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Archive for the ‘Not London Eating’ Category
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Gastropub, the word can sometimes fill me with fear. The worst are cash-ins with no love of food, middle range is full to the brim with either pretentious overpriced offerings or clearly overstreched establishments who are jack of all master of none types. Occasionally though you happen upon a pub that cares about its food, drink and ambiance and performs excellently in each.
The Cricket Inn, Totley, South Yorkshire (just outside Sheffield) is one, a lovely little gem on the outskirts of Sheffield.
We we seated at a table by the fire, very welcome on this damp fresh spring evening, and had a short agonising time over starters (always my favourites) until we realised we could have a bit of everything to share. Local mini sausages, real pork scratchings, fish goujons, whitebait, spare ribs, home made bread and dips with chips arrived on a wooden board and in little aluminium pails - gorgeously presented and a real delight to eat, all washed down with excellent red wine (the ladies) and well kept ales (the gents).
Main courses also didn’t disappoint with bold flavours, pies, cheese topped fish, and big portions - so large in fact I couldn’t finish mine (unheard of, I assure you).
No room for pudding I’m afraid but they looked to be carrying on the great strong cooking coming out of the kitchen, if the treacle tart that wafted past me was anything to go by.
All in all a real delight, so if you ever find yourselves on the outskirts of Sheffield in need of some good grub…
4.5/5
The Cricket Inn
Totley, South Yorkshire
S17 3AZ
0114-236 5256
Tags: sheffield pub, sheffield restaurant
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Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 by urban foodie
 It’s Sunday morning, we have spent three days (and, more importantly, three nights) laughing, chatting, dancing, drinking, we are all very, very tired…
There is only one thing for it, Frühstück and lots of it. The Germans may have seriously solid food of their own - and the fried salad I was served on my first day (to accompany potato pancakes and thick slabs of smoked salmon) will stand as witness to this fact - but no one does hangover food quite like the Russians. So it is East to Gorki Park that we head, the Russian cafe you understand, not the motherland.
 Now, I have mentioned my slavophilia before so it will come as no surprise that I was in heaven from the moment I picked up the menu in this utterly charming cafe. The place is stylishly decorated with vintage modernist wallpaper and furniture and cool as it is, feels warm and welcoming, like so much of Berlin. In fact having to narrow my selection down to what I could actually manage to eat was the only painful moment, I wanted it all.
In the end I plumped for a small borsch followed by a mixed platter of baked cheese blinis, eggs, pancakes with soured cream, aubergine in tomatoes, various fruits, more soured cream and some jam with a glass of black tea on the side - I told you I was hungry.
 Really I should have had a little glass of vodka for pudding but I couldn’t quite face it after all that. So, fat and happy we waddled out into the cold Sunday afternoon in search of some art to further inspire our souls.
6/5
Gorki Park
25 Weinbergsweg
10119 Berlin
Tel +49 30 448 72 86
www.gorki-park.de
Tags: Berlin cafe, blinis, russian cafe
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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 by urban foodie
Ah Berlin,
 It took a little while to grow on me but once I’d found a cute Wollmutze, drank some weine and eaten a wurst - not to mention seen my friend’s amazing flat, think St Petersburg meets Paris, and met her charming, charming flatmates - I fell for the place, hook, line and sinker.
And then we went to what could easily become a favourite restaurant, if only it wasn’t so far from my house…
Madchenitaliener is a little restaurant in Mitte (central Berlin, east side) simple and unpreposessing from the outside, it has no sign just a big window glowing warmly in the night. Inside the simplicity continues with white walls, simple tables and star lights. The staff are really cute and the restaurant card a charming 70s scene, look closer and you’ll see it’s made up of the staff.
 Best of all, of course, was the food, simple pasta piled on big plates and juicy carafes of wine. Mine was just simple olive oil and truffle shavings but exquisite and my friends both did rather well too, that one top left is parma ham! Oof!
