Here you will find food ideas from restaurants, recipe ideas, festivals and daily restaurant deals worth buying

After a bit of over indulgence the night before and stocking up on every item on the menu for breakfast at the Queens Hotel in Chester in the morning I wanted to go easy for lunch especially as we were booked in at The Lobster Pot for tea.

We decided after I’d regained vision from being speared in the eye from a room diffuser stick in the shop next door that we would share a light lunch just to tie us over till tea later on. We were ushered to a table out the back near the windows to where the Menai met the sea but held off on ordering till the front table and stools were vacant so we could enjoy lunch with a view.

menai-bridge-anglesey-opposite-dylans-restaurant

The Food

Skinny Fries – £3

Slaw – £3

Goats cheese, parma ham, rocket, fig pizza – £10.95

I was fancying the pepperoni, lamb mince and chilli pizza but got my arm twisted to go for the goats cheese, prosciutto, fig and rocket pizza after the tantalising good one of the same name in the Eisteddfod in Abergavenny the previous week so thought it would be good to see how they compared.

The pizza was noticeably larger and thicker than the wood fired counterpart at the Eisteddfod but lacked the flavour, crisp and smokiness only achievable on a wood fired oven. I had to double check they hadn’t forgotten the prosciutto on top at first as it wasn’t exactly dripping with it or tasting of it to be honest. What it made up in dough volume it lacked in topping density and flavour compared to the one from Anna’s Wood Fired Pizzas as that had bit chunks of caramelised goats cheese, mounds of crisped stringy prosciutto and tender figs. Also what I wasn’t overly keen on was the overcompensation of flavour using way too much honey on top too it did nothing for me and spoilt it to be honest although I was appreciative of the bit of flavour it added to an otherwise unappealing plate of dough and cheese. Ok maybe that was a bit harsh as I did eat it all but i wasn’t bowled over with what I was served for £11. The skinny fries delivered what they said on the tin, with a good coating of the table Halen Mon salt tub on show and a good dollop of creamy slaw to offer some low carb alternative to what was already on my plate.

I’d try the place again for sure maybe some of the tapas or fish but wouldn’t rush back for a pizza.

We did take some of the shortbread biscuits, which on tasting with a cuppa back at the house must of contained 98% butter (not that i’m complaining) but were bloody good. The piccalilli tub we bought also came in handy for the following evenings BBQ and had a good spice to vinegar ratio with good crunch on the veg too.

It’s always the case when you visit somewhere new, when you haven’t got the foggiest idea where to go for food or a drink. It’s not so bad in a city as you can go for a mini adventure on foot as the streets tend to be straight and easily navigable but on an island attached to the mainland by two bridges and with little pockets of settlement and housing dotted around the island it sometimes becomes a little harder.

You can try the trip adviser method but sometimes you just end up with the Janes butty hut serving lunchtime sandwiches instead of a decent restaurant for tea. Luckily for me I was in the company of Ynys Mon born and bred Llio Angharad, so we had to dine where the locals dine at her favourite and by the sounds of it everyone elses favourite place to eat on Anglesey, the Lobster Pot. Seems it was a family tradition working at the Lobster as that was her first ever job so brought back some fond memories.

The Lobster Pot in Anglesey seems to be the islands worst kept secret with mostly only locals knowing about the quint little restaurant located in Church Bay about 25 miles or 30 minutes from Menai Bridge.

The Food

Starter : Anglesey Mussels – £7.50

Main : Lobster Surf and Turf 1/2 lobster thermidor and 8oz Fillet Steak – £29.95

Dessert: Sticky Toffe Pudding and Ice Cream – £5.25

The Lobster Pot had been feeding the local Anglesey residents lobster, crab and oysters since 1946 and when dinning at a fish restaurant with so much experience and their speciality in the name of the business there wasn’t much that was going to stop me having lobster.

 

the-lobster-pot-anglesey-muscles

 

I had opted to give mussels a miss for lunch at Dylan’s in Menai Bridge a few hours before knowing I was coming to The Lobster Pot so thought I’d go the full sea food hog for tea. I opted for the Anglesey Mussels steamed with garlic, onions, cream & white wine with a chunk of bread drowned in real butter to mop up the hearty broth. I’ll be honest I could probably have smashed a whole boule of sourdough to soak up every last drop of the sea kissed juices eagerly staring at me from the bottom of the pot but i didn’t want to crash and burn too early.

