The Ox Bar & Inn, 71 Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester, M3 4NQ

Continuing from the last post … (special shout-out to SJ in Japan who requested something on English food!)

After sleeping for what felt like days (it was in fact, only 8 hours) and waking up with my tongue stuck to the top of my mouth, eyes slightly swollen, and hair like a bird’s nest after a flapping session with the girls, I took a well-needed shower and was all ready to eat again. The first thing which took my fancy were the mince pies. As I walked into the kitchen, all 8 of the pies (and 2 cookies) were staring me in the face, so I took the decision to eat half a mince pie. And then the other half.

That craving satisfied, we watched a little weekend telly – a bit of Nigella cooking some terribly-bad-for-you stuff (what’s new), a bit of Australian MasterChef (who knew you could make little sugar balls out of caramelising sugar?) and then who-knows-what (all these cooking programmes blurring into one) which just made me more hungry.

Which made the decision to go for a Sunday roast one of the best decisions of the day.

Now, before I continue, let me state this fact. I have not been much of a fan of Sunday roasts. I mean, I like the idea of it and all, and do understand the fascination that other people have with the stuff, but I can’t say it’s one of the things I’d choose to eat out of all other things. What is my bug bear with it? Well, lack of taste, to be honest. I prefer food with strong, jazz-hands tastes. Food which leap off the plate and onto the taste-buds shouting ‘TAAAAAASTY’. Which is not what I’ve experienced with roasts so far.

Before any of you decide to tell me how wrong I am (was), and that I’m pathetic for not having tasted THEEEE best roast there is before having made these comments, look, this is what the post is about. My roast-realisation, is what I’ll call it. Roast with the most.

How did we find this place? How did we stumble from mince pies to roast with the most? Well, word has it that this place does one of the best Sunday roasts in Manchester. Now if Word has it, then we also have to have it. After having walked past a few frozen canals and through the cobbled streets of Castlefield, we arrived at The Ox.

A sturdy white building right by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), this was a building I usually walked right past – either on the way to Dpercussion in Castlefield, or to Akbar’s for a curry. Whenever we went by in the summer, there would be quite a few people having drinks outside in the sunshine, and therefore, I always had it in my mind that this wasn’t a place that served food – thus, not interested.

Oh how wrong I was.

Coming in from the cold, grey day that was Sunday in Manchester, we were greeted by the warm, brown, woody interior of this Ye Olde English styled pub. The bar counter was made of dark-brown wood, with lots of brass-coloured pub-things hanging off the top, and huge paintings of (slightly overweight) oxen around the place.

A crackling fireplace, lots of squealing, happy children, and plenty of food around completed the picture of a nice Sunday lunch at the pub.

As we managed to get a last-minute table booking, the 5 of us were sat at a table for 4 right next to the fire. Couldn’t complain though, as that kept us warm and toasty (literally toasty) and that also meant we could try the famed roast out! Menus at the ready …

For £12.95, we could have had 2 courses of either a starter and a main, or a main and a dessert. Add another 2 quid and you could have all 3 courses! Why not!

Because I’ve had too much mince pies, that’s why.

This is what else we could have chosen from the set menu.

2 courses selected, we sat down and waited - me with my pot of tea, and the others with a hangover.

When the first courses arrived, I almost had to calm myself down from the flurry of excitement I felt. It wasn’t even my food that had been served, but hey, sometimes taking pictures of food is even better than eating it (very rarely, I must say).

The pate looked amazing – almost like a very rectangular piece of avocado that was just ripe. Around the outer edge of the rectangle, there was a thin greenish frame while the inside of the rectangle looked pink and soft. For what it was, they sure were generous with their portions. Our friends who had this looked like they enjoyed it a lot. Not much talking, lots of pate eating.

Pity about the melba toast though. I can’t say any of us were Melba toast experts, but from our limited store-bought toast experience, this sure wasn’t Melba toast. It looked more like a well-browned piece of tortilla that had been stacked up nicely on top of the pate.

As friends do, we offered them some of the bread from our starter so that they could make a pate butty with it. Classy stuff, us.

