October 13, 2017

Nottingham Beer Festival 2017- Some food I ate whilst drinking the beer :-)

The Robin Hood Beer and Cider Festival 2017 is being held again up at the Castle over this weekend. I like to pop in early in the week to try out the beer and some of the food on offer so we visited on Wednesday night and all day Thursday 🙂

There is so much food to try out; burgers, pies, cobs, curry, fish and chips and everything else that you mighty hope for 🙂

I only had enough room for a few meals,  so here are the highlights that I chomped on.

Big Melt – The Grilled Cheese Co.

First up was a Ham and Cheese toastie from Big Melt. They were located down past the bandstand near to the Black Iris Brewery tent (which was handy for beer) and were serving up a “Classic 3-cheese melt”, a “Ham and Cheese toastie” with Gammon, a “Caramelised Onion” with ‘award winning red onion chutney, and a “Red Chilli Jam” melt.

All were made with artisan sourdough bread and cost £5 each.

I really liked my Ham and Cheese one, the blend of three cheeses was just about perfect, lovely and gooey, it went really well with the crunchy sourdough toast. The picture taken well after dusk does not do the sandwich justice. The next day we went back and they were handing out little samples which went down very well with the beer as well 🙂

Old Granary – Polish Pierogi

I do love a bot of Polish food and I am a bit of a sucker for any variation of the dumpling. I was particularly drawn to the Pierogi plate served up by Old Granary. They had a sign that said “Pierogi, not pasties!!! Our delicious Polish style baked pierogi are lovingly hand-crafted cases of yeast dough, filled with various Gourmet fillings”

I had the “Boiled and pan-fried Pierogi” which was 3 pierogi served with caramelised onions, bacon and a dollop of soured cream for £6.50. I quite liked the combination of flavours on the plate. I did find that the casing was a bit chewy, but the fillings of ‘sourkraut’ and of ‘potato and cheese’ were really nice. These were the biggest pierogi that I had ever seen, so I could see how your average passer by might confuse them with a pasty!

Bar Snacks by Shipstones

I had some super little snacks in the Shipstones beer tent were they had sausage rolls and pork scratchings on offer (I took advantage of both!). The scratching were really good and the slight saltiness kept me going back up to the bar for more beer 🙂 (cunning plan)

The sausage roll in the picture was one with caramelised onion added, it was really good adding just a little sweetness but not overpowering the bite. The pastry was excellent lovely and flaky and the meat filling was solid, herby and well tasty.

I kind of forget the actual prices but I paid £5 (I think for both) so I think it was something like £3 for the roll and £2 for the scatchings (but I might be 50p out on either) – I blame the continual supply of excellent beer 🙂

Barmies Bar Snacks

In the top tent we found some more bar snacks from “Barmies”. At first I walked past thinking that is was just mini pretzels, then I saw their display and learnt a little more. Apparently (and I really should have known this) one of the by products of beer brewing is the ‘beer barm’ (the yeasty froth that forms on top of the beer during brewing) and Barmies have taken that and used it as the yeast component in baking these little bite sized snacks.

I read more online and saw that they are partnered up locally with Castle Rock, Black Iris, and the Welbeck Brewery, and also with Kelham Island in Sheffield.

Anyway they are jolly tasty and I could see these alongside the crisps, nuts, and scratching in a proper pub as a right tasty bar snack. I bought some of the peanut satay flavoured ones and I really liked them! They also have ‘Smokey Chipotle, Garlic and Lime’, and ‘Black beer, cheese and sesame’. I sampled all that they had on the counter and they were ‘dead tasty like’

Jerk Station – Mutton Curry

The last meal that I chomped down on was a dish of Mutton Curry with Rice n Peas from Jerk Station. I am quite a fan of these guys and I do try and eat their food whenever I can find it. I actually first met them at the Nottingham Beer Festival back in 2015 (read about that here)

This is kind of Jamaican comfort food, the curry is not too hot, the mutton was pretty tender and the rice n peas fills you right up. You can also pretend to be slightly healthy by throwing on a bit of salad 🙂

There are loads more food vendors to choose from, and I suppose something for all tastes. Jukebox Café are there with their pies, and breakfast cobs, Cornish Pasties, Memsaab as always serving up some Indian snacks, Homemade also with paella and more, The Cheese shop with pork pies and cheese, there are Fish and Chips, Burgers, Yuley’s Bratwurst with Big sausages (as long as your arm), Duck Fat Roasties, and Pickled Porker with a Yorkshire take on BBQ. Did I pause for breath?