I managed to sample a little nugget of scallops from Llio’s starter of Scallops Mornay, which were basked in Welsh Cheese sauce, reminding me of my favourite starter ever the St Jacques Coquilles sauce minus the crispy pipped potato. My buttered bread chunk gliding over the plate like a stealth bomber stealing a dollop of sauce to sample the flavours of the other starter on the table.

Main course I was looking to the most. I’ve had lobster quite a few times but it’s just been grilled with a bit of garlic butter and a few herbs liberally sprinkled like confetti on top but i’ve always fancied the lobster thermidor after watching a programme on BBC of them painstakingly preparing them for dinners on the Belmond British Pullman. Unless I was going to fork out for a 5kg beast I knew a £25 lobster wasn’t going to fill me up so I opted to sample some of the finest Anglesey fillet steak cooked medium rare to compliment the fish course.

I couldn’t decide where to stab my fork first the succulent, blood licked fillet or the white flakes of lobster submerged in the creamy, blistered cheese sauce but it had to be the lobster i’d been dying to try for so long. The sauce was something else it truly was and didn’t want it to end scraping every last morsel from the lobster shell and the steak was so tender, with a perfectly seared crust yet melted in the mouth and knife glided through it like butter. The steak wasn’t complete without a good dusting of Anglesey’s finest export with the white tub of Halen Mon taking centre stage on the table.

lobster at the lobster pot Anglesey

 

I was torn on the desserts hoping for a cheese board to share but with none on the menu I set up on a trust favourite the sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. A perfect ending to the 5* previous two courses, the portions were just right with a warm, moist sponge, buttery toffee drizzled on top with ample scoops of good vanilla ice cream. No Walls shit here that’s for sure.

sticky toffee pudding at Lobster Pot Anglesey

If you are on Anglesey and looking for some of the finest sea food the island has to offer then make sure you pencil in The Lobster Pot because it truly was the best lobster dish and one of the best cuts of fillet i’ve tasted. Everyone we spoke to about our booking for tea were in no denial we would enjoy the meal, which goes to show the quality is something they pride themselves on in the old cottage restaurant.

Contact Details

Church Bay, Anglesey, LL654EU.
01407 730 241

http://www.thelobsterpotrestaurant.co.uk

So last week I decided to explore a bit more of North Wales considering i’ve probably visited more of England than my home country. I flew to Anglesey from Cardiff and not sure where to visit at first and it still being quite early I decided on a drive to Colwyn Bay to sample breakfast at Bryn Williams at Port Eirias.

It took a bit a while to get to the promenade as there were signs up saying road closed yet no other road to get to Bryn Williams restaurant on the front so we took life in our own hands and sped past the signs and parked up outside.

The place seemed to be nestled inside a visitor centre on the front of Colwyn Bay and looked like a collaboration between the local council and the well known Welsh Chef no doubt taking on local food college student’s to teach them a trade by dishing out well presented plates to visitors of the beach front location.

bryn-williams-port-eirias-restaurant-decor-2-1

I loved the decor inside although it did look like it was built then dropped in the middle of a community centre and didn’t quite blend in to the rest of the building but then that’s not their problem as the rest of the building seemed to be council run with a lot smaller budget. There were plenty of Bryn William’s latest books scattered around on the book shelves for you to take a look at and add to your order and if the weather wasn’t like a monsoon outside it would of been an amazing view with breakfast or lunch. I wouldn’t be surprised if they let you take the food outside if the sun was out but it was just my luck it was grey, wet and miserable out there.

bryn-williams-port-eirias-restaurant-decor-1

I’ve been on a mission of late to sample as many breakfasts as possible in hope that it will spurn me on to keep this blog up to date and keeping in with my usual full breakfast and to compare it to last week’s one at the Angel Hotel in Abergavenny I settled for the same.

The Food

So on expecting the menu and browsing the Facebook page the smashed avocado and runny poached egg did start me salivating but for a fair comparison to the Angel full breakfast it was only right I ordered the same here although I skipped on the Bloody Mary seeing that I had to drive to Chester for the night after i’d finished my food.

The full breakfast contained the following:

  • Sausage wheel
  • Poached egg
  • 2 rashers of bacon
  • Gilled Tomato
  • Flat mushroom

I was asked if I wanted toast, which I quite rightly agreed to with no mention of the extra £1.50 charge on top of the £8.50 I wasn’t impressed when this showed up on the bill.

