Cheering gyoza at Eatchu

When Jess at work decided she was up for a trip to St Nicks for lunch it was just the thing I needed to pick myself up out of the doldrums I’d been feeling for most of last week. We had the idea of popping our heads into Eatchu and seeing what was available and then passing through the glass arcade to find something to munch on for lunch. Well we didn’t get any further than the little premises of Eatchu, it smelled so good we decide to grab some gyoza to take back to the office.

Bristol has a great turn around of street food businesses setting up with permanent premises in a fairly short time.  Eatchu is another one of those success stories. Specialising in Japanese gyoza, or jiaozi if you are in a Chinese restaurant. These little dumplings can be filled with whatever your imagination can think of however the most common filling is pork and chive. These can be steamed, fried or both.  Eatchu have upgraded these snacks to make them into more of a meal. They have a selection of 5 different fillings, three meat and two vegan.

Eatchu has occupied a little space down Exchange Avenue diagonally opposite Trailfinders. It’s a small space but there’s enough room for a handful of people to sit in and chomp their way through their dumplings of choice. Plus the walls are decorated with kitsch Kawaii pictures which just add to the welcoming atmosphere. Plagued by indecision I asked for a recommendation. Chicken and nori butter gyoza with a portion of rice was what was suggested and it sounded delicious so I went with that. You can have as many sauces or toppings as you like. You can choose from chilli sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, enoki mushrooms and spring onions, to name a few. I adore Japanese mayo so this and chilli oil were the choices for me and Jess and I waited patiently for our gyoza to be cooked, all the while being tortured by the wonderful smells wafting over from the pans. 

 

After short wait we were handed some boxes of food, with the idea of taking them back to the office. Jess and I were overwhelmed by hunger and desire to taste the aroma that had been swirling around us whilst we waited. So we sampled just one for the road. Wow. It melted in the mouth it was sublime. The butter made it extra rich and flavoursome, I was in love. Rushing back to the office so we could properly get stuck in I discovered my rice was topped with a hefty amount of pickled ginger, nigella seeds, mayo and chilli sauce. I can honestly say that this lunch had me bouncing round the office, my mood was officially lifted. Fluffy rice with superb gyoza and toppings made for a heart soaring experience. Eatchu is getting a lot of recognition at the moment and with good reason, they offer something a little different for lunch and people should grab it with both hands. 

Six gyoza will set you back about £5-6 with £1.50 extra for rice. I just wish I was able to get my hands on these at dinner time, it's the perfect post work snack with a drink or two. To find out more visit their website.

Lunching Korean Style at Tuk Tuck

In the place of the Fantastic Sandwich Company, on St Stephen's Street, you can now find Asian inspired eating emporium Tuk Tuck. In the offering are bahn mi, bibimbap, sushi, salads and kimchi fries topped with your choice from the offerings. Naomi and I have been eyeing this up for a few days and when we had a spare lunch spot we headed down to see what it was all about.

We received a warm welcome from the staff and eventually I opted for chicken bibimbap with hot sauce to stir into it, but there is a non spicy sauce option too. Naomi went for a chicken salad and we decided to share some chicken topped kimchi fries, I had heard great things and was curious. We sat down with our drinks and waited for our lunch to be brought over.

Bibimbap

kimchi fries

I stirred my bibimbap vigorously after applying the hot sauce, the egg yolk broke and added a nice creaminess to the dish. I personally could have had the sauce hotter, but I know that averagely, people probably wouldn't get on with that if it was made the standard. Luckily there was a bottle of Sriracha on the table for me to top up the levels a little. I found the dish fresh tasting and delicious. A generous portion and filling. The star for me were those kimchi fries, addictive and delicious, a real hit. I really enjoyed my first visit to Tuk Tuck, it certainly won't be my last. It is nice to have somewhere a little different to grab lunch on your break. Find out more about Tuk Tuck on their Facebook page.

Lunching at Wicked Lunch Co.

Once upon a time a good sandwich was hard to find, much like a good heart hey Feargal? Then Sandwich Sandwich opened and all was good again with the world. No longer was a Sandwich a limp ham and cheese or a sad egg mayo, but people dared to dream that a sandwich could be exciting and with unlimited options. Well I am pleased to say that I finally ventured to the Wicked Lunch Co. on St Stephen's Street a few weeks ago with Beth to sample their wares.

The Wicked Lunch company offers, toasties, paninis, filled baguettes/sandwiches, salads and cakes. Their filled baguette sandwiches are a bit different with options like chicken satay, Spanish pork loin, steak as well as specials. We opted for the chicken satay and jerk chicken filled baguettes, with the view of having half each. 

