by Cedric | Nov 8, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
The Sandpiper Inn is a 17th century pub with a cosy interior in the heart of Leyburn. Leyburn is a village which is itself in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, where I spent some time a few months ago. Alas I have only just gotten round to writing up a review of the Daleightful experience, pardon the pun, and am not aware of the current state of the ever-oscillating COVID restrictions at the time of the publication of this review. Rest assured dear reader, I attended when it was acceptable to do so.
Now that the outrageous floundering is out of the way, I can talk about the delightful meal which we experienced. This was my favourite meal which was not the one I ordered. the Sandpiper Burger was just superb. It had a beef steak burger, streaky bacon and smoked cheddar as well as delightfully crunchy bacon. I am unsure whether the beef was local and fed on Wensleydale grass only but it had quite a unique flavour. The texture was quite novel and smokier than what I was used to. The bun itself was a sensation and held the burger together wonderfully, which is always a good sign in a burger. Overall excellent.
M’colleague had the pan fried sea bream on linguine. Sea Bream is considered to be the tastiest of all fish. Its flavour is both clean and meat like. Regular readers of this blog will know that I detest fish and what with social distancing I did not get close enough to M’colleague to sample his dish. Suffice to say by the state of paralysis he found himself in after lunch, one can surmise the dish was a success.
My dish was a true showstopper. Lemon scented Nidderdale chicken breast on a chorizo, sweetcorn, piquillo pepper and basil mint risotto. This was explosively flavoursome. The sweet and spicy flavour of the chorizo blended beautifully with the savoury rice and parmesan. It is almost a shame the menu is changed every day because I would rather like to have this dish again next time I visit.
Overall the Sandpiper Inn is a distinguished restaurant in the heart of the Dales which offers a delightful and economic fare ahead of any cheese infused afternoon adventures. It is highly recommended.
by Cedric | Nov 4, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Tisane’s Tea Rooms are very much typical of the Broadway ideal – charming, traditional and quintessentially English. It sits on Lower High Street, metres away from the town Green, which I found to be the greatest attraction of the town. After a largely adequate lunch up the road at the Horse and Hound, we decided to have dessert at a different venue. Tisane’s was on the original itinerary for lunch but we ended up going there for scones.
And what scones! These were superbly soft, airy and light scones. Interestingly, scones were thought to have originated in Scotland and were originally round and flat instead of the modern bulky round modern shape. These fruit scones were a lot smaller than they look in the photograph. I so enjoyed them with the clotted cream and strawberry jam on offer.
Another highlight of this tea room is the excellent variety of hot beverages. They have 40 loose leaf teas on offer. These include Assam, Ceylon, Earl Grey English Breakfast, Lapsang Souchong, Rwanda Burundi and Spiced Chai Yunnan. I have tried Lapsang Souchong tea once after watching The Mentalist and found it to be almost as revolting as some of the acts of Red John, the serial murderer in the series. I had a pot of English Breakfast as I am not terribly adventurous when it comes to trying new teas. Excellent, as expected.
Overall, while I cannot write a comprehensive review of everything the Tea Rooms had to offer, I was left with an excellent first impression and will endeavour to return as soon as I can face the climb to Broadway Tower again. Tisane’s is highly recommended. And it is cheap at the price(as opposed to anything else), to boot.
by Cedric | Oct 19, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
If you happen to be in Broadway, chances are you are en route to, or have just come back from, Broadway Tower. Either way, a wonderful stop you may consider is The Horse and Hounds pub. This was not the world’s greatest restaurant however, it was a good pub grub and had an excellent selection of alcoholic beverages. In addition, it was far enough away from central Broadway to avoid the thrall of eager tourists and enjoy some relative peace. We ate in the back garden on one of the last days of summer, which was quite wonderful as you can imagine.
Our first foray into rural Worcester pub grub was the meat sharing platter. You may be unsurprised that this arrived at our table with relative speed. I suspect this is because the majority of what you see came out of a slim plastic packet from Tesco. I may be wrong, mind, but this was far from the locally sourced meat feast I was expecting. Additionally there was far too much balsamic vinegar mixed with the olive oil. I was left with gloop on my bread!
