Quick, tasty Thai in London

TUK TUK is a great place to go for a quick, tasty dinner, or a more leisurely one if you would prefer. It’s a 56, Old Compton Street in London, with Leicester Square tube station close by.

It’s quite small with really friendly, happy staff. The decor is plain and simple and it has more of a canteen style but it’s a bargain! For drinks and a two course meal, it was £12 a head.

Between five of us we shared crispy duck pancakes, satay chicken and tempura vegetables. The satay was particularly good and very tasty, as was the duck.

For the main course I had pad Thai, which was well done and I opted for it with prawns. The portion was good, with a limey tang, nuts sprinkled on top and great flavours all around.

My friends opted for noodle soup and three out of the four of them were defeated due to the portion size. Great food at great prices. 

Exciting new find for great tea and cake in Bucks

IT is official. My friend Lara appears to know all the best places for tea and cake. 

'Have you heard about the pop-up cafe at Peterley Manor Farm in Prestood,' she says. 

'It has pick your own too.'

So along we went one Saturday on a beautiful sunny day and it was amazing!! The cafe is in a yurt and it is charming. The china is lovely, the decor is floral and vintage and the food is amazing!

It serves brunch, lunch and tea and cake, and I combined two of these. I had the scrambled egg and smoked salmon on brown bread (£6.15), which was so well done. The eggs were creamy and cooked just right and the salmon was a good quality. 

I also treated myself to a pot of tea (£2.30), which tasted like no other tea I had tried and was loose leaf. It was realy fragrant and quite fruity, in a good way.

I also had a slice of the strawberries and cream cake (£3.75), which was deliciously rich.  There were layers of cream between moist sponge, all with a strawberry flavour. It was amazing.

We then picked our own fruit, and went away with a smile on our faces. I would highly recommend this place. I hope I will be going back for more cake soon. 

The Eagle in Farringdon

TOM took me to The Eagle in Farringdon. It’s uber cool, with high ceilings, tables very close together, an open kitchen with the menu on chalk boards above.

It’s a bit of an assault on the senses at first as it is so loud, noisy and busy. But once you get used to it, it feels fun and exciting. There are about ten dishes which the chef writes up on the boards each day so it is regularly changing.

Tom and I were perched on stools in a window seat right next to the bar/ kitchen so it didn’t feel particularly relaxed.

But the food was great. We both had a steak salad with rocket, new potatoes and capers. The portions are a tad on the small size. It was about £15, but the quality was superb. The steak was cooked medium rare and was tender, well seasoned and delicious. The other ingredients all married well together and it was a great dish. I would recommend to go there for lunch.

Go to www.theeaglefarringdon.co.uk. 

Filling up on more afternoon tea

ANOTHER afternoon tea beckoned. And this time to Holme Lacey House in Herefordshire. It started off badly when the receptionist was quite rude to my mum and I, but once over that little hiccough the staff were friendly.

We were seated in a very quiet room overlooking the grounds and OAPs sipping on drinks. There was no atmosphere and some music would have been appreciated, as there was only one other couple and we felt we were whispering.

The waitress told us the chef was preparing our afternoon tea but when it came out it had clearly been in the fridge, which was fine, but felt it was an odd thing to say.

But as for the afternoon tea, it was really good. There was a selection of sandwiches from smoked salmon, egg mayo, cucumber and cream cheese and ham and mustard. The ingredients were all a good quality and there were five fingers each, which is more than you would usually expect.

There were also six cakes- a mixture of pastries, carrot cake and sponge and they were all really good- no dry cakes here. An odd addition was two small cups of raspberry liqueur with a splodge of whipped double cream on top. It was so rich and rather odd! I like the liqueur but not with the cream.

The scones were really big and served with Tiptree jam and clotted cream, which was delicious.

And then, as if this wasn’t enough, we were given strawberries and yet more cream.

We were stuffed and they kindly packed the cakes up for us to take away, which was very much appreciated.

We finished the visit with a walk around the nice grounds. This is £35 per couple, which considering how much you get seems fairly reasonable. 

A perfectly pleasant afternoon...

A QUINTESSENTIAL afternoon tea. The perfect way to while away an hour or two, while catching up with a good friend.

AS afternoon tea obsessives, Lara and I made our way to Browns restaurant in St Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden.

It looks very grand from the outside and inside it is elegant, yet completely relaxed with a friendly atmosphere.

Our very charming and slightly John Cleese-esque waiter was a gent throughout and we had a perfectly pleasant afternoon.

We went for the champagne afternoon tea, which is £17 for one or £24 for two.  So shocked were we at the small difference in price, we had to double check.

The glass of Mercier NV Brut was very quaffable. And the loose leafed tea was light and fragrant.

There was a selection of finger sandwiches including smoked salmon and cream cheese, egg and watercress and cucumber, which all went down a treat.

A selection of mini cakes tempted us including a chocolate, lemon and fruit cake, the last being our least favourite and the chocolate one certainly the best.

And then the piece de resistance- fruit scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. The scones were warm, the jam extra fruity and the cream extra thick. We were satisfied.

Served from 2.30pm daily I would  highly recommend Brown’s for afternoon tea.

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

Some great places to eat from Cyprus to High Wycombe

AND I wonder why I put weight on. I have been eating out so much of late it has been rather indulgent. But I plan to get cooking again, due to the fact my trousers are getting that little bit too tight. But I have to say I have had some lovely food, so it has all been worth it. Here are some of the places I have been:

Strada:

For one reason, or another, I have always shunned this Italian chain for the likes of Ask. But this was a silly move as the food is fabulous! I went there on a busy Saturday night and had the Cavatappipollo Crema (£10.95) which was corkscrew pasta, chicken and sliced mushroom in a deliciously creamy tarragon sauce, finished with fresh parsley and salsa verde. It was so full of flavour I relished every bite. The salsa verde was perfect and something which I don’t see much of on menus, but which I love.

