Re-fueling at the Garage

On Saturday after a wander around the usual shops and library we decided to take a rest and have a bite at the Garage Lounge coffee and cake shop (but it isn’t just that, they offer a range of cooked food too). I was more interested in the cakes as we had already eaten lunch, plus I had heard that the ambiance was better than the cooked food so that put me off eating a full meal there a little. I did however take a good look at what they offered on the menu but nothing really stood out. The only things that appealed were the cakes and their french toast that was on their breakfast menu (starts at 7am, it didn’t have an end time so I presume it’s served all day). The name is unusual but it’s named after the previous establishment, a garage. Not the most flattering word in my opinion but at least it doesn’t look like a dirty old garage!

I have driven past this place since it opened in March this year but never got the chance to try it out until this weekend. I love the decor and how it has been styled with vintage finds, they did a good job in making the place elegant but not too intimidating for the area and ordinary folk like me!

We arrived around 2pm and the place was rather full but still had a few tables inside (right at the back, quite squished in) and some outside down the side road, but the atmosphere was lacking, so as soon as one of the tables that was facing the main road was free we nabbed it. Although it’s a busy main road I was not put off by it too much.

After looking at the display Bf ordered at the counter while I sat outside. They display the actual food for customers to see what’s on offer, it’s interesting and eye-catching but after a few hours I imagine the food being less appetising. We ordered Moulin Rouge cake (which is essentially a fresh strawberry cream cake, probably a génoise butterless sponge as it was very light), an espresso and lemonade fruit juice. The food came fairly promptly and I got stuck in! I definitely enjoyed the cake, it was served on a plywood board with a sheet of parchment paper. It came with extra strawberries on the side with a dollop of fresh cream and what balanced if for me was the white chocolate that encased the cake, it gave the cake some sweetness which complimented the cream and sponge. The cream layers in the cake was coloured pink, by fresh strawberries I presume.  The size was adequate and because we had lunch just before I was able to let bf share it with me. If on the other hand I hadn’t eaten I would most definitely be able to finish this myself with satisfaction.

The juice was a little peculiar as it didn’t taste of lemonade at all, in fact I couldn’t taste any lemon, it had a little bit of a fizz and had flavours of apple?!? Maybe they served us the wrong drink? The espresso was good, nothing special, though we particularly liked that it was served on a mismatched ornate saucer.

The food came to just under £10 at £9. The cake was £4.50 which is quite pricey I thought, but I guess it did come with some cream and extra strawberries. The espresso was a single shot and was £2, the lemonade was £2.50.

The only thing I disliked was that they only had one toilet! Though seeing this vintage scale in the toilet made me smile, though the smile soon dropped when I stood on it!

I give this place 9/10 for style, 8/10 for the cake, 7/10 for the lunch menu.

The last few days

Things I’ve been up to:
1. Eating:
Bf treated me to this froyo.

Since Berlin I have been addicted to trying out froyo whenever I encounter them! This place is called Fuel and is found in West Quay shopping centre, Southampton. They are under staffed so there was a bit of a back log of orders so we had to wait around for our order. I ordered the froyo with two toppings for £3.45.

Price list.

The taste was different to the ones I had in Berlin, this one had no tang at all so I am guessing it’s loaded with sugar. It’s not bad in taste but if you want something healthy or if you are diabetic don’t bother (though maybe double check with them and ask how much sugar is in it first, I’m just guessing it has a lot in it due to the taste). The lady was generous with the toppings (mango and granola) and it does feel like you’re eating ice cream as it has the sweetness and creaminess.

Cute graphics.

2. Shopping:
Posing outside antique shop, need to get as skinny as her! I’m wearing a wooly dress that I got for my birthday from bf, Clarks jazz shoes, Topshop jersey cardi and Peacock leggings. Shopper is a sample from my fashion buying days.

At the weekend we had plans to have dinner with family in the evening so during the day we thought we’d drive there early and wander around our favourite shopping areas. We did a lot of walking that day so I hope I lost some calories since that evening we were going to stuff our faces with curry! I love curry, my favourite is lamb pathia with plain rice and peshwarini naan. The patita is really spicy and has a nice amount of heat to it. I don’t understand why people order curry that’s not hot and spicy.