I, in a rare concession to my worst judgment, ordered the beef burger. Large scale beef production has an absolutely appalling impact on the environment hence I have cut it out of my diet except for on very few occasions a year. This beef burger was okay, I enjoyed the cheese and bacon combination. The bread was lovely and soft. The texture of the beef itself was a bit jarring but perhaps that is because I so seldom eat it these days. The chips on my plate were outstanding, however. Perfectly cooked and salted.
The onion rings were not half bad either. They are too curiously uniform to have been made at home that day. I suspect they are from a frozen bag of some kind. But again this is pub grub and it was not at all expensive.
I am posting the above as a public service announcement to those of you considering ordering the pizza. As with most pub pizzas, the dough is not home made and is in fact, somewhat reminiscent of a fresh digestive biscuit. This shocking betrayal of culinary standards aside, pubs always seem to get the topping right on pizzas like this. The cheese is plentiful and the tomato is often fresh. I did not expect them to put a slice of tomato on the pizza itself, but then again, this is England, and people do not know what they are doing.
One of the more successful dishes in the repertoire of this pub was the vegetable lasagna. This was a deceptively large helping and steeped in about one inch of cheese, as you can see. This was my favourite meal of the whole lunch. This had layers and flavours without committing the cardinal sin of resorting to beef. Phil was extremely full after this and could barely handle the dessert we ordered form the next restaurant we attended that afternoon. More on this in a separate post.
Finally, the infamous scampi. One of my colleagues scanned the menu ahead of ordering, declared aloud that she did not like scampi, then proceeded to order the scampi. Lo and behold, by a shocking turn of events, she did not enjoy the scampi. This came as no surprise to this reviewer, who predicted the sequel of the onion rings: ‘The Freezer Strikes Again’. I did not think to sample the scampi. I could not take any more heartbreak.
Overall, the food in the pub was a solid meh. The drinks were lovely, they even had Heineken Zero for my tee total colleague. My Orchard Pigs cider was lovely, this, with Orchard Thieves, form my two favourite ciders of the summer. The atmosphere of The Horse and Hounds is lovely, the building itself is gorgeous and the location is stunning. This is the place to go if you do not want to spend too much, have a sort of decent meal and be as far away as possible from sodding tourists.
by Cedric | Oct 7, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
I hesitated for a moment when drafting this post, I considered putting the Tannin Level in the art category of Cedric Suggests. The Tannin Level was always a place I would aspire to dine when living in Harrogate. By virtue of my, then, extreme youth, I did not have the funds to do so. Thankfully the times have changed and in my favour. This was the first stop we made on our way up to the Yorkshire Dales and was well worth the two hour drive.
The Tannin Level is a below ground restaurant on Raglan street in the heart of Harrogate which boasts some of the finest and most reasonably priced foods in town. We began with the Tasting Board which consisted of mini fish & chips, Smoked haddock & leek fishcake, honey roast chorizo, crispy halloumi, chicken liver parfait, dressed leaves and grilled bread. It is difficult for me to pin down a favourite component of this lavish tasting board as everything was exceptional. Perhaps the most fantastic was the chicken liver parfait, which, as the name suggests, was perfect. It reminded me of the home made parfait I would have at Christmas in France. The waiter did reveal to me that this was likely because the parfait, as with everything else on the menu, was made fresh on the premises each day.
The chorizo was delightfully oily and yet somehow soft. The halloumi was seasoned in a way I had not encountered before. More on the batter on the fish and chips below…
What amazed me about the fish and chips was the way the batter stuck to the fish itself so tightly. This is achieved by adding baking soda and some sparkling water to the batter mix. This helps with wasted batter and gives a far more accurate picture of what lies beneath. Additionally, my worry with fish and chips is often how much batter there is on the damned thing. I will usually be full once a fraction of this batter is consumed so was most grateful to the Tannin Level for eliminating this problem. The haddock itself was divine as we had come to expect. The mushy peas were also a star of the show, they were pureed to perfection and had a tantalising flavour which I am at a loss to describe to you.
Nick and I ordered the Trio of Pork which consisted of crispy Yorkshire belly pork, 6 hour braised pork cheek, French black pudding pasty, buttered mash, honey glazed Chantenay carrots, baked apple puree and red wine jus. This was nothing short of masterful. The black pudding was encased in home made pastry and was so fine in texture I could not believe what I was eating. It was beyond anything I expected. I’ve never been one for crunchy meat. The remaining pork on my plate did not last very long. It was so soft and flavoursome. It fell apart on the fork but still held together enough to be chewy. The apple sauce was probably some of the best I have ever tried. There were only a few splodges here and there but it was enough to make a marked impression on me. Overall a sensational dish.
