Spa and Dine at Cedar Court Grand

Recently I met up with a friend for a catch up. We try and do something nice together a couple of times a year and had in the past enjoyed a spa day. Unfortunately we didn’t have a day to catch up this time so I was on a mission to find something that felt like a treat and was similarly relaxing. We’d agreed York was the best place to meet, so I had a look on the Cedar Court Grand website for what they offered on an evening and was excited to see a new package called ‘Spa and Dine’. An opportunity to have a treatment, use the spa facilities and then enjoy a 3 course meal in Hudsons restaurant. Definitely my thing!

The package was fantastic value for money and we could select from the full menu. Before our starters arrived they brought a lovely selection of bread.

I chose the hand dived scallops, wakame, sunflower seeds, sea herbs, dill mayonnaise, salmon keta it was beautifully presented and had fantastic flavour.

My friend chose the poached ocean trout, hay smoked heritage beetroots, watercress cream, beetroot sourdough. What you cannot see here is the beautiful glass cloche it arrived in, that when lifted released the hay smoke.

For my main course I chose Fowlers of York’s Atlantic Stone Bass, fennel, langoustines, coastal herbs, buckwheat, bisque. Another beautifully presented dish with great flavours.

My friend chose the roasted fillet of East Coast halibut, caramelised cauliflower, brassicas, verjus and brown shrimp sauce. She commented that she partciualrly enjoyed the texture of cauliflower and how it lifted the dish.

Finally, for pudding my friend had inspiration of ‘Ferrero Rocher’ pralines, almonds, burnt white chocolate, candied pistachios. She enjoyed it but it was richer in chocolate than the description suggested and a bit too filling. Definitely one for the chocoholic.

I had lemon posset, macerated berries, basil, crispy raspberry cake. The lemon was sharp and refreshing. Just right to end the meal.

All in all, it was a great package and a fantastic opportunity to try the food at Hudson’s restaurant. I can highly recommend it.

Lakes Distillery

I have to admit, I was particularly excites about this visit as part of our most recent holiday in the Lakes. A distillery visit is always something I enjoy and one that also makes gin is a particular win.

The Lakes distillery has not been open long. Everything looks new but still somehow connected to the landscape around it thorugh the use of slate and stone.

We decided to go on the distillery tour before heading to the bistro for food. The tour had some great elements to it and clearly a lot has been invested in the displays and rooms. However some elements I didn’t particularly enjoy including the attempts at interactivity through a ‘character’ appearing to tell the history of the area. I think aimed at children but it just didn’t work for me. I wanted to know more about the people involved in the distillery, the connection to the local area and what pride they take in their product. The tasting session was good but again I didn’t feel it made the most of immersing us in the process or the flavours of the drinks.

After the tour we went into the bistro. I really liked the feel of the place and the design.

We had opted for the 3 course Sunday lunch menu whilst there, though the later evening menu looked particularly interesting. For starter I chose the Cumbrian air dried ham, compressed melon, mozzarella and heritage tomatoes dish. I particularly enjoyed the freshness of this dish and the Cumbrian ham was delicious.
Mr Frivolitea chose the smoked mackerel pate, pickled cucumber and sourdough. A simple dish but full of flavour.

For main course Mr Frivolitea chose the roast beef dinner, something he can rarely refuse! He really enjoyed it but it did swim in gravy a bit!

For main I had the grilled cod with minted peas and tartare sauce. This was ok but I felt it lacked flavour. I love simplicity but this felt almost too simple!

The puddings were the best it of the meal all in all. Mr Frivolitea had the chocolate brownie toffee popcorn and salted caramel icecream.

I simply had salted caramel icecream with almond tuille.

Though in some ways I left disappointed, I think the Lakes distillery has lots of potential and certainly the bistro evening menu looked fantastic. I reckon we will return to give ti another go.

Doi Inthanon, Ambleside

Mr Frivolitea and I love Thai food and this place is so good we’ve been going every year since it opened in 2000 on our annual trip to the Lakes. The restaurant is owned and run by husband and wife team Chris and Bursara Knight. The appeal of this place is as much about their love of what they do as it is about the food. There is nothing more wonderful than Bursara’s smile when you walk through the door. You know this is a place where they care about you having a great time.

The restaurant expanded up stairs a few years ago and the design and feel of the place is part of its charm with intricate wood carvings and beautiful Thai crockery. (Mr Frivolitea once embarrassingly asked where they got their crockery from!)

The first thing we always have when eating at Doi Inthanon are the prawn crackers, wonderfully spicy and ever so moreish.

On this visit we decided to go for a set menu, not something we normally do. We had the mixed starter: Chicken spring roll, Geoh tord (pork money bags) pork on sesame toast, king prawn blankets and chicken satay. All the food here is excellent but the satay is defintely a favourite of mine. I love the flavour of their peanut sauce.