Instead of the Bloody Mary like last week I opted for a blend of breakfast teas in a pot for £3 and had enough for just over 2 cups and was a good brew to be fair but I was a bit disappointed with the breakfast. The black pudding, which I’ve been a recent convert after only knowing charcoal briquette like examples from a burger van I was put off for years was the saving grace on the plate and was the best i’ve tried yet. The breakfast was ok and i’ve probably had worse but it just didn’t fill me with excitement especially with the name of the chef above the door.

My fellow guest had the Eggs Royale again for a fair comparison to the ones ordered at the Angel the week before. I have to admit if I wasn’t so petrified of the sight and smell of avocado I would of been all over this as the portions were very generous and the oozing egg yolks paired with the creamy hollandaise did make me drool a little.

The verdict was very good for the Eggs Royale and i’d be tempted to try my favourite hangover cure Eggs Benedict a try or the avocado and eggs toast but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back from the full breakfast especially at £10 after the stealth tax on the toast added to the £8.50 cost. The Eggs Royale came in at the same price too but looked a lot more filling.

Total cost came in around £25 for the full breakfast, toast, eggs royale, coffee and tea.

Being a non Welsh speaker the thought of attending the annual Eisteddfod sounded a bit stupid to me in past years as I just assumed it was a week of church choirs and schoolchildren singing in a language I didn’t understand. It sounded like a cross between a school assembly and being stuck in an Christening on a Sunday afternoon except I wouldn’t have a clue what was bellowing out of the peoples mouths around me, so not thanks i thought.

 

This year’s event was set to take place in Abergavenny so only an hour up the road and with the largest Waitrose I’ve seen this side of the bridge in the centre of town along with the offer of a free ticket, a sofa to rest my head in for the night and the promise of some festival food and cider I had a welsh translator app downloading onto my phone within seconds!

The event is in full swing Monday to Saturday but the grounds do open on the Saturday and Sunday for a nosey around and to sample the local produce and street food vendors on offer before the masses of historical school children. Not only that but what I could only imagine as being like walking through M & S on a Sunday full of geriatrics only on a grander scale taking up the whole walkway talking to Doris and Dai they haven’t seen for a whole 7 days since their last visit for a Rotisserie chicken and a packet of dutch shortcakes to go with their afternoon cuppa, which drives me mental and has me cursing the grey haired lane hoggers under my breath!

The weather was set to be gorgeous all weekend so off I went Saturday afternoon in the Fiat up past Merthyr on the A470 towards Abergavenny, which must of been the furthest i’ve managed without using my sat nav as i’m bloody useless at directions.

Anyway I got in and managed to sneak through the back entrance to save my disco ravaged legs strapped up and e45’ed to death from a night of old school house disco dancing to Sasha at the Tramshed on Friday followed by an afterparty at Club Ifor Bach for Time Flies event with some Ibiza legends on the turntables. I must of burned over 5000 calories and sweated enough to liquids to fill the Rio Olympic swimming pool so I needed re-charging with some stodge and fermented apples like yesterday!

The Eisteddfod 2016 Festival site was much bigger than I imagined but luckily for me the fence I jumped over was right next to the food stalls and beer wagon. (I did have a ticket don’t worry I was just meant to walk about a mile around the perimeter to the front entrance and I wasn’t in the mood with my half melted skin graft needing inside legs blistering with every friction burning step I took)

I was a bit disappointed with the number of food traders having been to the Cardiff International Food Festival and the Royal Welsh a couple of weeks before but there were a couple of new faces but the first one I spotted was my good friend Gabriel of The Spanish Buffet with his wizard like churning of his cauldron / paella pan into golden mounds of Balearic comfort food.

I’d sampled his epic Paella down in Cardiff the month before and known him for a while from creating his website thespanishbuffet and had a chat the week after to catch up and see how the festival season is going at the Royal Welsh so gave him and wave and headed on to find something my ravaged lips hadn’t gnawed at before.

El Sals – Nachos

When you’re feeling like death what’s the first choice you scramble together on a plate in the house? NACHOS because you can throw the whole cupboard and fridge on there with little nuggets of cheese, piquant pockets of saltiness from the brined jalapeños, the refreshing taste of tomatoes with probably the only vitamin my body had seen that day tossed in fresh coriander, piled with chipotle pulled pork and fresh guacamole now then El Salsa load that bloody plate up thank you please!

