Miller & Carter, Hockley Heath 24/03/2012

Once again I went to Miller & Carter, this time it was for my birthday! I went with my two good friends, Jayne & Sam and because I was on crutches I couldn't do too much so we decided to just go for some food. I chose one of my favourites and its close to home as well which was good!

It was veryyy busy in the restaurant when we got there at 7.45, was fully booked which is a good sign! We decided to go to the Hockley Heath one because I prefer the decor and the service. We sat down and ordered our drinks, whilst looking at the menu.

Me and Jayne decided on the Chateaubriand 16oz to share because we have spoke about trying to before and thought my birthday was a perfect opportunity to! Sam went for a fillet steak.

The Chateaubriand isn't cheap at £40.95 but between two of you, I suppose it isn't too bad!

The steak comes with a choose of an iceberg lettuce wedge with a choice of topping, I went for: bacon with honey mustard dressing & Jayne went for the crumbled Stilton and blue cheese dressing.

As you can see the lettuce wedge isn't massive but its a good refreshing thing to eat with your meal. They usually bring it slightly before your steak as well which is good because it cleanses your pallet.

As you can see the Chateaubriand comes on a wooden board and isn't massive but once you've cut it in half there is actually quite a lot of meat to have each. We had the steak medium rare and it was cooked perfectly! As always!!

The steaks also come with some onion loaf on the side and either fries or jacket potato and a choice of sauce. I went for fries and a Red Wine & Shallot sauce. 

The chips are always consistently good at Miller & Carter and are crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside. The onion loaf is one of my favourite things about the meals here, its caramelised onions crisped up into a loaf, its sooo good! However this time round I did find the onion loaf slightly soggy, which is unusual. The sauce was very rich and you couldn't have a lot of it but was yummy!

Over all I had a brilliant birthday meal despite the crutches!

Lamb Inn, Great Rissington 22/03/2012

After my traumatic week and a couple of days in bed, my mum and dad decided to take me out for the day to get some fresh air. We went to the Cotswolds as the weather was nice as well, we could have a walk round (me hobbling on my crutches!!) We ended up in Bourton On The Water which is a quaint lovely little town and we had a walk round admiring the views, we then asked a few locals if they could recommend any good restaurants to us for lunch time.. a lot of the people mentioned a certain pub called: The Lamb Inn which was just up the road in Great Rissington.

As we pulled up to this pub, we noticed how cute it was! Its right on the top of a hill and over looks all the views of the Cotswolds. 

It was a lovely pub and had a good atmosphere inside! We walked in, got some drinks at the bar and then looked at the menu which was a black board up on the wall. All the options sounded so good! It was almost impossible to decide!

It was a posh lunch time menu but it all sounded so yummy! We finally, after a lot of discussion decided on:

I chose the: Smoked Salmon, Brixham Crab & Dill Roulade, Toasted Sour Dough Bread, Fennel Leaf, Capers & Lemon Butter Dressing. This was £7.25

Dad had: Roasted Cotswold Sirloin Cold Beef Platter, Caper Berries, Horseradish, Dressed Leaves & Toasted Sour Dough Bread. This was £9.95

& Mum had: Classic Brixham Moules Marinieres with Toby Colletts Farmhouse Loaf. This was £8.95

As you can see from the pictures the food looked so good, the presentation was brilliant! The Smoked Salmon was lovely, the roulade inside was creamy and the crab in it wasn't too over powering which was good! The caper sauce and fennel leafs were a nice touch as well and went really well with the smoked salmon and crab! The dough bread with it was really crispy and went brilliantly! I was very very impressed with my lunch.

My dads beef platter was massive for the price it was, the beef was cooked perfectly and the dressing it came with was amazing! None of us had ever tried caper berries before, so was a good chance to try some different things & they were actually very good! The horseradish sauce was different to usual horseradish as well, it had a good twist! This was a brilliant lunch.

The mussels were as yummy as mussels usually are! You got loads of mussels for a good price and the sauce they came in was lovely! With it mum got half a loaf of bread which was massive but was soft and seemed really fresh!

This was a brilliant lunch and definitely cheered me up! I would recommend this restaurant to anyone! 

Ye Olde Pounde Cafe, Henley 19/03/2012

This was a rather dramatic day! Me & my mum and dad were on the way to the airport to go on holiday to Egypt when I slipped on ice and cracked my pelvis and ended up in A&E instead of lying on the beach!! So this day didn't have the best start, so on the way back from A&E seeing as it was about 8am we decided to go for a breakfast at a cafe just outside Henley, where we live. Its called, Ye Olde Pounde Cafe and is a proper traditional breakkie cafe, with lots of cyclists and walkers! Inside it looks like a typical cafe, little tables scattered around and a small kitchen at the back, the prices are so reasonable though. For a full fry up with all the trimmings and toast and tea or coffee its £4.

I had a full breakfast but without any tomatoes. 

