Holland's Pies

FREEBIE ALERT

There's not much need for the freebie alert this time, as I'm not going to say anything very complimentary.

Holland's offered to send me a bag full of pies to review. Yes, yes I know they're hardly a gourmet brand. I know they sell them in supermarkets and they're probably cheap and nasty and horrid and full of unpleasant ingredients (to be fair, their website suggests otherwise. Make of that what you will). But really, who cares? Free pies right? I love pies.

From time to time I love a bargain basement pie too. A posh pie isn't always what you need. I used to have a borderline addiction to Gregg's for starters, and you can't beat a chicken balti pie at the football. The gist of it was this: was there any chance of me turning down a bag full of free pies that might just turn out to be nice? No.

Steak pie first. This was ok. The 'unique, golden shortcrust pastry' didn't seem particularly unique to me. It was thin but rather solid and tasteless. Not unpleasant it just passed me by without leaving much of an impression. You'll find the same stuff encasing all of the pies in the range.

The filling wasn't bad. There were a few good chunks of tender-ish meat (more than you'll find in a Greggs steak bake by way of comparison) in a fairly tasty but overly gloopy (too much flour at a guess) gravy. I ate it with mushy peas from a tin which were delicious of course.

 
A day or two later I ate the vegetarian joker in the pack, the cheese and onion pie. I really didn't like this one. The filling wasn't anywhere near cheesy enough, like they'd made a cheese sauce with a cornflour and margarine base and not very much mild cheddar. It left a weird coating on my teeth, as if I'd been slurping wallpaper paste through a straw. Not good. Horrid really.

The meat pie was better, more like a pork pie in style this one. The filling was of solid meat, pork and beef apparently, which had quite a pleasing slightly coarse texture. It tasted ok, but primarily of salt and pepper. I tried to ignore the scary quantity of fat that leached out of it during cooking though. Better on the baking tray than inside me I suppose.

In summary, I've eaten worse. I didn't get round to trying several others, which can now be found languishing in the depths of my freezer. I doubt they'll see the light of day unless I'm desperate and hungover.


http://www.hollandspies.co.uk/

Bangkok Café, Hyde Park, Leeds (takeaway review)

We're doing rather well for Thai food in Leeds right now. There's Thai Aroy Dee, Saengarun Thai and now Bangkok Café.

Located on the main drag at Hyde Park Corner, Bangkok Café is by far the smallest of these three, a takeaway really with just three little tables in the front for dining in. I picked up some food from there there the other night and was pretty impressed.

The menu covers all the usual curries and stir-fries, with some interesting and less common variants particular on the curry front, but I was drawn to the section headed 'Bangkok popular dishes' which is where you'll find the salads and a range of one bowl rice and noodle meals.

To see how they measured up (and because I bloody love them) against the competition I chose two of my favourites from Thai Aroy Dee, som tam with grilled chicken (B11 - Som Tum Gai Yang on the menu here) and the shrimp paste fried rice (B8 - Kao Pad Num Prim Kapi).

Expectations were high as I watched the staff prepare the meal, it's a one room operation so everything is made in front of you. The wok burner was properly cranked up for the fried rice, there's a flame grill for charring the chicken and a gigantic pestle and mortar appeared and the salad was pounded from scratch.

The tasting lived up to it. The grilled chicken was faultless. Two fat wings, succulent flesh, crisp salty sweet skin. The som tam started off gently but soon revealed a fierce building heat. Fiery and crunchy and delicious. If I had a criticism it seemed a little bit underpounded (not sure that's a word but it describes exactly what I mean so I'm sticking with it), the dressing not quite melded properly with the papaya and other bits and bobs.

The fried rice tasted a whole lot better than it looks. Takeaway never looks pretty when you get it home, and a dish of several components all squashed in together isn't going to win any prizes for presentation. Ignore that and focus on the flavour and textures. Chewy (a bit too chewy, but that's a minor gripe) sweet pork, soft omelette and perfectly fried rice shot through with shallots, chillies and pungent fishiness from the prawn paste.

These two dishes cost £5.95 each, good value, and presumably eating in would cost the same. The staff were friendly and service efficient. I'll be back. Recommended.

8/10

12 Hyde Park Corner
Leeds
LS6 1AF


http://www.bangkokcafeleeds.co.uk/

Northern Food on tour: Scotland round-up

Nothing we ate on our recent trip to Scotland was as exciting as our dinner at Wedgwood, but we didn't do badly. Here's what else we ate.

Espresso Mondo, Edinburgh

A late lunch on arrival in Edinburgh. The cafe was a bit scruffy but they had a nice line in loose leaf teas and coffee.