A huge sandwich each arrived at our table, I am not a fan of measly sandwiches so this was indeed a sight for sore eyes. The bread was a hybrid of a sub and a baguette, soft but with a slightly crunchy top, it worked perfectly. The jerk chicken was pretty full on spicy, and I am no lightweight when it comes to spice, but it tasted great so when you have a cold this is what you should be eating, healing and comfort in one. Having said that the satay chicken baguette just pipped the jerk to the post. Creamy, nutty and delicious with a lovely Asian slaw. Definitely would have this again it's so good.

If you haven't already visited the Wicked Lunch Co. hop to it! Big sandwiches, great flavours and lots of choice. I am going for a panini next time judging by how good the baguettes are I'll be in for a treat. To find out more about the Wicked Lunch Co. visit their website.

A Tuesday Catch Up Lunch at Bagel Boy

My first foray into Bagel Boy, came about two weeks ago with Jayne, one of my regular lunch dates, but I also went with Rich last week, as he is a fan of all things bagel. Firstly Bagel Boy, on St Nicholas Street, has a lot of choice, which means fussy people won't be left hungry but indecisive ones might have a breakdown at having so much to choose from.  I had been strongly recommended by several Twitter followers that I go for the salt beef bagel so on my first visit I ordered the Big Apple Boy, pastrami, salt beef, Swiss cheese, gherkins, rocket and mustard. Jayne chose the Turbo Boy, roasted butternut squash, feta, tomato, leaves and chili mayonnaise. 

just some of the menu

Turbo Boy

Big Apple Boy

Big bite out of the Big Apple

My oh my the actual bagels were probably the best I've tasted, doughy without being dry or heavy.  I think the trick to ordering here is to get the right filling, as not all fillings are created equal it would seem. Jayne's Turbo Boy suffered from under cooked butternut squash slices but the chili mayonnaise was delicious.  I however lucked out with my Big Apple Boy. Generously filled with salt beef and pastrami the richness was perfectly complimented by the sharp but sweet mustard and pickles, having sampled the Caesar Boy the week after I can definitely recommend you sticking with the classic New York combinations that were born to grace bagels. Caesar was really nice but it wasn't as stunning as the salt beef, Twitter followers you were not wrong.

Caesar Boy

Rich also sampled some fries to go with his Big Apple Boy when we went and these also need work as they were a little anemic and limp. All in all I was pretty impressed with Bagel Boy, when they get it right it is stupendous, a carby hug in a sandwich, they just need to work on a few elements so everything is as good as everything else. I personally am looking forward to my next hit of salt beef.  To find out a little more about Bagel Boy visit their website.

A Friday Lunch at The Kitchen

On Friday we had decided to have a team lunch out to celebrate and welcome our new team mate So-Ting into the fold. She had suggested The Kitchen, part of the YMCA which is located at the Old Fire Station on Silver Street. I had shamefully never heard of such a place and we decided to give it a spin. We walked into a large canteen style space and picked a table to sit at. The menu is not huge but there is certainly a lot to tempt a hungry worker, burgers, falafel, salads, sandwiches and triple cooked chips, more on those later.

I decided to go for the grilled chicken pitta at a reasonable £5, a pitta stuffed with marinated chicken breast a mint and yoghurt dressing, plus a mix of salads. I also could not resist ordering a bowl of triple cooked chips, for £2 it was a gamble I was willing to make.  The food took about 20 minutes or just under to arrive and was enormous. My pitta was so stuffed with lentil salad, zingy chicken and salad leaves, the chips were golden batons of joy, skin on no less.

Grilled Chicken in Pitta

Grilled chicken in pitta, take a closer look...

triple cooked chips

The food here is terrific. Fresh tasting and large portions this is sure to become a firm favourite. The chips alone are worth it, these are perfection in chip form crunchy, golden and nicely salted. They use chicken thigh meat in my pitta which had a great flavour and was nice and juicy. Even the lentil salad was delicious, lentils can be so bland and undercooked, these were neither, a Spring lemony taste which was complimented by the creamy mint dressing. I also cannot forget the warmly spicy chili sauce that comes in a small pot on the side, I could have done with a little more of this as it was so moreish.  I have already raved about this place to several friends since Friday and I am looking forward to my next visit.  To find out more about The Kitchen visit their website.

