The Little Chartroom

They say all good things come in little packages and they, whoever they are, would be right because what The Little Chartroom lacks in size it certainly makes up for in personality and culinary flare. We ventured to the Little Chartroom for brunch on our last morning in Edinburgh and it certainly gave us a fantastic farewell to this beautiful city. Situated on Leith Walk, with its mix of faded grandeur, quirky shops and hints of regeneration, this elegant and bijou restaurant has only room for 15 covers and like everything else it has a small but perfectly formed brunch menu.

I’ve never been so excited by a brunch menu before. This is a place that has a creative confidence in what it offers. I struggled to choose as I wanted to try everything but opted for braised beef shin, smoked celeriac remoulade, potato scones and fried egg. It was an absolute stunner. Rich and delicious. The smoked celeriac remoulade a stroke of genius and bringing the whole dish together. Mr F had mushrooms, garlic, bacon jam and poached eggs on sourdough toast. The sourdough coming from twelve triangles bakery just around the corner. Another winning dish.

We finished off our brunch with doughnuts. I mean its impossible to refuse a homemade doughnut on a brunch menu, right? Made and filled with wonderfully zingy rhubarb jam right in front of us.

The Little Chartroom may be small but it is bold, confident in its style and food. It’s my kind of place and I am most definitely planning a return visit for dinner.

Dishoom

Before our latest trip to London, a few people recommended Dishoom to me and then I also spotted that they were listed in a top ten list of places to eat breakfast in London. So, the decision was made and I booked us in to the Dishoom in Shoreditch, near our hotel.

What a fantastic place it is! Dishoom is styled on the Irani cafes found in Bombay and it oozes charm. We opted for the famous bacon naan roll and Akuri. The bacon naan roll is made with The Ginger Pig’s bacon (dry-cured for five days with rock salt and Demerara sugar and absolutely delicious !!) It is served in a freshly made naan with cream cheese and a chilli jam. Honestly it was outrageously good. I’ll never look at a bacon roll in the same way again!

The Akuri, spicy scrambled eggs served with pau buns, was bursting with flavour and packed a punch.

Sharing both dishes was definitely the right decision. They went really well together. A challenge I often have when eating out is that I then see what other people are ordering and get food envy. I was intrigued by the Bun Maska and when someone on the next table ordered it I knew I had to give it a go.

It was delicious and we will just ignore the fact that it is basically a toasted bun with a slab of butter in the centre! It comes with chai to dip the bun in. I’ve not normally been a big fan of chai but this had a wonderful kick that balanced out against the sweetness. I’d definitely drink Dishoom’s chai on a regular basis if I could.

Dishoom is fantastic value with our bill coming in under £20. It’s something I love about London. You don’t need to have breakfast in the hotel because you know there are so many amazing places on the doorstep. We will definitely be back.

Catch and Sea

We had the fantastic opportunity on Saturday morning to go on the maiden Catch and Sea trip with Causeway Coast Foodie Tours. Our morning started very early, we met at 6.15am at the Causeway Lass in Portrush Harbour and we were taken out towards the Skerries and Dunluce Castle in time for sunrise. That experience in itself was worth the cost of the trip but it got better and better.

Our host was Wendy Gallagher from Causeway Coast Foodie Tours who made us feel so welcome and fed us lots of delicious local breads from Tony’s Griddle Goods.

Our fishing experts were Richard and Charlie. They put us at ease straight away and even though I have never fished before they gave me such confidence to have a go. It worked. I caught the first and largest mackerel. It was one of the best feelings!

We spent a couple of hours fishing and Charlie regaled us with local stories and lots of information about wildlife. We even spotted a sunfish. They are a rare sight and it was amazing to watch it swimming around the boat. Later we also watched a gannet circling the boat majestically. You can’t put a price on opportunities like this, I was grinning from ear to ear. Charlie and Richard also taught us about filleting fish and we were given a really helpful information pack at the end of our trip.

After a couple of hours fishing we returned to dry land and headed round to Babushka for our breakfast. Richard presented the mackerel and then the lovely people at Babushka cooked our breakfast with mackerel as the star of the show.

Even at this point in the trip when I knew we had got our money’s worth, there were more little treats in store. Babushka gave us a glass of their home made naturally fermented redcurrant soda to start our breakfast experience

and then we tasted 3 different coffees: Workshop Gachatha AA, Koppi and Pernodby Grecencio. I was having a ball and breakfast hadn’t even arrived yet. Then breakfast arrived. Oh my! it was a thing of beauty. The mackerel drizzled with a little Broighter Gold lemon infused rapeseed oil, Ursa Minor Sourdough, lashings of Abernethy butter, a poached egg and finally some crumbled Broughgammon Farm goat bacon. We also had some Northern Smokehouse smoked dulse to sprinkle over the dish if we wanted. This breakfast was a showcase of everything that is wonderful about local producers. If you haven’t tried any of the producers and products I’ve just mentioned then you need to, they are seriously good. It’s no wonder these producers have been winning stars.

What I particularly loved about this tour was the passion and knowledge that came with it. Everyone involved was a real advocate for the Causeway Coast wanting to share all it has to offer. Wendy was able to highlight the local food producers who have recently won taste awards and Babushka ensured that whilst mackerel was the star of the show other local producers were included. Quality shone through the entire morning. The goodie bag was another lovely touch to remember the morning by. If you get an opportunity to book on one of these tours, do it! You won’t be disappointed. We’ve definitely caught the fishing bug and are already planning a trip on Causeway Lass next time we are home.

