Eat Like Ushi

This little ice cream shop only does very large servings of gelato. At the excellent price of £3.8 for a waffle cone with double scoop, large amounts of gelato was stuffed into the cone and overflowing across the sides of the cone. No wonder there was a queue here on this warm Sunday afternoon.

I am usually a pistachio person everywhere, which acts as my benchmark, but they didn't have it this day. There was a strawberry/pistachio combination but I didn't go for it. Instead I opted for the local flavour of Hawkshead gingerbread (a mildly gingerbread flavour with chunks in it) and Bounty vegan (a mild coconut sorbet with chocolate chunks). I liked the gingerbread although hoped the bounty vegan would be a lot more coconut-ty (expecting coconut pieces, coconut mild).

Nonetheless they are quality items and servings even if the flavours weren't my favourite. I would definitely come back (if in the area).

I also noted that the Kendal mintcake was a similar green colour to the one they served me at Macdonald Old England Hotel.

After the reasonably pretty Ullswater Steamer journey from Glenriddig, and a less than impressive walk around Pooley Bridge (the 3h time there isn't enough if someone wants to have a sitdown lunch), we settled here. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this pub over the others. The food isn't advertised as especially local either. But it's an option.

- Wholetail scampi (Whitby breaded scampi served with chunky chips, salad garnish, chargrilled lemon & homemade tartare sauce) £12.95 - simple dish as described. Chunky chips could have been a bit more crisp but still good;
- Sun Inn Creamy Fish Pie with a Lemon Herb and Parmesan Crust (flaky white fish, prawns, smoked haddock, salmon, fresh parsley, sliced boiled egg cooked in a rich creamy white wine and parsley sauce crowned with mashed potato topped with grilled cheese) £13.95 - a piping hot mix of all those ingredients which was nice and maybe could have used a bit more seasoning. The grilled cheese topping was also surprisingly mild. Good overall though.

The fish 'n' chips looked and smelled wonderful as it passed by our table. I'd certainly order that over the scampi and possibly over the fish pie next time. But I doubt I'll ever be back in Pooley Bridge in this lifetime.

For a 4 star hotel overlooking Lake Windermere with the accompanying views, setting and old-world charm, £34.5 for 3 courses or £26 for 2 courses doesn't sound like a bad option. I mean you can eat in Windermere for about £10 and be remarkably full. But for those extra things that you are paying more for, it's not too bad. With a generous 50% NHS discount, 2 nights including breakfast and dinner was £313. Not so bad if you say that the 2 dinners for 2 alone are £138.

Service is smooth and effective and efficient, as expected in a slightly luxury hotel with Covid precautions. Over 2 nights, I sampled a few dinner items:

- Hot smoked salmon, fennel salad, horseradish, balsamic - excellent entree with the smoked fish, fennel slices and seeds contrasting with the spicy horseradish. Balsamic was fine too although left a sticky ring on the plate suggesting it had been plates a while earlier...;
- Beetroot, honey roast walnuts, parmesan souffle, red onion - simple combination of textures and flavours. Not bad;
- Braised Scottish beef, potato tart, carrot, wild mushroom & shallot jus - beef was not that tender and quite stringy. Each element was much too salty unfortuantely;
- Sea bream fillet, crushed dill potatoes, samphire, tomato & caper dressing - an excellent dish of grilled fillet with this and the potatoes both having elements of crisp and soft. Samphire and capers added salinity and the everything came together perfectly;
- Sticky toffee doughnut, toffee sauce, vanilla ice cream - a slice of almost bread-like doughnut with a very sweet sticky sauce. The 1st night vanilla icecream wasn't impressive. Requested the Kendal mint chocolate ice cream the 2nd night and received a green thing with chocolate pieces. An improvement from my point of view;
- Mint chocolate delice, caramelised chocolate, Kendal mint chocolate ice cream (not pictured) - soft chocolate chunks (almost like ganache) with the other items. Oddly this Kendal mint chocolate ice cream was white with little chocolate speckles but also had a mint flavour in it. Strange...;
- Selection of artisan cheese, Scottish oatcakes, fruit chutney, grapes - mild blue, a lot of soft brie, and too weak of a cheddar.

Overall the food was good. If I was paying, I'd get the 2 course salmon and bream. Although I might find myself eating elsewhere without the views and setting.

Breakfast included a Full Macdonald with some soft black pudding, an egg (overcooked poached), some average bacon, and a nice potato hash. A selection of cereals, yoghurt, berries or fresh fruit was also available. Some marmalade, nutella and jam also accompanied my brown bread and tiny croissants.

Lockdown has been ongoing for about 7 weeks or so. One of the common questions asked is "what will you do/eat once lockdown is lifted?" There are many possibilities, but I stuck to a simple one - gelato outside.

With the weather warming up (although I accept gelato on a cold day when rugged up warm is probably better overall), a cool afternoon of 12C and the surprise discovery of the local gelateria being open meant serendipity. Apparently they had just opened over the weekend (this was a Monday) and the queues went all the way to the tube station in 2m intervals.

