The Nottingham Food Blog

July 11, 2017

Rectory Fish Bar in West Bridgford – Haddock, Chips and Mushy Peas for tea

The Rectory Fish Bar on Rectory Road in West Bridgford has been there for as long as I can remember. I have always been given great reports about the place and many people have told me that they serve the best Fish and Chips in West Bridgford and that I should get my ass over there to try them out.

On their Facebook page they say that they are “A family run fish bar where we always put quality and customer service first.” I had heard that it was revamped a year back, but everyone still said that they were good.

I popped in for an early Fish and Chips Friday, on a Thursday 🙂 to try them out, ordering my usual chippie tea of ‘Haddock, chips and mushy peas’

Chips for Everyone!

I really could not grumble about the amount of chips I was given, I could see the chap scooping them in, three scoops full! I honestly wondered how they were all going to fit in!

The Box was so packed out that I could barely see the Haddock and some of those chips were as big and thick as my fingers. It was probably a good thing though as all those chips kept my fish hot all the way home 🙂

Haddock, Chips, and Mushy Peas

Until I put it all on a plate I had not realised just how big the Fish was, it would not fit on a standard plate. It drew great merriment when I was telling my mate how big it was, he said it was like an old fishermans story. The fish got bigger each time I talked about it 🙂

It was a pretty good piece of Haddock, really great flavour of the white flesh, deep and meaty. The batter was quite good but suffered a bit from the walk home as the bottom of the fish was stuck to the box so I lost the bottom of the batter. That was the only grumble I had though

The chips were very solid and well cooked, they had an almost nutty flavor, not sure where that came from though.

The mushy peas were also good very dark green and vibrant, I really should have ordered a large pot as I was enjoying them so much and I still had a whole load of chips to dip.

All together this meal was £7.10, but if I came back I would bring someone to split the chips with so it might be even better value.

Was it the best in Bridgford? It was very good and I enjoyed it immensely. I think George’s has better batter but I think the flavour of the Haddock at the Rectory was preferable in my opinion.

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Rectory Fish Bar is located at

16 Rectory Road, Nottingham NG2 6BG, England

Posted by myfoodhunt on July 11, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, West Bridgford and tagged fish and chip shop, Fish and Chips Friday, Fish and Chips in Nottingham, food in west bridgford, food on Central Avenue, Haddock and Chips.

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July 4, 2017

Pub Lunch at the Meadow Covert in Edwalton – Gammon Steak, Egg and Chips

The Meadow Covert in Edwalton is these day’s run by Greene King and so has the same menu as the Grosvenor on Mansfield road that I visited recently.

Alison and I popped in for a MyFoodHunt chain pub visit last week for The Nottingham Food Blog, partly because we were hungry and partly because it was the first place we saw as we drove back toward the office after a trip to the gas station, sorry I mean the petrol station 🙂

I tried to persuade that we should try the Pub Classics 2 Meals for £9.99 deal but my powers of suggestion fell flat so I got one of the classics for £7.99 while my partner in crime just had a ‘boring old sandwich’ 🙂 for £3.29

Gammon, Egg, and Chips (and peas)

I ordered the Gammon, Egg and Chips, one of your pub classics, and one of my favourite ‘old school’ meals. They describe it as “A thick-cut gammon steak served with seasoned chips, peas and two free-range fried eggs. Swap your eggs for pineapple rings”

There was no way on earth that I was swapping my eggs for pineapple! although why could I not have one of each?

As pub lunches go this was fairly decent, the gammon steak was pretty big, it was as expected a great big bit of thick grilled bacon, and was cooked pretty well. It had all that saltiness, baconesque, and meatiness that you kind of like to get from a bit of gammon.

I really liked that the whole chop was covered with two perfectly cooked runny yolk fried eggs, that made me really happy in that moment.

The chips and the peas were as expected, unexciting, but par for the course at a chain pub. Nothing that some ketchup, vinegar, salt and pepper cannot fix.

Thinking about it, if I am honest just give me the meat and eggs! 🙂

Yes this is a classic, and a chain pub classic, and it worked for me on the day and you know what if I was in a Greene King pub somewhere else I would not be adverse to ordering it again 🙂

Cheese and Pickle Sandwich

Alison had the Cheese and Pickle sandwich which came with a reasonably decent little side salad garnish. I liked the look of this sandwich and it certainly seemed to be well received by the chomper 🙂

It did look good though, you could probably have got away with calling it a vegetarian ploughman’s and upselling it a bit 🙂

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I often get snobby and filled with despair when I end up at a pub that is part of a chain, just because the menu is the same and I fear that the food just gets shipped in from some central site on a big truck. So when I do find myself pondering the menu, I just try and choose something that I think someone has to actually cook and not just heat up.

