Lunchtime Munching at Eat-a-Pitta

The other week I was bereft of lunch and then the fire alarm went off. Despite being earlier than I would normally take lunch I thought as I was outside I would head to St Nicks and forage for fodder. In recent weeks my team mate So-Ting had been in the habit of bringing up a box of falafel and hummous from Eat a Pitta to munch on, and I had sampled a few of these and they were extremely good.  So I decided that as I was already outside it was as good a time as any to finally sample a proper lunch myself.

I decided to go for the falafel salad box, which comes with 5 falafel and all the salads and sauces for £4.50, pitta on the side is 50p extra,  but the salad box looked big enough to me. So topped with the hottest hot sauce and the falafel on the top warming me through the plastic lid I headed back to the office to enjoy reading James Ellroy's LA Confidential and my lunch.

Eat a Pitta already has a great following and now it count me among them. Great fresh tasting salads, I particularly enjoyed the gherkins, and the falafel were the crunchiest I have ever sampled but never dry inside which is the key to a good falafel. Plus if you just feel like snacking you can buy 6 falafel with hummous for just £2 or 10 for £2.50 a total bargain. The only slight question mark I have is over the hummous it is very smooth but I like a little more zing to my hummous, but it is still very nice. If you want to find out a little more about Eat a Pitta visit their website for more info or get yourself down to St Nicks and sample away, don't be put off by the big queues they have a ticketing system and efficient production line that moves along fast.

A Rainy Monday Burger Deal at Racks

A couple of Mondays ago we celebrated Jo's birthday at Racks, we had a bigger celebration the weekend before so this was a little extra. On Mondays Racks offers 2 for 1 on their burgers which means they work out at £5 per person, which is a pretty good deal.  I have always had a bit of a hate/hate relationship with Racks, it stares at me across the road from my flat with it's ludicrous £120 New Years Eve tickets and noisy closings but I cannot ignore such a deal. After Jo had finished teaching her final Jolates class we met her at 9pm at the bar.

Four burgers are on offer to choose from, beef, lamb, chicken and veggie. I decided to opt for the beef which comes in a ciabatta with smoked applewood cheddar, salad, fries and homemade relish on the side. I also opted for a side order of onion rings, seeing as my burger worked out so cheaply.

mass onion ring order

burger close up

First things first, we ordered about 9.15 the bar was fairly empty, probably because it was hammering down with rain outside, and found a seat out in the back area. We waited, and waited by this point I was gnawing at the table edges with hunger. When our burgers finally arrived, with no apology, it had taken 40 minutes, it's a burger, is it me? The portion sizes were pretty good, chips in the mini fryer as seems to be the norm these days. The patty was pretty chunky and came with what tasted like a tamarind flavoured relish.

The burgers for the money were good, not the best I've ever had but nicely flavoured, my only complaint was the toasted ciabatta.  It was a perfectly tasty roll just personally maybe too hard and crunchy to envelope a burger.  For me Racks does some very good onion rings and a generous portion to boot. For the money you cannot grumble really, it will fill you up nicely for a frugal feed on a Monday evening. To find out more about what Racks offers check out their website. 

Friday Night is Steak Night at CAU

The first Friday of August Kym was invited to a preview evening of CAU, Carne Argentinan Unica by the way, to give feedback to the restaurant before their opening the following Monday. Such a saint is Kym, she invited me to come with her so we could experience what the latest steak restaurant in Bristol had to offer. CAU is run by the same team who brought us fancy, mostly London based, Argentinian steak chain Gaucho, and was launched as a more accessible and more affordable version. We were welcomed by Edward, our waiter for the evening, into the restaurant and he was enthusiastic and attentive, a great guy. I would describe the decor as how 60s entertainment execs imagined life in space would be, think Space 1999 or 2001: A Space Odyssey and you have CAU's interior down to a tee.

Edward, our enthusiastic CAUboy (yes I agree a totally cringy title)

The menu for CAU, as you would imagine, is largely beef based but other than steak you can order pork belly, a burger, chicken and fish, there are few vegetarian options but largely I would say the choice is mainly a carnivore's playground.  I ordered a large glass of Syrah and Kym tested one of their mocktails, it is worth noting they do a selection of Malbecs as well so you can match your Argentinian steak with a home grown wine.

There were some tempting dishes on the starters/small plates menu we decided that sharing two was the best policy so we opted for the salt and pepper squid which came with chipotle mayonnaise plus a dish of the belly of pork tempura with 'CAUchup'.  Steak wise they all come in grams so I have imperialised them for the sake of comparison to other steak places. CAU offer a fair few options starting with an 8oz rump for £13.95 but they also offer some more unfamiliar cuts the most expensive being an 18oz Tira de Ancho, described as the King of Steaks.

