That’s my dinners sorted for the next few days, jerk chicken, roasted seasoned veg and rice and peas.
Showing posts with label Meal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meal. Show all posts
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Cooking My Meals In Advance Because I'm Lazy
That’s my dinners sorted for the next few days, jerk chicken, roasted seasoned veg and rice and peas.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Review: The Cricketts Inn, Acresford
The Cricketts Inn
Burton Road, Acresford, Swadlincote DE12 8AP
From the outside this is a nice looking pub, clean, tidy, well kept and set in beautiful rural surroundings. Inside it is a fairly standard looking country pub, rustic and welcoming, if a little bit on the scruffy side.
I arrived early and sat at the bar to have a couple of drinks, despite the pub not being particularly busy, the bar clearly hadn’t been cleaned properly in some time and had become very sticky and was giving off a smell of stale beer. Being a Marston’s affiliated country pub I was expecting a reasonable selection of ales, disappointingly they only had two ales on tap, one of which was Pedigree and the other was Lancaster Bomber. I ordered myself a pint of Pedigree and took a long swig the beer was definitely off, it tasted of nothing but sulphur, I didn’t drink the rest. I mentioned it to one the girls serving, she seemed not to care at all and didn’t do anything to rectify the situation, again this was somewhat disappointing.
After about ten minutes they called us through and we were seated, I ordered a starter of black pudding bhajis. When they were brought out they were nicely presented and looked freshly cooked, I cut into them they were still hot and nicely crisp. They had a very pleasant texture and taste though they didn’t seem to contain an awful lot of black pubbing, which being black pudding bhajis, was a bit of a let down.
Shortly after the starters had been cleared away they started bringing out the mains, I had ordered a 16oz ribeye steak, chips and grilled mushrooms, I asked for the steak to be cooked rare. I was glad to see the chips were not frozen chips and had definitely been hand cut, they were nice but nothing spectacular and the portion size left a lot to be desired. The steak was what really let them down in my eyes, it was nowhere the size or thickness that a 16oz should be, I would put the size somewhere between the 10 and 12oz mark. When I cut into it, it was definitely not rare, it was quite dry and after the first bite I could tell it had not been seasoned at all. Because of how my earlier issue had been dealt with by the staff, I chose not to raise it and continued to eat. Fortunately one of the group I was with had a pot of black peppercorn sauce and was willing to share, this actually improved the meal enough for me to finish the plate.
Some of the group chose to have deserts, I decided not to as nothing on the menu really appealed to me and I had been a little bit put off by how disappointed I was by the rest of the meal.
Unfortunately I had heard good things prior to eating at The Cricketts Inn, coupled with the fact that menu read very well and the prices weren’t particularly cheap, I went in with high hopes and I think this is partially why I was so disappointed with my experience. The food itself wasn’t actually that bad but it also wasn’t particularly good, it was disappointingly average.
Burton Road, Acresford, Swadlincote DE12 8AP
From the outside this is a nice looking pub, clean, tidy, well kept and set in beautiful rural surroundings. Inside it is a fairly standard looking country pub, rustic and welcoming, if a little bit on the scruffy side.
I arrived early and sat at the bar to have a couple of drinks, despite the pub not being particularly busy, the bar clearly hadn’t been cleaned properly in some time and had become very sticky and was giving off a smell of stale beer. Being a Marston’s affiliated country pub I was expecting a reasonable selection of ales, disappointingly they only had two ales on tap, one of which was Pedigree and the other was Lancaster Bomber. I ordered myself a pint of Pedigree and took a long swig the beer was definitely off, it tasted of nothing but sulphur, I didn’t drink the rest. I mentioned it to one the girls serving, she seemed not to care at all and didn’t do anything to rectify the situation, again this was somewhat disappointing.
After about ten minutes they called us through and we were seated, I ordered a starter of black pudding bhajis. When they were brought out they were nicely presented and looked freshly cooked, I cut into them they were still hot and nicely crisp. They had a very pleasant texture and taste though they didn’t seem to contain an awful lot of black pubbing, which being black pudding bhajis, was a bit of a let down.
Shortly after the starters had been cleared away they started bringing out the mains, I had ordered a 16oz ribeye steak, chips and grilled mushrooms, I asked for the steak to be cooked rare. I was glad to see the chips were not frozen chips and had definitely been hand cut, they were nice but nothing spectacular and the portion size left a lot to be desired. The steak was what really let them down in my eyes, it was nowhere the size or thickness that a 16oz should be, I would put the size somewhere between the 10 and 12oz mark. When I cut into it, it was definitely not rare, it was quite dry and after the first bite I could tell it had not been seasoned at all. Because of how my earlier issue had been dealt with by the staff, I chose not to raise it and continued to eat. Fortunately one of the group I was with had a pot of black peppercorn sauce and was willing to share, this actually improved the meal enough for me to finish the plate.
Some of the group chose to have deserts, I decided not to as nothing on the menu really appealed to me and I had been a little bit put off by how disappointed I was by the rest of the meal.
Unfortunately I had heard good things prior to eating at The Cricketts Inn, coupled with the fact that menu read very well and the prices weren’t particularly cheap, I went in with high hopes and I think this is partially why I was so disappointed with my experience. The food itself wasn’t actually that bad but it also wasn’t particularly good, it was disappointingly average.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Happy Birthday To Me...
It was my 31st birthday at the weekend and, as usual, my lovely lady spoiled me with awesome gifts, amazing food and epic cake (which I am currently eating a sizeable chunk of). The Birthday celebration really Kicked off on the Saturday evening when my lady took me out for a meal to The Junction, a local Bar/Restaurant well know for its high quality food and pleasant atmosphere.
