Mr Roots was there himself handing out his new range of crisps and fizzy drinks at Notting Hill Carnival. I can say I tasted both and they were really good, but he really wanted me to tell you about his new cd.
I was late and rushing for the 2pm train. I had had nothing to eat so after I found a seat and had put it off for as long as possible I bought a sausage roll. It was worse than the last one I had ten years ago. I don't need to describe it because you can see its flabby, rusky, microwaved self, for yourselves. Abelio Greater Anglia - your crisps have improved, your drinks have improved, now try serving a nice sausage roll?
It's still there, it's still worth a day out and so I went with Dad and we had Lemon Sole and chips twice. And very crispy batter and moist fish it was too (he told me to write that, but it's true)
So obvious really, mini-fish and chips (I know they do it at parties...) but I've only seen it once here on the street, and it was VERY popular. Why? Because you really really want some but you don't want to throw half of it away. Brilliant - and it won an award. The best ideas are the obvious ones.
Why have we been eating so many burgers? Suddenly everyone in Bury St Edmunds has burgers on the menu so we have been out to try some.
Benson Blakes were the first on the scene and are the established burger and cocktail bar in the town. They have won many awards ( deservedly so) for their offerings and we tried the Caprese (£7.85) a dirty great burger with sweet potato fries. Cocktails are damn good too. Staff are very friendly and the atmosphere lively and fun, especially when a band is playing.
More sedate is Graze Kitchen and Bar, known for their small plate, informal dining and established in the town for high quality, mix and match plates. But now big plates have arrived and include a Graze burger, pickles and chips. (£9.) We drank a bottle of Chenin Blanc from South Africa which was very good and added some small plates to our late evening meal. Service was slick, but annoyingly we were reminded throughout the meal that the kitchen closed at 10pm.
Third up is The Picturehouse cinema in Hatter Street. They serve a build your own burger. Choose a bun, a burger, a side and salad.(£8.80). Note pads and pens are placed on the table for you to write, then place your order at the bar and the burger is delivered to the table. Service is cheerful but it gets a bit busy when a film is about to start, so allow plenty of time to eat first.
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I couldn't stay in Cromer last night without trying out No 1 Fish and Chip Restaurant and takeaway, recently opened by Galton Blackiston ( you know; Morston Hall, Michelin Star, Celebrity Chef...) The restaurant is quite big and the takeaway shop is next door.
When you arrive you stand behind a sign which says "please wait to be seated" so I did. The waitress came over and said that she was not allowed to seat me - I thought she was joking, but she wasn't. So I had to wait for the lady in charge to finish taking an order before she showed me to a table.
I was hoping to try the house special - crab cakes - but they had sold out so I ordered plaice and chips and a portion of mushy pea fritters.The printed menu gives more space to the wines on offer than the savoury food but I was driving so had a ginger beer, there are some nice choices of soft drinks. The fish was very fresh - had lovely batter, light and crisp - and very good chips with a portion of homemade tartare sauce on the side. The pea fritters were also tasty and so hot I burnt my mouth eating them. They were served with a mint dip.
The service was a bit shaky from that wait at the start. A few things were forgotton and there were some interesting descriptions of the menu - olives in the tartare sauce.... I don't think so!
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An invitation to Bingo on Monday night meant that inspector x and suffolkfoodie had no time for supper beforehand. Our Winners Dinner was a welcome surprise. A hot and tasty baked potato jam-packed with prawns in mayonnaise for the budget price of £3.50. Many other businesses in the customer service sector could take a leaf out of the book of Winners Bingo Halls. What amazing staff - friendly, fun and helpful. In case you were wondering we did get a winning line, but being the amateurs that we are, called too late and missed the prize!
A football match wouldn't be the same without a burger and chips but these are Rolfes burgers at Walsham - no standing in the drizzle with luke warm instant coffee and a Mars bar here. No wonder they have some of the best facilities in this part of the county. The only thing missing was a little bit of salad but I am probably in the minority for that one.
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We like pies at suffolkfoodie and are rooting for the eccentric Tom to win The Apprentice. MyPy, what a great idea..... and thinking of the classic Suffolk pie; Who would you name one after?
Well it's December and I haven't been anywhere nice for the last week, in fact I haven't been anywhere - nice or not. I was thinking about making mince pies and looked up Delia's recipe but decided not to buy all the ingredients just for a few, as I know it will be me that eats them all. I haven't bought any because first of all I won't like them as much as home made and secondly, if you want Christmas to start the week before and end the week after, there is something really exciting about waiting to eat that first mince pie and my mum makes the best. So, fed up with cooking and no children around this evening to make it too expensive I secretly bought Woolpit fish (plaice) and chips and they were really really nice.
Forgot I was on veggie week and had bacon and eggs for breakfast, but made up for it by making delicious pakora with spinach out of the garden for lunch. Inspector X gave me her recipe - it's so easy - but it's on the gram flour packet too, if you can find any. I asked in Tesco just to see if they knew what it was, not expecting them to have any, and they bought me Rye flour. So went to Ipswich to the Norwich road shops where they have everything you could possibly ever want and spent too much on scotch bonnet peppers, plantain chips and frozen samosa's as well.
