Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts

Provenance Food Hall and Restaurant sits on Market Street in Westhoughton, and has always boasted an impressive food hall of local fresh meats, pies, produce and the like, but also has an upstairs restaurant which I've never been to before, so whilst in Westhoughton I thought I'd pop in for some breakfast.


The restaurant area is on a first floor mezzanine level, looking down over parts of the food hall like a minstrels gallery. It's decorated in bright and fresh neutral colours, grounded by a natural wooden floor. Light cascades in through sash windows on two walls. Glimpses through cut-outs in the walls show further seating areas, for use in the full restaurant of an evening.

I took a menu from the bar and had a read. The breakfast offerings look good, but as I read the menu I realise that the rest of the menu looks superb too! Steak nights, grill nights, Afternoon Teas and all sorts of other tempting things. I already decide before ordering that I must come again to the "proper" restaurant in an evening.


I decided to order sourdough toast with whipped butter and marmalade, and a pot of Birchall's English Breakfast Tea, and was told to take a seat anywhere I like and it'd be brought over. I chose to sit by one of the sash windows and look down out over Market Street. Even seated I can see the fine quality finish on everything in this venue; the restaurant is the same quality and fit as the downstairs foodhall, meaning everything is spotless, modern, and pleasant. The staff upstairs seem to be as friendly and helpful as the staff downstairs too. It all feels very professional, whilst still very friendly.


I observe other visitors who join after me, a mother and her children enjoying breakfast, some ladies-who-lunch ordering eggs benedict, and two young girls ordering soft drinks. It's nice to see that there's a mix of customers.



My breakfast arrives, beautifully presented, but to be honest I wouldn't have expected any less from Provenance from what I've seen. The Fairtrade tea is delicious, and the sourdough toast has a superb crunch to it, the butter and marmalade both being of good quality, meaning you feel a bit spoilt for your breakfast, which can never be a bad thing.

It was a very tasty breakfast, and cost less than four quid. Brilliant.

Great place, and I can see that the quality and service are priority here, so I look forward to returning to try the evening menu sometime, and was already advised by another staff member to book in advance due to popularity!




Provenance Food Hall & Restaurant
46-48 Market Street
Westhoughton
Bolton
BL5 3AZ
01942 812 398
http://www.provenancerestaurant.co.uk/

Provenance

by on 12:50
Provenance Food Hall and Restaurant sits on Market Street in Westhoughton, and has always boasted an impressive food hall of local fresh...
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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



Click to add a blog post for Filthy Cow on Zomato

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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Applewood Farm is a traditional style large food pub in Tyldsley. It serves classic pub grub along with some other interesting additions, and prides itself on its dessert offerings, particularly its cake and ice cream. I've heard a lot of praise for it, so decided to finally give it a try for lunch whilst I was nearby.

The first thing you notice is that this big traditional style pub is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. You drive along, and it suddenly pops up out of thin air. It has a big car park, but seems to get busy pretty quickly.

I must admit, my first impression on walking through the door wasn't positive. It was very busy, and a frantic looking female staff stood behind a large stack of dirty plates sitting on the "please wait here" podium, and then simply said "two?", before dashing off and then coming back to say "just through there on the right hand side". I would've liked to have been taken there really.


The décor is a modern interpretation of a classic pub style, and it works pretty well, remaining efficient and clean looking with bright colours and various bits of art and knick-knacks whilst retaining a traditional atmosphere. It was surprisingly busy throughout the pub for a thursday afternoon, with a bustling but pleasant feel. Once inside you realise the size of the place, with different rooms leading off the main thoroughfare, to booth seating along it. As well as the dining pub option, there is also a large carvery counter further into the pub, where you can choose a plate size for a set price, then go and check out the tasty looking carvery options. 





We ordered a couple of classics in the form of beer battered cod and chips, and steak and ale pie. The wait time for both was reasonable, and the first thing that hit us was the sheer size of the portions! The food was delicious. I loved the crispy bubbly batter, and the tartare sauce, and my partner loved the quality of the "oh god, it's half a pie!" he was tucking into.



We didn't have room for dessert, but had a good look through the huge book of desserts, puddings and ice creams, and as delicious the descriptions of the sweet treats were, we decided that we'd try their "cake-away" option, where you can take a slice of their cakes home with you to enjoy later. Knowing that their target customer would probably be full by now, but priding themselves on their desserts, this is a clever move!