This was the starter I had (actually, I shared this with the fiancé – we were both saving space for the kebab after this). What? What’s wrong with having a kebab after a Sunday roast? Nothing, is the answer, when this is THEEE best kebab in Manchester! Anyway, back to our starter. I had no clue what a rilet was when I ordered it, but as I fancied having some fish, I chose the only fish option on the menu. I won’t lie and say that I was blown over when the dish arrived. It was quite small, and paled in comparison to our friends’ generous chunk of pate.

However, when I had a bite of it, I realised that the menu was true to its word. Describing it as smoked haddock with butter (or something like that), this was exactly it – fishy, tender and flaky, and buttery. So much so that we didn’t have to add any butter to the bread and you could still taste the butter. Despite thinking that the portions were quite miserly when I first started on the dish, I actually thought that it was just the right portion size when I’d finished it. Any more and it would have been too much fish.

Then came the main meals. Boy oh boy was I excited when I saw the others’ meals (we’d all but one ordered the same thing) – the Yorkshire pudding was HEEUUUUGE!

From where I was sitting, I could just about see the beef on the plate when the waitress was bringing it over, and it looked exactly like how I think perfectly cooked beef should look.

Generous slab of roast beef on plate. Magnificence.

Not only did we have mash potato (creamy mm mm), we also had mash sweet potato, roast potatoes (crispy mm mm) and beans which didn’t look like they’d been cooked since last week (like so often the case).

The beef was one of the nicest, if not, THE nicest roast beef I’ve had in a Sunday roast. It wasn’t actually roast beef, in my opinion, which is probably why I liked it so much. It tasted and looked more like steak than it did roast beef. For one, it didn’t have the carving serration you’d find in a carved slice of beef. Also, it wasn’t dry. How amazing is that! Juicy, rare (just the way I like it), and immensely tender, this was one good piece of roast beef.

The roasties were perfect – soft and mushy on the inside, kinda crispy on the outside. The mash was buttery, and the beans – well, only tried one but it was OK (fiancé had the rest).

On the whole, this must be one of the best Sunday roasts I’ve had, and will definitely set the benchmark for others. Rubbing our happy bellies, we then set off to Abdul’s in Fallowfield for some of their mixed kebab – didn’t take any pics so you’re gonna have to check out the older post on this if you wanna see any pics of it.

On the way back to the car park, we walked by the frozen canal – good thing we were warm with food.

Weekend in Edinburgh … brrr … brrr (it was cold)

When one of my closest friends decided to make full use of her creative talents, she left the job that she was in, and took up furniture-making in Scotland. Having had a look at the stuff she's come up with so far, I am so in awe and impressed that I wonder why she hadn't done it sooner.

So, the plot so far.

Place: Edinburgh, Scotland
Date: Easter weekend, April 2010
Cast: Me, the bf, and the good friend
Activities for the weekend: Lots and lots of food
Temperature: How cold is cold enough

Gotta be honest here. When I knew we were going to visit said friend, all I really wanted to eat while we were there were haggis and deep-fried Mars bars. Before you recoil in horror, I didn't actually get to eat the Mars bars, but I sure made a good attempt at eating everything else in my way.

(They deep fry anything and everything in Scotland, or so I've heard.)

The first thing we had was afternoon tea. Found a cute little bookshop in Haddington which had a cafe at the back of the shop - this really bright, airy space - and we had scones with jam, and tea. Like a taste of England in Scotland. The scones were buttery and full of fluff (ie fluffy) and it was huge! It seemed to go on forever, and when that was done, I ate my friend's half too.

Since I really, really (really) wanted to have haggis, we trawled the pubs around the Grassmarket area to find a pub which:

a) served haggis (nearly all of them, so no sweat)
b) wasn't completely full (not so easy)

Having found one (name escapes me) which seemed really popular with the tour groups, we settled down and ordered various Scottish dishes to begin our adventurous meal. Of course, that ended up with one order of sausage and mash (English), haggis, neeps and tatties (all part of a meal - Scottish), and chicken pie (not even sure where this originates from, but definitely not Scotland).

What you see above is the haggis. Tatties and neeps basically mean potatoes (po-tah-toes, p-tah-tees) and swede, and tastes like mash potatoes and mash swede.

