Category Archives: Food

Flinty Red at the Bristol Old Vic

Posted on October 1, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

On a Tuesday morning, before swimming, my little girl and I went for breakfast at the Bristol Old Vic. We ate at Flinty Red on the first floor. The divine restaurant from Cotham* Hill has in the three years since it opened up earned a bib gourmand and joined forces with the oldest theatre in town.

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Some doubts were raised by the clinical looking first floor with its blue office building floor and the business-meeting appeal of the furniture. A shame of a setting for the most perfect food and coffee. I mean just that particular section because the newly renovated Old Vic is surely lovely in all other ways.

The soya latte was excellent. I mention it here first but I drank it there last as it is the one beverage in Bristol that is sure to disappoint. The homemade granola was delicately flavoured and crisp hazelnuts were a tasty accompaniment to my daughter’s favourite food, bananas (for an additional 30p). Our pastry was fresh and tasty and sweet and covered with a light apricot glaze and icing.

We then picked up our things and went off to swimming. A quick and lovely breakfast as a treat to start our day. Not open early enough for the pre-work crowd (yet?) but just right for us.

Flinty Red is open from 9am for breakfast and then continues for the rest of the day to provide food for lunch and dinner as well. It is one of the most wonderful restaurants in Bristol but until they renovate the restaurant area it is not a setting for special memories so hold off on the wedding proposals until you’re in the theatre.

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*rhymes with Gotham

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Herbert’s Bakery, Montpelier

Posted on September 25, 2012 by stillawake| 1 Comment

I heard about Herbert’s bakery when a four-day pop up restaurant took over at the site of the Runcible Spoon and I tried their egg and bacon sandwich. The bread was the overnight white bloomer from Herbert’s and I was determined to find it and bring some home.

From the city centre it doesn’t take too long to head over to Stokes Croft and then turn up Picton Street (where a friend said it was located), past an Italian deli with Lavazza coffee cheaper than at the local Tesco supermarket and aisles brimming with imported tasty goods.

As I arrived at Bell’s Diner and the Thali cafe I had to ask for directions because the place where Google maps suggested was quite blatantly bakery-free. I found it just past the Thali and around the corner. I also found brownies, lemon poppy seed muffins, almond croissants, sandwiches, organic white bread flour, Eccles cakes and a sultana scone.

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Herberts Bakeries Ltd, 12 York Road, Montpelier, Bristol, BS6 5QE, http://www.herbertsbakery.co.uk/

I then looked up all the locations where Herberts Bakeries deliver bread and discovered that one of them is about 500 metres down my road.


Bee Healthy – Stoke Lane, Westbury on Trym

Boca Cina – Wells Road, Totterdown

Pacto Supermarket – Wells Road, Totterdown

Monika’s – Cotham Road South, Cotham

Mother Nature – High Street, Portishead

The Bread Shop – Mina Road, St Werburghs

Southville Deli – North Street, Southville

Monty’s Menu – 359 Gloucester Road, Horfield

Clifton Health Foods – 67 Queens Road, Clifton

Earthbound – Abbotswood Road, Cotham

The Mall Deli – 12/14 The Mall, Clifton

Harvest – Gloucester Road, Bishopston

The Real Olive Co – St Nicholas Market, Clifton Down Shopping Centre

Licata – Picton Street and Gloucester Road

A & M Stores – Ashley Hill, Ashley Down

The Spar Store – Hotwells Road

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Posted in Bristol, Food

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Scones recipe

Posted on August 26, 2012 by stillawake| 1 Comment

Here’s my tribute to the Great British Bake Off which is back on the telly, my attempt at Mary Berry’s scones recipe.

These are the ingredients you will need:

450g (1lb) self-raising flour
2 rounded tsp baking powder
75g (3oz) butter
50g (2oz) caster sugar
2 large eggs
about 225ml (8fl oz) milk
To serve
raspberry jam
clotted cream or double cream, whipped
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Lightly grease two baking-sheets.

For the instructions visit the website so I don’t infringe any copyright by just taking Mary Berry’s work. Briefly:

It doesn’t take much – rub the butter into the flour; mix in the sugar; top up the two eggs with milk until you get to 300ml and then mix.

Roll out on to a floured surface and cut with a round shape. Push round cutter in and then pull out, don’t twist.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.

