Skosh

Every time I try and start this blog I’m stumped for words. I simply want to write Wow! Over and over again because that’s what I said on repeat every time I tried a dish at Skosh. In fact we’ve ended up going back for a second visit before I’ve written up the first! That’s never happened before. It seems that a particular theme of great places to eat this year is the soundtrack. Just like at Lyles earlier this year, Mr Frivolitea’s face lit up at the music choices. It could have been our own playlist on shuffle. Skosh is a relaxed and friendly place to spend the evening. The beautiful design and open kitchen gives a real excitement and buzz.

This places delivers little plates of joy. You can tell that head chef Neil and his team put their all into every single dish they serve up. It’s no wonder everyone is talking about Skosh.
And the cocktails … well you can’t go to Skosh without trying one. On our first visit Mr Frivolitea had a rum, pumpkin and ginger cocktail with beautiful sugar work. It was like drinking a big hug on a winters evening! On our second visit we both had the spiced rum, pineapple and lemon cocktail. It was so so good!

What is great about Skosh is the concept of small plates means you can get lots of different things and then you go back for a visit 3 weeks later you still have new things to try.

The sourdough bread with Gunpowder spice and locally made butter. The gunpowder spice gave hits of different spices at different times.

The Sea trout cured in molasses with peanuts and lime was definitely one of my favourite dishes. I could eat many times and still get excited by it. The lime flavour in the dish was through a marshmallow of lime with a hint of lime powder on top!! I mean marshmallow and fish. It’s a pretty mental combination but it made me grin from ear to ear.
Mr Frivolitea ate one and simply exclaimed ‘that makes me very happy’. The sweetness of the molasses, the zest of the lime, the crunch of peanut and the freshness of herb – the perfect marriage.

Another particular hit was the Skosh fried chicken, smoked garlic and lemon thyme emulsion and fermented slaw. The flavour in the chicken was incredible and the emulsion pretty addictive. If only they could sell it by the bucket…

The venison tartare brought back memories of the tartare at L’enclume for me. It was expertly done. The pickled kohlrabi gave a lovely freshness to the dish, the ginger cream gave a nice bit of heat and was like a light mayo bringing the whole dish together. Last but not least the Pakora scraps were a fabulous twist to the dish giving a lovely hint of spice.

Vegetarian dishes at Skosh are given real care and attention, we particularly enjoyed the beetroot, leek and apple with basil ricotta and green tea. The buckwheat with the beetroot gave a lovely texture to the dish. The vadai with Fadmoor carrot purée, curry leaf and mustard seed are packed full of flavour.

A particular favourite of mine is seafood of any kind and there are a number of dishes to choose from at Skosh. We particularly liked the monkish tempura with burnt apple, celeriac and yuzu and the baked hake, cauliflower, dukkah and miso dishes.

When you have finished a selection of ‘mains’ you then have a really difficult choice. Do you go for savoury ‘afters’ or sweet ‘afters’.

On our first visit we went for sweet and had a fantastic dish: pineapple cream with yoghurt, black sesame and long pepper. This was exquisite. I love pineapple and this did not disappoint in flavour.

On our second visit I went for savoury. They had on the menu mince pie with whipped young buck cheese, when a girl from Newtownards sees Mikes Fancy Cheese (from Newtownards) on the menu she chooses it!

This is a place that you MUST visit. Then visit again and again. I can”t praise this place enough. It’s what we’ve been waiting for in York for a long time and Neil has delivered it in style.

Street Cleaver Pop Up

I happened upon Street Cleaver by chance thanks to a leaflet in the window of Kiosk. I love the opportunity to try out pop ups so we went to Lucky Days and booked ourselves in.

Street Cleaver describe themselves as creating unique, fresh and exciting street food. I was interested to see how they would do this in a restaurant environment and was pleasantly surprised. The dishes stayed true to the street food style but the dishes were elevated through their presentation to suit a sit down meal. With most of the dishes I could picture how they could be served in a cardboard container or in a brioche bun and be the sort of food I wanted to eat.

The first course of ‘winter spiced or cheek’ braised and charred ox cheek, red pepper, spiced beetroot powder and braised gem was a great dish. I didn’t taste much charring and I think this would have enhanced the dish but the combinations worked well. Have it in a brioche bun and you’d be very happy but put it on a nice ceramic plate and it holds its own as a part of a tasting menu.

The next course of ‘salt baked organic beets’ , goats cheese, pickle, anchovy, dill and watercress purée was my favourite dish of the evening. The richness of the goats cheese married perfectly with the sharpness of the pickles.

