Mystery Tea House in Preston is somewhere I've heard of via word of mouth for a long time, and always positively, but somewhere I've never had chance to visit until now, and to cut a review short, I'm very glad I did.

Hidden away on the narrow Cannon Street (which reminded me a bit of The Shambles in York). Mystery Tea House really does live up to such a fantastical name, as when you walk into the door, it's a rather dark but cosy space, decorated in bright colours and with a distinctly African design, from the artwork to the tribal masks on the walls. As my dad and I walk in, friendly staff members smile and welcome us, informing us that there's more seating upstairs should we want it, as downstairs was already bustling with happy and relaxed looking customers. The bar area where the staff were talking from boasted several ceiling height shelves full of all sorts of wonderful and exotic tea blends.



So we climbed upstairs, and entered another space, just a bright and colourful as downstairs, and keeping the same African style, but with more areas to lounge, such as sofas, tables looking out of the windows down over the street, and a cute little table under a tree with a bookcase, for those wanting to spend the afternoon.


We took a seat at a little corner table, and were immediately impressed at the menus. Both food menus offering sandwiches, cakes and delicious looking soups, but also an incredibly extensive tea menu, with teas of all varieties and blends to tempt you. I personally love flavoured black teas, but usually aside Earl Grey it's hard to find any in general shops and cafes, but Mystery Tea House had a whole page of intriguing choices!  


After much deliberation, I decided to try the Rose Desire tea, and my dad, being somewhat a traditionalist, went for good old Yorkshire Tea, which as amusing an idea as it is, proves that the venue is not pretentious enough to deny people a good old fashioned cup of "builders tea" should they want it, and thus not alienate visitors. 


The tea came in traditional side-handle teapot with non-handled cup, and with a side of lemon slices and a small jug of honey. A very nice touch indeed. My dad's Yorkshire Tea came in a more English-traditional teapot and cup, which he was perfectly happy with. 

The Rose Desire tea was absolutely divine, with a lovely strong rose fragrance, and fresh a fresh flavour which forces a content sigh out of you with each sip. My dad commented how surprised he was that it smelt like Turkish delight, and after browsing the tea menu, had plans to try all sorts of new and exotic teas, he particularly liked the sound of the Jasmine Tea menu, and the Oolong Teas (even if he did keep calling it "oblong tea"!).

As for food, I decided on a ham and cheese toastie, wheras my dad opted for the delicious sounding and looking Tuscani baguette, opting for some extra salami topping. 

When the food arrived, we were very pleased! My toastie was very tasty, but my dad's Tuscani was massive, clearly freshly made, and very appetising indeed! He raved about the flavours and quality as he ate it, and insisted I try some, which at first I turned down, but in the end agreed to... and I'm glad I did! It was flavourful, cheesy, with delicious mushrooms and that extra salami my dad wanted. For under £4 we were very impressed, and said we'd get again for certain when we next visited!



During our meal, the friendly and helpful staff were happy to bring me extra hot water so I could enjoy more of that delicious rose tea, and told us about some other tea options I might like next time based on my enjoyment of the Rose Desire tea. 

When we went downstairs, we chatted to the staff about our enjoyed experience, and how we both had plans for different teas we would try in future. The staff member behind the bar happily brought various jars off the shelves, telling us about the types of tea, and letting us take a deep sniff of each blend. My dad later told me that he was very impressed with this service, as well as the friendly approachable nature of the staff, allowing him to be brave enough to ask about whether you would have milk and sugar in various blends, without feeling silly.


Our experience at Mystery Tea House was very pleasant indeed. Relaxed and comfortable, but with some great options to explore. The tea we had was lovely, and the food was superb, it was also nice that they sold loose tea to take home, as well as tea making accessories and tea sets for the tea lovers out there. But the thing that stood out for us was the service. Friendly, helpful, polite and genuinely enthusiastic staff full of personality really made this place feel welcoming, and most definitely made us want to return! Well done, Mystery Tea House! :)



Mystery Tea House
23 Cannon Street
Preston
PR1 3NR
(01772) 200 408
www.mysteryteahouse.com

Mystery Tea House

by on 12:31
Mystery Tea House in Preston is somewhere I've heard of via word of mouth for a long time, and always positively, but somewhere I...
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Please note, I don't accept "freebies" in exchange for reviews.

 If I review somewhere, I want to get the same experience as anyone else, including paying for my food and drinks.