For main courses we had green chicken curry, I can’t visit Doi Inthanon without having it, chicken and cashew nuts and stir fried vegetables. The balance of spice and heat is always spot on here and the flavour in the green curry is the best I’ve had.

However the highlight of any meal here is the coconut rice. It is truly special, so much so that we asked for it instead of the rice that came with the set menu.

I cannot emphasise enough that you should go to Ambleside and try this place and whatever you do, order the coconut rice. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Hassop station

Hassop Station is tucked away in the Peak District countryside, a short drive from Bakewell. The station is part of the Monsal Trail and a great place to start your walk or cycle ride. I discovered this little place in an article in the Guardian on Derbyshire cheap eats. We decided to start our day here as we wanted to hire bikes to do the trail.

We arrived first thing and ordered a Hassop Station breakfast to provide us with our fuel for the day (well that was our excuse anyway). What a fantastic place this is. The breakfast was really well cooked, with a decent amount of good quality bacon and sausage. However the highlight for me was the tomato. Normally I am happy to skip the tomato in a cooked breakfast but here they had added thyme and lemon zest. An inspired decision and one I am copying from now on.

We hired our bikes and spent the day cycling 19 miles on and near the Monsal Trail and then returned to Hassop Station.

The Station cafe opens late three nights a week serving stone baked pizzas and a small menu of simple but tasty dishes. I chose to have the fish and chips (it is often difficult for me to refuse fish and chips if they are on a menu). I am glad I did. The fish was full of flavour and the batter particularly tasty. You can tell that in this place, quality matters.

Mr Frivolitea opted for the special of local buffalo burger and chips. The burger was really tasty and it was great to see local buffalo being used on the menu.

This is not somewhere to go for a romantic meal for two but it is a great place for simple, good quality food and with the Monsal Trail on the doorstep, it is a great day out.

The Harbour Cafe

If you are looking for fish and chips in Scarborough, then look no further than the Harbour Cafe in Scarborough. If you’re looking for frills, you won’t find them here, but what you will find is a proper welcome and a great plate of food.

The Cafe sits above the fish market at the Harbour and the view is fantastic. The food is so fresh that when I ordered our fish and chips I was able to watch my batter being made and then the fish being fried. The chips are not your normal ‘chippie’ chips. In fact the chips here remind me of the chips my dad used to make at home in our deep fat frier.

If you’re ever in Scarborough, go here. but make sure you go before 2pm. They’ve been open since 6am feeding fishermen so thay deserve to close and have a rest in the afternoon.

Le Cochon Aveugle

To quote Mr Frivolitea ‘a neon sign means either very good, or very bad things inside’.

We’d heard some good things about this little restaurant in York, finally got round to booking in, and we can confirm this particular pink neon is a sign of VERY good things.

I’m a fan of a tasting menu, I love having no choice and instead enjoying several different plates of food that I may not have ordered. What made things even better was the wine list. Nyetimber on the menu -that immediately puts a big smile on my face (and a bit of a dent in my bank account).

The menu uses seasonal produce, changes every week and costs £35 for 6 courses. The food is creative, interesting and challenging. If you read the menu every week when they put it on Facebook (yes, I do that) there’s always something that makes you sit up and take notice. The menu for our visit included many of my favourite things but in ways I could never have imagined.

Our first dish was a collection of little bites: Radishes with gremolata, Pain de Campagne with truffle butter and beurre noisette, a jar with goats cheese, Yorkshire rapeseed oil, provencal herbs & olive and finally burnt celeriac consommé with passion fruit. It was all beautifully presented and balanced. The highlight for me was the beurre noisette, wonderfully light and full of flavour. I was sceptical about the consommé but I can confirm celeriac and passion fruit work well together.

The second dish was textures of cauliflower with yeast, hazelnuts, pickled grape and baby sorrel leaves. Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetables and this dish did it justice. The variety of textures really showed cauliflower at its best.

The third dish was glazed mackerel tartine (crushed almonds, Parmesan, sourdough) lemon jam, herbs and a soy based sauce. The mackerel was the star of the show and the tartine worked really well with it though I would have happily had more lemon jam.

Then we had a trio of Gloucester old spot, baby turnip, fennel foam, fennel tops and honey glazed apples. Pork and fennel are a tried and tested combination and I really enjoyed this dish.

The fifth dish was a lemongrass chilli and ginger sorbet with Italian meringue. This was really fresh and zingy and worked well after the rich pork dish.

The sixth and final dish was pate a cigarette with strawberries, rhubarb, elderflower Chantilly and elderflower oil. I love rhubarb and this dessert was wonderfully balanced.

