Displaying items by tag: takeaway

Marie is back! Dutchie & Grill Jamaican Restaurant is in Ely. I was working out that way this week so stopped by for a takeaway. Oxtail and butterbean stew was delicious!  Nyammings nights are on Thursdays.

What a brilliant idea of Pascal and Karine Canevet (from Bury's superb Maison Bleue) to create a French take-away menu that is served in simple, elegant glass pots. I ordered a family meal last Saturday, originally planning to eat it on Sunday as a casual lunch, but blown away by the delicious menu of seasonal French dishes we decided instead to set the table and sit down to a candlelit dinner on Saturday. What a menu! Every item that Pascal has created works so well in the mini Kilner style jars. There were 5 starters, 5 main courses and 5 desserts to choose from, the kind of menu that you have to dither over, as everything sounds so good. I started with a velvety smooth, brandy laced chicken liver parfait topped with a Port gelée, others in the family tried the pork, pheasant and sultana coarse paté with cranberry and also the salmon and smoked salmon rillettes with cucumber. Nobody was willing to part with their pots or share so I didn't get a taste. Crisp toast was also packed in the food parcel to accompany the pate and parfait. Any misgivings about eating food from a jar (I do like a plate) were allayed by Karine when collecting the meal who told me ' You must eat from the jars' and also seeing the care with Pascal's presentation. We couldn't possibly turn these out! Main courses which were in bigger pots took 20 minutes in the oven at 160 degrees to heat through - the contents already being cooked, so no worrying about cooking times or burning your food. There's a microwave in about 2 minutes option too, which might be easier if you are dining solo or choosing to eat for a quick lunch. My cod, tarragon and carrot stew produced forkfuls of glossy white cod, aromatically flavoured with tarragon; the King of french herbs, with sweet chunks of carrot and celery. A thickened buttery and wine infused sauce met with pomme puree at the bottom of the pot. Mum's Beef Bourguignon was so generous that she couldn't manage it all, maybe is was the side dish of Gratin Dauphinois Mum ...  Mr SFoodie chose Pork Belly with Le Puy Lentil (again, not sharing but declaring as tender, with lots of herbs) Scarlett ordered the Smoked Haddock Cassolette, which would have been my second choice for a main course. Lovely lovely smoked haddock with prawns and rather delicious and fragrant pilau rice with hints of lime and coriander. Three courses make the meal a set price of £19.95 and I'd seen the images of the Mont Blanc on Insta and wanted one. It's one of my favourite desserts, I even have a vermicelli press bought in Switzerland years ago to make my own. To be honest if it had been the size of Mont Blanc I could have managed to eat this one, with a tangy blackcurrant puree cutting through the sweet chestnuts. Mum had Rhubarb Panacotta, light, vanilla infused, creamy and wobbly. Chocolate Mousse with salted butter Caramel disappeared in front of Mr SFoodie. But what was simply 'magnifique' was the Pineapple, Brioche, Chantilly. Oh la la!

• Chicken Liver Parfait, Port gelée
• Pork, pheasant and sultana coarse paté, cranberry
• Salmon and smoked salmon rillettes, cucumber
• Pork Belly, onion compote, “Le Puy“ lentils
• Cod, tarragon and carrot stew
• Smoked haddock, black tiger prawn, leek and pilau rice cassolette
• Léa “Mont Blanc” with chestnut, white chocolate and black currant
• Pineapple, brioche and Chantilly
• we drank Chatau Vari Monbazillac with the dessert, which is why I have no photos of the chocolate mousse and panacotta
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Pizza's come highly recommended from Lucy's Restaurant in Fornham All Saints. This neighbourhood restaurant has adapted so well to the lockdowns and continues to offer an excellent takeaway and delivery service. Check their website for the menu as pizza's change regularly. Don't forget to order yourself a pud too. 5 mini cannoli for £5.99.

The resilience of restaurants throughout the lockdowns and the ingenuity of proprietors just amazes me, none more so than the Get My Goat campaign from the lovely Justin and Jurga Sharp at Pea Porridge. For a start the marketing and humour from Justin, the Goatfather, is one of the best calls to action on social media I've seen for a while. Who could resist Bury'sGoatTalent and GoatWhisperer Justin's beautiful four course dinner? We ordered the middle eastern style, heat at home GoatToGo supper last week. It was phenomenal! Justin and Jurga are great advocates and supporters of Cabrito Goat, who source meat from British dairy farms and who supplied the kid goat meat for the four course menu. Not only was the menu fantastic, but the information sheet and serving instructions were superbly presented and included interesting information about the ingredients, and the cooking techniques used for each course. Plus exact reheating instructions - this is the kind of dinner that I enjoy. While the Goatfather mans the kitchen alongside award winning chef and flatbread maker extraordinaire, James Carn Pryor, Jurga ensures that the ordering, payment and collection of the GoatFest goes smoothly and will sell you some wine; it's good, buy it.  From Lowerland, Prieska. (the land of the lost 'She' goat) high altitude, hands- off naturally farmed grapes are made into complex wines. Loweland, Die Verlore Bokooi NV (red) and Lowerland, Die Wonde-Draai (white).  My goatness we are lucky in Bury St Edmunds.

Get My Goat continues to be available each Thursday, Friday and Saturday at £55 for two people.