 Thanks, 

 Adam

A QUICK NOTE

by on 15:33
Please note, I don't accept "freebies" in exchange for reviews. If I review somewhere, I want to get the same experience as ...
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Marjellchen is in Berlin. Yes, Berlin. I went on holiday recently to the German capital and had a great time. Marjellchen is a quaint and wonderful hidden gem of an old fashioned Prussian and German restaurant which I first discovered a few years ago on my first trip to Berlin.



When I walked into the restaurant, I fell in love with the old-world charm and décor, the dark panelling and long darkened paintings which are embedded into the walls, the candles, gas-style hanging lamps, pink tablecloths, dainty silk flowers, and framed photos of old celebrities who have visited over the years. To sit in it feels like being in a Christopher Isherwood novel.


The service is attentive, but with a degree of respectful distance, and a touch of dry German humour. This approach with the décor and the style of cuisine gives it a distinct feel of having dinner at a great aunt's house. The man who served us even brought out our Cokes in large wine glasses, so that we would look and feel more part of the atmosphere than to be seen drinking out of tumblers whilst other tables had large foaming glass steins of German beer.




The menu itself is wonderfully traditional, with options often listed as "grandmother's style" or from old family recipes etc, with plenty of emotive language, telling you how delicious this dish is, even if you've never heard of it before. This is a place for hearty old fashioned German and Prussian fare. 

For our starters my dining partner chose to opt for East Prussian Beetenbarsch, which is a delicious beetroot and beef soup with cream. It was very refreshing but still full of flavour. I chose to go for fried cockerel legs, which were boned and came in their own gravy seasoned with rosemary, and served with "bread for dipping - a dream!" to quote the menu, which to be honest was true! It also came with a large fresh salad. When the gent came back to take our plates, my dining partner commented, "that was a really good soup!", the gent smiled, "I know" he chuckled.



For the main course, my dining partner at first took the advice of the gent to order the duck, but after a few moments, he returned and embarrassedly told us that duck was no longer available tonight, so instead my dining partner ordered the Meatballs Königsberg, from an old Prussian recipe with parsley potatoes and red beetroot. These turned out to be three very substantial meatballs in a wonderfully creamy sauce, and served with very tender boiled potatoes, baffling us as to how well they were cooked yet hadn't fallen apart! The meatballs themselves were delicious, and very filling! I chose to go for the pork knuckle, which was the size of my head, and came with delicious fried potatoes in its own gravy, complete with that "sheen" on the surface of the gravy, promising you its authenticity. The colossal pork knuckle was so tender that the meat simply pulled away from the bone with no effort, and as you can imagine, was very filling indeed!




The only downside of the hearty and belly filling fare is that by the end, we just didn't have the room to try one of their wonderful desserts such as baked apple dumpling, or vanilla ice cream with hot cherries. Seriously... we genuinely were considering it, but it just wouldn't have worked! Next time we may skip a starter and have a dessert instead!

From the menu

I have a very secure spot in my heart for Marjellchen, and whenever I am in Berlin, it's extremely unlikely that I will ever be able to resist making a reservation for this gem of a place. If you too fancy a visit to Marjellchen, be sure you reserve, it's popular, even though it's away from the main streets, and rightfully so, proving that an old fashioned restaurant can survive and thrive without Wi-Fi, or much of a web presence, in the face of popular restaurants all around, and chains within walking distance. Good for you, Marjellchen, Wunderbar!






Marjellchen
Mommsenstraße 9
(Nearest S-Bahn is Savingyplatz)
10629 Berlin
Germany
030 / 883 26 76
http://www.marjellchen-berlin.de


As big as my head!

Marjellchen

by on 17:40
Marjellchen is in Berlin. Yes, Berlin. I went on holiday recently to the German capital and had a great time. Marjellchen is a quaint...
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So named after its first incarnation, The Brewhouse (formerly the Cheetham Arms) seems to be firstly billed as one of three things depending on where you look online. It's either firstly billed as a hotel, a restaurant, or a pub, and not usually a combination of the three. From what I experienced, I would suggest that (especially given the venue's past), this is more of a modern pub which also serves a good selection of food.


Adjacent to one of the lounge areas in the bar, you can look through a glass window to see the brewing area, still full of booze barrels, the tap labels of which are on display in the window outside the pub. A nice nod to its brewing past. It also proudly sells ales from its sister company, Dunscar Bridge brewery, located down the road.

The venue itself feels like a strange combination of old-school pub and modern bar, mixing neutral tones and bright woods with dark woods and studded leather couches.