The verdict: £7 fully loaded with chipotle pork I thought was a reasonable price for the portion considering you pay about £6 for a small tray of chips left dying in the open air for weeks on end with the gelatinous gloup of stingy nacho cheese, a teaspoon of salsa and a scattering of flavourless jalepenos in the cinema. To put them in the same sentence as cinema nachos though would be an insult to the girls of El Salso who knocked up the epic plate of Spanish happiness and would definitely recommend it. The guacamole was good too as sometimes they just spoon it out of a tub from Makro and the portions were as plentiful as you could want at a festival food stall if your anything like me and want small plates so you can tick off as many as you can before needing to lay down and have your stomach pumped for round two!

el-salso-nachos-and-meet-the-greek-chicken-souvlaki-eisteddfod-2016-abergavenny

Meet The Greek- Chicken Souvlaki Pitta

Well they were never going to gather dust on the table next to my pint of Thatchers Gold so it was only right to have a side dish to go with it and from being put off with the queue stretching and meandering to the entrance of the Wales Millennium Centre some 100 yards from the front of the queue of Meet the Greek at the Cardiff International Food Festival I thought I’d sample my first charcoal seared Chicken Souvlaki generously stuffed into a toasted pitta with shredded lettuce, fresh lemon, tahini and humous.

The verdict: I didn’t see what all the fuss was about at the Cardiff food fest with such a big queue of people waiting as I just saw it as a kebab but it was tasty and the toasted Halloumi extra was a nice touch. Worth the £7-8 I’m not sure, I did enjoy it but probably wouldn’t rush back if propositioned by someone new on the scene or one of my other fav’s on the festival scene in the near future.

Anyway after a few more ciders and as I didn’t get there till 5pm we headed back for a bit of cured meats, cheeses and bread for tea and that was Saturday night over with.

I’d been to Abergavenny a few times with the food fest and what have you over the years but never stayed the night or been there anywhere near early enough to catch breakfast so this time I was going to do it properly and find somewhere decent for a decadent breakfast of proportions whilst I was staying the night. After a bit of research online I couldn’t make my mind up and overlook the Angel Hotel as I’d heard the afternoon tea was good there but didn’t realise it was the same brand behind the Michelin Starred Walnut Tree just up the road, which I was denied sampling on Saturday as it was fully booked and they don’t open for Sunday lunch WTF what restaurant doesn’t serve food on what’s probably the busiest day of the year? Anyway my mind was set and I was going there for breakfast of which you can read the review over in another post when it’s finished as this is about the festival food.

I wasn’t planning on attending the Sunday at the Eisteddfod as I usually go up nanny Carole’s for her bicarb saturated roast on a Sunday but thought what the heck why not actually eat something with some flavour in on a Sunday for a change.

goats cheese proscuitto and fig pizza at the Eisteddfod 2016 in Abergavenny

Wood Fired Pizza – Goat’s cheese, prosciutto, fig and rocket pizza

After i’d left my full Welsh breakfast washed down with a smoked Chase Vodka Bloody Mary cocktail it was onto sampling the other delights on offer at the food stalls at the festival and i’m usually quite partial to a pizza especially a wood fired oven pizza. I studied the chalk board of concoctions and after finishing heaving from the first one on the list the Hawaiian (utter sacrilege in my eyes) my eyes were transfixed on what sounded like the most beautiful pairing to grace an ash crusted and blistered dough base…I give to you the prosciutto, goats cheese, fig and rocket pizza mamma mia! Anyway as soon as that volcanic puddle of cheese had dropped from the pizza cooks ashen peel that thing was snatched and savagely bubbling away on my gums the way it should as it tastes so much better with the inferno in your mouth blistering every surface with that pleasure and pain sensation I just don’t know why but I have to do it!

The Verdict: Everything about this pizza was perfect, the crispiness of the pizza base from it’s almost tracing paper thickness, the caramelisation of the cured pork strands of prosciutto, the oozing golden goats cheese tempting me in for another slice paired against the soft tender fruitiness of the fig and peppery rocket adorning the top. I was almost tempted to queue for another as I shared a couple of slices and wasn’t sure what time my next plate was going to come as there were no plans for the afternoons activities at that point.