Haggis - after waiting all this time to try haggis - I can only describe it as insides wrapped with insides. Taste-wise, it's like peppery mince. But mince with a drier texture, almost as though it had been dried out with some breadcrumbs. Altogether very nice though, with a slightly gamey note to the aftertaste. Might not be liked by all, but certainly liked by me.

The next day, we met up for breakfast. Not knowing where to go, we looked for a cafe type place with just the right amount of people (not empty enough to be tellingly bad, yet not crowded enough to have to wait for a table) for brunch. Found an Italian cafe along Lothian Road, settled in, and was served by one of the friendliest waitresses in Scotland (albeit one who didn't understand us much, but she was very friendly so that's OK).

Had toasted cheese and tomato (may-toes?) croissant, along with an egg roll, a chicken sandwich, and some afternoon relaxation.

My egg roll, which was egg mayonnaise served in a soft, chewy bun (or bap). Nothing fancy, but it was cheap and it was very satisfying.

The cheese and may-toes croissant.

Chicken sandwich, which, for the price of £3.50, was possible the hugest sandwich I've ever had.

Back to the may-toes again. After one bite.

So, after brunch, we went around town, went to watch a film (Shutter Island - kinda tensed, confusing, and a bit of a let down) and then shopped around a bit, before going to a ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee) at the Student Union. One of my friend's friends was playing the accordion in the band that day, and since ceilidh sounded like so much fun, we thought, why not.

For those of you unfamiliar with what this caylee thing is, it's pretty much a lot of people in a room, dancing (to moves which everyone but you will have been familiar with) and it's just a lot of fun. Partly fun in trying to dodge the elbows coming your way, partly fun because you get thrown around a room with the sounds of the accordion in the background.

It's no good me trying to describe it because from my point of view (elbow-height), all I saw were elbows coming my way, people being flung about the other way, and every so often, I'd get swung along the line past lots of grinning people, before being swung round the other direction again. Oh, and the helicopter dance.

So, after an interesting, tiring, and very kilt-filled dance night at the Student Union, we were ready for a big breakfast the next day, prior to heading out to Loch Lomond. As we'd kipped at the Premier Inn (everything's premier but the price, and I'm SO sold, I would sell Premier Inn to anyone if only they'd ask), we opted for the all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Brewers Fayre next door to the hotel. For £7.50, you could have as much porridge, sausages, bacon, eggs, mushroom, baked beans, croissants, tea and coffee (not to mention jam and Marmite) as you wished.

Whenever the words 'all-you-can-eat' come into play, I know I will rise to the challenge.

Croissant AND toast. When one bit of floury product is simply not enough.

The works, I'll have everything but the bacon (because I just don't like bacon). Must have eaten enough for the other tables, and I have not looked at a croissant the same way since.

The Pilot Inn, 68 River Way, Greenwich, London, SE10 0BE

The original idea was to go to the Princess of Wales in Blackheath for the Sunday roast. That idea was somewhat thwarped when cats and dogs started raining, and everyone in Blackheath decided to go to the Princes of Wales for Sunday roast. The only other place which would be less crowded would be the Pilot Inn, so off we went.

The Pilot Inn is one of those establishments where the vibe depends very much on whether or not there are people in the place. I guess you might say that applies to most places, but the decor here (traditional and very wood-y, almost like a comfortable, library with a roaring fireplace) means that without many people sitting around chatting, it’s almost like sitting in a library.

On the Sunday that we were here, there were loads of people, but not so many that there wasn’t tables for us. Perfect.

Roast beef £8.95

When we first moved to London, the prices of roast was something of an eye-opener to us. Nearly a tenner for some roast? We’d shake our heads and look for some cheaper option elsewhere. Now, we know better. We know that £10 is the average price for a roast, and sometimes, it’s not even good roast.

The good thing was, the roast here is good. Almost excellent, even. If not for the slightly bland gravy. Huge portions accompanied by lots of wonderful roast vegetables (al dante carrots, a rare find these days), a fabulous looking Yorkshire pudding, and 2 generous slices of roast beef.

Pea and ham soup £3.25

I chose the soup as I though that that would be the least tempting thing on the menu. Let me digress for a while here (the soup was delicious, by the way).