Rib-eye has always been my favourite cut so I decided to order the 12oz version cooked medium rare. Kym opted for the Tira de Ancho, a spiral cut of rib-eye marinated in chimichurri and grilled slowly, although ordered rare, Edward said that the chefs recommend having it medium rare because it is such a thick cut. It is worth noting that all CAU steaks come with chips, thin or thick, or a salad.

salt and pepper squid

pork belly tempura bites

The starters looked pretty tasty, and the portions were fairly generous.  The squid was crunchy and well seasoned with the heat from the chili coming through nicely. I personally found the chipotle mayonnaise a little heavy and cloying for the squid but the flavour of the mayonnaise would be great with chips. If you try any starter at CAU let it be the pork belly tempura bites, wonderfully juicy melt in the mouth pork with a crunchy tempura shell, hugely indulgent and addictive. The self titled CAUchup, made in house, was like a light smokey barbeque sauce and it paired with the pork belly bites very nicely.

12oz Rib-eye

"The King of Steaks"

crispy fries

My oh my, what juicy steaks these meaty beasts turned out to be.  I was pretty surprised by how good the steak was actually, really well seasoned, chargrilled flavour and perfectly cooked, I would go as far to say this was the best steak I have sampled in Bristol so far, although I have yet to try the hallowed Ox yet.  The fries were nice and crispy, I always prefer fries with a steak given the choice so you don't fill up too much on a thick cut chip.  Kym's steak was pretty large but full of flavour and I always enjoy a chimichurri sauce with a steak as it adds a fresh element.

Nicely full we had just about enough room for a scoop of coconut sorbet, they do a little 1 scoop for under £2 for when you want something sweet but nothing too heavy.  All in all CAU offers up some extremely tasty steaks, I was very impressed, I think some of the small plates are a touch pricey but they were very delicious and ours were rich enough to share.  If you like steak then I strongly urge you to pay CAU a visit, it will surprise you.  As a preview evening our food was free but we paid for our drinks and the service charge, this did not influence how I thought about the meal though, I am too opinionated for that. To find out for yourself what CAU has to offer visit their website.

Fish & Chips at The Swan Inn, Rowberrow

A quick mini post about The Swan Inn at Rowberrow.  A couple of Sundays ago I met up with Kym in order to meet the newest member of her family, Rose the Rottweiler. Firstly a disclaimer, Rottweilers get a bad rep, Rose was wonderfully peaceful and sweet, considering we were surrounded by other dogs she behaved herself beautifully.  The Swan Inn is about a 30 minute drive from central Bristol out along the A38 past the airport and is just up a slip road a lovely old pub which has a decent sized outside area where dogs and horses are very welcome to rest up whilst their owners do the same. 

On this warm Sunday we decided to stop in for lunch and sat outside on one of the many tables and browsed the menu.  Although Sundays are when most people crave a roast I did not want to feel completely wiped out for the rest of the day, although the roast pork which came with a side of cauliflower cheese, amongst other things, did look mighty tempting. Kym and I both opted for the fish and chips.

A really large piece of fish was brought to our table it was golden, crunchy and very delicious. The chips were ok but nothing special, just standard pub chips, which was a bit of a shame as the fish was so good. The crushed peas however were very nice so that leveled out the meal somewhat.  The Swan Inn is a lovely country pub with some better than average pub food, nice for a little trip out of the city especially if you have a dog, they make them feel very welcome here.

Rose

Jessie's Sushi Birthday at Stanton House

Two Sundays ago I headed up to Swindon to see my very best friend and partner in crime, Jessie. A trip to hotel Stanton House had been planned for dinner and I was very much looking forward to gorging on Japanese food. Stanton House is a hotel in a country house with two restaurants.  Their Mt Fuji restaurant serves up yakiniku, Japanese barbecue, and has low level tables to kneel at for an immersive experience. Their other restaurant The Rosemary, serves up a modern British menu as well as a Japanese one.  On this occasion we were dining in The Rosemary.

The Japanese menu is pretty traditional looking with agadashi tofu, octopus and scallops on the sashimi part of the menu so I was looking forward to getting stuck in.  After ordering my cup of green tea, I decided to choose some salmon sashimi and temaki plus tonkatsu, which came with rice and miso.  The service thus far was a bit slow and the waitresses returned a number of times to reconfirm orders, however on the plus side we didn't have to wait too long for food, which was a bonus.

salmon sashimi

pork tonkatsu 

salmon temaki

The food was pretty good not the best Japanese I've ever had but definitely a solid effort, the sashimi was particularly good, thickly cut slices of ultra fresh fish that were very delicious.  The tonkatsu was nice and crunchy although the salad popped next to it looked a little sad.  I'd be interested in trying the traditional Japanese barbecue restaurant if I was to visit again but as Bristol has a good selection of Japanese restaurants I don't need to rush back to Stanton House. However it did give me the opportunity to play with my food a little.

shark attack

If Stanton House piques your interest check out their website for more details on Thursdays they do an all you can eat buffet which sounds particularly excellent. Upcoming blogs will be a mini visit to the Swan Inn in Rowberrow and a trip to newly opened Argentinian steak house CAU, expect much meat.