As you can see the portion size is massive! You get:

2 slices of toast

fried bread

2 sausages

2 rashers of bacon

a fried egg

a hash brown

& baked beans

Everything on my plate was yummy! Especially after my accident, it tasted so good. The fried bread was perfectly crispy, the sausages were cooked perfectly as was the bacon, the egg was just as I like it, runny and the baked beans were nice and hot! Over all this is a brilliant price was a massive, tasty breakfast! I would recommend this cafe to anyone!

Miller & Carter, Dickens Heath 16/03/2012

Once again me & Jayne decided to go for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Miller & Carter but this time we decided to go to the one in Dickens Heath so I could compare the service and food to the one in Hockley Heath I had been to a month previous. 

This time we opted for the set lunch time menu which is two or three courses from £10.95 which is a good deal when the restaurant isn't particularly cheap.

We both went for chicken wings to start as they are soooo good at Miller & Carter, however very messy!!

The chicken wings come with a BBQ sauce and rocket on the side, the chicken wings are coated in a BBQ sauce as well, the sauce is really tasty and the chicken is cooked perfectly, it falls off the bone!

This is a really good starter and I have it regularly when I go to Miller & Carter.

For the main we decided to have just sandwiches because we didn't want to eat too much as it was late afternoon

The sandwiches we shared were a:
 Steak Sandwich with Rump Steak with Caramelised Red Onions and Horseradish Mayonnaise served on sour dough bread
&
Grilled Chicken & Pesto Mayonnaise Sandwich

Both sandwiches came with a bowl of fries each as well!

The sandwiches war really nice, the bread was crispy but soft on the inside. The steak sandwich was definitely our favourite one out of the two sandwiches, the steak was cooked perfectly and the red onions worked really well with it as they were the perfect combination of sour and sweet. The chicken sandwich was lovely as well but I'm not a major fan of pesto so I didn't really like that in the sandwich. The chips were as good as usual at Miller & Carter, crispy yet soft!

Over all this was a brilliant light lunch and was a good price for £18.95 for the sandwiches and chips.

We decided to share a dessert as they are only £2.50 when you are having the lunchtime menu.

We decided to go for the eton mess to share as it is a light dessert.

I was impressed with the presentation as it came in a chilled tall glass, it was a massive dessert for only £2.50, definitely had to share it! The actual eton mess was lovely, it was really cold and the berries tasted really fresh, the meringue and cream complimented the berries perfectly, over all a brilliant desert!

Miller & Carter once again didn't fail to disappoint! & I felt the service at the Dickens Heath one was just as good than at the Hockley Heath branch, I find the decor nicer at the Hockley one however & I do feel that the food has a slight edge on the Dickens Heath one but they are both very good and are consistently good!

Thai Cottage, Henley 14/03/2012

Me and Jayne wanted to have a quick local lunch so we decided to go for a Thai meal in Henley because neither of us had ever been to this restaurant before either and we had heard a lot of good things about it!

They did a set lunch menu that was two courses for £10.95 which is a pretty good price!

We decided to get two different starters and two different mains each and share.

We chose sticky honey ribs and duck spring rolls to start.

The ribs were lovely, they were cooked perfectly and fell of the bone, the sauce they were in tasted really good as well, was the perfect mixture of sweet but tangy, ribs are always a firm favourite of mine!

The duck spring rolls were interesting, they were cold which was unusual and I prefer them hot in honesty, the soy sauce that came with them was lovely and the filling inside the pastry did taste really nice even though it was cold, it reminded me of sushi, which was good for me but Jayne doesn't like sushi! However it was a good starter over all. 

For main course we went for chicken in sweet and sour sauce and chicken in hoi sin sauce.

The top picture is the chicken in Hoi Sin sauce and the bottom one is chicken in Sweet & Sour sauce. The portion sizes were massive for a lunch time and was very filling. The sweet and sour sauce was yummy but I felt it could have had more flavour and I felt the hoi sin sauce definitely lacked flavour and was quite tasteless and I'm not a major fan of boiled rice, I prefer egg fried so I found the rice quite bland. Over all it was a nice lunch and was good for the price as the portions were a reasonable size however I did feel the sauces could have been more flavoursome!

Giraffe, Solihull 13/03/2012

I went to Giraffe in Solihull again with Rachel this time whilst we were shopping because I had recommend it after the amazing burger I had last time I went!

This time I went for the All Beef Kosher USA Hot Dog with Chilli & Melted Cheese or Chow Chow Onions I decided to have it with both the cheese and the onions. It came with chips and a salad garnish. The hot dog was lovely and tasted really good and went really well with the cheese and onions. The chips were really crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, really good chips. Over all this was a brilliant main  and was such a good price with the lunch time offer they do for £6.95 for a main and a drink.

We then decided to share a desert between us as we were both quite full but one of the deserts sounded so good, we had to have it!

We had the Rocky Road Sundae with was chunky chic and vanilla ice cream with marshmallows, chocolate brownie and warm chocolate sauce.

 The desert was pretty big so was good we shared it! It was really sickly and chocolaty but was sooo good! The vanilla ice cream complimented the chocolate brownie really well and tasted really good! I found this was a good price for £5.65 as well especially as you probably would need to share it with someone else as it is very rich!