Local second hand vinyl shop.

3. Baking:
Lately I’ve not been keen on baking as I’ve been trying to watch my weight, but because I have been watching a LOT of Food Network on Freeview, today I felt like eating some CAKE! I had some walnuts to use up so thought I would bake myself a coffee and walnut cake.

I love the colour of the sponge mixture. The toaster is a new Dualit one that we got from

The finished coffee and walnut cake posing with my aloe vera plant (gift from friend) and orchid. The orchid was given to me at Xmas from a student and it died in January because it got too cold. I’m glad I didn’t throw it away as this summer it started to bloom!

The Belle Isle, Southsea

On Sunday we decided to head down to Southsea to wander around John Lewis and the library. It’s a relatively new library (opened last year or so) and I love it! We tend to pop in every time we are in the area. I got a few books out and then eagerly proceeded to The Belle Isle. I was excited for bf to try this place as I had such a great experience at the Chichester branch. It was around 3pm and there were quite a few people, not overly packed as there were around 4 empty tables at the back of the restaurant. We decided on something light so ordered a bagel and baguette from the lunch menu and a starter of twice cooked crisps with soft drinks. An easy lunch we thought, but it wasn’t so, it took around 40 minutes for the food to come out! 40 frigging minutes for food that you dont need to cook, just assemble. I don’t think we’ve ever experienced such a long waiting time before! They decided not to serve the starter as a starter, instead they brought it with the sarnies. We weren’t pleased to say the least. The food was mediocre, I had brie and mango chutney with red onion on a baguette. It was bog standard, nothing exciting about it at all. The mango chutney was watery with no mango chunks in it, it wasn’t homemade I presume. The red onion was raw and was scattered on top, I was expecting it to be caramelised. I moved them all to the side. There wasn’t much Brie, they semi grilled this on top of the bread, I say grilled but it was more melted rather than grilled as there were no golden colouring.

Bf ordered the bagel and felt extremely underwhelmed, the bagel was the supermarket kind, so it was not fresh or tasty like the ones you get from East London bagel shop (we used to live near one). The filling consisted of pastrami, gherkin and sauerkraut as this was called NY Deli Style. It was dry with minimal sauce, he said it felt like he was just eating bread. There was a fair amount of filling however the pastrami was dry and probably not fresh.

We decided to order the starter of paprika twice cooked crisps because the waitress said our sandwiches weren’t served with anything. I made sure bf asked, because if she said crisps or tortilla chips we would have ordered something else! But as you can see in the picture, the bagel was served with tortilla chips! The twice cooked chips were certainly cooked twice since it came out dark, burnt and tasting of grease. Plus only one measly crisp was coated in paprika. What made the whole experience even worse was finding a hair in the food.

As you can guess, overall we did not enjoy this restaurant, we should have listened to our initial instinct when we were hit with the smell of sweat! If you want to try this place, make sure you go to the Chichester branch instead!

I rate this 1/10.

39 Osborne Road,
Southsea.

The Belle Isle, Chichester

My friend was coming down to visit so I needed somewhere nice for us to have lunch! The Belle Isle has been open a few years now in Southsea but I’ve never eaten there, I’ve only had a few drinks there for a friend’s leaving do. I have walked past it a few times but the menu never really enticed me as they offer Mexican food such as  burritos, fahjitas, nachos… you get the drift (I’m not too keen on Mexican food). My eyes never went past these hence I’ve never stepped foot in there for food. After closer inspection they offer a real mix bag of cuisine which I guess is good for me! They have jerk chicken, asian beef salad, mussels, etc.

I decided to take my friend to Chichester for the afternoon on Saturday and try out new The Belle Isle, it opened in March this year. A friend of mine recommended the food so I thought it was about time to try it out! The Chichester branch was huge, I liked this as it didn’t feel cramped and claustrophobic which the Southsea branch definitely is when it’s packed! There was range of seating areas such as the couch and low table area, the stool and high table area, the dining table and chair area and the outside conservatory area! I think you can order food and eat in any of those areas. We stuck to the traditional dining area!