Luckily today I hit the spot with my Gammon steak and eggs :-), I was a bit sad though that we didn’t get it as part of the Pub Classics 2 Meals for £9.99 deal 😦

Maybe I should have a got a ‘Mac n Cheese’ as an extra side 🙂

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The Meadow Covert is located in Edwalton at

Alford Road

Edwalton

Nottinghamshire

NG12 4AT

It is not far from Edwalton Golf Course and just off the roundabout

Posted by myfoodhunt on July 4, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Edwalton and tagged Cheese Sandwich, Food in Edwalton, Gammon and Eggs, Greene King Pubs, lunch, pub lunch, Pubs in Edwalton, Pubs in Nottingham.

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July 1, 2017

Newark Beer Festival – Beer, Burgers, Sausage Rolls, and Pork Pies

The Newark Beer and Cider Festival was held on the 26-28th May at the Riverside Park in, erm well surprisingly enough, in Newark. This was serious stuff, we even joined CAMRA beforehand so that we could get some extra tokens and stuff. More about that in a later post! 🙂

So anyway we popped along on the Saturday to sample a few beers, they had over 150 different ones to choose from so I figured we might be OK for liquid refreshment. It was a new crowd, some of the guys from work who like a pint (Adam and Sam) and some of their friends who also liked a pint. This was looking to be a pretty good day!

I was also looking for a little bit of food to soak all that lovely ale up with 🙂 perhaps a few small morsels and snacks to help us out as we got a little bit peckish and light headed?

I had my eyes on Fen Farm Venison who were here serving their Venison Burgers

I went for the Venison Burger with Cote Hill cheese for £4, I also took up the offer of some grilled onions on the top as well, which was a good plan. For some reason I added a splodge of yellow mustard for good measure. This was actually a pretty decent burger, often at these sort of events the burgers are kind of meh, but I was very happy with this one from Fen Farm.

Excellent tasty and juicy meat patty, simple and soft bread roll, and a big pile of grilled onion, ooh yes thank very much!

Porter’s Provisions Snacks

I knew that G. H. Porter Provisions were going to be at the Beer Festival so I made a beeline for their stall as soon as I had a chance. These Sausage Rolls looked the business, and they were the business.

I went off-piste a little forgoing the traditional option and taking a punt on the ‘Pork & Black Pudding’ sausage roll. This was an inspired choice! (if I say so myself), such a good tasty hand held treat!

I love Porters and I buy bacon from them everytime I make it over to Newark they are in my top 3 on my list of Nottinghamshire Bacon (message me to get the others 🙂 ) and check out a post from 2013 when I first found them: “G.H. Porter Provisons in Newark for some quality Smoked and Cured Bacon”

I do love a Pork Pie and these ones from Porter’s did look particularly fetching and well goddam tasty! I was not so sure about the thought of the addition of pickle, but I decided that I may as well go alonng for the ride so I bought one anyway to take home.

We ate this over a couple of lunches and I have to say that my thoughts on the pickle situation were to be without foundation. The slight tang of the pickle vinegar enhanced the whole pie and made it actually a lot more enjoyable. I am not sure why I was so surprised after all a bit of pickle on the side of a ploughman’s lunch with a slice of pork pie is quite the norm in my household.

Now of course with this being a beer festival we also drank quite a lot of beer 🙂

Posted by myfoodhunt on July 1, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Newark and tagged beer festival, burgers, Fen Farm Venison, Newark Beer Festival, pork pie, Porters Provisions, real ale, Sausage Roll, venison burger.

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July 1, 2017

Brunch at A-Venue in West Bridgford

The Avenue in West Bridgford is the newest kid finding its way onto the block down Central Avenue. It is the newest incumbent of the building formerly occupied by Cured, and by Belle and Jerome.

I walked by on a bimble last Thursday and saw signs of life, so this Friday I made a plan to MyFoodHunt my way down the Avenue to check them out

For weeks there has been a sign on the window suggesting Street Food would be on the menu and recently last week I read about the place in the Nottingham Post where they said that “The street food menu captures flavours from around the world from Canadian chicken with maple syrup and cheesy chips and gravy and Indian chicken tikka with smoking hot sauce to posh British fish and chips and Thai fish skewers.!”