Mr Frivolitea likes coffee equipment and he’d been intrigued by the coffee siphon from the moment we walked in the door. So, we rounded off our meal with coffee and petit fours. The coffee was a fantastic bit of theatre to round off the evening and the petit fours of passion fruit jelly, chocolate and peanut butter lollipops and Bordeaux cakes with rum and vanilla were a final reminder of the quality and creativity of this little restaurant.

So, we were done; we’d eaten well, and we were ready to go home, but Le Cochon Aveugle had one last surprise for us. Breakfast! A little parcel of banana bread for Mr Frivolitea and the best florentine I have ever had (as I can’t eat banana). A really thoughtful touch. We enjoyed our breakfast at Flamborough Head the next morning on our 12 mile walk .

We will be back and next time we will definitely include the wine pairings. £63 for the 6 courses and wine pairings with food of the highest standard – that’s fantastic value!

Harry’s Shack

If I were to say to you we were going to have dinner at a Shack on the beach you probably would be expecting reasonable food and a bit of a camping chairs and blankets sort of evening. Well not here. Harry’s shack, is in effect, a shack. A wooden building on the beach. But not any old beach. No, this shack is on one of the most wonderful beaches I have ever been to. I mean, I am a bit biased as it is a beach back home but look…… Look at the view…..

And this is not any old shack. The food here is stunning. Fantastically fresh and local food, particularly the seafood. Nothing is messed about with. It’s served simply but to the highest quality and the menu changes regularly as they serve what comes in off the boat.

We shared a starter of spiced whitebait and Marie Rose sauce. This was just perfect. The fishyness of whitebait given a lift by the delicate spice rub on the batter.

I then had then best ‘fish and chips’ I have ever had. Really. Which is saying a lot because the fish and chips at the Magpie Cafe in Whitby are really hard to beat. This was a salt water cured haddock in buttermilk batter with mushy peas and chips. It was simply amazing. I have never tasted battered fish like it!

Mr Frivolitea opted for Greencastle hake, fennel potatoes, spiced ketchup and capers. Mr Frivolitea enjoyed this so much I was only allowed the smallest of tastes!

For pudding I had one of my favourite desserts. Creme Caramel. But this was no ordinary creme caramel. This was Vanilla creme caramel with raspberries, pistachios and raspberry sorbet. The creme caramel was stunning; rich and creamy with a deep cararamel topping.

Mr Frivolitea had, what he described as, chocolate heaven in a pot. Chocolate pot, salted caramel ice cream and coconut foam.

This really is one of my favourite places to be and place as to eat. You can’t fault it.

Lunch at Outlaw’s Seafood and Grill, Rock

We visited on 31st May 2013. This was somewhere that had been on my list for a some time because of my love of seafood. What made this visit extra special was the weather. The sun shone and we were able to sit out on the terrace overlooking the estuary and enjoying some rather nice wine. I’d love to revisit Nathan Outlaw’s restaurant, now relocated to Port Issac, and sample more of his creations.

Cod cakes with herb mayonnaise

Doom bar bread ( made from local beer) and Cornish flatbread with rosemary and davidstow cheddar

Hand dived scallops, olives and tomatoes, dill sauce

Cornish squid (marinaded for 12 hours in gremolata sauce, lemon zest, garlic, thyme, , parsley, rapeseed oil) on a bed of fennel and radish

Seabass, bulgar wheat and chilli, red pepper shellfish sauce

Ling, spring vegetable nage, paprika oil

Chocolate fondant tart, pistachio ice-cream cocoa syrup

Rhubarb jelly, vanilla cream, rhubarb sorbet

Paul Ainsworth at No6 Padstow

Visited 29 May 2013

Olive bread, onion sourdough, smoked cods roe topped with pork crackling, whipped Cornish butter

Sharpham dart valley reserve 2010

Cornish duck ( breast legs gizzards and heart) served with herb pasta smoked almonds and fine fettle cheese

Cornish mackerel that was torched, cucumber, Parma ham, celeriac remoulade

Sea bream with sage and onion, crispy chicken skin, brown shrimps and cucumber

Hogget, beetroots, salsa verde and ragstone cheese

Taste of the fairground (as featured on Great British Menu). Popping candy, honeycomb, peanut butter parfait, doughnuts, raspberry sorbet, marshmallow and toffee apple

L’Enclume photo blog

I love Simon Rogan’s food. Our first experience of it was at L’Enclume in 2012. We have since visited The French a couple of times and Fera and always come away excited and amazed at the creative way he uses ingredients and especially those foraged and lesser known. Here is an outline of that meal on 28th October 2012. I still remember key elements of the meal like it were yesterday. A memorable meal!

Oyster pebbles

Cockles and cucumber