So much food, and trust me you will need it to help assist with the drinking of all that beer 🙂

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The Robin Hood Beer and Cider Festival 2017

In the grounds of Nottingham Castle

It might still be possible to get tickets for the weekend, if not online you can queue on the day and I have done that in the past on the weekend and got in easily (as long as you go early enough). If you have tickets I hope you enjoy the beer and the food and would love to know what you ate as well 🙂

 

Read more stuff on The Nottingham Food Blog of past visits 🙂

Nottingham Beer Festival 2013 Food

Nottingham Beer Festival 2014 – A great day of beer and food

 

 

 

Posted by on October 13, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Centre and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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October 4, 2017

The Real Burger Co in Newark, they sell burgers

The Real Burger Co in Newark is located on Castlegate (number 14 to be exact), right in the midst of the action on the High Street. On their website they say that they are the Home of Proper Burgers and “at the Real Burger Co, we love making burgers”.

I suppose that is a good start! Imagine if they didn’t like it?

I popped in here with my good friend and MyFoodHunt companion Martin while we were on a bit of  a beer bimble around the pubs of Newark. Now we may have been to about 5-6 pubs before we ate here, so please feel free to take my thoughts in context and perhaps with a pinch of salt 🙂

I ordered the “Old Skool” from the Real Burger Co menu, which was described as being topped with ‘Fried Onions, Classic Burger Cheese, Tomato ketchup and American Style Mustard’

I did actually quite enjoy the flavour combination on top of this burger, it reminded me very much of basic burgers off a street cart in New York, or perhaps one served up at one of their many street festivals held during the summer. There really is something magical and comforting about a slab of burger meat topped with fried onion and ketchup 🙂

Inside the Beast

 

If we take a look inside we can get a better idea from this ‘burger slice’ as to how that bite and mouthful might have gone down.

I liked that they had put the mustard on the lower bun, and the ketchup and onion on the top bun, that meant that those flavour profiles stayed distinct and didn’t merge into some random faux thousand island dressing situation.

The burger patty, although uneven, was not without some merit, It had good taste and structure, was it gourmet? well it was not that amazing or anything, but it was nice to eat.

The burger bun was run of the mill, nice and airy bread, but cut poorly so that the top bun was way thicker than the bottom bun and my fingers cut through that thin bottom layer a bit too easily.

Burger and erm Chips?

The major downside was the chips that came with the burger, chips I have to note that you have to pay more for! These ones were described as being “House Chips” and were an additional £2.95 on top of the £7.25 I paid for my burger. Why not just sell me a Burger and Fries for £10? I don’t want to think too much 🙂

Looking back at that picture they don’t look that bad, but the reality was that they were pretty dreadful. I think it was because they were made with new crop potatoes, they were twice fried I think, and they were just one big soggy and greasy mess. I did comment about them when asked if I enjoyed my meal. We ate them as we… well we had had a drink 🙂

Specials Menu

Even though this is primarily a Burger restaurant, they did also have some random specials. I liked the sound of the Fully Loaded Philly, but I have come to learn that the only place to eat a Philly Cheesesteak is actually in Philadelphia, and then from only one of about 5-6 places.

For some strange reason our server kept telling us how amazing the Calzone was? My oh My, I would expect to be recommended to try one of the burgers 🙂

__________________

The Real Burger Co in Newark

Are located at

14 Castle Gate, Newark-On-Trent NG24 1BG

Check out their Website,

They are described in the virtual internet world as

“Independent restaurant in Newark serving real British gourmet beef burgers, using the finest locally sourced ingredients”

I don’t want to be harsh but they are your basic standard run of the mill wannabee Burger joint.

Maybe the menu is a bit of fun and the experience will be a laugh, people I know have liked going there, none of them have eaten a really good burger though 🙂

 

Posted by on October 4, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Newark and tagged , , , , , , .

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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

_________________

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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