food

What & Where I Ate: October – Vegetarian Special

- Michael 7 Comments

October Round Up

So as anyone that follows me on Twitter & Instagram knows, I went veggie for October. It was partly as a “solidarity” type effort as some people at work were doing Stoptober and giving up cigarettes so the wider team gave various things up, and partly because I just wanted to know if I could. I used to be a very picky eater. When I was a kid I’d snub basically all veg and it took me moving out to really realise that I needed to start getting veg into my diet. Fast forward 9 years and here I am, in a much more open minded place and I just generally love to eat most things (apart from the odd thing, looking at you cucumber and banana).

Bundobust Pals
Bundobust Pals

I have been contemplating a monthly run down on what I’ve been cooking and where I’ve been eating for a while now and thought that a slightly more unusual month was a good place to start. So here goes. If you hadn’t already guessed, food is the reason I am poor as all hell. I have my own spreadsheet google doc which I keep update with places I want to try and where I have.
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A Weekend In July: Parents, Les Mis, Bao, Museums and Caravan

- Michael 6 Comments

Caravan Eggs

A few weeks back my parents came down to visit! For many of you that wouldn’t be all that much of an event, but now they live on a Scottish Island I don’t get to see them all that much. I mean, I’m planning my next trip up to see them and I have to break it down to London – Glasgow (coach, train, sleeper service, plane, car, cannon) , Glasgow – Oban (train), Oban – Craignure (ferry), Craignure – Pennyghael (bus or pick up by parents). It means that if they are coming down you need to do more than just hang around and it likely means they’ll need a hotel. I’m apologising now for a very photo heavy post.

Boat Ride

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A weekend in June: Hotbox, Dinerama & Dinosaurs

- Michael 2 Comments

Well, June has been hectic. In fact, wait a minute, it’s JUNE? And it’s July IN TWO DAYS? When did this happen? I have no idea where my time has been going lately. It seems to be slipping away faster and faster (along with my money). Just this Friday I’m moving (again) to Bow Road, so if any of you are East Londoners, mine is a Gin & Tonic (no cucumber, god help you if I find cucumber in my gin).

Secret Cinema - Force Choke

Force choke – Photo by Arthy

But why has June been so busy I hear you ask? Well I’ll give you a snapshot of just one weekend to really hit it home. It started with a gig on the Thursday, the Movielife to be exact, at the Electric Ballroom. A whole heap of my friends were down from Leeds as well as a bunch of people from London. The Movielife are one of those bands that helped shape half the people I knows music taste. They got big in the early 00’s before breaking up and continuing with various endeavours (Vinnie, most notably in I Am The Avalanche). This meant that while it was a Thursday, a rather large amount of booze was consumed, and by the end of the set I had no voice left.

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The Mulligang Pt.3 Feat. Cafe Fish

- Michael 2 Comments

The Mulligang Pt 3: Café Fish

For those who don’t know, Café Fish is one of the best fish restaurants in the country. Everything they serve is 100% freshly caught that day. Which means that the specials change often and sometimes they may not have something. Out of thanks for me sorting the cottage the group all graciously said they’d pay for my meal, which was wonderfully kind of them.

Cafe Fish

Cafe Fish - Menu

To start I went for Queen Scallops with Garlic Butter and crusty homebaked bread. They were delightful, as scallops when cooked properly should be. Melting wonderfully in the mouth.

Cafe Fish - Scallops

I was sorely tempted to go for the Smoked Salmon Poached Quails egg but the scallops won over simply because I’d had smoked salmon the day before. My friend Mike had this though and assured it was great.

Cafe Fish - Smoked Salmon Scotch Egg

For main I was spoilt for choice, but eventually went for Grilled Halibut with Crab, Avacado & mint salad and brown crab aioli. The fish was possibly the whitest I’ve ever had. You just can’t beat properly fresh fish. The flavours worked perfectly and it looked superb.