We ordered a starter of hummus, pitta & olives (£3.95), two mains to share, which were Alabama hotpot (£8.95) and shipwrecked mussels with crusty bread (£9.95) and because I was driving, cranberry juice for me (£2.50) and summer fruit mojito for my friend (£6).  The starter came out prompt and soon after the mains were served. The service was good and there were a lot of staff who were pleasant and efficient.

The olives were massive and I was glad that they included black olives as they are my favourite. Overall it was good, nothing special. The size of the olives made it, plus it being served in a Heinz baked beans tin was a cute touch.

Cranberry was fine, would be nice if it was a bigger glass as you can see they put in a lot of ice. The summer fruit mojito was very tasty and refreshing, if I wasn’t driving I would have had more than a sip, though it was a little pricey at £6.

The dishes that impressed me the most were the mains, both of them. I ordered the Alabama hot pot as I love belly pork and sweet potato! Plus before coming here I searched online for a picture and that satisfied my curiosity. The pork was tender and melted in your mouth, the sweet potato was soft and helped soak up the sauce nicely. The sauce had spice to it, though not over powering, it had a gentle hum of chilli which was nice and warming. It came with potato wedges which tasted fine but I would have preferred rice to help soak up the tasty sauce! The mussels were generous in portion, I was impressed with the size of the mussels, because of the size, they were plump and very succulent indeed. I liked that they were not cooked in the usual cream and wine, instead it was chilli and lime. The only down side for me was the bread that it was served with, they had over toasted this. I would have like it fresh and not toasted, this way the bread would have been able to absorbed more of the sauce. I think we could have got away with getting the smaller starter portion of the mussels as we did leave a good few.

Overall 8/10 for the Chichester branch. I went to the Southsea branch recently, that’s a different story!

31-32 Chapel Street, Chichester.

Food in Berlin Part l

As you all know I really enjoy eating so here is a post on the food I sampled in Berlin!

The very first thing I tried in Berlin was Hazelnut ice cream from Bandy Brooks, I ordered one scoop in a sugar cone (€1.90). Ever since Italy I have always favoured Hazelnut, I can’t get enough of it, the ice cream here is just as good.

This is me with zero sleep and no make-up.

We also sampled Berlin’s most famous street food, currywurst and pommes frites (curry sausage and chips). You can get this everywhere around Berlin and it’s very popular with everyone, from grandmas to businessmen and tourists! The price is around €3-5 for a paper bowl of currywurst and pommes frites, they charge extra for mayo. They cut the sausage and then sprinkle curry spices and flavourings on top then squirt a load of ketchup mix on top and then serve with chips. If you order mayo they dollop it on top. I’m not keen on this dolloping, I’d much prefer them serve it on the side! This is a very tasty but unhealthy snack so we shared it!

We got quite into frozen yoghurts since we discovered Wonderpots beneath the railway arches on Georgenstraße street. The shop is very alluring with it’s lovely interior and relaxed decor, I was drawn in by the big comfy sofa and the snazzy counter. We ordered a medium pot with 3 toppings that cost €4.50. There’s only one flavour yoghurt (plain) and many toppings. We ate there twice, the first time we have mango puree, blueberry and sugar coated nuts. I thought the nuts were going to be the kind we get in the UK from the ice cream van, but these were coated in sugar and didn’t taste nutty at all. The second time I enjoyed the toppings much more. I ordered fresh mango, watermelon pieces and crunchy muesli. If I lived in Berlin this place would definitely be my regular. I love that you can relax here, they even have magazines and board games! We had a game of connect 4 and bf won because I wasn’t paying attention.

Back from Berlin

I haven’t had a holiday with bf since Brussels and I think that was in 2009. Finally we were able to go away for a few days and I picked Berlin. We’re not the type that enjoy beach holidays, though I have never been on any, I just don’t enjoy basking in the sun and heat for a long period of time. I don’t want my face to turn into a prune when I’m old. I enjoy city breaks where you get to sample local cuisine, see architecture and shops etc. I also enjoy browsing foreign supermarkets!?