Our first problem was that as we drove up to the venue, we saw nowhere to park as it's on a road. We turned left after the pub into a small yard, which obviously wasn't meant for parking, so we parked further down the road. Only on LEAVING the pub did we see a not-very-prominent sign telling us that there was in fact a car park behind the venue, accessed by turning down a road before the the pub itself.
On this occasion, a group of four of us were here for lunch, having perused the menu online. Only two of us opted for starters instead of main courses. For these, we ordered goats cheese fritters, and crispy fried whitebait. Both arrived in good time and were tasty and well prepared and presented.


The other two of us ordered from the mains menu, choosing pub classics of steak and ale pie, and fish and chips. The first thing we both noticed was that the chips were very tasty traditional chips. Always a plus! My only gripe is that my fish was lay on top of my chips, which seemed a little odd, meaning I needed to lift it up and move it to be able to get to my chips. The fish had absolutely perfect batter, although the fish itself was a little bland. Good mushy peas though, and the home-made tartare sauce was excellent. Sadly, although the pastry on the pie was quite nice, the actual contents of the pie were quite dry, and could've done with a jug of gravy on the side to add some moisture.




At this point we had agreed that the visible staff of two young girls seemed friendly with good intentions, but not overly professional at times in how they were speaking and acting, just a bit too casual, and how we were having trouble getting their attention when they were looking at their mobile phones at the bar.

When we eventually caught the attention of one to be able to order dessert, we chose to get two sticky toffee puddings with four spoons, so we could share.



The puddings arrived, and looked great (admittedly on one of those big porcelain sombrero style bowls), but as the waitress walked off, we realised we weren't given any spoons, and we had to wave her over to let her know. She responded with, "didn't she give you any? She was supposed to give you some!" and a big annoyed sigh, before marching off, presumably to get the spoons. However it took about 4 minutes until she returned with spoons, leaving us sitting looking at the blob of ice cream atop the warm pudding starting to melt into a creamy splodge, with nothing we could really do.

Happily, the sticky toffee pudding was really tasty, and the butterscotch sauce that accompanied it really hit the spot!

My verdict on The Brewhouse is a bit mixed... I enjoyed the food, but as the place was quite a loud and busy pub, (with seemingly loud boisterous regulars at the bar) and the service was a bit lacking for a weekday afternoon, I don't think I'd go out of my way to come here again, but if I was in the area, I'd probably pop in for lunch.



The Brewhouse
987 Blackburn Road
Eagley
Bolton
BL1 7LG
(01204) 301 372
www.thebrewhousebolton.co.uk

The Brewhouse

by on 13:55
  So named after its first incarnation, The Brewhouse (formerly the Cheetham Arms) seems to be firstly billed as one of three th...
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Filthy Cow is the new baby on the block when it comes to the  big filthy burgers that Manchester City Centre has taken to their hearts, as it's only been open for three months, but in that time it is becoming extremely popular, and the owner is seeing the success and popularity rate continuing to soar!

Why, you ask? Because the food is $#!@ing amazing, and for Manchester City Centre it's very reasonably prices considering the quality of food you get!



Sorry, I'm getting a bit over excited! Let me pull back a little first.

Filthy Cow sits down one of the side-streets near the town hall, and as you step inside, you see the décor is the popular industrial and brutalist style that is popular with the hipster crowd in modern city restaurants lately, but the brick walls and raw plaster walls, graffiti, chains and metalwork really seems to work for Filthy Cow because it goes with the filthy raw naughty feel of the place, which takes its fabulously pervy meaty double-entendres as far as possible. I like it.


The staff are friendly and professional, and I was greeted by who I believe was the owner as I walked in, who welcomed me and asked if I'd been before. It's always nice to be acknowledged when you enter a restaurant.

The menu is refreshingly simple, with half a dozen burgers, a few sides, drinks, and some ice creams and shakes provided by the fabulous Ginger's Comfort Emporium over in Affleck's. There's something nice about a simpler menu like this, as you know that they are focussing on their core dishes being as good as possible, and easy to take in.



I ordered a Filthy Cheese burger without lettuce, some fries, and a Coke. This came to just £10.50, which for freshly made-to-order food in a modern and new restaurant bang smack in the middle of the city centre is remarkably good value, especially compared to some similar offerings over in the Northern Quarter.