Birthday Lunch at No.1 Harbourside

A mini blog for you all before the next biggie. So last week it was my birthday, I was playing it low key this year because of our upcoming wedding. However I did get to fit in two meals on the day lunch at No.1 Harbourside and dinner at Wallfish Bistro. For lunch I met up with my fellow food fanatic friend Kym and it was lucky she arrived first because there was only one table left, and she had grabbed it. 

The menu is fairly small but everything is under £10 and at lunch time you get a free bowl of soup with every order on this particular day the soup was broccoli and stilton. I decided to go for a lighter option with the risotto of the day, which was sage and sweet roasted garlic, plus some chips with beef jus (read gravy). Kym opted for the steak sandwich, which was what I was really after but had to consider my evening meal.

free soup

sage and sweet garlic risotto

chips n gravy

To be honest I was slightly underwhelmed by elements of the food at No.1 but there were flashes of deliciousness that I would return for, namely the chips in beef jus. These were like miniature roast potatoes with rich beefy juices to mop them up, indulgent and perfect with a pint of your favourite. The risotto was okay but not inspiring although Kym really enjoyed her steak sandwich, it definitely looked like the right hue of pink and did make me slightly jealous. 

I'd return to No.1 Harbourside for the chips in gravy alone, really tasty, a perfect after work snack. If you want to check out what No.1 has to offer visit their website.  

Damp Lunchtime at The Stable

Last week I was due to meet up with my mum and Auntie Sue for lunch, and the venue chosen was The Stable. I've heard a lot of things about The Stable since it opened almost a year ago, some good, some bad I was well overdue a visit to make my own mind up. After almost getting blown into the fountains by the high winds I made it windswept to the venue. Thankfully it was delightfully cozy and warm inside I found my family at the only occupied table in the place, near the back.

The Stable has a healthy selection of pizzas to choose from as well as a number of pies in case pizza doesn't float your boat. The Stable offers a smaller lunchtime pizza for £6 with a salad which is what I ended up going for as I am not really one for eating big at lunchtime, it tends to make me very sleepy and seeing as I had to go back to work that was not really the best plan. There are 4 smaller pizzas to choose from, the two that particularly appealed to me, the West Country Porker, topped with Bath Pig Co. chorizo and the Harbour Herbivore which was topped with blue cheese, potatoes, Spanish onions and spinach. In the end I chose the Porker as who can really resist chorizo? Luckily mum picked my other choice so I knew I would be guaranteed a taste.

The main downside to The Stable is it took nearly half an hour for our pizzas to arrive, half an hour in a place this empty, the proof is in the photo I took above I am not sure what took so long maybe they went to Italy to make them for a true authentic taste. However once the pizzas arrived they did look very nice.

The Harbour Herbivore

West Country Porker

How do you feel about potato on a pizza?

Bath Pig Co. Chorizo upclose

Once the pizzas arrived they looked pretty tasty, albeit half covered in a forest of leaves, the bases were nice and thin which is how I liked them and cut very nicely with the giant pizza wheel.  I was impressed by how much thick chorizo that topped my pizza it was really very nice and excellent quality, which is obviously to be expected from the Bath Pig Company.  I did find the base a little over floury but that is just me being picky probably. So pretty good pizzas all round but the best was yet to come. Mum and Auntie Sue decided they needed dessert so ordered the caramelised apple and ginger cheesecake with pecan praline and also a brownie with clotted cream.

apple and ginger cheesecake

My oh my if this wasn't one of the best cheesecakes I've had in years, it pushed all my buttons. The apple and ginger stopped it from being super sickly sweet and the cinnamon, well that will always hit my sweet spot.  I would have been heartbroken if this was just a special, luckily it seems to be on their permanent menu, if you are fan of cheesecake I heartily recommend this one. We were fed pretty well at The Stable it was a good pizza I am interested in trying some of their more crazy combinations, the roast lamb pizza has had very high praise indeed from lots of people on my Twitter feed. The pudding was the star for me however, and I am not a pudding person. To see what else The Stable have to offer, visit their website.

Best Cheap Eats in Bristol

Have you often wondered where to find cheap eats in Bristol? It's that time of year again where new Bristol Uni students come wide eyed to gaze upon with wonder at the greatness that is Bristol and start to think about where they can spend all their student loan. What with the on coming Autumnal weather we will all be looking to keep warm and cosy. So students and residents of Bristol so without further ado I present to you, cheap ways to keep warm via the medium of food.  To keep track I shall split it into two sections, so you can hunt down bargains for both lunch and dinner.

Looking for a tasty and filling lunch that won't cost the earth? Below you will find filling bargains that are all under £10 but some even under £5. Most of these recommendations will have links to the full reviews so you can find out a little bit more. 