Brecon Venison Farm – Venison Nachos

A few more ciders, a Caerphilly Hallet’s Cider to be precise were expertly savoured in under the glare of the suns rays perched on a bale of hay. Time for feeding 3 of the day and following the motto of go hard or go home it was time for sample 2 of the nachos on offer but this time it was venison nachos from the Brecon Venison Farm.

I went and ordered some veggie fritters whilst these were being assembled.

Back to the venison nachos, which the girl behind the counter was just spooning a bit of what looked like good ole Makro esque guac onto my plate as I neared with my bowl of veggie fritters.

The verdict: I think I paid about £7, which was about the same as the fully loaded ones from El Salsa. The plate did have a lot more meat on this time probably and with the cost of venison being considerably more than pork that didn’t seem too high but they were a bit stingy on the portion of tortilla chips and the guac looked a bit fake but all in all they did taste good and I love a bit of game meat and what better to match it with than some nachos so win win.

No Bones Jones – fried veggie fritters with chilli jam

I nipped over to No Bones Jones as I’d been fancying their fried veggie fritters with chilli jam since I walked past it on Saturday. I ordered some of the freshly plunged veggies that had just come out of the fryer, topped with chilli jam (or sweet chilli sauce to you and me, which made me a little disappointed by the false advertising) and I sneaked a ladle full of mint sauce over the top too.

The No Bones Jones verdict: These cost just £3 or £4 if you want salad but I was in no mood for rabbit food especially with my side of venison nachos being prepared as I ordered these. To be fair there was a generous portion for £3 with about 3 large fritters and a few bits of broken ones added to the tub.

I was disappointed with the chilli jam as I was handed the bowl with nothing on I said is this the chilli jam pointing to the only bowl on the side but that was some kind of tomato sauce and pointed to the plastic catering bottle, with what looked suspiciously like sweet chilli sauce. For £3 I wasn’t in the mood for expressing the ins and outs of the trade descriptions act so cheekily spooned a good dollop of mint sauce to pair with the chilli sauce over the fritters. I shared the plate of nachos and the bowl of fritters and they were rather tasty compared to the bag of indian sides I bought from Samosaco at the Caerphilly food fest not long ago but these were freshly cooked and still warm whereas they had most probably been cooked the night before and were quite flavourless and hard to break down to chew whilst cold and ended up going in the bin after a single bit of all 4 items.

There were quite a few other veggie options on the No Bones Jones menu on the day such as veggie lasagne and some chickpea curry plus I did notice sticky toffee pudding but i’d just fought my way through a generous chuck of salted caramel brownie i’d bought for a good friend of mine Llio Angharad’s birthday that day as she was working at the festival and annoyed she wasn’t celebrating her birthday as well as she should be and not had the chance to blow out a candle.

At this point i’d probably eaten the average human’s weekly calorie allowance so I called time on anything else passing my lips that night and so my quest for festival food was over on this adventure at the Eisteddfod 2016 in Abergavenny.

As i’ve mentioned previously on the site, Park House is a well kept secret close to the city centre but off the beaten track of those scouring the streets of the Welsh capital following their the scents wafting around the bustling arcades and side streets that are the usual suspects for filling hungry bellies.

I’ve sampled the 7 course taster menu but yet to dine at Park House for the afternoon tea but after stumbling upon this great offer of afternoon tea for 2 for just £29 instead of the usual £50 so it’s nearly a half price discount.

They don’t just have Dave whose just done his level 1 BTEC in food behind the kitchen churning out plates of cheese and onion sandwiches and a wedge of stale Victoria Sponge here, oh no!

A little bit about the accolades of the hidden gem and the man behind the sorcery being concocted behind the flames in the kitchen.

The 2-AA-Rosette restaurant is “one of the most enjoyable places to eat in Cardiff”, according to The AA Restaurant Guide 2016.

Head chef Iain Inman, who has worked with the likes of Jean-Christophe Novelli, gained experience at the 2-Michelin-star The Square Restaurant, and was later appointed head chef at the 5-star Pennyhill Park under the mentorship of 2-Michelin-star chef Michael Wignall.

Park House has won multiple awards, including the South Wales Echo’s Restaurant of the Year 2013-2014, and the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence 2015.