They made a nice brew but the food was less successful. A chicken panino with peppers, pesto and mozarella wasn't great. The chicken tasted low grade and processed and the accompanying salad was boring. Whoever decided dribbling catering pack balsamic glaze onto tortilla chips was a good idea wants sacking too. Reasonably priced for Edinburgh.

5/10

116 Lothian Road
Edinburgh
EH3 9BE


Paperino's, West End, Glasgow

After the previous night's posh dinner we decided to lower the tone a little in Glasgow. Pizza and ice cream please!

The pizzas at Paperino's were pretty good, with a decent chewy-charred crust and quality toppings. The sausage on mine was lovely, coarse and spicy with loads of fennel.

Both of them were overtopped though. There is such thing as too much cheese and sausage on a pizza, there really is. Less can be more. Still, after scraping off some of the excess they went down a treat.

It's a quick, casual place, not really somewhere to linger but worth it for the pizza, for which prices are reasonable (around the £9 mark). Mark ups on side dishes and drinks let the side down though. £2.95 doesn't sound bad for a side salad, but it's poor for a side salad consisting of not very much of nothing remotely interesting, and a pint of Peroni shouldn't cost £4.65.

7/10 if you stick to pizza and tap water. Knock a point off if salad and booze is included.

227 Byres Road
Glasgow
G12 8UD

http://www.paperinos.co.uk/





Nardini's, West End, Glasgow

Thanks (I think) to a large Italian immigrant population, many of whom set up business in the catering industry back in the day, Scotland, and Glasgow in particular is well endowed with pizza restaurants, caffs serving proper coffee and ice cream parlours.

This is a novel concept to residents of Yorkshire cities, which last time I noticed weren't particularly well stocked with ice cream parlours (If I'm wrong please do tell), so we had to follow up the pizza with a ridiculous dirty great ice cream sundae.

I can't remember the name of this, but it comprised raspberry syrup, raspberries and vanilla ice cream topped with an unfeasibly large quantity of whipped cream with three chocolate marshmallow snowballs shoved in it, and an assortment of wafers. Ace.

I think it cost about £6, but it served two with ease. Although I think I had most of it.

8/10

215 Byres Road
Glasgow
G12 8UD

http://www.nardinis.co.uk/ 




Avenue G, West End, Glasgow

Excellent coffee. A flat white was up there with those from my favourite coffee shops. Exceptionally smooth with quite a pronounced bitterness. Somehow still balanced though, delicious.

Toasted brioche was ok but slightly let down by the cheap butter and jam it was served with. The sandwiches and cakes looked very good though.

£2.20 for the flat white. Similar for tea. Cakes around £3. Table service, efficient and friendly.

8/10

291 Byres Road
Glasgow
G12 8TL

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Avenue-G-Caf%C3%A9-Glasgow/223293021018108




Curler's Rest, West End, Glasgow

I liked the look of the Curler's Rest, a tarted up pub on Byres Road. Bare wooden tables, plenty of space, a few good beers on draft, a pleasing enough but strangely familiar sounding menu.

Then I took a look at the website and discovered a new phenomenon. I'm calling it the 'stealth chain'. A pub run by a large corporation, with the same style and the same food as others run by the same large corporation. A chain pub. The difference being that said large corporation doesn't want you to know that it's a chain pub, because it's not aimed at people who like chain pubs.

I looked at the website (here it is: http://www.thecurlersrestglasgow.co.uk/food/) and immediately thought 'I've seen that before'.

Then I remembered: The Adelphi (http://www.theadelphileeds.co.uk/food/). AS thought it looked familiar too. Then she remembered: The Lescar (http://www.thelescarhuntersbar.co.uk/food/).

A couple of days later I was searching for somewhere good to eat in the vicinity of Waterloo station when I chanced upon the White Hart website: http://www.thewhitehartwaterloo.co.uk/food/.

So that's at least four not obviously chain pubs in four different cities spread over four hundred miles with virtually identical menus and the same photo of roast beef on their websites. Thanks Mitchells and Butlers you sly bastards.

Anyhow this is a subject to which I may return, but what of the food at the Curler's Rest? It started off wonderfully. After three courses with three wines, then pizza and ice cream, the last night of our break was supposed to be healthier. I accidentally couldn't resist ordering battered black pudding from the bar snacks list though. Oops.

It was worth the calories though. Nuggets of soft peppery pudding encased in a marvellously light crisp batter.

Things went rapidly downhill with the wild salmon fishcakes. They were alright, well flavoured but a bit claggy texture-wise. The accompanying salad was supposed to be little gem and beetroot, which it did contain, but not in such significant quantities as the other stuff that fell out of the salad bag (slightly slimy tasteless watercress mainly).

AS also had a salad; - halloumi, cous cous and whatnot in a spicy dressing. She liked it but it looked to be suffering from the same slimy salad affliction from where I was sitting.

