The Red House Nether Broughton

Well I have to say that I was really looking forward to Sunday lunch out yesterday and had chosen the Red House at Nether Broughton (Leicestershire) to meet up with some old friends for an informal get together and some decent food.

We've been here a few times with the children and the food and service has always been great - in fact we went there for Mothers Day last year and I had a fab time!

So what has happened since?? This was the most disappointing meal out for a long time. we should have realized things were amiss when we discovered we were one of only 2 tables booked in for the entire lunch service. Previously we have always had to book in advance to secure a table.

The service was very friendly as normal and the menu, though limited, looked OK. I never have a problem with a limited menu because surely that means everything is cooked fresh as ordered?? The staff were friendly and made us feel welcome as well as welcoming children without a problem.

The starters looked great and we ordered 2 prawns tempura and a wild mushroom bruscetta. The prawns were OK but the bruscetta was lacking any depth of flavour whatsoever. It needed salt and pepper and the creamy sauce was bland with the wild mushrooms bizarrely adding nothing to the dish!

I'm not a big fan of roast Sunday dinner out so was delighted to see Steak & Kidney Pudding on the menu as well as the obligatory roast beef, pork and chicken. My husband & I both ordered the pudding whilst everyone else ordered a roast of some sort. The dauphinoise potatoes that came with the chicken were hard and tasted too garlicky (it was almost raw) and the vegetables were OK but a little dull. The biggest disappointment was the Steak & Kidney Pudding. Obviously heated up - dry filling and hard chewy pastry that was far too tough.

We skipped pudding but with 2 glasses of wine and a few soft drinks the bill for 4 children & 3 adults was just short of £100. What a disappointment and we won't be visiting again in a hurry!

Jersey Royals

This may seem like a bizarre thing to write about but I have to share my disappointment in my first Jersey Royals of the season yesterday!! Why can you not get them like you used to? What do they do differently now so that they just don't taste as good?
When I was little it was almost a ritual in our household - rumour would spread through Tenby that the first Jersey Royals were in Handicott's greengrocer and my Dad, Tommy and I would rush up there. Part of the ritual was the 10 minute banter between Dad & Peter about how could anyone pay that much for a few potatoes...10 for that you must be mad! Dad would pick out the tiny ones, begrudgingly pay the extortionate amount (and always tell a little white lie to Mum about the actual cost!) and bring them home. He would then personally scrape the peel off and serve them up as lunch with just butter and parsley - I can taste them now - totally delicious!
Funnily enough we would have the same ritual with the first Pembrokeshires a few weeks later.
Anyway, Tesco's £3.00 for a small bag yesterday were thoroughly disappointing - too big and no special flavour. I shan't be buying them again!

Villa Taman Burung, Lovina, Bali

We have just arrived back from a fabulous family holiday to Lovina in Bali, Indonesia. The trip was arranged as a surprise for a significant birthday, soon to be celebrated, by one of our party.

A total of 15 family members, who are usually scattered far and wide around the world, congregated at the Villa Taman Burung, near to Lovina in Northern Bali. Arriving on 4 separate flights from London, Singapore and Sydney, we were met by the villa's driver, named Made, to make the journey from the airport at Denpasar in the south of the island to Lovina in the north. The trip can take anywhere between two and three hours depending on traffic and was certainly more of a white-knuckle ride than any roller-coaster I've ridden. Mopeds, dogs, chickens, lorries and more besides all compete for road space, but our driver seemed oblivious to it all, simply using the horn to announce his intention to overtake everything in his way.

On arrival at Taman Burung, the pace immediately slowed and the entire complement of 8 staff were there to welcome us and show us around. They are clearly very proud of the facilities and with good reason.

Taman Burung comprises a site approximately the size of a football pitch. Six buildings for guest accommodation can be found spread out through the immaculate gardens, with two pools, one at either end of the site. A large building in the centre of the site forms the kitchen, dining area, and bar. Also dotted around the site were a variety of covered buildings providing shelter from the sun and occasional rain storm.


In total there were 7 double bedrooms, one twin room and an additional double bed in the thatched building on stilts (perfect for my 10 and 7 year old daughters). Each good-sized bedroom, with the exception of the thatch (see below), was air-conditioned and had its own beautiful outdoor, open-air bathroom.

The kitchen was ably managed by Pari and Wayan, who continued to produce a wide variety of both Indonesian and European food, with ever present smiles and enthusiasm. Kadek was on hand to wait on the tables, serve drinks and ensure that we had everything that we needed.