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Creme brulee at the Pony and Trap

Posted on June 23, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

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Top five places for breakfast in Bristol

Posted on June 21, 2012 by stillawake| 2 Comments

Update: this list has been updated at this link

Breakfast suggestions were flying around Twitter this morning so I thought I would put together a top five for this weekend.

1. 40 Alfred Place is hosting a French pastry morning this Saturday with delicious taste sensations baked by Laura from Harts Bakery. From 8am till noon, they shall be providing a deliciously continental petit déjeuner avec croissants, pains au raisins, croissants aux amandes, pains au chocolat, baguettes, croque-monsieur et bien plus encore.

2. Lahloo Pantry in Clifton Village is probably the most wonderful place for cakes and tea plus one type of coffee. In addition they serve unlimited toast, boiled eggs and soldiers and French toast among other breakfast items.

3. Source food do the best pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. The pancakes are a bit teeny, however, which is strange as they are probably the cheapest part of the dish. I have also had some lovely French toast and boiled eggs and soldiers there. Most importantly the coffee is good – Extract Coffee as also served at 40 Alfred Place.

4. Primrose Cafe at Clifton Village is quite nice if the weather is lovely and pleasant and you can get a table outside. They have fresh orange juice and very tasty cooked breakfasts and pastries. When I have to sit inside and it’s a little busy, my claustrophobia kicks in and the fact that they have the radio on is doubly annoying.

5. The Watershed on the Harbourside. My daughter loves their scrambled eggs so much that last time we were there she grabbed my fork and nearly ate all of mine.

Bonus. Arch House Deli – Their food is amazing and they serve coffee and pastries. Not really dedicated to breakfast but still a very pleasant place.

Update:
Brunel’s Buttery on the Harbourside – SS Great Britain and M Shed side – is also notable for its crowd-drawing abilities. I have yet to go but many Bristolian’s swear by its tastiness and hangover-curability.

Mersina at 40 Alfred Place

Places that are in my bad books at the moment:

1. Rosemarino in Clifton: We visited on the Diamon Jubilee bank holiday Monday and I wasn’t that impressed. Their scrambled eggs were dry and their toast was drier. The other breakfasts looked very nice but their coffee was served in minuscule portions and their orange juice was served from individual bottles.

Saying that, the restaurant itself was lovely and the music was pleasant. It may have been an off morning. Their pastries, made in-house, were excellent.

2. Bordeaux Quay on the Harbourside: The last time we visited they were so busy that the service was barely polite. The full English breakfast may have been local and ethically sourced but the homemade beans were bland and the sausage was tasteless.

I actually still hold a grudge from the time I visited about a year ago and instead of serving me a stack of pancakes, the chef just made one big pancake which was entirely unpleasant as a visual experience.

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Pancakes with cottage cheese

Posted on June 18, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

My adventures in different types of pancake have continued this week. I’ve been on a bit of a ricotta high after the blueberry success last week so when I only had half a cup of soy milk left and half a tub of cottage cheese in the fridge… well… the future just wrote itself.

Here’s what Mersina and I had for breakfast today

Blueberry and cottage cheese pancakes
1 cup of self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1 egg
half a cup of soy milk
half a cup of cottage cheese with pineapple
a handful of blueberries

Maple syrup for topping

Add the flour and a pinch of salt to a bowl; make a well and add the egg, the soy milk and the cottage cheese. Mix enough to blend the ingredients. Add the blueberries and mix.

The mixture is very thick and I used two tablespoons of mixture for each pancake. We added maple syrup.

One satisfied customer

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Never Seconds never again

Posted on June 14, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

Martha has photographed school dinners, raised money for charity, drawn 2 million hits to her web site and been banned from blogging by her council. At 9-years of age she is about to get a little more famous as Twitter gets outraged at this appalling decision by Argyll and Bute Council.

Martha started blogging in April 2012 in order to post a picture of each of her school dinners. As she said:

Every post will have a pic and a list!

Food-o-meter- Out of 10 a rank of how great my lunch was!
Mouthfuls- How else can we judge portion size!
Courses- Starter/main or main/dessert
Health Rating- Out of 10, can healthy foods top the food-o-meter?
Price- Currently £2 I think, its all done on a cashless catering card
Pieces of hair- It wont happen, will it?

