Pink Lane Coffee, Newcastle

I chanced upon an excellent little coffee shop in Newcastle last week. In need of a quick bite to eat before the train home and with only a few minutes to spare I'd almost given up hope of finding anything decent. A station pasty beckoned.

Pink Lane came to the rescue. I drank a top notch flat white, smooth and strong. It was served in a glass which I'm not a fan of, but tasted delicious which is the main thing.

I ate a tuscan ham, grana padano and rocket sandwich, also very good. Generously filled with high quality ingredients, herb edged cured ham in thin, delicate slices and sharp, salty cheese. The bread was slightly past its best, probably as it was teatime. I doubt that would have been the case at lunch.

Prices are about what you'd expect. The coffee was £2.20 (I think) and the sandwich £3.40. They only had one other customer in the ten minutes I was there so I hope they're getting more trade earlier in the day. The place deserves to succeed. Highly recommended, go check it out.

8/10

Pink Lane Coffee
Newcastle
NE1 5DW

https://twitter.com/PinkLaneCoffee

Baltic Café Bar, Gateshead

I'm stuck in a bit of a restaurant routine at the moment. If it's not Thai Aroy Dee it's Red Chilli. I went to the former last Saturday, the latter the Saturday before, and I'll be back to the latter this weekend. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it doesn't give me much to write about on here, not without a tedious amount of repetition anyway.

Lunches and recipes it is then. I try and go somewhere interesting for lunch once or twice a week to liven things up a bit between the dull home-made sandwiches, tetra pak soups and such-like.

This morning I was in Newcastle so I thought I'd pay a visit to the Baltic. A twenty minute glance round the galleries followed by twenty minutes for lunch would do nicely, then back on the road to Leeds.

As it turned out I was short of time so lunch took precedence. The galleries will have to wait.

Soup of the day (£3.50) was broccoli, chestnut and mascarpone. It was pleasant if a little unexciting. A more generous hand with the barely detectable chestnuts would have been an improvement. The hunk of baguette on the side was good quality though.

I also spotted these (£2 each), and couldn't resist ordering one. I'm not normally into pretzels, big lumps of boring dough that they are. Cover them in melted cheese though and everyone's a winner. Why has no-one thought of this before? Maybe they have and I wasn't paying attention. Anyway it was warm and soft and chewy and cheesy and a bit greasy and delicious.

The café has big picture windows framing the Tyne, with it's wonderful bridges and backdrop of Newcastle city centre, so it's a nice place to sit for a while. The service was great too, friendly and efficient.

I'll return when I have time to visit the gallery, and will probably eat here again. The food was good, nothing special but better than you'd get at many other cultural venues, and it's also worth it for the view.

7/10

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays
South Shore Road
Gateshead
NE8 3BA

http://www.balticmill.com/visit/Eating.php

Mannaza, Newcastle

I spotted this little Korean café on a previous visit to Newcastle and made a mental note to return at some point. You can find it tucked away in a little courtyard just opposite the famous Blackfriars restaurant. Although it's a small canteen style place they are licensed and the menu is lengthy, extending to Korean barbecue as well as rice and noodle dishes.

Banchan (vegetable side dishes) were provided free of charge, as is the norm in many Korean places. There was kimchi (fermented cabbage with chilli), kongnamul (beansprouts with sesame oil) and Korean style potato salad, all of which made for enjoyable snacking with a beer before the rest of the food arrived. Extra kimchi (I bloody love the stuff) was happily provided.

Goonmandoo were the Korean version of Japanese gyoza or Chinese guotie. Lightly fried dumplings served with a soy dip, these had a filling that I think was chicken rather than the more usual pork. Whatever it was they were delicious, the skins nicely crisped on the fried side and the filling deeply savoury.

Next up was Yukkejang, spicy brisket soup. The red colour derives from the copious quantity of chilli bean paste in the broth; - it was satisfyingly spicy on a cold winter night but lacked a little depth. There wasn't much flavour to it other than salt and chilli. Hidden in the depths were beansprouts, thin glass noodles and slices of slightly chewy but tasty beef. A bowl of rice on the side soaked up the juices.

Service was quick and friendly and it's cheap too. I paid £14 including a beer and service. Worth a visit.

7/10

Mannaza Restaurant
Monk Street
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE1 5XD

Hei Hei, Newcastle

I didn't arrive in Newcastle 'til after seven o'clock on a gloriously warm, sunny Thursday evening. Having been cooped up in office and car all day it was too good to miss, so I went for a good long walk around town and a couple of pints on the quayside before finally rocking up at Hei Hei some time after nine.

