙂

The Super Saison was also very drinkable, a little stronger in alcohol content, and a little hint of hoppiness. Some thoughts of lime in the palate was a nice touch too.

The Tiny Rebel guys describe it a bit better as “A classic Wallonian saison develops earthy peppery notes in fermentation. Kaffir lime leaves and Lemon verbena give the beer a big whack of citrus, which is supercharged by three mega-citrusy hops. A truly super saison”

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Next time I am here at Junkyard I will probably have to try some different beers which is one of the joys of coming up here as they have an ever changing list to choose from.

This Cranberry Saison I found a couple of weeks back was just one of the joyous finds I have had.

I might have to try some of those other tacos too 🙂 Just because I can!

 

Junkyard Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Junkyard is located at 12 Bridlesmith Walk, Nottingham, UK NG1 2HA

It is down a little alley next to the Ibis Hotel

Check them out as well on Facebook and on Twitter

Other posts on the blog about the Junkyard include:

Junkyard Bottle Shop and Beer House – Elevated Bar Food and some Fantastic Beers

The Burger Special at Junkyard

Posted by on August 15, 2017 in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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August 14, 2017

Tastees on Alfreton Road – MyFoodHunt attempt number 1

Tastees on Alfreton Road in Nottingham is a takeaway and a sit down restaurant that has a supposed leaning towards the cuisine of Pakistan.

We came up here midweek to try it out with a group of friends who basically like curry and also some who were from Pakistan who had suggested this as a good place to try out.

Now as MyFoodHunt trips go, this was not my best day, everyone else enjoyed it, but I was not feeling it. Maybe I was a grump, maybe I was tired, maybe I just chose badly.

Often on these days I just don’t post and put it down to experience, but as you will read I think I was wrong and I did choose the wrong things , so just for reality I am posting attempt one of my Tastee’s experience, and later (quite soon) I will post my next trip here, when I really hope it all works out for the both of us 🙂

Maybe just wait to skip to visit 2 and stop reading now 🙂

Starter Situation

Tastees Fried Fish

So my choice of starter was the ‘Tastees Fried Fish’ which was priced at £3.95. I was kind of expecting some sort of fish fry but I ended up with a very vibrant red batter coated fillet of fish. Now don’t get me wrong this was a pretty well cooked piece of fish, I might have done a double take if I was served this down your traditional British Fish and Chip shop, but here it seemed that I had to just go with the flow.

It was basically a piece of fillet, battered in a coating mixed with some sort of spicing that made it red and based on the taste I was thinking paprika and chilli, and possible crushed up red smartie cases (I might have made the last one up). I think that the salad was added for colour contrast, it did nothing else for me apart from briefly transporting me to 1974

Cheesy Chicken Tikka

Now if we thought that last offering was strange wait until we try the next concoction of Cheesy Chicken Tikka which was also priced at £3.95. I honestly think that this can only be the fault of hundreds of drunk Brits turning up and going, “Yo so like can I like get some cheese and chips, and maybe some of that Chicken Tikka stuff too, oh and yeh why not just chuck some cheese on that too, yeh nothing French, some of that grated cheddar in a bag if you have it, cheers mate!”

Nothing else makes sense any more!

Apparently of the THREE people who tried this (none of which were drunk) they all enjoyed it. Words escape me

Lahori Dishes

Now this was the point that I really wanted to pull the evening back onto an even keel and make some amends for my poorly and frankly somewhat inconsiderate choices of starters. We really were not even trying to give justice to the cuisine of Pakistan it seemed 😦

I wanted to try one of the “True Taste of Lahori Dishes” as they looked to be the most authentic and the only dishes on the whole menu that did not seem to just be for the faux- anglo taste.

I liked the look of the dish on the menu with the picture of what looked like some sort of meat on the bone in a light sauce, was that the Nirahi or the Haleem was all that I wanted to know. I tried to get an explanation from my fellow diners, those who were from Pakistan and from the waiter but it was difficult for them to explain,

I kind of feel bad now as I should have gone with my gut instinct and just ordered the godddam dish! So much so that I am planning to come back for a take 2 of this MyFoodHunt!

Now that I was home and had the joy of google I read that this Nirahi is considered to be the National Dish of Pakistan and that it is basically a slow cooked stew of beef or lamb, often with bone marrow. It is typically spiced with a spice mix of fennel, cardamom, coriander, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, plus a paste of ginger, turmeric, onion, fresh coriander, and onion.