Cafe Fish - Halibut 02

A selection of the other mains people ordered included Lobster, fish pie (hands down the best I’ve had, if a tad heavy) and Seafood Stroganoff.

Cafe Fish - Lobster

For dessert I had the Chocolate pot (which I usually do when I go to café fish), it’s small, intense and smooth.

Cafe Fish - Chocolate Pot

The meal was fantastic, I think everyone enjoyed what they chose. The staff were friendly and accommodating as usual. Managing to fit 9 of us in as well as coping with a couple of Vegans well in a place that is usually so fish focused. One of the things I love about Cafe Fish is the fact that while the food is great, the atmosphere is always relaxed. You always get a mixture of people from those dressed up and treating themselves to people straight off of a boat or a walk.

After the meal we piled into the minibus and drove to the west of the island in search of a sunset. We just about managed it, and watched it go down over Treshnish point.

Mull 01

The next morning they all left, leaving me to myself for a full day until my parents arrived. It was perfect to unwind so I used it to read and write up the first in this series of blog posts.

Mull Sunset 02

Mull Sunset 01

Unfortunately the day my parents arrived I caught a stomach bug so despite a trip to Ulva, my last day on the island was a bit tarnished. It also meant we had to cancel a second outing to Café Fish and my trip to Ulva Boathouse café wasn’t as indulgent as I’d hoped.

Ulva 03

Ulva 02

Ulva 01

Food, Gin, Zombies and N64

- Michael 2 Comments

Reason number 1 for why I am poor: food. Whether it’s ingredients or that place that does that burger you just HAVE to try, I spend way too much money on the stuff. I love food, it is my one true love.

This weekend I took a trip down to London to see some friends (east coast had that £5 train ticket sale earlier in Jan, too good not to grab). I used to go down to London a lot, every month or so, but I’d not been down since last summer sometime. So many of my friends are living down south these days that it makes my London visits that much better. My friend Isobel sorted out an itinerary for us, including two different restaurants and a street feast. Isn’t it strange how as you get older your social plans revolve more around food than about which bar or club you’ll be going to (we did still do this as well, but shh)?

Her plan for us all was as follows:

–          Bone Daddies Ramen Bar

–          Back to her flat for Zombies (the Board game), N64, drink, and attempts to shave Matt’s head.

–          Hawker House Street feast.

–          Nasin

–          Patty & Bun (Sunday hangover food).

 

I’d not heard of Bone Daddies until recently, when suddenly my Instagram feed was flooded by pictures of ramen from various London friends. It’s a tiny place in Soho and surprise surprise, there’s a queue. The tables all come with jars of garlic, with a crusher, pots with hair bobbles to keep longer hair out of food, sesame gringers, soy sauce and chili flakes in oil. Anywhere that has this many things you can use to self season is good in my book. I opted for the Spicy Miso Rame (pictured below) and loved the stuff.

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After eating we went back to Isobel’s and a few more people joined us. We played Zombies/N64/shaved Matt’s head before heading out to Hawker House.

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 This is a pop up event that happens in an old warehouse type building in Hoxton. It runs for 10 weekends in a row on Friday/Saturday nights. It has a couple of bars and then a number of food stalls, representing a number of London’s better streetfood vans. I tried as many as I could before getting stuffed, all of it was great.

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Yum Bun – Belly Pork Steamed Bun

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Breddos Tacos – Jerk Pulled Pork Taco & Baja Fish Taco

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Bleeker Street Burger – Cheeseburger plus Feta Fries

Sunday was a trip to Patty & Bun, which I’ve been wanting to try for a long time but, due to how busy it gets we’ve been unable to. Well, I can finally tick it off the list and man, it was worth the wait. The burgers were so good, cooked just right and with great toppings. The fried chicken was also some of the best I’ve had in the UK.

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Smokey Robinson Burger

Thanks again London, I’ll see you soon. I really need to start taking my camera with me for stuff like this. Sorry for the excessive use of mobile.