One main reason I wanted to go to Berlin was to check out the vintage stores and markets, plus I’m fascinated with the past divide of East and West and wanted to see any glimpses of the past. I really enjoyed Berlin, it has a nice relaxed atmosphere though I found the city to be vast and there were construction sites nearly everywhere we turned, so definitely not a pretty city like Paris or Amsterdam. The cafes/restaurants/shops/markets that I marked to visit were so spread out that the majority of them had only that establishment in that street. Maybe that’s why so many Berliners ride a bicycle. Although some areas didn’t look all that clean with lots of posters and graffiti I felt safe, but maybe we never were in any rough neighbourhoods? We tried local street food such as the currywurst & pomme frites and Turkish kebabs. There’s a lot of Vietnamese immigrants in Berlin so there was an abundance of Vietnamese cafes and restaurants. Most seems very popular, we tried out a restaurant Ho Vang and I ordered Pho Bo (My go to Vietnamese dish) and bf had Chilli Chicken Lemongrass with rice. Both dishes were very flavoursome but I was disappointed with the waitress failing to understand what Hoisin sauce was and then at the end of the meal I saw rows of the stuff on the counter! I had even demonstrated to her how to put it on the Pho Bo in the hope it would jog her memory!

Anyway here are some pics of day 1:

Friedrichstraße

Wooden toy shop

Tourists

Outside hotel

Ho Vang Vietnamese Restaurant (this came to roughly £16 including soft drinks)

The famous Mustafa’s kebab stall

Giant me half asleep (been up for nearly 48 hrs!)

Birthday Month!

On Sunday I celebrated my birthday, it was such a glorious day with the sun shining making it feel like summer, the way July should feel! We’ve been denied the sun this year so we’ll have to make the most of it, apparently it will be less sunny next week.

I never plan to do things on my birthday, I’m not into hosting parties or making it a big deal out of it. I do however love receiving cards and messages, and of course thoughtful presents big or small. My B is usually very good at buying for me, however due to forking out an insane amount of money to fix the valleys and box gutter on the roof to keep out the rain I said not to bother with any gifts. Plus we were saving to go to Berlin for it, though it’ll have to be in August now due to B’s passport expiring!! However it didn’t stop B buying me this dress I wanted from ASOS in pink. I love these woolly dresses and think they would make an alternative winter bridesmaid dress! I’m sure most brides will look at me weirdly for even suggesting it, but I really like them, the hair accessories look great with it too. Anyway back to birthday, I had a lovely day, we had a massive lunch at YO Sushi and I came out in a sweat carrying a 10lb food baby! It hurt!

We had a wander around the shops as I received money from B’s parents and grandparents so I could treat myself but I didn’t. Oh well, more to spend in Berlin. I really am looking forward to rummaging their flea markets and vintage shops.

Ziggy posing with my birthday card

After eating too much we walked back to B’s grandparents (where we parked the car) via the museum. We had a little wander round before taking a tea break at the grandparents. They live in a private block of flats (10 floors) and the views are panoramic. You can see the Isle of Wight when it’s a clear day and you get great views of thunder and lightening!

Wearing H&M dress, cardi & leggings with Clarks sandals, charity shop vintage Foster Grant sunnies and vintage bag from a shop in London I can’t remember the name of… It’s in Brick Lane.

Enamel teapot from one of sisters and the bird & heart a colleague gave me.

Thanks for those who wished me happy birthday, I may not know you all in real life but it was still nice of you to take the time to message me. Go make yourself one of these, on me! xxx

Sunny day out

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather, especially because the plan was to go eat in Arundel with family for Father’s day, though it wasn’t for my dad, I’ll tag along to anything if food is involved! Plus I was keen to have another wander around Arundel town. We ate at the Black Rabbit, apparently it’s a famous pub-restaurant and is situated by the River Arun where the local ducks hang out!