We paid around £33 including a couple of alcoholic drinks each. The service was lovely.

6/10 (would have been less but for the black pudding)

256-260 Byres Road
Glasgow
G12 8SH

Wedgwood the Restaurant, Edinburgh

I wanted to find somewhere for a special meal in Edinburgh. Nothing too formal or ridiculously expensive but somewhere to enjoy a long leisurely dinner, three courses and plenty of wine.

My first couple of choices were out as we'd be in town on a Monday and they'd be closed. A spot of random internet browsing brought Wedgwood to my attention, and I was immediately attracted to their promise of fine dining without the pretentiousness, no table turning and a menu that read wonderfully well.

We were seated in the basement level dining room, a small, simple space given the impression of roominess by the mirror covering the entirety of the back wall. It was rather dark down there though, hence the atrocious photos in this post.

Good quality bread with a herb oil started things off nicely, as did a half bottle of a lovely ripe tasting Rias Baixas Albariño from a list with several wines by the glass as well as a few half bottles.

I began with nettle soup, poached quail's egg, blue cheese, crispy nettles. The soup was smooth, green, and enlivened by little bursts of tart creaminess from the cheese. I enjoyed this, though it was a little unexciting in comparison with the dish across the table.

AS had the stir fried shredded beef fillet, pear, rocket and spring onion salad, thai sesame and honey dressing. I tend to avoid Asian themed dishes in non-Asian restaurants, finding that they're rarely worth the effort. Underseasoned, unbalanced or just plain wrong. This wasn't. On the basis of the one mouthful that I ate it was utterly divine. Finely shredded almost tartare like beef, almost raw in the centre with just the hint of a browned crust adding savour, and a beautiful delicate, sweet nutty dressing. I'd gladly return to Edinburgh just for a plateful of this.

After the starters a palate cleanser arrived that was a contender for highlight of the entire meal. A shot glass containing raspberry puree and lime sorbet topped up with elderflower champagne and a raspberry. Amazing. A depth charge of bright, fragrant fruitiness. I love raspberries and I love elderflower so this was just a dream. 

It was a close run thing, but I reckon I won the mains. Wild scottish deer, creamed leeks, venison haggis, beetroot, basil pesto, truffle jus. This was the best piece of meat I've eaten in a long time. Seared perfectly on the outside and dark ruby red on the inside it was tender and deeply savoury. Combined with the haggis and truffle jus the whole was earthy, rich, very more-ish, and paired excellently with a peppery Rioja. I couldn't detect any flavour of basil but I'm not sure that I needed to.

Crusted mutton loin, braised neck, truffled goats cheese dauphinoise, nettle sauce, black pudding was also declared a resounding success. I didn't try enough of it to form an opinion, except for the black pudding which ended up on my plate, and that was delicious.

For pudding I went traditional; - very sticky toffee pudding with Caol Ila butterscotch. If I was being picky I'd point out that it wasn't actually that sticky, but that's an irrelevance as it was very good. Sweet and rich without being cloying, and served simply with top quality vanilla ice cream.

AS had the rhubarb and custard crème brulee, orange and ginger granita, rosemary syrup. I've no idea what this was like, so engrossed was I in my sticky toffee I didn't pay it much attention. There were no complaints so presumably it was good.

We shared a single glass of dessert wine that was offered to us in two separate glasses without our asking, and certainly ended up with more than the single 125ml measure that we'd ordered. This was consistent with the service we received all evening, which was completely faultless as far as I'm concerned. Friendly, unpretentious, attentive without being obtrusive.

Including service we paid £125 in total, not cheap but entirely good value for the standard of cooking and service. Bearing in mind that over £40 of that was on wine you could eat here for considerably less than that. Excellent, highly recommended.

9/10

Royal Mile
267 Canongate
Edinburgh
EH8 8BQ

http://www.wedgwoodtherestaurant.co.uk/

Bacon Sandwich Quest: May

I don't know why I'm still bothering with this. I only ate one bacon sandwich in May, from a caff in Nottingham. Here's a photo of it:

Exciting huh? Don't let the uninspired appearance fool you though, it was a fairly good bacon sandwich. The increasingly uncommon use of sliced bread was welcome, and it was good bread too. Not the cheapest of plasticky loaves, but nothing too artisan either. Just right. Soft and accommodating.

The bacon was rough hewn and generously supplied. Maybe a little underdone, the fat could have done with a minute or so longer to crisp, but the flavour was mighty fine. Porcine.

It wasn't oversauced and service was swift. A good all rounder, it's done just enough to creep into the medal positions, like a competent heptathlete at the end of day one. Has it done enough to hold off stronger competitors as the tournament reaches its denouement? I doubt it. My money is on the Ennis of bacon sarnies storming through with a fine performance in the javelin (bread) and a personal best in the 800 metres (service). Or something. Only time will tell.