When you get to the desserts counter, you can see how crazy their ice cream presentation is, bordering on American in presentation, but also very tempting! The one thing you'll notice though is the sheer size of the cakes! They're colossal!



The slices are £4+ in the menu, which might make you bawk a little until you see the sheer size of the things! We opted for the Millionaire's Cheesecake, and the Banana Chocolate Chip cake, which come in a plastic box with a small tub of cream each. Lovely. We ate them many many hours later, but enjoyed the flavour lots. The banana cake was tasty and moist with lots of flavour, and the cheesecake was tasty, but just too big. The middle layer was a solid 6 inches of pure cheesecake, meaning that you didn't get so much of the base or the top with it, which made it a little hard going. Some of the other cakes appeared similar to me, where the middle was just a bit too large unless it was in layers, but with how popular they obviously are, who am I to question?!

I loved it here, it's somewhere I'd be happy to bring my mum and dad sometime and know that they'd enjoy it, and the same with friends and colleagues. It has something for everyone. 

My partner has already stated that he wants to return there next month for his birthday! That's that then!



Applewood Farm
Astley Park Way
Chaddock Lane
Manchester
M28 1DP
(0161) 703 3611

www.farmhouseinns.co.uk/pubs/applewood-farm

Applewood Farm on Urbanspoon

Applewood Farm

by on 10:09
Applewood Farm is a traditional style large food pub in Tyldsley. It serves classic pub grub along with some other inter...
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Curley's Fisheries has always had a café. It started off as a shed, then a slightly bigger shed, then a portakabin type shed, and then now it has reached the peak of its evolution in a newly built but beautifully complementing building which now contains Curley's Dining Rooms. The café always had loyal regulars, and always achieved good customer service, and word was spread far and wide about their great quality food, but with the opening of a very modern and stylish new airy and spacious dining room, offering traditional favourites as well as a great evening menu, and beer and wines from Bank Top Brewery, it's attracting new customers from far and wide, eager to see the changes, or try the new food they've heard so much about.





The dining room itself is a lovely open space with modern dark furniture and reclaimed church pews, with features including a large coal-burning open fireplace (amazing in the winter when accompanied by the under-tile heating!) and a baby grand piano, which is frequently played by a pianist, to accompany your meal. The windows facing water-side all open fully concertina-style allowing a semi al-fresco feel in the warmer summer months, and offering some beautiful views right the way to the Fylde coast. On a clear day, you can even see Blackpool Tower! I love the way the menu is presented as the "Daily Catch" newspaper, telling the story of how the café started and developed, along with photos, and then inside the menu is designed in a similar newspaper style. The menu offers a great variety of fish dishes as well as classic favourites, salads, hot and cold drinks, snacks, and desserts, all of which I'm happy to say are at pretty decent prices considering the quality of the offerings! The fish has a perfectly crisp batter, and lovely fresh hot chips, accompanied by a wonderful home-made tartare sauce and a wedge of lemon. The fish is presented on a gigantic fish-shaped plate, which as well as perfectly containing the very large fish offered, is a fantastically theatrical statement when it arrives.

I ordered the prime cod, which although my photo does it no justice, was colossal! There was a menu option for an 'extra large cod', which considering the size of the standard cod, must require the concertina windows to be opened to get it into the dining room, surely! As you can imagine, after this beast, I couldn't manage a dessert, but the cake cabinet at the front of the dining room only taunted me that I wouldn't be able to try what looked like some very tasty cakes! Bank Top Brewery providing the beer and wine means that if you don't quite fancy traditional chippy fare, you can still have a tasty and well prepared meal, and a pleasant evening, and equally if you wanted to simply pop in during the daytime for a slice of cake and a cup of tea, you'd get just as pleasant experience.



I'm making myself hungry simply remembering this visit. I really must visit again soon!



Curley's Dining Rooms
Wallsuches
Off Chorley New Road
Horwich
Bolton
BL6 6PP
(01204) 691 783
www.curleysdiningrooms.co.uk






Curley's Fishery & Dining Room on Urbanspoon

Curley's Dining Rooms

by on 11:57
Curley's Fisheries has always had a café. It started off as a shed, then a slightly bigger shed, then a portakabin type shed, and t...
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