So I was pretty hopeful of a treat or two when we popped in on Friday lunch to get some brunch.

The Breakfast Menu

They had two menus, a breakfast menu that was being served until 1pm and a ‘street food’ menu as well (see bottom of post).

I was in a breakfast mood 🙂

So what did we eat?

A-Venue Benedict

I ordered the A-venue Benedict which was described on the menu as “Chorizo, black pudding, poached egg, toasted croissant and Sriracha hollandaise’

I have mixed feelings about this dish, it looked pretty and I really enjoyed eating it, it has lots of the things that I love, spicy chorizo, black pudding and soft runny poached egg.

I was kind of expecting something a lot spicier and a lot hotter, my mouth had been salivating with the expected sort of slap in the face from the Sriracha sauce.

In the end though it was pretty tame and not really that spicy. Most of the spice heat came from the very thin slice of chorizo.

It was a very tasty little snack though and I thoroughly enjoyed munching my way through it with minimal bites. I was kind of about 3 mouthfuls short of being full so, as they say, I was left wanting more.

Thinking about it, did I really want an overpowering chilli hit? probably not which maybe why they left it as a slight hint or a slight thought of Sriracha in the hollandaise topping

The “Veggie Breakfast”

The Veggie Breakfast was described on the menu as ‘Beetroot sausage, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, beans, poached eggs and toast”.

Alison ordered this and to be fair when it arrived on the plate it looked pretty well presented. Poached egg, toast and beans all were pretty decent.

The mushrooms were a bit weird and I kind of think that they came out of a tin. The vegan sausages were also a very surprising item, they had the right shape, but they were a bit dry and crumbly and considering that they were made of beetroot, I didn’t really taste any beetroot in the bit foisted on the end of a fork towards me.

Now I am not a vegetarian so I can’t really comment on the addition of spinach to the plate, I suppose it adds iron and some essential vitamins?

I do like that they cater to the vegan and vegetarian with a meatless and meat product free option. I am just glad that I probably will never have to stick it at the top of my list.

Street Food Menu

I did check out the ‘street food’ menu to see if it really was street food, or just another faux effort masquerading as street food. I did like the sound of some of the stuff on the list.

The Fish Dog with Fennel slaw sounds pretty good “Cod and smoked salmon fish dog in a brioche hotdog roll with fennel slaw and Chipotle tartar sauce” and the Chicken Taco with Peach BBQ sauce sounds intriguing as well; “Char-grilled chicken breast with black beans, red grape and coloured cauliflower salad on a tomato taco with homemade peach BBQ sauce”

Both sounded good but at 9 quid we are venturing into Hipster prices here for street food

More Street Menu

If I come back it will most likely be on a MyFoodHunt Fish and Chips Friday mission to sample their “Up Market Fish and Chips”

I am always a sucker for stuff like that 🙂

A-venue in West Bridgford is located at 33/35 Central Avenue right in the heart of café society.

It is right over the road from Iceland if that helps 🙂

Posted by myfoodhunt on July 1, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, West Bridgford and tagged all day breakfast, brunch, Food Blog in Nottingham, food in west bridgford, food on Central Avenue, Food reviews in Nottingham.

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June 30, 2017

A Fish and Chips Friday at the Apple Tree

The Apple Tree on Compton Acres in West Bridgford is one of the pubs in the Ember Inns family. I drive past a lot on my way out of town when I avoiding the A453 and taking the back roads through Ruddington. Loads of my mates tell me that it is good value and that you can get a decent deal here, so I figured what the hell lets pop over and test them out?

On their website they say “Visit The Apple Tree in West Bridgford for authentic British cooking and real ales in a genuine local pub warmed by a cosy fire. Our pub-food menu features classic meals made with award-winning ingredients”

Well lets be honest that does sound like a nice little sound bite. I was feeling fairly optimistic at that point.

Cod and Chips

I had the Cod and Chips officially described as “Hand battered in our own Ember Inns Pale Ale, served with seasoned chips, mushy peas and a sea herb tartare sauce”. It all sounds most lovely, does it not?