Never Seconds raised £2000 for Mary’s Meals charity which “sets up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. The charity now feeds more than 600,000 children every school day and it costs just £10.70 / €12.40 / $16.80 to feed a child for a year”.

Today Martha was called in to her head mistress’s office and told that she could no longer photograph the food at her school after a newspaper headline.

You can write to Argyll and Bute Council to complain about their decision through their contact form.

The following is what I wrote:

I think it is such a shame that an enterprising little girl such as Martha ran her own blog, raised money for charity and managed to raise such publicity for a public function and you stopped her from transmitting such information.

Public school meals should be transparent and council functions are meant to be accountable. I hope you reverse this simply anachronistic, and close minded, decision and allow this little girl to not only do a good deed but to serve as a democratic citizen holding you to account.

Update: Never Seconds is allowed to keep taking photographs. Here is the updated statement by the council: http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/news/2012/jun/statement-school-meals-argyll-and-bute-council

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Blueberry and ricotta pancakes

Posted on June 11, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

With leftover ricotta in the fridge and an abundance of blueberries – three punnets bought at 40p each and one arriving with the veg box – I felt inspired this morning to find out whether blueberry and ricotta pancakes are a thing.

They are. They are very tasty so here is the recipe:

1 cup of self-raising flour
A pinch of salt
1 egg
1 cup of milk
2 table spoons of ricotta
half a cup of blueberries
butter for the frying pan

Add the flour and salt to a bowl. Make a well and add the egg and milk and ricotta. Whisk until well combined. Add the blueberries and mix. Our blueberries were huge so I cut them in half.

Dollop the mixture into the frying pan and fry the pancakes until bubbles appear on the one side. Flip over.

I drizzled with maple syrup and my daughter loved them.

Tip from the Homemade Mama: add two teaspoons of corn flour into the mixture for fluffy pancakes.

Blueberry and ricotta pancakes

Mersina enjoying her blueberry and ricotta pancakes

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Red velvet cheesecake cupcakes with a hint of mint

Posted on June 6, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

Possibly the best cupcakes ever – adapted from this recipe for Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies.

Ingredients

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
A sprig of mint
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Cream Cheese Layer:

1 tub of cream cheese light, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment
1 cupcake tray
Paper cupcake molds

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Brownie layer
Melt the butter with the mint in a saucepan. Pour the butter into a large bowl and add the following ingredients: sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar. Mix well. Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add into the cocoa mix.

Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Pour 3/4 the mix evenly into the cupcake molds. 1/4 cup of the mix will be added to the top.

Cream cheese layer
Blend together the following ingredients: cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie mix into each cupcake.

Add the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern.

Bake the cupcakes for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before removing the cupcakes.

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Recipe Healthy Vegan Brownies

Posted on May 31, 2012 by stillawake| Leave a comment

The lovely Kimberlee from the Homemade Mama has let me post her healthy vegan brownie recipe just in time for any jubilee parties over the long weekend.

It makes a great guilt free cake to take with you and it’s very healthy.

“Chocolate & beetroot go amazingly well together and I’m pretty sure you can get away with considering one of these brownies as one of your 5 a day!”

Vegan Beetroot Brownies

  • 125g Plain flour
  • 80g dark cocoa powder (or 100g melted bitter chocolate)
  • 80g Golden caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 75g chopped nuts of your choice (I use brazils/walnuts/hazelnuts/pecans)
  • 80ml Hazelnut milk (or soya/almond milk will do, i just love the nutella flavour hazelnut milk gives)
  • 80ml sunflower oil
  • 1 very ripe banana, mashed.
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 45g grated fresh beetroot
  • 25g bitter chocolate chips or chunks
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4 & line a 28x18cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
  2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and nuts.
  3. In a separate bowl or jug mix together the hazelnut milk, oil, mashed banana and the vanilla extract.
  4. Gradually add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture.
  5. Now add the grated beetroot and stir until just combined. The mixture will be quite thick.
  6. Pour the mixture into the lined tray & top with chocolate chunks.
  7. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  8. Leave to cool in the tin, then cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.
  9. Eat them all!!

Picture

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Posted in Bristol, Food