So why have I never been to this contender for best restaurant of the year in Wales before? Well you’ve only got yourself to blame for that one but fear not if you jog on over to Travelzoo right now you can sample some of the magnificent creations that are being expertly crafted to meet the high expectations of Park Houses dinners for a fraction of the normal price of the afternoon tea.

This Park House afternoon tea discount is a time limited offer and are only usually available to buy for a couple of days and maybe a week on the Travelzoo website so be quick before they are all gone. You can get a discount voucher for the afternoon the for either 2 dinners for £29 or 4 dinners for just £50 getting it half price. Once you’ve purchased the vouchers from Travelzoo you can use them between 12-4pm Wed-Sat until 31 Oct.

Do you fancy trying an afternoon tea with a difference? How about trying the delectable array of pastries and sweet stuff on offer at Cardiff’s Park Plaza Laguna Restaurant’s afternoon tea but quaffing back a potent Hendrick’s elderflower collins gin cocktail instead of a pot of Earl Grey?

Park Plaza do like to offer it’s dinners ever changing options for it’s afternoon tea and it’s latest offering is the Hendrick’s G & Tea afternoon tea. You get the same scrumdidliumptious finger sandwiches, scones, pastries and cakes but for those who are partial to making the most of an afternoon out you can ditch the tea for something a bit stronger with it’s signature Hendrick’s elderflower collins (Hendrick’s gin, St Germain elderflower liqueur, maraschino liqueur, lemon juice and soda) served in a special Hendrick’s teapot.

Why not make an actual afternoon of it and leave the best till last with a discount voucher towards the Hendrick’s G & Tea afternoon tea and full use of the spa facilities at the Laguna Health Spa at the hotel for just £27 each. You can emerse yourself in the tranquil waters, bubbles and steam of the spa making you totally relaxed in the knowledge you’re going to be sampling some of the best afternoon tea delights on offer in Cardiff all washed down with a fine gin cocktail at the end of your pamper session.

Customers of the afternoon tea’s don’t normally gain access to the spa facilities of the hotel normally so this is a great deal and would make the ideal gift for a birthday or just to put a smile on someone special’s face because who needs an excuse to pamper yourself and eat devilishly good plates of carbs with a gin chaser!

Please not this is a time limited offer so be quick to snap it up before it disappears or is all booked up on Travelzoo.

It’s bank holiday weekend so no doubt most of the UK will be seeking out the ultimate hangover cure at some point over the next few days so what could be better than crisped smoked bacon, poached runny egg yolks with lashings of lemony hollandaise sauce mounted on top of crunchy crumpets fried in bacon grease!

I’m always seeking new ways of cooking and accompanying my weekly dose of bacon from Cure and Simple , the bacon subscription service where you get sent a choice of 6 bacon flavours through the post each week.

Seeing that i’ve had a fry up the past 3 days I thought i’d give my old favourite eggs Benedict a bash. I’d only ever tried making hollandaise once before and I think I put a bit too much vinegar in this time so it was time to make some amendments to my recipe this time.

Really simple hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 100g butter
  • 1/4 lemon for the juice
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon English mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt to taste
  • cracked black pepper to taste

How to make the really simple hollandaise sauce

  1. Put a pan of water on to boil. Kill two bird with one stone and use the bowl you’re going to cook your poached eggs in to cook the hollandaise sauce.
  2. Fill cold water in the sink or in a larger bowl just so you can place the hollandaise bowl into if it starts to heat to quickly.
  3. Melt the butter and allow to cool in a glass bowl
  4. Separate the eggs discarding the whites to leave you with egg yolks and add to the glass bowl with the butter.
  5. Squeeze the lemon 1/4 to get the juice into the egg and butter mixture
  6. Add a teaspoon of the white wine vinegar
  7. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne to the mix
  8. Add salt and pepper to taste
  9. Place the bowl over the boiling pan of water and keep whisking. Take the bowl off the water from time to time as not to overcook or heat too much as the yolks will start to scramble.
  10. You can drop your eggs into the pan whilst your thickening the hollandaise sauce it just depends how well done you like the yolks but I have to have them runny so don’t put the eggs in until the sauce starts to thicken slightly. It should take about 4-5 minutes to thicken depending on how high you have the heat.
  11. If the sauce thickens up too much and becomes a bit gloopy then just add a dash of water and cool the bowl down by dropping into the cold water in the sink or bowl.
  12. Place your poached egg on top of your preferred carb base and crispy bacon. If you haven’t got muffins then I like to use crispy crumpets that have been toasted first then crisped up in a pan full of bacon grease from the bacon I have to accompany the eggs benedict.
  13. Spoon a good dollop of the hollandaise sauce on top of the eggs and break the egg yolks so it oozes out over the toasted muffin/crumpets and bacon.
  14. Top with a bit of cracked pepper and start to devour! Licking the bowl is optional.

