I hear on the grapevine that Jamie is planning to open one of his restaurants in the late spring at our GWQ! It will be situated in the current Donnay sports shop unit, which is quite a large unit. I'm looking forward to it, the more good restaurants in town we have the better. Some folk are worried about the business it will take away from areas such as Osbourne Road, but if your restaurant delivers good food and a good atmosphere, then surely this is just healthy competition?!
Oh well.....watch this space I say and bring it on!!!
Monday, 1 November 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
Heston at Waitrose Marmion Road
I have been dying to try out this new range since I read about it back in the summer and it has arrived! Granted our local store does not have the full range, but there is enough to get started on. I purchased this week the Cabernet Sauvignon Mayonnaise (£2.25) and the spinach and 3 mushroom pie, and the ham, leek and chicken pie (£2.50 ish each). There are also available in our store the salts. There will be more to come from this range I'm told in time. The mayo with chips and steak was really good. The pies were ok, but how posh can a pie actually become?
Worth a try thought I would say, especially now as there is for a limited period 25% of the full price!
I was drinking in Hestons pub in Bray yesterday and they had crunchy roast potatoes in bowls on the bar as snacks (great idea!) - wish I had taken the Mayo with me now!!!
Worth a try thought I would say, especially now as there is for a limited period 25% of the full price!
I was drinking in Hestons pub in Bray yesterday and they had crunchy roast potatoes in bowls on the bar as snacks (great idea!) - wish I had taken the Mayo with me now!!!
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Strada this Friday only BOGOF!
Wow - those BOGOF meal deals rarely cover Friday or Saturday nights, but Strada are offering this deal this Friday only! Visit their website for more details. I have not been here for some time so this is as good a time than any to take advantage!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Steki - Osbourne Road
This is one of those places that has been on my mind to try for ages, but just never got around to it!
What a busy place!! I called and booked ahead luckily as I don't think I would have got a table for my required time otherwise. The interior and the music set the scene well, just as you would expect from a Greek Taverna.
I went mad on the starter and ordered the Steki seafood meze. At £20 to share between two I was expecting something special - and it did not disappoint! The dish comprised of octopus, anchovies, prawns, calamari, muscles in a tomato sauce with melted feta cheese, hummus, pita bread and a few olives. Probably the best seafood dish I have ever had in Portsmouth. So fresh and tasty I would order this over and over. I had read on Trip Advisor a review from a Greek person who said that the pita breads were totally authentic, and although personally I have not been to Greece (yet), they were amazing!!! The only thing I think they could change was that the calamari was slightly greasy to taste and the batter struggled to stay attached to the squid. This could be so easily corrected.
Mains we opted for the classic Moussaka - refreshingly made with beef and not lamb, and a dish called soutzoukakia which is little (sausage-looking) meatballs made of a delicate mixture of minced beef, onions and herbs, cooked in tomato sauce, served with rice and Greek style potatoes. The latter dish was also served with rice which we felt was too much with the potatoes, but was a very tasty dish! The moussaka too was good, although I would have liked more beef and less bechamel in mine. Both these dishes we would order again.
Service too was good, especially as they were busy with some customers just walking in off the street. Our waitress was a lovely charming American lady, who was very helpful.
Total bill including a mineral water and beer was around £43.00.
Booking at weekends probably advisable
Would I go again - Yes, but it would be hard not to partake in the seafood meze and pitta bread which stole the show!
What a busy place!! I called and booked ahead luckily as I don't think I would have got a table for my required time otherwise. The interior and the music set the scene well, just as you would expect from a Greek Taverna.
I went mad on the starter and ordered the Steki seafood meze. At £20 to share between two I was expecting something special - and it did not disappoint! The dish comprised of octopus, anchovies, prawns, calamari, muscles in a tomato sauce with melted feta cheese, hummus, pita bread and a few olives. Probably the best seafood dish I have ever had in Portsmouth. So fresh and tasty I would order this over and over. I had read on Trip Advisor a review from a Greek person who said that the pita breads were totally authentic, and although personally I have not been to Greece (yet), they were amazing!!! The only thing I think they could change was that the calamari was slightly greasy to taste and the batter struggled to stay attached to the squid. This could be so easily corrected.