We then had ‘Pigs and eggs’ tender ham hock smoked and deep fried, cured yolk, crispy yolk, pickle and aioli. This was a really interesting dish. The Ham hock had a great flavour and the egg accompanied it really well. This was a definite street food hit.

The final savoury dish of ‘Mackerel and radish’ sweet cured and pan fried mackerel, local grown radish, grapefruit, vinegar scraps was the dish that disappointed me. I love mackerel and it’s a great fish to play around with but the flavours on this were confused and competed with one another a bit too much.

The last dish was ‘Something sweet’ chocolate, rum, coffee, coconut
This was an interesting dessert. More coffee and rum and I think it would be a real winner.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Street Cleaver if they get their own place as part of the development on Piccadilly. It would be a great addition to York’s independent food scene.

Sara @ St John’s

We have been to Sara’s supper club a number of times over the last 4 years but this is the first time I’ve blogged about it. I’m still trying to organise my life in such a way that I can have more time to write the blog….

Sara appeared on Masterchef a few years ago and reached the final. I remember watching the series and being in awe of Sara’s attention to detail and way with flavour. I was really excited that someone from York had done so well and was then going to open up her home and invite people in to eat her food. You’ve probably guessed already that the food is really good, given that we’ve gone back time and time again.

This time we went with family and for my brother and sister in law it was their first time at the supper club. I wish I could have captured the joy on their faces as they tried the food.

Sara provides a set menu of an amuse bouche followed by three courses. Sara’s husband David hosts the evening and Sara joins in throughout the evening to talk about the food. What I love about evenings with David and Sara is the opportunity to eat round a table with people you’ve not met before and chat to the chef about the food, the flavour combinations and life in general. The evenings are often full of laughter and fun.

The menu this time consisted of an amuse bouche of Devil’s Rock blue on rye bread with walnut and alba truffle honey. A little taster packed full of flavour and the honey, oh my that tasted good.

The starter was partridge risotto with confit partridge leg. Game is something I look forward to at Sara’s supper club. It is always cooked to perfection. The risotto was beautifully rich and the partridge wonderfully moist.

The main course of roasted haunch of venison, shallot purée, parsnip mousseline, cavelo nero, roasted golden beetroot and carrots was the perfect autumnal dish brought together with a deep silky sauce.

The pudding seemed very appropriate given Sara’s appearance on Masterchef. A chocolate fondant, the nemesis of many a Masterchef contestant, was cooked exactly as it should be. The moften chocolate enhanced by drunken cherries with warming spice.

Sara’s supper clubs are a fantastic way of eating great food in a relaxed atmosphere. Sara’s joy of cooking shines through in all she does. I’d highly recommend it.

Nigel Haworth at The Star Inn The City

Seven years ago Mr Frivolitea and I went to Northcote, where Nigel Haworth is the Chef Patron, for our 10th wedding anniversary. We still talk about it. The gourmet tasting menu we had was the stuff of dreams. Champagne and canapés then dish after dish of stunning food, I can still vividly remember the salad! I couldn’t believe a salad could taste so good so you can imagine when the opportunity arose to eat Nigel’s food again in our own city we leapt at the chance.

The opportunity to hear Nigel himself talking about the food at the start of the evening made the night even more special. Once seated in the dining room we started with canapés of sausage roll and ham hock arancini from the Star Inn the City team. The arancini were particularly good and I think Mr Frivolitea could have easily eaten a bowlful.

We then started on the five course menu designed by Nigel to reflect the flavours of Northcote, cooked by Nigel, his son and the Star Inn the City team.

First up was the Goosnargh chicken liver parfait with grape jelly. The parfait was wonderfully whipped and light in texture with the grape jelly adding a nice acidity to the dish.

Next was the treacle cured salmon, seared west coast scallop, pickled ginger and caviar. The salmon had been cured for 18 hours and I really loved the asian flavours in the dish. The simple presentation really allowed the salmon to be the star of the show.

We then had caramelised celeriac and chestnut ravioli, celeriac tea and trompettes that were topped with a little dashi caviar. This was a really clever dish. The chestnut ravioli had a particularly lovely flavour and consommé that melted when poured over the dish gave a real depth of flavour.

The main course of butter puff pastry wrapped lamb, spinach and crosne artichokes used lonk lamb, indigenous to Lancashire stuffed with a chicken and mushroom mousse. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the buttery puff pastry made this a real treat of a dish.