The second time at Giraffe was just as enjoyable and lovely as the first time! I would definitely keep coming back as the menu is fresh and new and the restaurant has a good vibe! Quickly becoming one of my favourites!

The Village Hotel, Verve Grill, Shirley 5/03/2012

My friend Jayne has a taste card that gets 2for1 or 50% off all courses at certain restaurants and the Village Hotel in Shirley at the Verve Grill. The restaurant itself is really nice and modern inside, the waitress sat us down at our table and get our drinks for us. Because there was three of us, we decided to have two starters to share between us to get the 2for1 deal.

We ordered our starters pretty quick however the service was really slow and it took about 35 minutes for our starters to come, there was a big party of like 60 in at the restaurant but we ordered before them and we were really hungry! We felt this was really annoying.

For starters we shared a flatbread with chopped tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil.

It came on a wooden board with a cuter, however we felt this had not much flavour for the ingredients it had. it tasted really plain and could barley taste the basil or tomato and there wasn't enough mozzarella on it either, over all this was a mediocre starter but wasn't worth the wait.

The second starter we shared was Hot Rock Skewers which is 4 skewers of chicken, fillet steak or a combination of both served on a hot rock. Served with a choice of garlic aioli sweet chilli sauce or Jack Daniels dipping sauce. We decided to go for the combination of chicken and fillet steak skewers with the sweet chilli sauce and the garlic aioli. When they came we were really surprised because we didn't realise we would have to cook them ourself, we found this a bit annoying because chicken is a hard thing to cook right and it came basically raw. The taste of the steak and chicken was lovely once cooked and went really well with the sauces. But this starter was really late and was quite fiddly to do.

For main course I went for the Verve Burger which was a beef burger with grilled mushrooms, sautéed onion, cheddar cheese served with straw fries. The main course took a while to come as well once the starters had been taken away. 

I found the main course really average to be honest, the chips were quite soggy and the burger was over done. I would give this meal 4/10 if Im honest and for £13.95 I felt it wasn't worth the price! We all weren't that impressed with our mains.

But we did decide to have deserts because we get 2for1 on them, so we shared two.

We shared chocolate fudge cake and Raspberry Creme Brûlée, the chocolate cake was quite dry and I wasn't that impressed however the girls really enjoyed the Creme Brûlée but said it was cold which is unusual for a Creme Brûlée and they said it would have been better hot.

Over all we felt this meal was average and wasn't worth the price even with the 2for1 discount it was still around £20 each which was pretty expensive for an average meal!

The Black Swan, Henley 1/03/2012

I have mentioned this pub previously in my blog before but this time I went with my dad and for dinner instead of lunch. We have ate here many times but they change the menu regularly which is good! It is only a ten minute walk from home as well which is a bonus and is such lovely country pub!

We ordered our drinks at the bar and sat down to look at the menu, I decided almost instantly because they do my favourite thing... Belly Pork! This pub is good because the waitress comes over to the table to take the order which is unusual in a cheap pubby pub! 

I decided to go for the Belly Pork with mash, onions, peas and gravy and my dad went for the one of the specials on the board, faggots.

The presentation isn't amazing, but it is hard to get such rustic food to look pretty! However it tasted gorgeous, the belly pork was crispy and succulent and the mash was perfectly creamy! This is a brilliant meal for dinner time and at the price of £7.25 it is so reasonably priced for a massive portion! I was certainly full after this meal!

However me & my dad did have a desert to share between us, Jam Sponge with Ice Cream. Proper hearty rustic desert! It was so yummy, was really warming but the ice cream help compliment it! The jam was sooo lovely as well, over all this was a really nice desert!!

Nando's, Solihull 29/02/2012

I once again went to Nando's but this time I decided to go to the one in Solihull so I could compare the food and service it to the Shirley branch. The Solihull one is inside the shopping centre so therefore it tends to get a lot busier, I find the inside of it more fussy than the Shirley one as it has a lot more tables and decorations.

I went with my friend Jayne, we sat down as we managed to get a table straight away which is good. I know the menu off by heart now, so I knew what I wanted straight away almost. You have to order at the bar as you do in all Nando's, which is annoying but oh well! We ordered our food, got our drinks from the dispenser and sat and waited for our food.

Our food came sooo fast, within 10 minutes which is really good for somewhere so busy! Especially as I was hungry! I ordered the chicken burger again as I did before but this time I ordered a double breast so it was bigger, I had this with chips and sweet potato mash. The mash was as good as usual and my burger was really good, was a lot more filling than just the single chicken breast burger. However I did feel that my chips could have been crispier. But over all, I loved this meal as Nando's is consistently good!!

We decided to have a desert to share, which we don't usually do at Nando's but why not!?

We have both heard about this one desert in particular that everyone says is amazing so we thought we would give it a try! 

Its the gooey caramel cheesecake and OH MY GOD it really was amazing. It was so sweet and was the perfect texture and consistency! I could have eaten one by myself!!