Unfortunately they were out of pistachio, a light green (maybe a little more green than I usually like) so will have to try that next time. Instead there was hazelnut and a yoghurt/cherry. The hazelnut was very mild in flavour, much more so than the true Italian nocciolas. The yoghurt/cherry was alright with the cherry being glaced but not like those horrid sweet bright versions. The textures were good and no ice crystals.

I'll be back to try the pistachio and to support the local business and my own gelato tendencies. Although I think I may need to get some Grom/Remeo/Waitrose pistachio for home anyway.

BAM has been on my eating list for quite a long time with the menu looking delicious of meats, offal and flatbreads. Finally on a rainy Saturday lunch we managed to get a table in the mid-afternoon just before they were closing and only after a short wait.

The menu is a real mixed bag - hints of Turkish from the mangal side, but influences from random places creating borscht, mapo tofu and other bits. Points for being creative if nothing else.

- Smoked pig's cheek & prune doughnut £8.5 - delicious and full bursting with flavour. A chunk of fat which was a bit less appealing, but overall really good;
- Oxtail & anchovy flatbread £13 - a nice bread with meat, anchovy, pickles, very mild chilli and parsley complementing well;
- Dextor onglet, roast bone marrow & green chilli, shoestring fries 23 - a very tender cooked meat with a chimichurri. The bone marrow didn't have that much flavour to it (not my thing I suppose) and one of the reasons we ordered it was seeing the next table have those fries. Unfortunately we expected freshly fried hot potatoes, but they were the dried form you buy in supermarket packets - disappointing.

I've been wanting to get my hands on a cookbook too, but might need to take a closer look to see how many of these things I can/will realistically try making first.

It was nice to tick it off my list finally and the food was great but probably not exceptional (probably the fries put me off). I'm interested in trying it for dinner sometime with the more extended menu. If I can get a seat.

After a meal at Afghan Kitchen, it was time for an evening stroll and given we were moving from the area soon, it seemed a last opportunity to finally try Udderlicious. I had walked past several times before, but never stopped in for several reasons, some of which were it was closed after movies.

But I wouldn't be denied this time and the the perfectly pale brown pistachio was complemented by a chocolate. There was one or two ice crystals, but the flavours for good and reasonably strong, particularly the pistachio.

I would have no qualms (other than distance) to go back. I don't know if I'd try any of the creative flavours, but who needs to when you know what you like. I might replace the chocolate with hazelnut next time, if there is one.

After walking past many times, trying to get in a few times, and finally discovering that they actually take bookings and so guaranteeing us entry the final time, we made it into this Afghan little eatery in Angel.

The food is good, particularly the lamb with spinach £8. Fish stew with potatoes £8 was ok too. The aubergine with yoghurt £8 was a overpriced for 3 pieces. The £3.5 evening bread was very impressive to see and alright. £25pp overall wasn't as cheap as I expected.

Overall decent and glad to have tried it and supported a local business. Would happily go back but wouldn't need to.

After starting work in Tooting Broadway, I was pleasantly surprised to find a host of food places in the Broadway market there (no relation to the fantastic Saturday Broadway market near Hackney). Quite a few were closed in the evenings and maybe because it was a weekday. After bypassing the nice sounding (but a bit expensive) Latin American El Chuzo, and noting the very cheap £1-2 takeaway Chinese boxes (not worth it really I found out a few weeks later), I sat down for some BBQ meats complete with the endorsements they list on the side.

Smoked crispy chicken wings £5 small with Korean sauce, toasted sesame seeds, spring onion was good. Crisp outside, a bit chewy on the inside though, and with a nice sauce that I expected to have more chilli/gochujang flavour to it.

16h Smoked pulled pork in homemade bun £8.5 spicy (ginger, spring onion, chilli, coleslaw, salad) was ok from a texture point of view, but the pork didn't really have much flavour to it. I ended up needing to request and add a lot of hot sauce to give it more character.

I suppose I still have to go back to try the ribs and best voted beef burger, but that time may not come and I don't currently feel I will have lost out if not.

Another modern Asian restaurant in Melbourne showing it still is the city leading the charge. For my brief stopover to Melbourne I had actually wanted to go to Longrain. However this was chosen as a close nearby place which happened to still be open to cooking for us at 10.30pm. Mind you we had to order within a few minutes, but the short menu made that easy.

- Rock oyster, coconut curry vinaigrette, shallot, Tasmanian pepper leaf $6 ea.
- Wagyu rendang pie, pickled radish, fermented sambal $10;
- Otak otak spanner crab curry, finger lime, rice crisps $29;
- Fremantle octopus, bush tomato, lemongrass sambal, onion;
- Rangers valley wagyu, strawberry gum, carrot, sunrise lime satay $50.

The modern take is using lesser known Australian ingredients into Malaysian/Indonesian fusion. It's beautiful, expensive and pretty good overall. I can't say I would rush to go back though.

Uyghur food has been hard to come by generally but with 2 places in London and 1 in West Melbourne, I'm starting to get a feel for the food.

- Pilaf;
- Lagman;
- Qong tahsilik tohu gosh kormisi - spicy chicken pieces with vegetables and homemade noodles;
- Tripe skewers;
- Lamb kidney skewers - not a favourite for most people but I don't mind at all the chewy texture and unique taste.

I want to go back again and try the nan, manta and samsas.