No room for pudding I’m afraid but I bet they were lovely. The restaurant is also really cheap - in a city where prices easily rival everyday London ones 3 bowls of lovely pasta, 2 caraffes of wine and a big bottle of sparkling water was only 45 Euros.
Plus if you don’t book and have to wait (as we did) there is a great little bar opposite, very east Berlin cool, which feels like cool without the attitude, highly recommended.
4.5/5
Madchenitaliener
12 Alte Schonhauser
10119
Berlin
+49 30 40041787
Tags: best Berlin restaurant, Cool Berlin, italian
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Monday, December 1st, 2008 by urban foodie
 I’ve been leading a rather jet set life recently, Edinburgh last week, Berlin this - quite the euro traveller! I have, of course, been eating well in these cities (having locals in both locations meant I was mostly spoiled for great food). I’ll post about Berlin later, first things first, Edinburgh.
The charming Caledonian sleeper brought me to this magnificent city, cold but quite, quite beautiful. George st (parallel to the infamous Prince st) is full of restaurants housed in grand old bank halls - and when they do grand in Edinburgh, they really do grand. In the single evening I was there I was treated to a quite decent example - Centotre (www.centotre.com).
 The space is vast and hugely white, but the potential starkness is toned by lots of soft touches (plants, coloured lights that dance on the high, high ceiling) but it is stil really white.
The menu is simple, just two pages of dishes, showing a measured hand in the kitchen. The wine list, however, is plenty long at another 4 pages…
After filling up on some very good bread and olives (a bit unsure what the silverskin onions were doing in the mix, but otherwise very nice), my dining companion and I both chose red main course dishes. I’m not sure if this was to balance the whiteness of the place, could be. She had meatball tagliatelle and I a fish stew. While both looked fantastic on the plate (I knew that red would work) neither really came up to better than just good, the meatballs were a tiny bit bland, the tomato sauce not quite sharp enough, and my seafood was just a bit too fishy - maybe caught 48 hours ago rather than 24.
 The meal was certainly no disaster - especially as its occasion was two old friends catching up over a bottle of wine - and the puddings were so huge and fun filled that we certainly left with a smile on our faces. My, sensible, companion opted for a simple and zesty lemon sorbet. I, however, went all out. This marvelous concoction (see right) was only really made possible by the lack of carbs in the rest of my meal, otherwise I might have actually exploded. It was made of excellent home made vanilla ice cream covered in Amarena cherries, toffee brittle, fresh pineapple and whipped cream. The oddness of the combination was what compelled me to try it, and sweet sticky fun it was too.
So all in all a more than acceptable meal, but I didn’t feel it ever quite reached the promised heights of that bank hall ceiling…
3.5/5
Mains £8-24
Pudding £4-6
House Wine £15
Centotre
103 George St,
Edinburgh
0131 225 1550
www.centotre.com
Tags: Edinburgh restaurant, italian
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Thursday, August 7th, 2008 by urban foodie
 Back from holiday number two, The Big Chill festival, with the memory of sunshine and dancing in a field still warm in my heart (and a swollen ankle too, but that’s another story - yes it involved cocktails, darkness and an unseen hole…).
One of the other great memories that lingers is of dinner on the first night - fresh mackerel fillet curry with rice and salad.
If you are heading to a festival this summer seek out the Goan Fish Curry stall, I implore you. Their standard curries, made with sustainable Cornish fish, are delicious fare but their mackerel fillet special would not be out of place on a (very good) fish restaurant table. Gone are the days when festival food meant a burger, tastless lentil pat or, at best, some chips with garlic mayo in a pitta - actually that one wasn’t always so bad 
‘I’m afraid it’ll be a few minutes as we cook them fresh’ was a promising start and it just got better from there. Juicy, fresh as the sea, mackerel seared on the griddle and smothered in tangy, thickly spiced sauce set off by just right rice and a clasic tangy tomato, onion salad speckled with fresh coriander.
I’m telling you it was delicious. Go, my friends, find a festival, dance in the fresh air and fill your stomachs with gorgeousness - it does an urban foodie soul good.
Tags: curry, festival food, fish
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