Breakfast usually consisted of a plate of fresh fruit, including watermelon, papaya, pineapple and banana, plus a fruit smoothie, and an english breakfast or pancakes, plus plenty of coffee and tea. During breakfast we also discussed with the cooks, what we would be eating for lunch and dinner.

For lunch, we opted either for Nasi Goreng (fried rice) or Mee Goreng (fried noodles), but the staff were happy to accommodate any other suggestions we came up with. Their Cap Cay (stir fried vegatables) was also excellent.

Dinner was selected from eight different three course menus, ranging from starters of greek salad, Jukut Undis (traditional black bean soup), Jukut Ares (young banana tree soup), spring roll or chicken and asparagus soup. The choices for main course included curry, sweet and sour pork, Ayam Kecap (Panfried Chicken), satay, Babi Kecap (panfried pork), Ikan Sambal Matah (grilled fillet of tuna, with spices), Ikan Pepes (spicey grilled fish in banana leaf), Ayam Betutu (spicy grilled chicken in banana leaf) - All were delicious. Desserts were usually fresh fruit, served with ice cream. We also tried the local Bali Cake, but this was not to our liking, being very stodgy, sweet and covered in coconut.

One evening, the staff also prepared a whole suckling pig as a special treat. It made quite a spectacle when on the table and could have fed us three times over.


Komang and the rest of the staff, maintained the pools, the gardens, tidied rooms and re-stocked the fridges in each room and the pool bar.

I would not hesitate to recommend this location for any large party, wanting to get together for some sun and relaxation and who don't mind travelling to get it. Apart from the cost of the flights, the remainder of the holiday was exceptional value, considering the standard of the accommodation and the service provided by the staff. Thanks to you all.

Café Bleu, Newark

Yesterday I went to one of my favourite restaurants for a gorgeous lunch - Café Bleu in Newark, Nottinghamshire. The good news is that my husband actually works in Newark so we can usually wrangle a long leisurely lunch once in a while and with us all off on holiday tomorrow it didn't seem to be a problem!
This was my delayed (by my request) Mothers Day lunch treat so myself, Immy & Scarley trekked the 45 mins up to Newark and invited Grandpa (my father in law Richard) along too.
As always the food was completely delicious and I can't recommend this restaurant enough. The staff are always so welcoming and although pricey for a 3 course meal, for a light lunch it is almost affordable!
Imogen is now 10 and won't entertain childrens' portions (there is no childrens' menu which I always see as a good thing!) so promptly ordered herself the rack of lamb (at £17.50!!) served with a garlic mash and red wine jus. Heaven on a plate. Scarlett is only 7 but ordered the supreme roast chicken breast substituting the black pudding mash with some new potatoes instead. She ate most of this but enjoyed the complimentary freshly baked baguette and butter just as much!
Richard indulged with Moules Mariniere and frites which was delicious. The sauce was incredibly creamy and rich (sometimes at other restaurants the sauce can be a bit too brothy & watery for me) and delicious with the bread for dipping! My husband Jon had the roasted cod which I didn't get to taste and I had the most amazing beef bourgignonne which was served with pommes anna. The beef was all in one piece with the very rich sauce served on top. The beef was melt in the mouth and the flavour was out of this world! The fries are always great so we ordered a side just in case!
What I love about Café Bleu is that the portions aren't huge so there is always room for pudding!
So..the Creme Brule was served with a chocolate ice cream (almost as good as Jon's!), the vanilla pannacota was served with a passion fruit jelly and a choux bun (very delicious), the chocolate fondant pudding came with a pistachio icecream crumble and was swiftly finished off by Imogen!
The whole experience is great - relaxed, informal, great service and delicious freshly cooked food. Do yourself a favour - next time you are anywhere near Newark, pop in!

Gressingham Duck!!

Well, suffice to say that Mother's Day was all it promised to be! My breakfast in bed was lovely - always presented by, and shared with(!) my little girls! Why does something fairly simple like scrambled eggs and bacon taste so nice when someone else cooks it and presents it with a fresh red rose??

We had a few jobs to do in preparation to our trip to Tenby next week but still managed a cheeky pint down at our local pub - the Golden Fleece, South Croxton. It was full of mothers obviously but still nice to sit and people watch for an hour or so! The food there is fantastic, but on a Sunday it is my non-favourite - the carvery which is why we gave it a miss this year.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is to completely rave on about Gressingham duck! My girls LOVE roast duck so we decided to get a Gressingham Duck from Tesco (at £14!) instead of the normal ducks at around £6. Any posh chefs always tell you to buy this but I've never seen them in the mainstream supermarkets before now. Check out their website - it is obviously the crème de la crème of ducks!!