When I go to a restaurant, I immediately choose the nicest, most delicious, most scrumptious thing on the menu, and cross it off the list. I then cross items off one by one, according to whether or not they are:

- calorific (everything is, I know, but there are categories)
- commonly found everywhere (eating out for a reason)
- so delicious that I’ll probably finish it all myself, and glare at anyone who wants some

By the time this list is done with, there are usually not many items left on the menu. Soup is usually one of them. Side salads also sometimes feature.

Thus, it was very much a surprise (pleasant surprise) when I took one mouthful of the soup and discovered it to be the best soup I’ve had from a restaurant / pub / place selling food. The pieces of ham were actually evident (I know!!!) and the soup was so meaty tasting! So pea tasting! So fantastic!

Finished it all at one go, by myself.

Would I recommend this place? Of course! Now that I’ve just discovered it myself, we’re gonna be coming back to try out more of its menu, line by line!

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The Princess of Wales, 1 Montpelier Row, Blackheath, London, SE3 0RL

After doing much research on restaurants in the Greenwich / South East London area, I have come to the conclusion that there is really not that much choice when it comes to wanting good food in the area. Of course, the research came in the form of (oh the stuff I endure) eating at these places, and reading other blogs which were specifically for this part of London.

One sunny weekend, we decided to expand that research to the Blackheath area. This is a heath, which, on a sunny day looks better than it does in the photo above, I’m sure.

When I did some research on this pub (as you do), quite a few of the people who recommended it said that there was nothing better than a big roast diner after a lovely stroll on the heath. Taking on that recommendation, we decided to do the same, and saw these ducks.

From the outside, this pub looks like one of those favoured by the locals, ie let’s not go in there unless you know someone. Stepping into the pub, however, everyone is friendly, and there is a huge, lovely, airy area at the back of the pub where lots of people looked like they were having a great relaxing time, having their Sunday dinner and reading the papers.

As that lovely area was full, we ventured towards the not so bright, but all the same, lovely area round the front of the pub. Sitting ourselves down at one of the larger tables (lighting is all important when you take pictures of your food), we noticed that the table next to us had 2 women, with a table full of leftover food.

The cheapo in me almost wanted to call off ordering, and just eat from them, but then again, one has to maintain some sort of social decorum, and eating leftover food from a stranger’s table, no matter how appealing that sounds, might not be considered acceptable social behaviour. To some.

Roast beef dinner, with Yorkshire pudding, mash potato, horseradish sauce, and vegetables £8.90

Very often, food looks better than it tastes. This was not one of those occasions, as no matter how lovely it looks in the picture, it tasted better. Much better.

Though the beef was ever so slightly chewy, it tasted fabulous. The roasting process must have taken some hard work, as the flavour of the meat shone through like a rainbow from a Care Bear’s tummy.

Together with the beefy gravy, the cheesy mash, and the crispy yet wonderfully soft Yorkshire pudding, this one plate of food settled us into Sunday, and the week after.

Possibly the best roast dinner I’ve had from a restaurant.

Roast chicken, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, bread sauce and vegetables £8.90

Until I had a bite of this, which was my bit of the meal. Chicken is so often overcooked (tough and stringy) or undercooked (uh oh).

This chicken, however, was perfectly done. If I had to set a benchmark for which chicken could be cooked to (ie 1 = cluck, 10 = perfect), this would be the benchmark. The meat was perfectly soft, fell off with the slightest touch yet was tender and soft to the bite. It tasted really good too, which is a surprise. The chef must have flavoured the meat before cooking it.

One downside though were the bits of feathers sticking out from the wing of the chicken, though it didn’t take more than a slight finger-flick to get them off. See, even the feathers were cooked to perfection.

Would I recommend this place? If you haven’t already found it, you have now.

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The Lock Inn Cafe, 48 Frome Road, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LE

Crowded space, people shouting, elbows in face, lots of yelling, and that’s even before you get off the bus.

When you’ve had enough of all that in the city, and just want to try out the novelty that is country air, where better than to go to Bradford on Avon. Not technically ‘country’, not in the sense of Kenny Rogers and Ms Parton anyway, but country enough for us. These days, just seeing cows from where I’m sat inside a train counts as being in the countryside. Sometimes, even posters of cows count.