All I can really say about the food is that, as always, it was amazing. I started with a terrine of locally smoke mackerel, dauphinoise potatoes and horse radish with a balsamic dressing and it was delicious, there was just enough acidity to the dressing to cut through the richness of the potato and the oily fish, without overpowering the dish. The freshness of the horse radish was evident and was just enough to lift the dish and provide a hint of heat on the tongue, it was an excellent counter point to the overall richness of the dish.
I washed the starter down with a very pleasant pint of Ringwoods excellent craft ale, Old Thumper and moved on to a main course of pan fried duck breast on a bed of stir fried summer vegetables in a hoisin sauce with spicy polenta chips. The duck breast was tender and perfectly pink in the middle, whilst having a lovely sear on the skin. The veg was al dente and maintained its own flavour well in the lusciously rich hoisin sauce. The overall flavour of the dish was suitably oriental whilst still maintaining an English aspect, from the choice of vegetables and simple, but very well executed flavour of the duck. My one criticism is the inclusion of the polenta chips, whilst very nice and having an interesting flavour of there own, they seemed entirely disconnected from the rest of the dish and were largely surplus to needs. I would have preferred to have seen a portion of deep fried rice noodles in place of the chips, as this would have better suited the dish and provided a bit of crunch and an interesting textural depth.
Kelly decided to forgo the starter and instead opted to go straight for a main course of a classic hand made steak burger, with triple cooked chips and a side order beer battered onion rings. The quality of the beef used to make the burger was apparent, it was tender, flavoursome and maintained the texture of the meat very well, something that is often lost when using beef of a lesser quality. The chips were fluffy, flavoursome and crisp thanks to the triple cooking process, they had been allowed to colour giving a very slight edge of sweetness to the flavour that worked well with a sprinkling of salt. The onion rings were crisp and the batter was light, the onion inside was not overcooked and as such had not taken on too much oil giving them a refreshing bite. It is very hard to criticise burger and chips at the best of times but when done with such a level of quality and consistency as is to be found here it is almost impossible.
Given the richness of my starter and main course I chose to follow these with a refreshing pale ale, this time in the guise of a pint of Boondoggle, a crisp citrusy blond ale, again, by the excellent folks at the Ringwood brewery. Having both had our fill from our main courses we decided to split a desert, Kelly made the excellent choice of a home made cheesecake & mango jelly with passion-fruit sauce. The combination of the richness of the cheesecake, sweetness of the mango jelly and acidity of the passion-fruit sauce made for an excellent palette cleanser and a perfect end to an delicious meal.
The remainder of the evening was spent in the company of Kelly’s parents sharing a few drinks and catching up. All in all and wonderful evening spent with good company and my amazing partner.
All I can really say about the food is that, as always, it was amazing. I started with a terrine of locally smoke mackerel, dauphinoise potatoes and horse radish with a balsamic dressing and it was delicious, there was just enough acidity to the dressing to cut through the richness of the potato and the oily fish, without overpowering the dish. The freshness of the horse radish was evident and was just enough to lift the dish and provide a hint of heat on the tongue, it was an excellent counter point to the overall richness of the dish.
I washed the starter down with a very pleasant pint of Ringwoods excellent craft ale, Old Thumper and moved on to a main course of pan fried duck breast on a bed of stir fried summer vegetables in a hoisin sauce with spicy polenta chips. The duck breast was tender and perfectly pink in the middle, whilst having a lovely sear on the skin. The veg was al dente and maintained its own flavour well in the lusciously rich hoisin sauce. The overall flavour of the dish was suitably oriental whilst still maintaining an English aspect, from the choice of vegetables and simple, but very well executed flavour of the duck. My one criticism is the inclusion of the polenta chips, whilst very nice and having an interesting flavour of there own, they seemed entirely disconnected from the rest of the dish and were largely surplus to needs. I would have preferred to have seen a portion of deep fried rice noodles in place of the chips, as this would have better suited the dish and provided a bit of crunch and an interesting textural depth.
Kelly decided to forgo the starter and instead opted to go straight for a main course of a classic hand made steak burger, with triple cooked chips and a side order beer battered onion rings. The quality of the beef used to make the burger was apparent, it was tender, flavoursome and maintained the texture of the meat very well, something that is often lost when using beef of a lesser quality. The chips were fluffy, flavoursome and crisp thanks to the triple cooking process, they had been allowed to colour giving a very slight edge of sweetness to the flavour that worked well with a sprinkling of salt. The onion rings were crisp and the batter was light, the onion inside was not overcooked and as such had not taken on too much oil giving them a refreshing bite. It is very hard to criticise burger and chips at the best of times but when done with such a level of quality and consistency as is to be found here it is almost impossible.
Given the richness of my starter and main course I chose to follow these with a refreshing pale ale, this time in the guise of a pint of Boondoggle, a crisp citrusy blond ale, again, by the excellent folks at the Ringwood brewery. Having both had our fill from our main courses we decided to split a desert, Kelly made the excellent choice of a home made cheesecake & mango jelly with passion-fruit sauce. The combination of the richness of the cheesecake, sweetness of the mango jelly and acidity of the passion-fruit sauce made for an excellent palette cleanser and a perfect end to an delicious meal.
The remainder of the evening was spent in the company of Kelly’s parents sharing a few drinks and catching up. All in all and wonderful evening spent with good company and my amazing partner.
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