I even opted for a dessert- Cherry and ricotta cheesecake which was juicy cherries and creamy ricotta cheese on a biscuit base. Served with berry coulis. I have to say this didn’t live up to the main, as it was a tad tasteless. But overall I would recommend Strada for great Italian food.

Ocean’s Basket, Cyprus

Bit of a random one, but I would definitely recommend this chain, if you are heading to Cyprus on holiday. We fancied a change from our half board one night so headed here in Ayia Napa. As you would expect, it’s seafood galore. We shared a platter of Prince prawns, calamari in breadcrumbs, calamari steak, garlic mussels and a village salad. The calamari was some of the best I ever tried- it was tender and delicious. The garlic was moreish and the prawns were well cooked. But the only problem was the village salad- it was crudely put together and didn’t add much to the meal.

Chimichanga Old Market Hereford

This is a new restaurant in the Old Market development in Hereford, so Tom and I thought we would try it. It was a lovely sunny day and it was nice to sit outside. The menu is as you would expect from a Mexican, the staff were ridiculously upbeat and friendly and there was a nice atmosphere. I had the pulled pork chimichanga (£12.25), which was packed with filling and the pork was tender and tasty. Tom had the chicken fajitas (£14.25). It was nicely presented but Tom wasn’t overly impressed. Although I don’t think you can go far wrong with a fajita. Great for lunch.

The Waterway Restaurant in Maida Vale. 54 Formosa St, London

I went to Little Venice near Paddington with my uni friends. It was a bit of a dreary day and I wasn’t overly impressed with Little Venice. It is just a small strip of canal with a few restaurants dotted around. We decided on this venue by the canal, just as it started to rain. There is a nice outdoor area and the staff are really friendly. We went for the Greek meze with hummus, halloumi, stuffed vine leaves, tzatziki, red pepper feta, olives and grilled pitta for £18.50 between three. It was ok but portions were pretty small. It all tasted good but I wasn’t amazed. Would not particularly recommend.  

The Castle in Tooting Broadway

This has recently been refurbished and is a huge space. It looks good but quite similar to most pubs you see in London. The menu is quite varied. I went for the Rotisserie Dingley Dell pork, crackling, cyder fondant potato, purple broccoli, toffee love apples and wholegrain sauce (£13.50). It was a pretty decent dish, but it was missing that little something. The pork was a bit too fatty and it wasn’t particularly well done. The crackling was much too tough and the wholegrain sauce was quite bland. However the toffee love apples were delicious- like little toffee apples on your plate. A reasonable price just needs some improvement.

The Snug in High Wycombe

Tom and I went here on a Sunday and we were the only people in there, which was a bit odd. The menu is far too basic- the only real choice is a burger or sandwich. I went for the New Yorker with dill pickle, fried onions and mature cheddar cheese (£9.45). Skinny fries were an added extra for £2.45, which made the dish overpriced. The burger was well seasoned and not too thick and the fried onions were very tasty. Tom had a bacon blue cheeseburger with back bacon and stilton (£9.45) with sweet potato fries £2.95. I think the food here is ok but not worth the money.

Pinch pizza, next to the Hammersmith Apollo

This was a great little find- freshly made pizza with loads of choice and for a great price. Daisy went for The hottie of jalapeno, chicken and mushroom £6.90,while I went for The Ialiano with capers, anchovies and olives £6.50. The pizza was thin, crispy with a good amount of topping. Worth a visit. Go to www.pinchpizza.com

A beautiful weekend in St Ives

FOR those of you who haven’t been to St Ives, I would thoroughly recommend a visit.

For me, it has it all- great places to eat (a must!), narrow cobbled streets with quirky shops, beautiful beaches, great coastal walks, not to mention the Cornish pasties and clotted cream icecream.

It has a great atmosphere with bustling crowds and lots going on.

Tom and I stayed in The Sail Lofts apartments, which I would thoroughly recommend. They are beautifully designed spaces with loads of room and somewhere you can spend a lot of time whiling away the hours.

On the first night we ate at the amazing Porthminster Beach Cafe. It is absolutely stunning as it sits just under Porthminster Point and you can look out across the bay towards the lighthouse. It really made me feel as if I was on holiday.

The staff were great and it was really busy.

I went for the special of sea bream with tempura scallops in a crab bisque. It was incredible- the sea bream was soft and tender and the scallops were to die for- the perfect constituency in a crispy coating. Tom went for the monkfish curry, which was also superb- fragrant, creamy and well presented.

For dessert we shared a chocolate crème brulee, which rather unusually was served in a slab. It was so rich and delicious, and a great end to the meal. If you go to St Ives, coming here is a must.

The next day we sampled the local pasties and then for dinner we just couldn’t decide as there are so many places to go to. In the end we opted for onshore, on the harbour front.

It was ok- it was a bit quiet at first and the waiter seemed fond of seating the few people who were there very close together.

But besides that, the food was good. I had the seafood linguini (£13.95). It was a mix of king prawns, mussels, scallops and fresh squid in a cream sauce. The sauce was great and the pasta well cooked. My only criticism was the squid was a bit tough, although strangely it tasted great. Tom went for the sharing platter (£11.95) which was a mix of olives, sunblushed tomatoes, roasted red peppers,  halloumi cheese, Parma ham, sliced chorizo, sliced salami and flatbread. All the products were fresh and a good quality.

The next day we were a little fed up of eating out so went for the fish and chips and pizza combo! But there are so many other places to eat out and a huge selection.

St Ives is a beautiful place to spend a weekend away and worth the long car journey.