I chose the Roast Beef Dinner (£9.95) as I do enjoy a good roast and seeing as it was Sunday I thought it’ll satisfy my hunger (I didn’t eat breakfast to leave enough room!). The dish came out with the rest of the orders and the plate was full, the portion size here are fairly generous. The roast consisted of roast potatoes, red cabbage, carrots, broccoli, beef and Yorkshire pudding. I wasn’t impressed with the roast potatoes as they weren’t crisp, they didn’t have the crunchy coat, it was more like a boiled potato. The broccoli was over cooked as the green has a yellow tinge, the beef was a little too over done but I expected that. The red cabbage and carrot was lovely and sweet with some bite to it. The most disappointing thing was the roast had minimal gravy! It’s not like I’m the type to drench my roasts so I know I wasn’t being fussy. This meant I did not eat much of the Yorkshire pudding as it was too dry without gravy. Overall I would give it 6-7 out of 10. The fish and chips looked good and I can’t fault the starters which was the Mezze (£7.45) and Meat Larder Board (£11.95), both very tasty, though I prefer the latter.

After lunch we wandered into town and looked in the antique/junk shop and a homeware nic-nac “aspirational” store called Sparks Yard, it’s a lovely store filled with lots of nice and desirable products (products I can’t afford, like the stool that’s a giant cork topper).

Before heading home I finished my day in Arundel with 2 scoops of ice cream, banoffee and rhubarb&custard. I noticed it was New Forest Ice Cream which is based in the New Forest in Lymington, Hampshire.
Have you been to Arundel? What were your favourite shops?

First week off

Instead of getting on with some work I’ve taken home to do, I have been doing fun things, why do today what you can put off until tomorrow! I’ve been telling myself this all week along with “I’ll do some work when it rains”, finally today I completed half of my work and it also rained!

1: I made a border for my flower bed out of slate that I had in the shed, I was getting fed up with the grass creeping back and growing. 2: We meet this little kitty around the neighbourhood. 3: I invented the best toastie in the world! It consists of gouda, rocket, beetroot & mango chutney, yum! 4: This pear was crunchy, just how I like it. 5: Home made pitta burger with onion, rocket & avocado. 6: Two love birds we spotted during a feeding session. 7: First granny crochet square, I’ve now made twelve. 8: Red grape and wasabi pea snack whilst catching up on Homeland. 9: Mr Duck, love his orange shoes!

Dinner out at Rasa Sayang

I’ve been in for lunch when it was relatively new a few years back and thought the food was good but quite filling especially if you’re eating alone. I was meeting my sisters for dinner and instead of the usual Chinese I decided we should try Malaysian Rasa Sayang as they haven’t been there before.

I arrived before them and decided to grab a table with bf before it filled up. I asked for a table for four and the lady seated us and asked when the other two coming which I thought was strange! She said it’s dinner time now, implying it would get busy. I wondered if she wanted us to wait outside for my sisters to arrive before getting a table. I told her in Chinese that they would be here soon and we’d eat fast! I do find that Chinese restaurant owners rude, I’ve experienced it a few times in China Town. I’m not sure whether they are only rude to other Chinese people or just rude to every nationality.

(Nasi lemak)

We ordered a dish each to share amongst ourselves; which worked out pretty well, we got a variety of noodles and rice dishes. The dishes were beef rendang – curry & boiled rice (£7.10), nasi lemak – chicken, sides & boiled rice (£7.10 ), char kuay teow – flat noodles with seafood (£6.90), Malaysian fried hokkien mee – thick noodles with chicken (£6.90 ). I thought all the dishes were rather good apart from the Malaysian fried hokkien mee as it had far too much dark soy sauce which coloured it completely black, nothing like the picture on the menu. The nasi lemak looked the most appealing as it had so many things on the plate, it came with chicken and the people that weren’t keen on dark meat made sure to order breast. I’m a leg girl myself but the breast meat was tender, it wasn’t dry because I think the chicken was cooked (probably boiled) whole and chopped up on the bone a la Asian style. The beef rendang was very flavoursome and delicious with the fluffy white boiled rice. The char kuay teow was standard, not bad, it could have had more seafood in it. Overall it was a nice change to have Malaysian street style food, we paid about £8.50 each including lemon tea and tap water.

(Clockwise: char kuay teow, nasi lemak, Malaysian fried hokkien mee, boiled rice, beef rendang.)