Mains we opted for the classic Moussaka - refreshingly made with beef and not lamb, and a dish called soutzoukakia which is little (sausage-looking) meatballs made of a delicate mixture of minced beef, onions and herbs, cooked in tomato sauce, served with rice and Greek style potatoes. The latter dish was also served with rice which we felt was too much with the potatoes, but was a very tasty dish! The moussaka too was good, although I would have liked more beef and less bechamel in mine. Both these dishes we would order again.
Service too was good, especially as they were busy with some customers just walking in off the street. Our waitress was a lovely charming American lady, who was very helpful.
Total bill including a mineral water and beer was around £43.00.
Booking at weekends probably advisable
Would I go again - Yes, but it would be hard not to partake in the seafood meze and pitta bread which stole the show!
Friday, 3 September 2010
Blue Mondays at Yo! Sushi
It has finally arrived, Blue Mondays at Yo! As much as I love this place and have eaten a couple of times at the GWQ branch, I do find by the time you have had a decent amount of dishes you come out a little light in the pocket.
Blue Mondays afford the diner a choice of up to 50 dishes (subject to availability obviously, but availability I found was not bad), for a price of £2.20 per dish, whereas their two most expensive dishes come in at £3.80 and £5.00 each, so it is really worth making a trip there on Mondays. You can still order a few hot rice/noodle dishes and vegetable hand rolls with this offer too!
So if your still a 'sushi virgin' as their promotion goes, give blue Mondays a go, then if it's not for you, you wont have spent a fortune!
Blue Mondays afford the diner a choice of up to 50 dishes (subject to availability obviously, but availability I found was not bad), for a price of £2.20 per dish, whereas their two most expensive dishes come in at £3.80 and £5.00 each, so it is really worth making a trip there on Mondays. You can still order a few hot rice/noodle dishes and vegetable hand rolls with this offer too!
So if your still a 'sushi virgin' as their promotion goes, give blue Mondays a go, then if it's not for you, you wont have spent a fortune!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Southsea Common Art Exhibit and free Hog Roast
Portsmouth and Southsea’s skyline will be transformed this summer by the spectacular addition of Luna Park, Heather & Ivan Morison’s recreation of the accidental dinosaur Ultrasauros. Created in the style of American roadside super-sculptures and standing at 16 metres tall on Southsea Common, Luna Park will be visible from miles around.
Grand Opening: Sunday 1 August (exhibiting until 10 October)
There will be a free BBQ (hog roast) at Southsea Common 1-3pm, followed by drinks at aspex 3-5pm!
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Port Solent Open Kitchen Event
This event was open to the public last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (see my previous post on blog), and as a foodie fan of our local restaurants and all things food related I put my name down to attend 3 of the free one hour long sessions: Pizza demonstration at O Sole Mio, Wine tasting at the Water Margin and a tasting of Dim Sum at the Dragon Marina.
On the Friday 3 out of the maximum of 5 were in attendance at O Sole Mio. They had in store for us a pizza making demonstration where the chef explained the components and tips to making a traditional Italian pizza. Obviously techniques and ingredients vary from place to place, but there version was certainly tasty and cooked in a pizza oven too. I am planning on trying this recipe myself this weekend.
Saturday 11am was wine tasting at the Water Margin with a French speaking sommelier named Michael. In an hour he managed to do a very good basic explanation and Introduction to wine tasting and what to look for. Everyone in attendance seem to thoroughly enjoy it, and Michael despite your concerns on the language barrier you did an excellent job, we all came away with a little more knowledge.
The Dim Sum tasting session was also well supported, and they had us hands on making Dim Sum ourselves. We then all sat down to 3 varieties of Chinese tea and they handed out information about the history of Dim Sum itself which then followed a small banquet of several different Dim Sum for us to taste all compliments of the restaurant!
I found out about this event via a resident of Port Solent, but nobody else I had spoken to prior to the event had heard about it! Was this an intentional move to keep the publicity to a minimum due to limited spaces I wonder?
Overall it was a really great event and a superb idea, so if you missed out hopefully it will be back again next year!!!!
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