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.

Homeground

We stumbled across Homeground as we walked through Windermere and I am so glad we did. Homeground has been open 3 months and Windermere is definitely the richer for it. There is fantastic coffee for a start (we couldn’t visit without having 2 flat whites)..

Then there are the doughnuts… made by the Homeground team and wonderful. We had malteser cream and apple and cinnamon doughnuts.

Then there are the collection of homemade cakes.

And finally there is breakfast. Yep we went back. twice. It’s THAT good.
On our first breakfast trip Mr Frivolitea had eggs benedict – made with ham hock, a fantastically sharp and zesty hollandaise and sourdough ciabatta.

I had poached eggs, bacon and sour dough toast.

And a side of hash browns. Homemade hash browns. Go to Windermere and try them. You will not be disappointed. Go. Go now.

On our second visit, Mr Frivolitea had Huevos Racheros with smashed avocado that was beautifully garlicky.

And I had the breakfast burger: sausage pattie, bacon, mushroom and egg in sourdough ciabatta with Homeground burger sauce and hash browns. The burger was a thing of beauty and full of flavour. The sharp fruitiness of the burger sauce was a great addition.

This place is great. Truly great. Their passion for coffee and food shines through. I would encourage you all to go but then there’d be no room for me.

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.

Lucia’s, Grasmere

if you’re looking for good coffee in Grasmere then Lucia’s takeaway is the place to go. We had great flat whites and I had a very tasty sausage roll too.

This place is tiny but they make their own scones and pastry goods. Definitely worth a visit.

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.

Rattle Gill Cafe, Ambleside

This little cafe is the best yet that we’ve tried in this part of the Lakes. A bit of a search on twitter uncovered this place and I’m so glad we found it.

The flat white was really good, so much so we had a second. However even better – they serve a cake plate. Yep, a plate of cake. A selection of 5 of the cafe’s homemade cakes and at £6 to share between two it is somewhat of a bargain.

Our cake plate had lemon curd cake (my favourite), pear and almond cake (Mr Frivolitea’s favourite) banana and pecan flapjack, Borrowdale tealoaf and scone with raspberry jam and cream. What a treat and a great discovery. This will be a regular when we visit the Lakes.

Waterhead Cafe, Ambleside

This is a a great little cafe in a spectacular setting. There’s nothing nicer than enjoying good coffee overlooking the water.

Waterhead cafe is quaint and pretty and serves great blueberrry scones and cakes. When we went they also had some portugese custard tarts on offer (a Mr Frivolitea favourite). The custard tart was particularly good and the coffee wasn’t bad either.

If you visit Ambleside this place is definitely worth a visit.

Pink Lane Coffee

I stumbled upon this little place opposite Newcastle Station today. I wanted a decent coffee whilst I waited for my train.

It’s got a great feel about it and has a great coffee menu.

I had a flat white that was really good.
Oh and they have maps on the walls in the toilets (did I mention that my other love is maps?)

Well worth a visit.

Keen triple nut butter granola bars

Last time I went back home to Northern Ireland I managed to get some Keen nut butters. They have a fantastically creative range of nut butters and I’m looking forward to experimenting.

2 1/4 cups of homemade nutty crunch granola

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup Keen triple nut butter

Put the dates in a food processor and blitz them up until they form a ball. Put the dates in a mixing bowl with the granola and chocolate chips. Mix everything together.

Melt the maple syrup and nut butter in a saucepan and add it to the mixing bowl to coat the dry ingredients.

Line a loaf tin with cling film, add the mix and press it down ensuring you create a flat top.

Fold the remaining cling film over the top. Put the tin into the freezer to set for about 15 minutes. Take out of the freezer and cut into bars.

Super tasty bruschetta with heritage tomatoes

Here’s a quick and easy way to make some ordinary ingredients into a really delicious starter, or meal in its own right.

This is based on a simple bruschetta I was served in a restaurant. It was simple, fresh, vibrant and tasty… The key to my version is preparing the tomatoes using more salt that you think can possibly be healthy (most of it drips away) and make a simple olive paste for the bread. Using heritage tomatoes isn’t essential, but they tend to taste better and contain less water. Visually they make things much more interesting.

To serve four you need:
Olives (100g)
Bread (four slices)
Tomatoes (the more varied the better)
Garlic (four or five cloves)
Olive oil (ideally extra virgin)
Tomato puree
Chilli
Dried mixed herbs
Wine vinegar (red or white)
Salt

Roughly cut up the tomatoes and place them in a colander over a bowl to catch the juice. Sprinkle salt over the tomatoes. You need a lot of salt. For six good sized tomatoes I end up using about three or four teaspoons of salt but don’t worry, most of this drips away with the juice. Gently mix the salt in with the tomatoes.

The salt draws out the liquid and you’ll find juice starts running into the bowl. Move the tomatoes around every so often as you want to get as much liquid out as possible. After about 15 mins or so, discard the juice (it’s far too salty to be useful) and put the tomatoes in a bowl.

Mix up a dressing with three parts oil to one part vinegar (you don’t need much dressing so don’t overdo it). I usually throw in some dried mixed herbs, a crushed clove of garlic and half a chilli. Pour this over the tomatoes and mix it through.

Wizz up 100g olives and a few cloves of garlic to a fine paste, adding olive oil to loosen. Mix in two teaspoons of tomato puree (or more to taste). You can add a bit of chilli, though perhaps not needed alongside the dressing. I sometimes add a few drops of dark soy sauce. This intensifies the flavour and adds a bit of colour.

Toast your bread and spread a thin layer of the olive paste. Then pile high with tomatoes and serve.