We roasted it a la Delia (plenty of Maldon sea salt & black pepper) in a hot oven on a rack for over 2 hours and then let it rest for 15 minutes. Total heaven - loads of breast meat and crispy tasty skin and totally delicious! I so recommend it to anyone and it is so worth the extra money.

To be honest we normally have to buy 2 normal ducks for 4 but one Gressingham was enough for 4 so look at it as good value, not expensive! Served with delicious Dauphinoise potatoes and baby veg followed by strawberries and cream.

Hooray for being a mother!

Dinner Parties at Home and Top 10 Food Websites

One of the growing trends that has been seen, during the recent economic downturn is for a return to home cooking and hosting dinner parties at home. Visits increased by 32.8% between February 2008 and February 2009 as reported by "Hitwise United Kingdom - hitwise.co.uk".

We have always enjoyed entertaining at home and so this comes as no surprise to us. You will see that much of the content on the Dinner at Home website relates to planning a dinner party and other dinner party ideas.

According to Hitwise, the Top 10 Food and Beverage - Lifestyle and Reference websites, in 2008 are as follows:

1. www.bbc.co.uk/food
2. uktv.co.uk/food
3. www.deliaonline.com
4. www.waitrose.com
5. www.bbcgoodfood.com
6. www.channel4.com/food
7. www.qype.co.uk
8. www.jamieoliver.com
9. www.laithwaites.co.uk
10. www.sugarvine.com

I find it interesting to note that of all the supermarkets, only up-market Waitrose has found its way onto the list and with the exception of the London Review Guide Qype, all other websites are aimed at anyone looking to cook at home.

So join the rest of us in dusting off your recipes books and throw a dinner party! The Credit Crunch alternative to eating out.

Tenby

I've got another week and 1 day at work and then I've got a few days off until we go to Tenby for 2 whole weeks! This is my dream holiday as I grew up there and we still have my Dad's house down there - a gorgeous little 3 bed terraced cottage about 100 yards from the South Beach!
The cottage is just outside of the town walls so quiet but handy in that we never need to drive anywhere in the evening and trust me - there are a plethora of places to visit!
What is great now is that rather than having to get a babysitter every time (thanks Mrs Lewis!) we can now take the girls out (who are 7 and 10) to enjoy the culinary experiences of Tenby. Although it seems that even though Tenby is a beautiful seaside town with a harbour to die for the good restaurants have been few and far between. Maybe I'm spoilt because we have such great eating places in Leicestershire but getting really good food in Tenby isn't easy.
When I was a very young kid my Mum & Dad used to go to the "Cellar Bar" - I don't think I ever went there but I believe it was incredibly 70's kitsch and the place to be! Then there was the Normandie which really was great food which had the legendary Taffy Wooles as the chef. If ever there was a special occasion that was the place to be. In fact - that leads me on to possibly the best restaurant Tenby has ever had (in my eaterie days certainly!) which was the "Mews Bistro". I worked there as a waitress when I was home in the holidays from Uni and had the pleasure of working with Taffy and also the (now) legendary Andrew Swales!
We used to work so hard (my best friend Kate Leonard & I were earning money in order to get ourselves out to Chequers Nightclub!) and then would be rewarded by tasting some new creation that Taffy had been experimenting with that night. What a delight and what a truly nice man.
The "Mews Bistro" would NEVER have had the success it had without my wonderful Aunty Linda as front of house. She worked there for many many years and totally lit the place up. She was amazing and was always (very naughtily!) sorting a cheeky glass of wine out for us hard working waitresses! She made work fun and we all miss her a lot since she died just over a year ago now. My lasting memory of Aunty Linda was when the then brother of Princess Di - Lord Althrop came to dine at the "Mews " (He was then a reporter for a US TV company and was filming something to do with Tenby) - she thought he might be good boyfriend material (he's practically royalty you know!!) but at 18 years old I had to tell her he was far too old for me and his chat up lines were dreadful!
Anyway...the Mews has now been sold on and I've not been there since. The trouble now is finding somewhere decent to eat in Tenby - I shall continue tomorrow once I've had my wonderful breakfast in bed which is compulsory on Mothers Day!!!
Got to go - will Ireland beat Wales?!! Obviously I want Wales to win (what would my father say if I didn't say that??) but it would be painless to see Ireland win a Grand Slam for the first time in 60 odd years!