I have been eating a lot of Fish and Chips recently and sadly this was not one to add to my must have list. The Fish itself was not too bad, once you fought your way through the thick over crunchy batter there was some reasonable fleshy white cod to enjoy.

The chips were hiding underneath the fish, probably for good reason, they may have been ‘seasoned’ in one lifetime, but not in the lifetime that I was eating them in. They needed a whole lot of salt and pepper, tramp juice, and a lot of generic brand ketchup to enliven them to wanting to eat level.

I was saddened by my small pot of mushy peas, they were green and vibrant, they were also small and little more than a spoonful. If the pot had been bigger it would have been the highlight on the plate

I will be straight with you, if this was £4.99 or even £5.99 I would be saying it was OK and reasonable value. However at £9.79 it is well overpriced in my humble and my wallet’s opinion.

Bits of Menu

‘

The thing is or was that this cost £9.79! We dined, with me and my partner in crime Alison (who had Halloumi and Chips), with two diet cokes for basically just around £25 quid (#FFS).

This is in a pub, a chain pub, a not amazing gastro pub, just your run of the mill everyday happy go lucky …. pub!

I will be straight with you, paying something like £4 for a diet coke is still bordering on the piss take.

I will say that it seems to be a well kept and quite welcoming pub up on the estate, so maybe I was just unlucky with my choice. My biggest gripe was the pricing, but maybe those West Bridgford folks think it’s cheap 🙂

Well you can’t win them all, so lets move onwards to the next meal 🙂

The Apple Tree is located at Compton Acres, , Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK, NG2 7PA

You can see a map here

Posted by myfoodhunt on June 30, 2017 in 06. Compton Acres, 1. The Nottingham Tram Stop Food Hunt Project, 2. Nottinghamshire, Compton Acres, fish and chips, Tram Route: Nottingham Station to Clifton South, West Bridgford and tagged Chain Pub Food, fish and chips, Fish and Chips Friday, food in Compton acres, food in west bridgford, Pub Food, Pub Food in Nottingham.

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June 29, 2017

A Fantastic Breakfast and super sandwich at the Village Cafe and Bistro in Keyworth

The Village Café and Bistro in Keyworth is a super spot for a quiet relaxed brunch if you are over this way passing through the South Notts village.

They are usually open from 9am until 3pm every day except for Saturday and they serve a mix of breakfast, brunch, and lunch specials.

I last wrote about this place back in 2013, which seems so long ago now, many meals have passed since then and I really cannot fathom why it has been so long for the blog to revisit

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June 25, 2017

Pub Sandwiches at the Grosvenor in Carrington up on Mansfield Road in Nottingham

The Grosvenor on Mansfield Road in Carrington is one of those pubs that seem to have been there for ages. I last blogged about this place back in 2014 when it was owned by John Barras, today it seems to be a Greene King pub.

We popped in for a bite to eat prior to a mini beer bimble around Doctors Orders and the Gladstone. As it happened this place also had a few good beers too and they accepted my CAMRA card so I was kind of OK with the whole chain pub situation

Last time I posted I recalled that “A pub has been on this corner since the early part of the 19th Century when it was known as the Blacks Heads Inn, In 1873 it was renamed the Grosvenor Hotel when it was bought by John Robinson who was the founder of Home Brewery. Locally it was then known as the Squires largely due to the stabling of horses fro the nearby Forest Racecourse. In the 1990’s the name was changed to the Grosvenor Pub”

I did a lot more research back then to justify the post.

Today though I admit that we were just here to fill a hole before we started necking a few pints of wholesome real ale. BUT hold on a minute mate! Lets just give this place a chance before you get all snobby again about Chain pubs 🙂 you aint all that and aren’t on the rich list for 2017 so be a bit more humble (note to self, stop talking to yourself, and also stop writing online notes to yourself too, someone might notice)

The menu always makes it look like the food is good

“satisfying Sandwiches & Wraps” ooh go on then

Normally on a Friday I am taking my chances with a Fish and Chips special, here at The Grosvenor they were offering a “Cod and Chips” – “Our signature cod fillet freshly hand battered served with seasoned chips, mushy peas or peas and tartare sauce” for £8.99.

But tonight I just ‘didn’t need’ the massive plate of food so I was looking at the Sandwich options instead.