The final course of Bramley apple cheesecake with Northcote blackcurrants, liquorice, herbs and flowers was a particularly favourite of mine. The cheesecake was so beautiful I almost didn’t want to eat it. It had a wonderfully fresh flavour and was a lovely end to the meal. The skill that went into the dish and the use of seasonal fruit was a true showcase of everything Northcote is.

It was such a joy to eat Nigel’s food again and be reminded of why I loved it so much first time round. If there was any criticism of the evening it was that there was quite a gap between each course but the food was worth the wait. I think we will be looking for an opportunity to go back to Northcote (hint hint Mr Frivolitea)

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.

The Barbary

Ever since eating at the Palomar last year, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to go back. The news that The Palomar had opened a smaller, sister restaurant focused my plans to find an opportunity to get back down to London.

What excites me about the Barbary is how everyone gets a chance to watch what is going on in the kitchen. When we went to the Palomar I spent the evening jealous of those booked at the bar, here everyone has a seat at the bar. The only problem is that you see everything cooking and dishes being delivered to people around the bar and you get food envy. I desperately wanted to try everything.

I arrived early evening on the Friday. You can’t book a table at The Barbary and having travelled down from York I was keen to ensure a table. Waiting for Mr Frivolitea gave me chance to look at the drinks menu. Having spotted a Sauvignon Blanc from Israel, I ordered a glass. Wow. I usually choose Sauvignon Blanc but this was superb.

The menu is set out creatively with baking and grinding, land, sea, earth and heaven. We tried to choose something from every section and a special so that we could get a real feel for the type of food they were serving but ended up missing out the sea section as there was so much to choose from. The focus of the Barbary, as its name suggests, is food from the Barbary Coast and the placemat at your seat has a wonderful map to help you identify the places the food comes from.

The savoury dishes we had were: Naan e Barbari

Jerusalem Bagel ( with a little packet of Za’tar)

Tbecha roasted tomatoes

Zhug, harissa, burnt and pickled chilli

Goat Shishbarak

Cauliflower Jaffa style

Andalusian Pincho Maruno

Everything was packed full of flavour and the meat,cooked over grill, was so succulent. It is difficult to say which is my favourite as everything stood out in its own right. The Zhug (Yemenite hot sauce with coriander and parsley) was a real surprise and something I’m definitely going to learn how to make.

The dessert section had one of my favourite desserts knafeh. They call the dessert section heaven. It’s an accurate description. We also chose the halva ice cream to go with it. The perfect partnership!

One thing that really stood out for me was how much is achieved in such a small space. The staff are attentive and helpful and the chefs create stunning dishes whilst engaging with everyone around them. My advice is go to the Barbary and if you have to queue, queue. When we left the wait was two hours long but people waited. That’s a sign that somewhere is worth going.

Smoking Goat Soho

Mr Frivolitea and I love Thai food so decided on this visit to London to try something new. I’d heard a bit about Smoking Goat and loved the idea of Thai barbecue so we rocked up on the Sunday lunchtime to enjoy some food before getting the train home.

I have to be honest that I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went through the door. At first glance Smoking Goat is dark and dingy and a bit surreal with dried puffer fish adorning the ceiling. However what it lacks in colour in the decor it certainly makes up for in the food on offer. The great thing about this place is you can order a selection of dishes to share. However as always with Mr Frivolitea and I that leads to difficult decisions when everything on the menu sounds great.
Mr Frivilotea chose a Tamarind soda to drink.

It was so good he then had another and we finally agreed on some dishes:

Khan Phot Ping smoked corn with salted coconut and chilli

grilled hispi cabbage with peanuts, chilli and soy

bavette waterfall beef Nahm Dtok with lemongrass and chilli

and some sticky rice to mop up all the tasty juices.

This is food with a seriously good kick. Every dish we had took us to our limit chilli wise, in a good way. None of that nasty burning heat that sticks around, this is the sort of heat that hits you hard and quick and then melts away with all the other amazing flavours in the dish leaving that lovely warm tingly feeling in your mouth. I’ m still trying to work out which I liked most and am struggling. Everything was delicious. I think the smoked corn might just have had the edge but then I am a sucker for sweetcorn and coconut.

I’m looking forward to another opportunity to try their food and I’m certainly inspired to try some of the flavours at home.

Lyle’s London

Lyle’s has been on the list for some time and our latest visit to London gave us the perfect opportunity to visit as we had arranged to stay in the Brick Lane area of London for the first time.
I was rather relieved to be able to book a table as days before the bookings opened it was placed in the top 10 at the National Restaurant Awards. I now know why!
The relaxed feel, the open kitchen, witty staff and music that was a continuum of classic hip hop and R&B through disco to 80’s electro in the background all adds to what makes this place appealing.