 

 

Every year on pancake day I come home and my mum’s causes the biggest crime to cooking known to man…buying a pre-mix box for making pancakes! I’m sick in my mouth a little at the thought of putting one of those grotesque plasticy pieces of shit in my mouth!

So then every year I trawl the interweb looking for a recipe for PROPER PANCAKES! I forget the coming year and do it all again so i thought after my extra special batch of batter I made this year after a bit of tweaking over the years i’d immortalise it on my blog so I can refer back to it in future years and maybe add to it from there.

Anyway all good pancakes instead of using a bag of pre-made crap from the local Spar with a list of ingredients longer than Ron Jeremy’s shlong only require 4 ingredients so how it can be that hard in the first place, I do question how people who resort to fake pancake mixes have survived this far in life!

Pancake Recipe

2 free range eggs

100g plain flour

300ml milk (i’ve gone for Sainsbury’s Jersey Cows Gold top milk for extra creaminess)

a small pinch of salt

Then you will need butter for greasing the pan between pancakes again i’ve gone for Sainsbury’s Jersey Cow’s taste the difference salted butter because who want’s fake flora or whatever other crappy vegetable based butter your grandmother has festering away in the fridge.

Instructions

Pour the flour into a bowl, crack over the two eggs and beat with a whist to incorporate all the egg into the flour so it’s wet. The idea is to add small dashes of the milk whilst whisking so that you’re not left with big lumps of flour in the bowl.

Once all the milk has been added and you have a light batter after whisking all the ingredients together add a knob of butter to the hot pan I used setting 3-4 on a hob with 6 being max with a cast iron pan.

You don’t want the butter to burn so as soon as it melts add a ladle of the pancake mix to the pan leaving it for a minute before you even think of touching and mutilating the wet pancake mix with a spatula as my mum seems to love doing every time she attempts to make them so she’s banned from going near them from now. Once the pancake starts to firm up on the first side and there doesn’t seem to be any wetness on top start to go around the edges of it with the spatula to stop it sticking and then scrape underneath it for the final test in the pancake cook…the Pancake Toss!!

Anyway flip it over and leave it settle for about another minute making sure not to burn because if the kids you’ve got queuing up with wild eyes and plates stuck out fighting for the first one are as fussy as in my nan’s house on pancake day they will toss it back at you if it’s cremated!

I sometimes give the first side another couple of seconds to make sure it’s warmed through and the pancake is at the ultimate melting temperature for what sugar laden topping you’ve got lined up for it. My usual suspect being salted caramel and or chocolate. I did however couple the freshly made salted caramel with Sainsbury’s madagascan vanilla cream, which went down a treat with each other and tasted quite similar to melted vanilla ice cream.

I made another batch of salted caramel this year but ditched the sailor jerry’s spiced rum as I didn’t want the kids going to bed with a hangover as it’s not half term until next week ha ha

Salted Caramel Recipe

200g granulated sugar

100ml double cream

100g butter (I used Sainsbury’s Jersey Cows salted butter for extra creaminess)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

100ml water

1 teaspoon of your favourite sea salt flakes (Do not use table salt as this will be too fine)

(Optional) 1 shot of spiced rum

Instructions

In a bowl add the granulated sugar and water and put on high heat to bring up to boil. Leave boiling away for several minutes. I used a sugar thermometer but couldn’t find how hot i needed it to go so it got up to 170C and just after it started to darken slightly.

This is were you need to be extra vigilant as there’s a very small window between it caramelising to the right colour and burning. You will notice it’s turning to a caramel too as it starts to smell more as it’s browning. You want a light caramelisation and as soon as it does start going from faint brown to a darker colour take it off the heat as it will continue to cook. Drop the butter in and start mixing it into the molten sugar but watch as it will start to bubble due to it being lower temperature.