I still wanted to stay on theme though. This wasn’t an excuse to leave room for beer (it was) it was just sensible cost effective eating 🙂

I made the effort though and got as close as I could to the Friday masterplan with my choice of sandwich! so Check this out 🙂

Cod Goujons

I picked the Fish Goujons sandwich which was described on The Grosvenor menu as “Hand battered Cod Goujons with tartare sauce and lettuce”, I chose to have mine on a white bloomer and it came with a dressed salad garnish.

This was basically a bit of a posh fish finger sandwich, but as it was served in a chain pub, lets not call it posh, although I expect (and accept) that the regulars would (and I did too).

I know it was a pub chain sandwich, but you know what? it was pretty good for what it was. I liked the white bloomer bread and I liked the goujon filling which was actually pretty plentiful. I think that there was at least three fried and battered pieces of cod in there, possibly four. I didn’t rip the beast apart to check. I quite liked the bottled tartare and the lettuce actually did its job of shielding the bread from sauce.

I know that in England we seem to judge a sandwich on how good the bread is, while in the States we judge it on how good the filling is. Here at the Grosvenor they both kind of balanced out.

Rump Steak Melt

Martin my erstwhile MyFoodHunt and Friday Pub Bimble partner in crime chose the Steak sandwich or as it was officially named the “Rump Steak Melt”. This was described on the menu as a ” 28-day aged Black Angus rump steak, with mature cheddar cheese, lettuce and red onion chutney” apparently for just £5.69

It did actually look pretty good for a chain pub sandwich, but I will lower my opinion of the steak under the ‘lets not talk about cousin angus’ radar. I am sure that all was fine.

Martin did say that ‘it wasn’t bad’ so that is a fairly good rating from the man

Sides of Fries and Onion Rings

We chose sides to share of Onion Rings and French Fries. The onion rings were OK, I was surprised, so I will give Green King some credit with their ability to produce something that has a crisp bite and a decent taste. I have had much better but I have had a lot worse. I would order them again

The fries were kind of frozen bag ‘average to sad’ I ate them because I was hungry but was not a massive fan

All in all, I found that these sandwiches were actually pretty decent and quite good value. I felt that I got what I asked for and to be honest, since I am writing about it they must have done something right :-).

I often find it hard to sum up the energy to pick my way through the chain pub menu with much enthusiasm, but as they are everywhere, we need to work out what meals are good value and are worth popping in for.

I probably won’t have the Goujon sandwich next time, but I am encouraged to spin the wheel of menu fortune and dine with Green King again. It was all quite decent

The Grosvenor is located at 291-293 Mansfield Road

They do take a CAMRA card discount, they sell beer, and they serve food

That is all I have (note I will be back again one day 🙂 )

Check them out on their Facebook page

Posted by myfoodhunt on June 25, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Centre and tagged Carrington, fish sandwich, Food Blog in Nottingham, Food on Mansfield Road, Food reviews in Nottingham, Green King Pub, Grosvenor Pub, Pub Food, Pubs on Mansfield Road, sandwich, steak sandwich.

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June 22, 2017

The Chock’s Away Cafe – Breakfast and Brunch at Tollerton Airport

I love Chocks Away! I hadn’t been here for a while and I had forgotten just how good a little café it is. The last time I blogged about it was back in 2013 when I popped in for a bacon butty and a tuna melt. You can read about those visits here

Since my last visit, not much has changed in that you can still drive over and have a little snack while watching the trainee pilots run through their paces. There is still the random wildlife to watch in between take offs too, we saw baby crows getting fed, and a couple of hares having a bit of a barney while we sat out by the runway in the sun this week.

The menu seems to have expanded a lot, or maybe the chalk board got prettier and bigger!? 🙂 they have the three breakfasts all named after some sort of plane ranging from the Tomahawk, to the Jumbo, to the Hercules! (that one is defo new!) Lots of toasties, breakfast baps, burgers, and things with chips. We love things with chips!

It was so good that we came back the next day!

Cheese Toastie

They do the simple things really well, it is kind of no frills with a lot of love and attention. Sometimes all you really want is a Toastie and they can do you one here no problem for just a small outlay of cash.

Alison picked a cheese toastie and then glammed it up a bit by adding in the red onion from the simple side salad. We might have been given spoon number 13 when we ordered, but no worry we were far from unlucky.

Tomahawk Breakfast

I ordered the Tomahawk breakfast for £4.50 which was actually pretty tasty. Now OK I admit that maybe it is not as pretty as some, but I reckon that it had a fair chance of winning the Turner Prize.