At Lyle’s the food offering is a set menu of an amuse bouche and 4 courses.

Our amuse bouche of dashi tomato with dehydrated tomato on top and some smoked mussels was a great sign of things to come. It never ceases to amaze me how someone can pack so much flavour in to something so small.

The first course of Beefsteak and hedgehog mushrooms, Lardo and egg had a wonderful hit of tarragon with buckwheat adding a lovely texture, the little bit of sauce packed a punch and sat alongside a perfectly cooked runny egg.

The second course of Monkfish, liver and crab apple was the dish that divided me. The combination of flavours absolutely worked together, the sharpness of the apple counterbalancing the richness of the monkfish liver. However the texture and flavour of the liver on its own was a bit too intense for me.

The third course of Dexter sirloin, onion and gherkin really summed up for me why Lyle’s is the place to go. Perfectly cooked meat, a rich sauce, velvety onion purée and the light pickle of the gherkin leading to a perfectly balanced dish. Simple in presentation but nowhere to hide.

The final course of blackcurrant and lemon verbena was my kind of dessert. The addition of blackcurrant vinegar to the meringue transformed the dish. I ate every mouthful with a big grin on my face.

We ended our meal with coffee, lemon thyme brown butter cakes and cherry chocolate ganache. The dessert and the lemon thyme butter cakes were so good that I felt compelled to go over and thank the pastry chef. Her name is Anna by the way.

Lyle’s highlights the best seasonal produce and lets the food speak for itself. It’s a great place to spend an evening.

The Muddlers Club

I should probably write a very brief blog for this and just say. Perfect. You must go. In fact it took me a little longer to write this than most blogs because this lunch rendered me speechless. It’s not often I am completely blown away by a meal and struggle to articulate how much I loved it. So here are my attempts to put into words everything I loved about The Muddlers Club.

The Muddlers Club is in the up and coming Cathedral Quarter area in city centre Belfast. A fantastic mix of food, drink and street art. It’s an area that highlights how much Belfast has changed in recent years.

We walked down an alley to find it and straight away I could sense we were in for a real treat. The guy on the door welcomed us so warmly that I immediately felt at home and the design of The Muddlers Club shows real attention to detail but without pretention or stuffiness.

We were given a seat by the window and our waitress, who was an absolute delight to chat to throughout, gave us the menu. My eyes lit up when I saw what was on offer. A lunch menu with seasonality and creativity at its heart and all at incredible value. Starters and desserts at £5 and mains at £10.

For starter I had mackerel, kohlrabi, mustard and apple. It arrived with the mackerel still ‘smoking’ a fantastic touch that certainly added to the excitement. This dish was absolutely beautiful with great flavours and texture. It was a touch of light pickle or vinegar away from perfection.

Mr Frivolitea had the short rib tortellini, mushroom, kale and truffle. This was a really clever dish, it was packed full of flavour, showcasing the short rib and not skimping on quality ingredients.

For main I had hake, charred broccoli, kale, mussels and curry. The curry in the dish was wonderfully balanced alongside the hake. A real highlight for me were the vegetables, cooked perfectly and bursting with flavour.

Mr Frivolitea had chicken, baked beets, chard and Parmesan. The chicken was absolutely delicious and wonderfully moist and a highlight was the purée that tasted of the best cauliflower cheese you’ve ever had.

We also had a side of baby potatoes in dulse butter. Oh my. These were delicious. I could eat a vat of them. The kitchen discovered my joy at eating the dulse butter and sent me home with some. This gesture, clearly organised by our waitress, just summed up for me why this place is so special. Everyone who works there gives 100%

For dessert I had lime, coconut and pineapple. This was heaven in a bowl. The flavours balanced beautifully alongside the fresh pineapple with the ribbons of mint running through it and the addition of aerated white chocolate was a wonderful touch.

Mr Frivolitea had chocolate, malt and praline. He was a happy man, this is very much his kind of dessert. The praline disc in particular was a hit though he could happily have had more malt flavour in the dish.

At The Muddlers Club, dishes are all beautifully presented, well balanced and generous in portion size for the cost of lunch. Add to that the fantastic service, the knowledge and love of food shown by those who served us and surroundings and I can honestly say it was one of the best meals out we have had in a long time. You must go. We will certainly be going back again and again. This is just what Belfast needs and it is a delight.

p.s if you are having a glass of wine and you like Sauvignon Blanc get the sugarloaf mountain. It might be the most expensive by the glass but you will not be disappointed, it is a particularly good Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

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