• Superb instructions and interesting information about each course
• all courses were beautifully presented, you could eat them out of the tub!
• Pea Hummus and Flatbread
• Sourdough Flatbreads arebaked in the 'Grizzly' charcoal oven by award winning Chef James Carn Pryor
• Dining at home means the baby can join in too
• Berber Goat Kofte, goat yoghurt labneh, pomegranate, mint
• Persian kid goat tagine, cous cous, pumpkin, chickpeas, apricot, coriander
• Basque style burnt cheesecake with pistachio and rose petal preserve
• try the wine it really is sensational
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One of my top pubs because of their slick takeaway service during the lockdown. Efficient ordering and swiftly prepared food that has been reliably good. Nothing fancy but superb burgers, homemade pies, thrice cooked chips and homemade sticky toffee pudding. We've eaten this as takeaway and at the pub during Eat Out To Help Out. It's always been good. Very fair prices too!

• This is the takeaway steak, ale and mushroom pie. £10 with fresh vegetables. It's huge and homemade!
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Well it's September and I haven't written a blog post for ages - how time flies.  Eventually, in June, Mr S.Foodie and I moved up north to Gislingham and since then have got stuck in to some decorating and gardening at our new home. I haven't been out much but discovered there's a monthly charity cake stall in the village, with the BEST cakes and the owners of the village shop sell superb homemade Sri Lankan food to takeaway. Now someone please buy the pub.

• Hot, spicy Sri Lankan curries from the village shop
• Delicious coconut tarts from the charity cake stall
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The effects of lockdown have torn through the food industry like a tornado. Food businesses forced to close, with many restaurants staying open for takeaway and every day another business re-opening to dip it's toe into the online-delivery-takeaway market. Suppliers normally serving the trade have had to diversify and react swiftly, some offering online orders and deliveries to the public. Pubs have become community shops. Corner shops have kept us supplied with the store cupboard basics. Store cupboards have determined the dishes we can cook to nourish ourselves and our families. While chefs live stream cookery demo's from their kitchens, the niche social media experts have had to guard their territory as the stay at home population bombard us with their own sourdough, banana bread and brownie recipes. Farm shops providing deliveries, micro breweries and wineries setting up drive thru's there never has been a more challenging time to source food. The crisis has provided an opportunity to drive innovation and now is the time for us to support the independent producers who are working so hard to stay afloat. However, it's also the time for the service industries to keep in touch with their clientele, monitor consumer behaviour and continue to innovate, so that when the race back to reality begins, they're revved up and in pole position. Here's a photo gallery of some of East Anglia's innovative businesses and suppliers that I have used and that are providing top quality service and produce . You'll find plenty more if you check the many social media streams regularly. For Bury St Edmunds folk David Stapleton has created a simple and free web app directory of businesses open.

• Brays Cottage pork pie. Send a pie for a pressie.
• Jolly Asparagus has found outlets for a crop which would generally go to the restaurant industry. Snap it up at Hillcrest Nursery Stanton and Woosters Bakery (main picture)
• Watch Justin from Pea Porridge Restaurant in Bury via Instagram. Masterclasses and the weekly 'clash' with a local Chef
• Slate provisions and deli can send you a selection of cheese in the post. My British selection which arrived last week.
• Flour a problem? I got a sack from Thomas Ridley at Rougham. No account required, log in on their website as a guest.
• Woosters Bakery. Online ordering and collection from Bardwell, Bury, Wyken market.
• Brewshed Brewery pop up at The Cadogan. Ingham. Order a mini keg or take your own container for filling.
• Baron Bigod to order online from Fen Farm Dairy. Bungay
• Beerhouse pop up. Social distancing and well organised.
• Brays Cottage Pork Pie - big family size to order online.
• Order a pizza from Lucy's at Fornham St Martin. Must be pre-ordered and a time slot will be allocated. Book early - it's popular
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We're liking the wine on tap and the bagnums at Weino Bib in Dalston. Drink in or take away or in our case do both. The Tap Room and Deli also sells fresh, raw milk. Take your bottles and fill them up.

• great wine list
• lovely little plates of food with great service
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I couldn't stay in Cromer last night without trying out No 1 Fish and Chip Restaurant and takeaway, recently opened by Galton Blackiston ( you know; Morston Hall, Michelin Star, Celebrity Chef...) The restaurant is quite big and the takeaway shop is next door. 

When you arrive you stand behind a sign which says "please wait to be seated" so I did. The waitress came over and said that she was not allowed to seat me - I thought she was joking, but she wasn't.  So I had to wait for the lady in charge to finish taking an order before she showed me to a table.

I was hoping to try the house special - crab cakes - but they had sold out so I ordered plaice and chips and a portion of mushy pea fritters.The printed menu gives more space to the wines on offer than the savoury food but I was driving so had a ginger beer, there are some nice choices of soft drinks. The fish was very fresh - had lovely batter, light and crisp - and very good chips with a portion of homemade tartare sauce on the side. The pea fritters were also tasty and so hot I burnt my mouth eating them. They were served with a mint dip.

The service was a bit shaky from that wait at the start. A few things were forgotton and there were some interesting descriptions of the menu - olives in the tartare sauce.... I don't think so!

• posh condiments
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• cromer
• mushy pea fritter
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Why are the British embarrassed about asking for a Doggy Bag at a restaurant?  Why do we still pretend that we are taking the leftover food home for the dog?