My breakfast was the smallest of the offerings with one slice of nicely grilled bacon, a decent meaty sausage, beans, tinned tomato, a lovely runny yolk fried egg, a scattering of fried mushroom and a slice of toast. I added a slice of black pudding to mine, mostly because I love a good blood sausage, and also partly because it is fun to order when dining with a vegetarian 🙂

I really enjoyed eating this plateful, it seemed so honest and real. Real food for normal people. I usually do not like tinned tomato on my breakfast plate, but I know plenty of friends who swear it is a must. For some strange reason today I was actually really liking them and I was scooping up beans and tomato with my toast as I cleared my plate faster that the tower clearing the run way for take off.

Sausage, Egg and Chips

We came back the next day and I really just wanted to slum it a bit with a plate of sausage, egg, and chips. The sausages are actually pretty decent fare here at Chocks Away, I quite like them. The chips were plentiful and I know that they are just basic fried ones, but somehow here that seems grand enough for me. I had two eggs with this and my only sadness was that I would have liked a runny yolk.

Just to note Alison had a chip butty, but I didn’t take a pic of that. She also had some homemade lemon cake, but I decided not to record that in photographic evidence out of kindness 🙂

The sign above the door as you enter the building says ‘Everyone Welcome’ and that is so true.

I have already fallen back in love with this place and vow to return way more often that I have in recent times.

Why? oh why? would one drive to buy a sad sandwich from the supermarket when instead you can come here for a friendly smile, a simple bite to eat, and a little oasis away from the work desk?

There is no answer, except that you should come and watch small planes take off, eat ice cream and stuff your face gently 🙂

Chocks Away is located at Nottingham City Airport just on Tollerton Ln, Tollerton, Nottingham NG12 4GA. It is pretty well signposted from the road and if in doubt just keep driving down that long green road until you get to the Airport Car Park and Tower.

Check them out on Facebook for the food and also for news on events

Posted by myfoodhunt on June 22, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Tollerton and tagged all day breakfast, bacon and egg, breakfast, brunch, cafe, Food in Tollerton, Food near Tollerton, greasy spoon cafe, sausage and chips, Toasted Cheese sandwich, Tollerton Airport Cafe.

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June 18, 2017

The Piano Cafe in Radcliffe on Trent for some Brunch

The Piano in Radcliffe on Trent is a super little café to pick up a spot of lunch or even brunch during the week. Located right on the main street running through the town it has become a bit of a local fixture over the last 7 or so years. They say that they serve up authentic Italian fare, and they also serve up many of your lunch and brunch classics too, something for almost everyone.

It was a bit of a drive away from the office, but Alison ‘My partner in Crime for this MyFoodHunt’ and I decided it was worth taking a little extended break and an escape into the country for our lunch. Some days you just have to!

I had my eye on Breakfast and Alison had her eyes on Brunch… a win-win situation then hopefully

So what did we eat?

All Day Breakfast

I selected Breakfast No. 1 which was described on the Piano menu as “2 pieces of bacon, fried egg, baked beans, tomatoes or mushrooms, 2 slices of toast & butter, tea or coffee” for £5.90

This sounded like a right bargain, breakfast and a pot of tea for under £6! I chose mushrooms over tomatoes and tea over coffee. The hot drink arrived quickly and I was happy to see a pot that I could squeeze at least 2 cups out of.

The actual breakfast was a enjoyable affair, fried and crispy slices of bacon always make me happy, a fried egg with a nice runny yolk added more delight to my plate.

The mushroom were tasty and although they did not look visually too enticing they were good enough for me.

I had a couple of slices of toast that I used one to make beans on toast, the other for egg on toast. It always works for me when I do that.

Sometimes you get a little pot of jam so that you can have a breakfast desert after your savoury egg and bacon, no such luck today though 🙂

I was very happy with this bit of basic breakfast fare, it ‘hit the spot’ and kept me going for the rest of the day!

I was glad that I didn’t make the jump up the price point to get Breakfast No.2 which was the same plus sausage, chips, and an orange juice for just £7.40.

I don’t think I could have eaten all of that!

Eggs Florentine

Alison went for one of the ‘slightly’ vegetarian options picking the Eggs Florentine. This was described on the menu as “Poached egg & spinach served on toasted ciabatta with Hollandaise sauce” and was also looking good value priced up at £5.90

I liked that you got two properly cooked poached eggs and just a dollop of hollandaise sauce on top, that sauce is nice in this dish when there is not too much smothering the stack.