Leader board:

Sorry it's barely legible, I'm struggling with a better way to display it in Blogger. Suggestions anyone?

June will be more fun. We're only a week in and I've already eaten two bacon sandwiches!

Brown's, Leeds

FREEBIE ALERT

I'm not about to enter the debate about whether dining at chain restaurants is a good thing, or a bad thing, or morally despicable, or not-what-a-self-declared-food-obsessive should do, or whatever. I might enter that debate, but not right now, suffice to say the following:

Do I eat at chain restaurants? Yes, from time to time. Some are better than others. I enjoyed a meal at Brown's a few years ago so was happy to accept this freebie.

Don't I prefer worthier, independent restaurants? Yes, on the whole. On average they're better and worth supporting over some corporate behemoth. But there's no hard and fast rule. Some independently run restaurants are crap. Some chains have committed staff who care, and sometimes serve decent food. Move along.

Brown's, in the Light, is a big place. Both restaurant and bar, it was bustling on a Friday night. Noisy, but not so loud you couldn't hold a conversation in the dining area. The two of us sat in a comfy corner booth with a good view of the entire room.

The menu is fairly extensive, covering grills, fish, pasta dishes and various other bits and pieces. There's also a specials board which included plenty of seasonal produce, welcome in a chain restaurant as they don't often bother with that sort of thing.

The starters were both very good. I opted for the seasonal choice and had grilled asparagus with prosciutto, a poached egg and hollandaise. The asparagus was tender and not at all woody and the egg was accurately poached with a properly runny yolk.

Across the table the mushroom feuilleté proved popular. That would be a puff pastry mushroom pie in case you were wondering. The mushrooms had loads of savoury flavour which was offset nicely by some caramelised pickled onions that were dotted around the plate.

Next up I chose pasta from the specials board, tagliatelle with smoked haddock, peas and broad beans in a cream sauce. The portion was enormous so I couldn't finish it, but what I had I enjoyed. The pasta was cooked just right, the peas and beans both tasted fresh and bright and the haddock was undyed and not too salty.

A main of belly pork was also declared a success, the meat succulent as it should be. The crackling was poor though, as it was completely rock solid. I liked the accompanying sweet potato dauphinoise too.

We shared a tarte tatin for pudding, which came with good quality vanilla ice cream. The main problem with it was that it wasn't a tarte tatin. You can't cut corners with a tarte tatin by assembling a disc of pastry and some cooked apples then pouring caramel sauce over them. That's not a tarte tatin.

We drank a bottle of Sancerre, a bone dry, minerally, very quaffable white. That was one of the more expensive bottles on the list but there are plenty available for under twenty quid. Service throughout was excellent, efficient and friendly.

Would I return and spend my own money at Brown's? Yes, two of three courses were pretty good, and the service and atmosphere pleasant. With so many good independents on my 'to do' list I doubt I ever will though. Prices are maybe a little steep, with starters around £5-8 and mains £10-18.


Browns Bar & Brasserie Leeds
The Light
The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 8EQ

http://www.browns-restaurants.co.uk/locations/leeds/

East One, Sheffield

East One is a noodle bar, very much in the Wagamama style. One bowl dishes, seating at long wooden benches and so on. The menu leans more towards Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai rather than Japanese, but the styling is similar. I like these places, and am always hopeful that independent ones will come up trumps with better food than the chains.

Sadly East One wasn't that great. Vegetarian spring rolls were crisp and greaseless, but otherwise boring. Probably straight from the freezer catering pack, but certainly no better than that if they were made in house.

My Thai fried rice (chicken, onion, tomato, stir-fried with chilli paste, basil and fish sauce) was underseasoned in every way. Not enough chilli, basil or fish sauce. I asked for fish sauce and chillies so I could pep it up a bit, only for the waiter to explain that fish sauce wasn't used as a condiment as it was too salty. News to me. He brought me a tiny dish of chillies in vinegar instead.

AS had roast pork and duck on rice with greens. I tried the duck;- good flavour but a bit chewy. The sauce was too gloopy.

The chap, who to be fair was friendly, came back for another chat when we'd finished, and decided to explain the situation vis a vis appropriate use of fish sauce in more detail. I wouldn't have minded had I not known he was talking bollocks. Thais eat fish sauce laced with sliced chillies all the time. It's a condiment called nam pla prik (annoyingly I couldn't remember the name at the time).

Anyhow the food was ok, and was served quickly. Service was friendly but irritating. We paid around £23 in total, reasonable but not particularly cheap for this sort of thing.

5/10


13 The Plaza
West One
8 Fitzwilliam Street
Sheffield
S1 4JB

www.east1noodlebar.co.uk