In pictures: Salami Crackling at Fresh
Last week I was fortunate enough to try the latest addition to the specials board at Fresh Baguette – Salami crackling. Fresh is located in Royal Arcade Cardiff and at lunch time is hard to miss as customers line the arcade queuing to order. This is for good reason, the inviting smell and welcome atmosphere coupled with an impressive menu selection has generated a real cult following.
Virginia Gentleman VG 90 Bourbon Chipotle Hot Sauce X Pulled Pork
Good friends Martyn and Maia came to visit this week from Virginia in the USA. They’ve been there for about a year and a half now and the last time I saw them was when I was Martyn’s Best Man at their wedding out there.
Martyn and Maia obviously know we’re big foodies and sandwich fans and were kind enough to bring over with them on this trip some Virginia Gentleman VG 90 Bourbon Chipotle Hot Sauce and a set of napkins depicting the state bird, the cardinal, and the state tree and flower, the dogwood. Both items were bought from Market Street Market, which we reviewed on a previous post compiled on the same trip to the States for the wedding, and can be read here.
Here’s the sauce:
and here’s the napkins:
All of these things can only mean one thing, coming soon… THE SANDWICH CLUB DO PULLED PORK ROUND II !!!
Cafe Kino, Bristol
We recently made a long overdue trip to Bristol. The primary purpose of our journey was to see Kurt Vile playing at the The Fleece (who was excellent) but also as an attempt to sample some of the local eateries.
It seems we didn’t head to Bristol earlier enough and after exploring Park Street, Stokes Croft and St Nicholas Market we were a bit late for the lunchtime sandwich trade. A special mention should go to St Nicholas Market which contained some amazing looking food stalls and cafe’s especially the gloriously titled Sourdough Cafe, this alone justifies a return trip to Bristol!
After a fair bit of walking we settled on Cafe Kino, just opposite The Crofts music venue, which from the outside looked very welcoming. We both went for the spicy option of the Kino Burger. This was a lovingly crafted home made burger that came with mayo, salad, a fennel seed relish, home made ketchup and an option of chips. The price was very good, £4.00 burger or £5.80 avec des frites.
We would highly recommend this, the food service and atmosphere were all excellent and from the posters on the inside there seemed to be regular events on there as well. The only disappointment was that the burger had zero spice to it, despite going for the spicy option!
Lost in translation
I’m not going to name the place, but I’ll say this, it was in Wales and it was NOT a Chinese.
The main meal was great and when the dessert menu came around quite a few things caught my eye. A sponge band? Topped with milk? Maybe I’m not reading it right, but I still like the way I’m reading it before anyone says otherwise. Then there was the fluff white chocolate on a layer of crunch. Any takers? What’s one of those?
As funny as these are without doubt the best part of the menu was the drinks. Coffee £1.80 and liquid coffee £3.50. Someone please explain. You can have a banana or pineapple FITTER for £3.50. I guess that’s cheaper than your average IKEA fitter, but here they are limiting their trade to just fitting bananas and pineapples. Finally, a random picture of some one horned monster for the kids. Without doubt my favourite menu. Good work.
Gourmet Scoffs, Bath
This post is long overdue. San Pellegrino Orange was my drink for the summer. I discovered it for the first time when visiting Scoffs a while back and I wanted to share the delights of this drink. Well, summer is officially over but I’m still going to say “you should try this drink”. I don’t know why its better than Sunkist but it just is. Without getting too carried away with myself, neither compare to the greatness of original San Pellegrino from a glass bottle.
For its size Bath has a well stocked supply of café’s and deli’s. This proved difficult when deciding where to head for a sandwich. Fortunately on this day I was guided by someone in the know who took me to Scoffs. Located near the river Avon opposite Parade Gardens the shop front looks like an inviting place. The kind that doesn’t need to use some flash banner to attract custom because its the locals that use this venue for their sandwich staple.
On this occasion and if I’m honest, whenever I see Pastrami on the menu board, a Reuben on brown was ordered. As the sun was out I thought it would be ideal to park on a bench in Parade Gardens and have lunch. Error, £1 entry for non-residents! Paying to get into a park? Say wha? This seems a bit of a joke. I think the council are milking the tourists a bit too dry with that. Anyway, the view from the park wall was good enough and the sandwich more than made up for my displeasure at the £1 entry. If your in Bath and hungry for a sandwich, head to Scoffs for some excellent sandwiches and a friendly vibe.
Swansea Budget Eats
The Guardian’s thoughts on Swansea’s top 10 budget eats:
We’d love to hear your suggestions…
Here’s our previous visit to Joe’s Ice Cream in Swansea
Popeye The Sailor Man
Great news about a new Popeye inspired cookbook out next year. The publishers say that the book is made up of healthy recipes based on the characters of the Popeye cartoon and follows on from last year’s Moomin’s Cookbook.
Full details can be found on the publishers websites:
Our possible suggestions for further books in the series include:
- The Wombles: A Guide to Forraging
- Sweeny Todd’s Ultimate Book of Pies
- Bananaman’s Top 50 Banana Recipes
- Offaly-Good Meals: Hannibal Lecters Guide to Cooking Offal
- The Flintstones: cooking in the early years
- MASH – cooking with mash
- Silence of the lambs – a guide to slow roasting
Product: Madame Fromage Iced Coffee
Madame Fromage in Castle Arcade, Cardiff, recently added iced coffee to their drinks menu and I was fortunate to be part of the testing team. These are good to take away or enjoy inside the deli. I was told the inspiration for the new addition is partly due to a recent trip to Thailand sampling some native and super sweet iced coffee.
One of the coffee admirers wearing his new Linda Farrow sunglasses.
Unplanned perfection
When I typed in “planning” into the world of Google the first result that caught my eye read “simple planning makes for a more enjoyable vacation”. I’m sure this statement is true, but today’s lunch was a very much unplanned affair and resulted in one of the most delicious.
Behold, today’s special I picked up in FRESH – minted lamb and salad Panini.
The daily specials are exactly why FRESH is an appropriate name. The lamb was slow roasted, tender and succulent, coupled with the minted mayonnaise and fresh salad it was an absolute pleasure to eat. Keep an eye out for this special if you are yet to try.
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