We were so thoroughly impressed with our meal at the Tannin Level. I am now cross with myself for not going more often when I lived in town. If you are in Harrogate and have a spare £20, go for lunch at the Tannin Level, you won’t regret it one bit!
by Cedric | Aug 18, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
On account of this wretched pandemic, Bonehead Chicken only allows you to order their divine food through Uber Eats. One is not yet allowed inside the fine establishment so please forgive my photographs for not being of the usual quality one might expect on this blog. I have had to pinch photographs from blogs which visited in person in the Before Time.
I would like to first draw your attention to the exquisite waffle fries which were a gift from Heaven. Their consistency was delightful, just turgid enough. Their size was just enough for a mouthful. The level of seasoning was superb. They were also cooked to perfection.
The Buffalo Soldier –
Fried Chicken Thigh, Buffalo Hot Pepper Sauce, Blue Cheese Sauce, Shredded Lettuce & Pickle.
This photograph was pinched from Independent Birmingham, a superb app/ website which promotes local independent restaurants, bars and pubs in the city. I urge you to look into it and sign up. It has made my life immeasurably better. The Buffalo Soldier was a hellishly good burger. What amazed me the most about both burgers was that they held together wonderfully.
I won’t include a picture of the Bonehead Burger because it does not look nearly as delicious as the one above, however I can confirm it was some of the most beautifully cooked chicken I have had in months. The seasoning was not all together present in the latter and the former was greatly enhanced for its blue cheese sauce.
Overall I found this to be a most excellent venue and I hope to return soon after my next pay day. I am most impressed by its location, delivery time and robust burgers. But equally deserving of praise are its wonderful waffle fries, which I shall be devouring more of as soon as possible.
by Cedric | Aug 6, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
The remarkable thing about this bakery is that it is hidden right in the middle of town, on New Street no less. While I have not yet had time to sample all of the deliciousness on offer, I have tried a fair bit and cannot but recommend this wonderful eatery and art gallery to you.
Medicine was born out of a discovery of abandoned space, of new possibilities and an inquisitive quality for creating something vital and diverse. An artisan bakery and kitchen, café and gallery, which is rooted in its heritage in both Birmingham and Wolverhampton, Medicine represents a new format of social space. It finds its niche through a carefully curated menu of ethical products, whilst offering a daily fix of cultural inspiration in an environment which promotes a debate about art and culture. Medicine
I must apologise, I have yet to take a photograph of the panoply of treats available all together. However, I have managed to capture selected goodies, for example this magnificent rosemary focaccia, made on the day. I bought three portions of this to make sandwiches which turned out quite spectacular. But one can also buy sandwiches from this bread made in store.
We feasted on these one Sunday lunch. The lower one was vegetarian, it had carrots, mushroom, salad and pesto which made for quite the sumptuous and healthy feast. Fibrous is indeed the word I would use to describe this wonderful sandwich.
Mine, however, was the meatball marinara. Biting into it was like taking a mouthful of beef ragú sauce. Just exactly correct. The sauce was so plentiful that it made the bread moist. There was just the right amount of fennel so as to not make the whole thing taste like wet dog. the red cabbage and Monteray Jack cheese was astonishing, though I would have preferred parmesan for consistency.
Take a look below at a photograph snatched from the Medicine website for an example of the fine sweet offerings at the bakery, which I shall come onto now.
As I say I have not managed to sample everything yet, but I have had one of their vegan donuts (a tad hard for me, raspberry jam filling mind-blowing), maple and pecan Chelsea Bun (amazing), Pizzant (pizza dough made of croissant with pesto, tomato and parsley topping – there are no words) and their speciality, the mighty Cruffin.
The idea of the Cruffin is that they have made a muffin out of croissant batter. Then Medicine have topped it with chocolate icing and filled it with a hazelnut ganache, not too dissimilar to a Fererro Rocher. This was a lesson in dessert. The flavour – astounding, subtle balanced. The texture – perhaps a bit dry but wonderfully croissant like. The look – ten out of ten. This was a stunning dessert which left me speechless.
I so look forward to sampling everything else Medicine has to offer. I may well do a second review in the coming weeks. Who is to say?
