Home made leek and potato soup in that new tea room next to the bakery. A bit too thick and lumpy with potato and not enough salt but better than anything from a tin. Served with bread but is it from the bakery?
Visited Thorpeness Golf Club and hotel for the magazine and surprised to find that anyone can go there to eat. All day bar snacks sound nice (Omelette Arnold Bennett among other things...) but I had celeriac as a vegetable with my pork - first time ever served this in a year of writing about Suffolk restaurants. Chocolate tart with hazelnut pastry was fab - buttery and dark.
Went to Pea Porridge last night, used to be The Chalice, by the Old Cannon on Pease Porridge Green - hence the name, and couldn't fault it. Starter of squid with chorizo was great combination, squid clearly fresh, tender and complete with tentacles unlike the de-squeamified frozen versions. My main was lamb (with a crispy artichoke fritter balanced on at least four chunky slices of perfectly pink tender meat) and a dessert of chocolate tart with stem ginger ice cream, with a glass of dessert wine we shared. Ruth had snails with bone marrow, hake with butter beans and prawns, followed by a plate of cheeses that were delicious - served with a tiny bowl of chestnut honey - a strange sweet & metallic aftertaste I have never had before, but so good to be served something new in Bury. This is was good as it gets round here. www.peaporridge.co.uk
Still in search of the delicious liver and bacon special…
Written by ClaireOn the way back from Suffolk-meets-Islington Satis House in Yoxford I see free marrows on the side of the road and lots of pumpkins as we near Halloween. Have already made pumpkin soup at home so don't buy one, and fed up with marrows/courgettes. Stop at Yoxford pub on the way home and visualise the home made casserole or delicious sandwich I would like to find on their menu, unlikely on a Monday I know. Choose liver and onions. Yet again served vile dry chunky liver, glutinous gravy, frozen veg and huge pile of instant mash that you could plaster a house with. At least it didn't have redcurrants on it like the one I had once on the way to Newmarket once.
Lunch with Sarah at West Suffolk College's Zest restaurant, one of the best value meals in Bury and a chance to contribute to the experience of young people training to be in the restaurant business. I had nice lamb hot pot with some far too vinegary red cabbage (I told them) and then Key Lime Pie. Sarah had veg option which escapes me now. Abundance of service from students and both meals lovely - under £12 for two .
Lunch with two American student backpackers who are staying with me for two days, after showing them round the Abbey Gardens. Went to the Cathedral Crypt restaurant as it had to cheap and more or less English. Sure enough - Liver and Bacon - but not hungry enough today. Had really nice Root Vegetable soup that came with bread (£2.95) and they had Bacon Rolls (£2.75) as well, although the Americans didn't seem to know what a bacon roll was. We shared a lovely Gooseberry Crumble Tart (£2.95) with custard, but I can't understand why it has to be a crumble on top of a tart. One or the other would be fine wouldn't it?
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.
Come back from a sunny and freezing Sunday morning walk around the village (according to the village sign it was first settled by Goths although we didn't see any today) and although the pub looks dead from the outside, it's busy inside with a warm fire and serving food until 4pm...hooray! There's a warm welcome for us in our wellies and several families with children eating lunch. They can't do me a mulled wine (red wine + spices + sugar + microwave?) so have cider instead. Their seasonally-limited menu of food tastes better than described on the board which is always a bonus - but don't fancy curry or chili so chose a burger from depressing childrens menu of burger and chips or sausage and beans (and chips). After filling it with salad from my sisters curry plate it was ok but hoping next time for oxtail stews, shepherds pies, casseroles... and in the summer a barbecue under that huge oak tree.
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Last minute after parents evening and as a reward to myself for my skill at getting my son to choose the right A levels, we go to Bury for a takeaway and end up eating at the Noodle Bar again. Always busy in here, but this is really fast food - within minutes we had prawn toasts and deep fried squid - piping hot, freshly cooked and delicious with plenty of chili and garlic.
All you vegetarians and vegans - fed up with the unimaginative offerings in most restaurants and pubs? I had a really nice lunch here at this completely vegetarian pub a few miles out of Needham Market. What a treat! No meat!
Seven starters, eight mains, seven puds - plus a specials board. And you can get takeaways and freezer meals too.
Here it is - my brunch from yesterday at that little cafe in Elmswell -where Goodfellows butchers used to be next to Mace. Is it called Bumbles? I met my sister for a coffee. They do good cappucino and my flat white (I have to tell them what to do - no one in Suffolk knows what that is yet ...) was good too. I had this Welsh Rarebit which tasted much nicer than the picture looks, because the Worcester sauce has made it go a bit brown. My other sister once told me a fab recipe for Welsh Rarebit - grated cheddar and a large spoonful of mayo - under the grill. Browns and bubbles up really nicely. I think they do hot lunches here too because a very friendly couple were having casserole and mashed potatoes at another table. Now I see the picture it reminds me - I wish they would get rid of that horrible plastic Christmas table cloth!
Granny wanted to go out to lunch so we persuaded her that The Angel would be a good place to go. Had the good value set menu £12.50 for two courses/£15.50 for three. Avoided 'Soup of the Moment' - best starter was crispy bacon & chicken livers on toast. Main courses - nice thyme crusted chicken and partridge pie, and roast pork belly. We tried all four puds because we couldn't decide which ones to have. Even better value because she paid!