Once the butter is mixed in with no lumps add the vanilla then the cream and whisk again but be careful it doesn’t start to spit again. At this point if you want to add a shot of spiced rum you can do it here to get the full flavour as adding it to the sugar syrup kills off most of the alcohol. Stir until it’s combined  fully and pour into a jar or whatever you’re using to store or pour it from onto your pancakes or whatever recipe you have lined up for it.

If it goes hard when it’s cooled or put in the fridge for a later date then just warm it up in 10 second blasts in the microwave until it’s to the right consistency.

I would say Science Cream is one of Cardiff’s greatest secret’s as most of my friend’s i’ve mentioned them to haven’t heard or seen the crazy scientist at work in the frosted cloudy kitchen concocting oodles of velvety smooth ice cream to sooth your throat like a whole packet of tunes on the head. If you want to try the freshest ice cream know to man then it’s impossible to get it fresher anywhere else as it’s made fresh to order… in front of your eyes within 60 seconds!!

How do they do this?? Liquid nitrogen of course! The cream and flavour pairings are placed into a kitchen aid, powered up then doused in liquid nitrogen that sets the liquid to ice in a matter of seconds but as the process of freezing is super quick then the ice particles are minute meaning it’s probably the creamiest ice cream i’ve ever shovelled into my greedy mouth.

I’ve tried Science Cream a couple of times with their residency at a few of the Depot events in Cardiff last year but i’ve been wanting to take my younger sister to sample the expertly crafted icy flavour bombs they have churning away in the kitchen aid’s plus i want to try the ultimate homemade chocolate on the menu at the ice cream parlour as they haven’t unleashed that to the pop up food fest fans just yet.

science-cream-salted-caramel-ice-cream

My first batch of Science Cream ice cream was the salted caramel topped with nuggets of salted peanut brittle drowned in rivers of salted caramel sauce…mmmm I can still remember my eyes lighting up when I exchanged my shrapnel for my tub!

If you’re not into your food festival pop up’s or just looking for somewhere to take the kids in half term that is sure to keep them quiet for 10 minutes then Science Cream are offering customers a liquid nitrogen fuelled ice cream tub with a sauce of their choice then to get the internal temperature of your mouths and throat back up to room temperature a cup of their famous hot chocolate for just £4 with Livingsocial.

Don’t fancy going alone? They are also offering 2 customers the same for £8 or 4 customers for £16 dinning at the same time.

Based in 28 Castle Arcade, Cardiff, CF10 1BW that’s just opposite the arcade by you’ve guessed it Cardiff Castle and just off St Mary Street so you can’t get much more central in town.

Use the Science Cream discount voucher against ice cream and hot chocolate over half term with the kids or if not then it can be used up till 30th April 2016 and valid Wednesday – Saturday 12-6pm or Sunday 12-5pm.

If like me you’re struggling to get back into some sense of reality after gorging yourself on a weeks worth of calories in a single sitting after Christmas, then you will be glad to hear you can actually have a breakfast that will leave you feeling fulfilled without needing an immediate course of liposuction to suck the gallon of grease straight out of your hips!

Step forward Pure Kitchen in Cardiff Bay on the doorstep of the Wales Millennium Centre offering hearty, guilt free, flavour bombs for breakfast and lunch from 4 egg omelettes with grilled chicken, chorizo or steak breakfasts, full english breakfasts, toasted muffins or pancakes topped with fresh fruit.

Pure Kitchen offer breakfasts, fresh smoothies and juices, salads and freshly cooked lunches with the leanest of meats you could ever have adorning your plate to eat in or packed tightly into a takeaway box to eat at your leisure.

You’ve probably walked past one of Cardiff Bay’s most rated breakfast eateries, which managed to chart on Buzzfeed’s top 16 places to grab breakfast in the Capital recently as it’s parked in between the roads directly outside the Wales Millennium Centre and opposite your route from The Red Dragon Centre to the Bay.

If you fancy sampling some of the best breakfasts on offer in Cardiff then head over to Livingsocial and get a Pure Kitchen discount voucher offering you two breakfasts with a hot drink for just £9 up to the value of £21 or 4 dinners can get a paleo inspired breakfast fit for you Crossfit lovers on your next trip down the bay for just £18 up to the value of £42.

You can get this Pure Kitchen breakfast discount in Cardiff Bay for the next 5 days with the voucher then having to be used by February 26th 2016 between 9-11am.