Showing posts with label dining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dining. Show all posts

Not to be confused with my previous review for Chill @ The Cowshed, The Cowshed in Chorley is part of the Coffee Cow company, which is primarily a catering company, providing drinks at events and the such, but in March 2014 they opened The Cowshed in Buckshaw Village, as a spiritual headquarters for the cow, her coffee, and tasty cakes.
It was a rainy and wintery day considering it was the end of June, so I thought a nice pot of tea out of the rain would be a pleasant idea indeed. 
The venue itself is a large open area, loft-style in nature with exposed roofing and high ceilings. The decor is modern, casual and quirky (I love the cow wallpaper), complete with more bovine puns and gags than you can wave a black and white spotted stick at!
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When I first walked in I noticed that even though it was only a wednesday afternoon, the place was really busy! Couples sat and chatted, a large group of mums and toddlers sat in a group together over tea and cake, a couple of business types sat at the bar over coffee, and some techie types sat on their laptops on a banquet table together.
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I sat down and read the menu, which was mainly focused on tea, coffee and chilled drinks to accompany the cakes and pastries on display, but also offering breakfast and light lunches for pretty reasonable prices.
I ordered a pot of Teapigs Strong Earl Grey, and was pleased to hear that they could accommodate my awkward request for skimmed milk. I found it very cute that when my tea arrived at my table, the milk came in a great little milk churn.
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I only had considered getting some tea, but reading the menu convinced me to get some lunch, and as I fancied one of the baked potatoes, I was pleased to read that as well as the usual jacket spud fillings of cheese, tuna, or beans, The Cowshed offers 19 other fillings, ranging from sun dried tomatoes to roasted peppers and chorizo, and all accompanied by the home made "shedslaw" (COWslaw, surely?!).  A treat for those of us who like a good spud but get bored of the same old toppings. I opted for the chicken.
My food didn't take too long, and I was really pleased at what I was presented with. To many places a jacket spud would be just that, a spud on a plate, maybe cut into 4 instead of 2 if they're being fancy. But at The Cowshed I got a lovely big spud topped with chicken, a fresh salad, some of the aforementioned coleslaw (which was lovely and crisp, and not thick with loads of mayo like some places do), and some tortilla chips.
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I really enjoyed it! Even though I suspect the chicken might possibly have been pre-packaged and reheated, even if it was, it was still a very tasty lunch, and considering it was less than a fiver, it was really filling!
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The staff were very busy, which was understandable considering how many people were there, but they were still friendly and efficient, and tried to convince me to take a cake home with me for dessert, but I was stuffed, so said I'd simply return another time for tea and cake, which I genuinely will, because I had a nice time, it was a quick and healthy lunch, served by friendly staff, and it cost me less than £7.00 for a big healthy meal and a pot of delicious tea.
Well done, Cowshed :)
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The Cowshed1 Barnes Wallis WayBuckshaw VillagePR7 7JA(01772) 435 155http://www.coffeecow.co.uk/

The Cowshed

by on 15:06
Not to be confused with my previous review for  Chill @ The Cowshed ,  The Cowshed  in Chorley is part of the  Coffee Cow  company, whi...
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Healthy Indulgence Café is an unassuming little place on Bridge Street in Bolton Town Centre. I'd seen it several times, but never gone in for some reason.
I'm glad I decided to visit today, it's a nice place.
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As you go inside, you can see that it has a lot of offerings on chalk boards telling about lovely specials and soups and cakes and the such, with many offerings for Vegans and people with gluten allergies, but also general offerings for those of us who have no such dietary requirements.
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The interior is bright at one end and dark at the other, due to a lack of lighting in the back area, but a big set of windows on the other end, allowing the sunlight to cascade inside. The staff when I visited were young and friendly, happy to give extra information about their offerings.IMG_7050
On this occasion, although I was tempted by a baked potato with garlic mushrooms (yum!), I chose to go for a cup of decaf tea, and try out one of their brownies made with gluten-free flour, and "just a bit" of sugar. Very tasty indeed, just the right amount of gooiness and superbly chocolatey. There's several tea options available, and the coffee is provided by Rijo.
I was pleased that although they have a lot of Vegan information/food on the boards, I was still able to get a cup of tea with milk. I was surprised they didn't have skimmed milk available, given the 'healthy' vibe of the place, but semi skimmed was fine for me. It was also nice to see that everything was clearly labelled regarding potential allergies, and there was a file listing the allergens within their food on the front of the main counter.
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It was also nice to see that when a family came into the café, the young girl with them went straight to the books which are available on a coffee table by a few comfy chairs. It's something a little different for a café, but makes it clear, along with free wifi with a clearly available password, that they welcome their customers, and want them to feel comfortable and relaxed, which is what we all want really when visiting a café, isn't it?
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I'd return here again for lunch sometime, it's friendly and there's so many options!