As on the previous night, it wasn't at all what I'd planned, but beer and sunshine had whet my appetite for spice. The menu at Hei Hei (another Twitter recommendation, thank you very much) ranges all over China, covering Cantonese and Sichuan classics as well as dishes from Beijing and Shanghai.

Soft shell crab wasn't the best start. It tasted fine, but was very greasy, the meatier pieces of crab having soaked up the frying oil like a sponge.

Spicy hot poached lamb was far more successful. An absolute beast of a dish rammed full of sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies and a bulb or two of garlic. Nestling in the oily broth were tender slices of lamb and plenty of al dente beansprouts and greens. All that was necessary by way of accompaniment was some plain steamed rice to soak up the juices and dampen the fire. A word of warning, don't do as I did and eat this an hour before you want to be asleep in bed. This needs some serious digestion time.

With a couple of Tsing Tao beers and a tip for the good service the bill came to about £26. Another feather in Newcastle's dining cap.


7/10

46 Dean Street
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1PG

http://www.heihei.co.uk/

Byker Vista Cafe, Newcastle

A very brief jaunt to Newcastle today, a few hours work, a quick lunch and back down the A1 to Yorkshire. What a glorious day it was though, I could have easily ditched work for the rest of the day in favour of strolling around the toon in the sunshine.

Unfortunately duty called, so lunch and five minutes fresh air would have to suffice. The Biscuit Factory was somehow on my radar (Twitter? Random googling? Who knows?). It's a commercial art gallery with a cafe inside, promising views across the Ouseburn valley. Sounded spot on for a sunny afternoon, so I headed over.

The cafe is located on the first floor, and does indeed have a fine view over the valley. Beautiful in an urban, post-industrial way if you like that sort of thing, which I do (think railway lines, warehouses, tower blocks etc). The room makes the most of the setting too, huge windows with barstool seating running their length.

 It's always sunny in Newcastle!

Food-wise it's fairly standard stuff; - sandwiches, panini, quiches, and some rather fine looking cakes on display (afternoon teas were advertised). I had the broccoli and stilton quiche (£5.50) with a bottle of Fentimans Ginger Beer to wash it down.

Fentimans, Warehouses

The quiche was pleasant, good creamy filling but a bit light on the stilton. Coleslaw on the side was obviously homemade, with a pleasing crunch to it and the salad wasn't bad either.

 Quiche, Coleslaw, Salad

The food was nice if unremarkable, but it's a lovely venue particularly in good weather. I also had a wander round the gallery which is well worth a look. The building is all exposed brickwork and wooden vaulted ceilings and there's a range of interesting art on display. I'd recommend a visit for afternoon tea on a fine day.


7/10

Byker Vista Cafe
The Biscuit Factory
16 Stoddart Street
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE2 1AN

http://www.thebiscuitfactory.com/home/

Little Saigon, Newcastle

This week's grand tour continues. The final leg before home was Newcastle and I was after something with a bit of zip and zing to it after the previous nights debacle. I spent quite a lot of time working in Newcastle a couple of years ago so I knew it had a Vietnamese place. Situated incongruously on the Bigg Market across the road from a row of neon doner and chips emporia is Little Saigon.

Free prawn crackers arrived promptly and I ordered a saigon beer to wash them down with. First up, a salad of prawn and papaya. I love South-east Asian salads, the kings of the salad world without a shadow of a doubt. The range of textures and flavours crammed into each mouthful brings sheer gustatory pleasure not always associated with the word 'salad'. This was a fine example, soft prawns, crunchy peanuts, crisp juicy papaya, crispy fried onions. Classic hot/sour/sweet/salty dressing. I wolfed it down in no time. The only criticism I have is that it was a touch too sweet/salty and not quite hot/sour enough. More chilli and lime please.

For main course beef with lemongrass, chilli and onion. Not as successful as the salad, the sauce was a bit gloopy (possibly reduced with cornflour) and there wasn't much chilli or lemongrass involved. It tasted generally fine though and the beef was tender.

A good option overall, we don't have too many Vietnamese restaurants in the North (is there one in Leeds at all??) so the more the merrier. My dinner was £21 for the salad, the main, steamed rice, one beer and service.

7/10

6 Bigg Market
Newcastle
NE1 1UW
http://www.littlesaigon.uk.com/