I understand that the ciabatta was well toasted and a pretty good vehicle to hold that spinach and egg combo. I myself like an English Muffin in this dish (TBH I like the versions with salmon or ham 🙂 .

It all was very well received and there was no food left on either plate!

The Breakfast Menu

I quite like eating at The Piano, I have been in before and tried out their Croque Madam, a Club Sandwich, and some of their Homemade Lasagna

They were all good!

AND

If you were wondering, yes they do have a Piano inside!

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You can find The Piano café at Radcliffe upon Trent

Located

7a Main Road
Radcliffe On Trent
Nottingham
NG12 2FD

Check out their weekly offers here and also

Keep up with what they ae doing on their Facebook page and on their Twitter feed

Some Specials Board Action

Posted by myfoodhunt on June 18, 2017 in 2. Nottinghamshire, Radcliffe on Trent and tagged all day breakfast, breakfast, brunch, eggs, eggs florentine, Food Blog in Nottingham, Food in Nottinghamshire, Food in Radcliffe on Trent.

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June 17, 2017

The White Lion in Beeston – A Brazilian Fish and Chip Friday and some Brazilian Tapas

The White Lion ‘Bar & Kitchen’ on Middle Street in Beeston was an unexpected bedfellow on a recent MyFoodHunt trip on the Tram out to Beeston.

They had some good real ales, a menu packed with burgers and classic sandwiches, just what you want from your local pub. Then though there was this whole tapas thing going on as well. The lady and the chap behind the bar were warming and welcoming, it was all looking pretty good.

Initially I was thinking that as it was Friday it was going to be another Fish and Chip supper, but then I detected that there was some Brazilian flair in the air as the hosts told me about their Tapas offerings.

We decided to split our directions on scoffing with Martin going traditional, while I took on the Tapas.

What did we think?

‘Brazilian’ Fish and Chips

Martin my erstwhile dining and real ale swilling companion took on the job of tackling a plate of their ‘what I have to describe’ as Brazilian style Fish and Chips. I am pretty sure that the verdict was bordering on and around the area of “interesting”. The dark brown batter coating was tasty, the dark colour from the ‘apparant’ addition of beer, but it was a bit on the chewy side. I can concur as I helped myself to a few mouthfuls just for quality control purpose 🙂

The fish itself was white and flaky and juicy, but it was hidden inside that very solid batter that made it seem hard work, it was bit like peeling the fish. I wasn’t sure whether it was cod or haddock or some other white fish. I am pretty sure it wasn’t tabaqui 🙂

The chips were solid and also pretty dark in colour but they seemed ok to me, the addition of a small side salad as opposed to a pile of mushy peas was an out of the box move that, as a purist, saddened me slightly. It was in keeping though with the theme of the food and made it all look and seem a bit fresher.

Tapas at the White Lion

Normally it is my job to scoff the Fish and Chips but on this occasion I had my eye on their Brazilian Tapas, there was a choice of 3 dishes for £8, so I made that choice.

I picked the Spicy Meatballs described as “Baked Meatballs in a Rich Tomato Sauce with a Little Chilli to Give it a Real Flavour Punch”. I had a little pot with about three solid and meaty balls smothered in a thick tomato sauce. There was definitely a little bit of chili to spice it, but the main taste was a kind of fennel or cumin hit, it was little sharp tang. I liked them well enough, but not enough to choose them as a full meal where they serve them with spaghetti it seems

The next choice was the Feijoada which was described as “A Brazilian Stew of Beef, Pork, Smoked Sausage, Chorizo with Black Beans, Onions and Spices”. This had an interesting flavour almost sultry and dark. I wasn’t sure if I liked it as a tapas, I only had a couple of slices of sausage in my pot and a whole load of black beans. You could order this as a meal on it’s own, and of I did that I would really want to get all the meaty bits that were promised

The best of the three choices was the “Brazilian Strogonoff” which was “Pieces of Succulent Chicken Breast and Mushroom Cooked in a Creamy Sauce, Finished with Mustard”. Now this tapa was as promised, nice and creamy, a light hint of mild mustard in the sauce and plenty of chunks of mushroom and chicken

All in all my feelings on the Tapas at the White Lion were a little mixed, I liked all the flavours, but I wanted more. The best description would be solid and hearty.

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