Food is presented in a classic American no-frills style with a wrapped burger and fries, and napkins bearing the filthy plea of "rub your greasy fingers all over me!". It was nice to see that the stickers on the burger clarify the burger type and any special requirements (like me not wanting lettuce), as it saves that pain when you're in a group of unwrapping burgers and lifting the lid to work out who has what burger. I was also informed that the burger would be a bit pink in the middle... GOOD! That's my preference! Too many places provide brown "well-done" burgers which are alright, but nothing special compared to a good medium rare burger or steak.


They say you eat with your eyes, and unwrapping that burger certainly played on that. I see why the filthy cow idea is in play now, as this was food porn of the highest degree, and I hadn't even tasted it yet!



I did that cursory thing of trying a fry or two first, pretending to myself that I wasn't going to just shove my face into that juicy burger straight away. The fries were excellent! I must admit that at first glance I thought, "oh these are bog standard chips", but no, they were hot, crisp and tasty, and seasoned in a delicious rosemary salt, which really gave them some tasty flavour!

Now... that burger... as I sunk my teeth into the soft juicy meat, I coudln't help but close my eyes and let out a little quiet whimper at how absolutely stunning this burger was. Soft, tender, PERFECTLY pink and unbelievably juicy... I am not afraid to say that this is one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life, and it wasn't even seven quid! The brioche bun beautifully soaked up some of those tasty meat juices and the fabulously melting cheese, the culmination of all the elements coming together to form what a burger SHOULD be but so often isn't anymore.

No it's not a gigantic tall stacked burger slathered in all sorts of sauces and toppings and flags and with a knife in it and sparklers and a rocket and all the other gimmicks a lot of modern burger places go for now, but it does burgers as they SHOULD be... simple, tasty, well made, and pure comfort food... pure filth! FILTH!

I highly recommend this place to anyone in the city centre who fancies a really good filthy lunch at a surprisingly decent price.

Well done Filthy Cow, I had my doubts given the big burger joint trend in Manchester right now, but you truly wowed me, and I will without the slightest bit of doubt be visiting you whenever I get chance when I'm in the city centre! I can't stop telling my friends, colleagues and family about you, and showing them those illicit photos of the food on my phone! Bravo!



Filthy Cow
10 Tib Lane
Manchester
M2 4JB
www.filthyfood.co.uk
(0161) 839 5498



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Filthy Cow

by on 16:41
Filthy Cow is the new baby on the block when it comes to the  big filthy burgers that Manchester City Centre has taken to their hearts...
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Cane & Grain only opened recently in Manchester's trendy Northern Quarter, and billed itself from the beginning as being a bar and rib joint, spread over several floors, including a tiki lounge.

I decided to pop in for lunch one day whilst I was in the city, and was pleased to see there were some tasty and very affordable lunchtime offers available, so I wandered inside.

The décor is that modern-hipster style of rough-and-ready, distressed paint and textures etc, but still spacious and colourful with art on the walls. Also it's not really related, but I love their logo!


From the lunchmenu I ordered the rib-roll and fries, which I thought for £5 was very well priced! I also ordered a lemon-lime Ting (£2 a can, but hey you can't win them all), which was perfect for the sunny hot day, which also prompted me to sit outside in their outdoor seating area, and people watch... which in the Northern Quarter is a bit more interesting than in the rest of the city!

The staff are young, friendly, and professional, which is pleasant and welcoming to those of us who might otherwise feel a little out-of-place in modern and dare I say "hip" places. Yes I said hip. Shut up.

My food arrived looking delicious, and served on a metal tray and with a metal mug of fries (hipster places don't like plates). The pork roll was succulent and tasty, served with red onions and gherkin slices. The fries were seasoned absolutely perfectly, with "tiki salt" according to one of the staff. They were hot, crisp, and very tasty indeed!


I only popped here for lunch during the day, and I imagine when it's busy at night and the cocktails are flowing in the Liars Lounge it may have an atmosphere different altogether, but I think it's one I'd be quite happy to check out sometime, as this came across as a friendly and good quality venue which I can imagine hanging out in with my friends.

I'll definitely be back for that fabulous lunch deal again! 7 quid for a large freshly made pork roll with seasoned fresh fries and a drink in the city centre is a steal!




Cane & Grain
49-51 Thomas Street
Northern Quarter
Manchester City Centre
M4 1NA
(0161) 839 7033
www.caneandgrain.co.uk

Cane & Grain

by on 19:57
Cane & Grain only opened recently in Manchester's trendy Northern Quarter, and billed itself from the beginning as being a bar ...
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