Healthy Indulgence Café
20 Bridge Street
BL1 2EA
07715 546049
Bolton
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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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Red's True BBQ already exists in Leeds, and is well loved. But now it has landed right in the centre of Manchester, just off Albert Square, and is immediately identifiable by its big red neon sign, a style of which you will find continued inside.


I'm a sucker for a good theme in a restaurant, and Red's has a theme I've never seen before... religion! Or rather, it's own religion, where the subject of worship is meat, and instead of God, the creator is "Red" (you can guess!), and the exclamation "let there be meat!". Frankly this is a vegetarian's nightmare, and a meat lover's wet dream.

The venue itself is interestingly decoratred. It's very industrial, like being in some sort of inner-city meat packing district, complete with corrugated iron cladding and chain-link fencing, occasionally splashed with colour from some very vibrant neon signs. The nice part is that the theming is consistent, but as a restaurant it still feels very clean and functional.























We had no wait when we arrived on a late weekday afternoon, and were promptly seated, and given a copy of 'the good book', which as well as the menu, also explains Red's 'ten commandments', mantra, and general information on the cooking techniques, meat, and food welfare. It's a pretty tongue-in-cheek affair, and reminds me of The Bird in Berlin, both in terms of menu style, and décor. On your table, there is a caddy containing four of Red's home-made sauces, three of which are barbecue variants, one is a ketchup variant, and one is a hotsauce, as well as salt, pepper, and toothpicks. All of the sauces were good, but for me it was the North Carolina BBQ Sauce which came out as the winner.

For appetisers we ordered the rib sampler and some cracklings. Until this point, I always thought that I dislike crackling, but it just seems I hadn't had it done properly, as Red's cracklings were great, and came in a paper bag, like a sweetshop. The rib sampler was good too, all the ribs covered in 'unholy BBQ sauce', and stacked up in a tin pie dish. The first rib we tried was excellent, full of flavour, and so tender that we were able to leave shiny bones. The other ribs were good too, but with some chewy parts leaving us uncertain at times if we were eating some chewy meat, or bits of bone. This dish was served alongside some napkins and large wet-wipes, and god knows we would need them by the end of that starter! Before long, you realise that this is a 'cutlery optional' place, and nobody has any qualms if you just pick up your food and gnaw at it, getting delicious sauce all over your face, like a toddler with an ice cream! One nice 'American' style touch is that a great quality root beer is available on the soft drinks menu, and was a delicious frosty accompaniment for that authentic taste of American barbecue, although at £3.50 for a bottle, it was one of the pricier drinks on the soft drinks menu.

For our mains, my dining partner ordered the pulled meat nachos, (pulled pork, chicken, and brisket) which he said were delicious, whilst I chose to go for the half-chicken, and when given the choice of two "humble sides" or one "divine side", chose to go for a divine side of sweet potato fries, but the options for humble sides were very tempting too! My half-chicken was seasoned and sauced deliciously, but it was so well cooked that the chicken pretty much slid straight out of the skin when I attempted to eat it, giving you the choice of either eating the skin separately, or smothering the fresh chicken with various sauces and devouring it that way. I did both. SHUT UP, DON'T JUDGE ME!! ... and very tasty it was too! Although the half-chicken was monumentally filling, and so I'd probably go for something else next time (I have my eye on the burgers!), the sweet potato fries were perfectly done, and it was great fun to try all the different sauces with them!

The service itself was friendly and casual, We were never given anyone's name when we sat down, but we ended up having at least four different servers throughout our meal, which was good and attentive, but a little less personal as we didn't feel like we were being taken of by someone in particular, even though the rest of the staff were superb. That said, there were a lot of staff, who when not attending tables, seemed quite often to be stood around without very much to do, even occasionally getting in the way of customers trying to get past, or find the toilets etc. The kitchen is made to look quite rough-and-ready, and although the kitchen staff are in baseball caps and the such, when I walked past, I heard a clear, "yes, chef!" showing that it is still very much a quality kitchen, no matter the décor or stylings.

Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised that the religious theme even carried on into the toilets! The hallway to them kept the Crystal Maze "Industrial Zone" style, but the toilets were a cross between industrial and religious, even using mock 'confessional booths' as the cubicals, which made me smile as soon as I went in. And don't worry, the slidy-panels work, but the grating is panelled up!





Back at the table, I was FAR too stuffed for dessert, as delicious as they sounded, but my partner had his eye on Red's Banana Pudding, so while I was pondering which emergency service could roll me out of the restaurant, he was devouring a dish which at first sight looked a bit mediocre, but which upon tasting, he declared the best dessert he's ever had! Go Red's!





I'm pleased to say that for two starters, two mains, a dessert, and three drinks, the bill came to just over £45.00, which I consider good value, especially given the quality of the food, and that you would spend about that if you chose to go to somewhere like TGI Fridays, but which I guarantee would leave you feeling less satisfied! I will be back here again make no mistake!

Praise Be!

Oh one last thing! Be sure to ask your server (after your meal...) what these interesting lampshades actually are.


Red's True Barbecue
22 Lloyd Street
Albert Square
Manchester City Centre
M2 5WA
(0161) 820 9140
http://www.truebarbecue.com




Red's True BBQ on Urbanspoon

Red's True Barbecue

by on 15:01
Red's True BBQ already exists in Leeds, and is well loved. But now it has landed right in the centre of Manchester, just off Albert...
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Pizza Me (or "Wanna Pizza Me?") in Breightmet only opened last month, but is making waves due to word of mouth and various food bloggers who have gone along expecting a simple little pizza chain, but ended up enjoying a great meal.

I'm no exception.

We popped in to give it a try for a bit of lunch, as the menus promising lunch for £3.95 or dinner for £4.95 seemed too good to pass up.

As you walk in, you see two distinct areas. To your right is what looks more like a traditional style pub area, which I think is more focussed on their "4 Coffee" side, but to your left is a more modern and open area with big chunky benches and tables, more focussing on their modern pizza side, Wanna Pizza Me. We sat down, and a friendly waiter came over and took our drinks order, and asked if we'd perhaps like to order some garlic bread. We did.



Pizza Me undersells itself by seeming to just be a pizza place, when in fact it serves modern Italian cuisine, offering salads, pastas, pizzas, and specials, all offering tempting sounding Italian fare, as well as teas, a good range of coffees, and desserts.

However, on this occasion we decided to go for a pizza, and try out the name of the place. 


 The first thing to appear alongside our drinks was the garlic bread we ordered. It arrived whole, on a board, and with a pizza cutter. It glistened with fresh garlic butter, which was mild but tasty, and the base was perfection! You could even smell the stone a little from the oven on the base. Very tasty indeed. This made us eager for our main!

I chose to go for the Salami, and my dining partner went for the Quattro Stagioni. They arrived in the same fashion, on a board with pizza cutters, and with the same delicious crispy base.

Salami
Quattro Stagioni
Both pizzas were delicious, and bursting with fresh flavours, especially the herby tomato base sauce which we both had. Mine boasted milano and napoli salami and proscuito, and was very rich and tasty, wheras the Quattro Stagioni was split into different toppings, each full of flavour and distinct.

We both agreed that the pizzas here were superb, and worth far more than the £3.95 asking price each, which is cheaper than some take-aways!


Although this was just a fleeting visit, I'm very glad we popped in, as it has cemented somewhere for us to go back to whenever we get chance, as the menu is very tempting, and the prices are just phenomenal for what you get! I urge everyone to give this place a try, as it's not your run-of-the-mill pizza place, and it deserves a little more recognition and love spread by word of mouth!

We will most definitely return.





Pizza Me
Breightmet Fold Lane 
Bolton
Greater Manchester
BL2 6PP
(01204) 238 877
www.wannapizzame.com



Pizza Me on Urbanspoon

Pizza Me

by on 12:26
Pizza Me (or "Wanna Pizza Me?") in Breightmet only opened last month, but is making waves due to word of mouth and various fo...
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