It sounds amazing! Why did I not choose this? I am so sorry, I really am, especially when I just ended up being a bit of a knob ordering the “Mixed Grill”

Mixed Grill

So In the end, as I noted up top, I ended up ordering the Mixed Grill which was one of the sizzler dishes. Looking back I really do not know why I did this, as I ended up with exactly what I feared it would be, and I became that diner that I didn’t want to be.

The Mixed Grill was basically a huge plate sized cast iron skillet topped with a mass of meaty chunks probably designed to feed 2-3 people, yet served to serve a single man!

Officially on the menu it is described as “Chicken tikka, Lamb tikka, & seekh kebab pieces stir fried with peppers & onions in an Indian wok”

Now priced at £8.50, if you love slightly overcooked spicy kebab meat this is great value. I ate quite a lot, maybe a quarter to a third, and then the rest went into a ‘doggy-bag’ that a couple of guys ate for lunch at work the next day.

Personally I did not really love this, but maybe I was embarrassed that I had ordered it. The flavours were good and the spice was nice, constant, and built up to a point of no return when I could chomp now more. I felt that the meat was all overcooked just because of the hot skillet it came out on, I would think it would have been perfect if I tipped it all onto a cold plate when it arrived to stop it cooking.

Note to the reader. At least two other people ordered this, ate it all, and said it was great, so what do I know? Maybe I was chuntering internally about my choice of meal 🙂

Mushroom Rice

I also broke one of my other cardinal rules by ordering a side of mushroom rice, another dish so dry that I was doomed to food choice failure from the start. I had no sauce to mop up and all I was doing was filling my big fat belly with more stuff that swelled up as I poured glasses of water down my gob with each successive mouthful.

I should have chosen better and I promise to come back and try again! 🙂

 

 

Tastees

177 – 179 Alfreton Road

Nottingham

NG7 3NW

 

Posted by on August 14, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Nottingham City Centre and tagged , , , , , .

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August 11, 2017

Notts Station Street Food Market – The Gravy Train Street Food stall serving up some Classic Poutine at Wolf Down Pop-Ups

Today I stopped off the tram for lunch at the new pop-up Street Food market by Nottingham Train Station. It is being organised by Wolf Down Pop Ups and will be there on Thursdays and Fridays underneath the Tram Bridge on Station Street.

The Gravy Train were there today serving up their take on the Canadian classic Poutine. So I made a beeline for their stall to see what they were all about

What is Poutine?

I could spend ages trying to explain what Poutine is, but they had put a very helpful sign up to explain the concept to the hungry passers by.

I do like Poutine and always describe it as like chips and gravy with cheese, only a lot posher and with much better ingredients.

Menu

The Gravy Train Menu was offering the Montreal which was a Classic Poutine with a choice of beer or mushroom gravy for £5 and a big upgrade version called the Pioneer which was the classic poutine with BBQ shredded chicken, maple bacon and sour cream for £6.50.

It all looks good but I suppose possibly a bit pricy for some? I heard one couple, who walked by, mutter ‘6 quid for chips and gravy?’ Oh if only they stopped and tasted it 😦

The Frenchie

I went in the middle of the range and ordered The Frenchie, mainly because it had a lot of toppings that I like 🙂

The Gravy Train version of this dish is the Classic Poutine, which was your ‘crispy rustic french fries’, ‘squeaky cheese curds’, and gravy topped off with Mapled Bacon, Sauteed mushrooms, and red onion marmalade.

The gravy was money, it had a kind of rosemary and garlic flavour, or maybe that was my taste imagination? I liked the mushrooms and there was a lot of that slightly sweet and smokey maple bacon. It was plentiful.

Loved the cheese curds they were salty and tangy and are the item alongside the gravy that really brings a Poutine to life.

I quite liked the very crispy chips or fries as they call them. They had a real good crunch to them and a lot of places could learn a thing or two about how to cook a french fry from these guys! 🙂

You certainly did great a big portion so it was probably worth the price and the poutine itself was actually not a bad rendition at all.

I would come back and eat another one, so lets leave that as the summary 🙂

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The Gravy Train can be found on Twitter and on Facebook and all over the place selling their Poutine

The Street Food Market will be here under the bridge on Station Street every Thursday and Friday check out Wolf Down Pop Ups to see who, what , and when on their Twitter Feed and Facebook Page

 

Posted by on August 11, 2017 in 01. Nottingham Station, 01. Nottingham Station (South), Nottingham City Centre and tagged , , , , , , , .

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