One sunny weekend (funny how most of my posts seem to begin with that phrase, despite this being England and all), some friends and us decided to head over to Bradford on Avon for a spot of lunch. The place we suggested is one of those rare places which is pleasant in the summer and even in the winter, as the layout of the place has a lovely outside area perfect for those sunny days, and a warm, cosy inside area, ideal for cold winter dinners.

With the warm sunshine comes some other not so desirable things, ie men without shirts on. There’s something in the British air that makes some men (more fishcakes than beefcakes) feel the need to take off their t-shirts and walk around with a bit of a swagger.

Beer can in one hand, t-shirt in the other, they John Wayne it around the place for about 10 minutes until they realise that the sun’s gone in and it’s cold again, so back on comes that t-shirt. Much to the relief of the public.

However, give or take a few hair chests, the sunshine also means that meals can be eaten outside! In the warmth! With the novelty, all food suddenly tastes better.

And once that cynicism dries out, and it has, we return to the point of this post, which was really about the wonderful (and I mean it), really lovely, really cute, riverside (or canal) pub that is The Lock Inn at Bradford on Avon.

With such a great location, you’d almost expect sub-standard food because the setting is enough to make you accept mediocre food and yet still find it wonderful. Thing is, the food here is exceptionally creative for pub food, and is to a standard that is better than a lot of restaurants in London. With portions that first please the eye, and then go on to please the tummy, the prices here definitely are friends with my wallet too.

The menu even lists the things you could do in Bradford on Avon, and although I usually don’t like menus which are too big (you’d never have guessed), this one had quite a substantial amount of interesting info in it so that was OK.

When we first got here, the outside tables were full of happy happy people. Thing is, this pub/restaurant has lots of little nooks in which more tables are hidden, like the little shed in the corner which fits at least 5 diners, the barge in the river with a few more tables, the little tables by the side of the canal, and if you’re still struggling for space, there are always those benches by the canal for you to perch and have your lunch on.

Whenever I go to pubs for lunch, I expect generous portions. The quality and taste matter of course, but not as much as the quantity does. This is where The Lock Inn excels, as the portions are not only generous, but of high quality, very tasty, and the choices are plentiful.

Smoked mackerel salad with chips £5-ish

(prices are approximates as I scribbled them down on a piece of receipt, and don’t know where that piece of receipt is)

How do you make a salad reaaaally good? By putting lots of non-salad items on it. This salad was more mackerel than it was vegetables, which made this salad reaaaallly good. With 2 succulent pieces of deliciously flaky, smoked fish on top of the salad, and a lovely sweet honey mustard dressing on the salad, this dish was more than sufficient as a main meal on a hot summer’s day. By the time I was done with the fish and the vegetables, I was already feeling quite full, and still had the chips to finish. Lovely.

The ‘Gert Lush’ burger, about £6.50

From the picture, you can’t quite tell just how big this burger is. The huge plate makes the burger look quite small, but actually, take a look at the picture below, and compare the burger to the size of the thumb.

It is THAT big a burger. Ciabatta bread sandwiching a tower consisting of:

bacon
onion ring
beef burger
cheese (very nice cheese too)
egg
beef burger

This is a burger to defeat all other burgers, and then munch on them. With such a big burger, it was surprisingly more-ish and every bite made me want another. The burger patties were cooked perfectly, retaining enough bite and not being too dry. The other bits such as the cheese and egg complemented it well, making an already big burger even more extravagant.

Belgian waffle with strawberries and ice-cream, about £4

I have never seen such beautifully presented pub grub. For that price, we weren’t expecting much on the plate, but this was beautiful not only in presentation but in taste also. Little chocolate beans were sprinkled all over the plate, with thick and sweet chocolate sauce liberally drizzled on the waffle. The waffle itself was nothing too special, in that it tasted very similar to other Belgian waffles I’d had before, but the toppings and ice-cream made this dessert far better than the others I’d tasted.

After that most enjoyable lunch, we took a stroll down the canal.

Lots of barges were going up and down at the time, everyone taking advantage of the lovely sunny day to laze around.

Would I recommend this place? I would! If you’re in Bradford on Avon, and fancy some great food at decent prices, in a beautiful setting whether it’s warm or it’s cold, come to The Lock Inn.

Even the graffitists here are cheery.

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