Causeway Coast Foodie Tours: http://www.causewaycoastfoodietours.com

Causeway Lass: http://fishportrush.net

Tony’s Griddle Goods: https://www.facebook.com/tonysgriddledgoods/photos/pcb.605250119632281/605250009632292/?type=3

Babushka: http://www.babushkakitchencafe.com

Broighter Gold: http://www.broightergold.co.uk

Abernethy Butter: http://abernethybuttercompany.com

Ursa Minor Bakehouse: http://www.ursaminorbakehouse.com

North Coast Smokehouse: http://www.northcoastsmokehouse.com

Broughgammon Farm: http://broughgammon.com

Kiosk, York

I’ve been walking past Kiosk for a couple of months, every time when they are closed, intrigued. I love food and I love ceramics so the window display and interior of Kiosk kept calling me in. Kiosk is another recent addition to Fossgate which has a growing collection of exciting and independent places to eat and drink. Finally I found a day when I was free and they were open and set about getting some brunch.

What a fabulous place! The menu is simple but incredibly exciting. I couldn’t decide what to have but as fortune would have it I discovered I was sharing a table with Becky, one of the three owners. A quick chat about food and the decision was made. I was going to have the asparagus wrapped in bacon with a lemon and herb dressing but at Becky’s suggestion adding a fried egg and a slice of sourdough. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better the chef popped his head out of the kitchen and said he’d just made some fresh pesto with sunflower seeds and did I want some of that drizzled on top. Why wouldn’t I?

The food was perfect. Fresh, simple and really tasty. The coffee was also really great. The knowledge and love of making excellent coffee shines through. I ended having two flat whites because the first was so good.

I love everything about this place and I’ll definitely be back. Chatting with them about their food and what they love to cook was a joy. During the conversation I discovered they do ‘cantinas’ one evening a month. I couldn’t book on the August one as it is full before it has even been advertised (doesn’t that speak volumes!) but my name is down for September even though they don’t know the date yet. I wasn’t taking the risk of missing out!

Laynes Espresso

Laynes espresso is somewhere we visit anytime we go to Leeds. Situated just round the corner from the train station, it’s a great place to have coffee. Their regular espresso blend is Square Mile Red Brick and the coffee is always spot on. Usually we treat ourselves to one of their cakes too. We have been known to pop in our way back to the station and get cakes to take home!

Today, for the first time, we arrived at breakfast time and after one look at the menu decided it would be rude not to try some of the dishes.We decided to share two dishes. The first dish was Shakshuka (Arabiata, baked egg, dukkah and harissa buttered toast). This is the best Shakshuka I have had. The balance of spices was spot on, the homemade dukkah and the harissa butter were a real highlight.

We also ordered the buckwheat pancakes with fruit compote, vanilla mascarpone and crumble. This was another great dish. The balance was just right with not too much sweetness and the pancakes were lovely and light.

We will certainly plan timings of future visits to Leeds to include breakfast at Laynes.

The Barn Bistro at Burniston (again!)

I’ve written about the Barn before and how much I like it. This time we decided to go for breakfast before a long walk along the Cleveland Way. We were not disappointed! I had Hartlepool smoked haddock with poached eggs, hollaindaise sauce and fried sliced potatoes. The haddock was really superb and the hollandaise sauce really well made.

Mr Frivolitea had omelette Arnold Bennett with Hartlepool smoked haddock. Really light and really tasty.

I can’t stay away from great food so we also headed back the next day for Sunday lunch before heading home. The Barn provides such high quality and exciting food for such great value. Just £20.95 for three courses.

This time we both had the Thai crab and prawn cake, prank hen’s egg and tempura green beans for starter (absolutely delicious)

For main course Mr Frivolitea had the roast beef and I had pan fried wild sea trout with king prawns and garlic and herb butter

As on previous visits a highlight is the side dishes that come with the main course. This time we had roast potatoes, celeriac gratin, sweetcorn with Swiss rainbow chard, leeks and streaky bacon and a roasted squash, tomatoes and peppers with feta. I have not visited anywhere else that puts as much love and attention into the side dishes as to the main event. It’s one reason why we keep going back.

Babushka

Babushka is exactly the sort of place you want to while away a few hours on a Saturday or on holiday. A wonderful host (George’s love of coffee and Babushka is infectious) Fantastic coffee, a small but perfectly formed menu and one of the best views you could ever wish for of the beach and the sea. Even on a bad day the view is wonderful. There isn’t really much else to say. This place is perfect. It’s why we keep coming back.

The Haven cafe, Edinburgh

On our latest trip to Edinburgh we decided to find somewhere for breakfast near where we were staying in Leith. A quick ask of Twitter and Brew and Brownie had found The Haven Cafe for us. It’s a great little place, full of quirky vintage items and lots of locals. Always a good sign.

Mr Frivolitea had the full breakfast and I had sausage, tattie scone ( which is very similar to potato bread back home) and mushrooms.

This is a really friendly local cafe that does simple food really well.

I very much had food envy when Mr Frivolitea’s breakfast arrived. He gratiously let me try some of the haggis and wow! It was wonderful!

I’d definitely recommend this place, particularly if you are staying at the Premier Inn at Leith as it is only round the corner. We didn’t try the cakes but they looked fabulous.

Brew and Brownie

I love this place. Everything about it. Right down to the hipster lighting ( light bulbs in jam jars )

You should go. Really you should. You might have to queue but that’s ok, it’s worth it.

We went for breakfast today and boy was it good.

I had the pancake stack with fruit compote, yoghurt and honey. Other options include salted caramel and banana. The pancakes are light and fluffy, the compote thick and not too sweet and the honey they use is beautiful.

Mr Frivolitea had the black pudding and smoked bacon stack with fried egg and the most wonderful vinaigrette.