Centre

Students, St Nick's Market is a goldmine of hot, cheap and filling eats, but obviously I cannot list them all but here are my favourites.

Al Bab Mansour
Lovely hot and fresh Moroccan food which is nicely spiced and generous portions. Plus there are healthy vegetarian options, I particularly like the chickpea casserole. Prices start at £4 if you want to see a little more check out the review.

Pieminister
A Bristol legend that has had success nationwide their pies are simply amazing my personal favourite is the Moo & Blue, which has just made a return but you can't go wrong with Chicken of Aragon or Matador either. Plus Tuesdays they have the Mothership deal which is a pie, mash, peas, cheese, crispy onions and gravy all for just £5, what more could you want on a cold Autumn day? To see all the varieties of pie visit their website.

Matina
There is always a queue here but if you are patient and time it right you will be rewarded with the tastiest lunch. Middle Eastern flatbreads, salad boxes all filled with tasty grilled meats, salads and dollops of hummus and harissa. Full review available with mouthwatering photos here.

Sandwich Sandwich
A new comer to the lunch scene but nevertheless Sandwich Sandwich is already very popular, and for good reason a huge choice and there will be something for every sandwich lover. Salad boxes, make your own creations so you can go wild with all the choice, all the bread is freshly made and the fillings are so tasty it is fast becoming one of my favourite places. Highly recommend the filled flatbreads they are immense and for around £4-£5 are very good value.

4500 Miles From Delhi
For those of you looking for something more leisurely and filling then you can get a rather good deal at 4500 Miles From Delhi. For £7.95 you can get the two course lunch buffet and eat as much curry as you can manage. The selection isn't massive but the food is well cooked, flavoured and tasty so you will get a very full belly for the rest of the day and hopefully find somewhere to snooze it off.

Mi Casa at The Big Chill
The food here at the Big Chill (run by Mi Casa) is a real delight and very reasonable, most sandwiches are about £5-£7 and are simply enormous, the menu does change around a bit but when I visited I had a wonderful chicken thigh and chorizo sandwich with chipotle mayo, you do not need chips too, well unless you are ravenous.

Thinking of treating yourselves to dinner out but find you have more moths than money in your wallet, in the next two sections will cover where to grab a bargain in Clifton/Cotham and Gloucester Road way and all around the £10-15 mark.

Clifton/Cotham/Redland 
Matching up bargains with Clifton/Cotham might seem as unlikely as an oasis in a desert but it can be done if you shop around a little.

Falafel King
Still Queen of my heart as far as falafels are concerned this little gem on Cotham Hill really does offer excellent value for money, you can order a pitta stuffed with falafels and salad for just £3.95 and they are deceptively filling, also if you fancy hanging around there is often live music down stairs. Full review and photos available here.

Beerd
Excellent pizzas, some of the best in Bristol bar Pepenero (also recommended) but on Monday's Beerd offers a buy one get one free deal to get people through the door, when pizzas are basically knocked down to £5 it cannot be ignored.

Thai Pepper
Cute little BYOB on Gloucester Road that offers some pretty tasty Thai food for knock down prices, last time we went we had two courses plus wine corkage fee for £14 each, it's not super fancy inside but Thai Pepper will feed you well and won't break the bank.

Mayflower

Easily the best Chinese food in Bristol and hidden away under the Bearpit. The food is authentic and generously portioned be adventurous and order off the Chinese menu you won't be disappointed, I particularly recommend the three roasties, full review here.

The Burger Joint
For the best burger experience check out the Burger Joint on Whiteladies road. Seriously good burgers and all just under £15 with a drink. If you are a big fan of chicken wings they do the biggest and tastiest ones I have ever had. What are you waiting for? 

The Gallimaufry

Want something a little bit more fancy but still not budget breaking the lovely people at the Gallimaufry or Galli to most of us now, offer a small plates menu 3 for £10 where you get some lovely dishes in a fun and quirky venue. Even the evening menu no main goes above £12, which is rather reassuring to those of us with little pockets.

There were so many places to choose from, Bristol is really spoiled for choice when it comes to independent restaurants but I tried to stick to a strict budget and food that would also be pretty filling, as that is what we are all looking for when it starts to get colder. Money is tight for students and non students alike but it is still nice to know you can get some really good Winter fuel food at a good price. 

A Sunny Lunch from Baowow

Last Wednesday was an abnormally hot day, Summer in it's death throws, and Jayne and I had arranged to meet for lunch, we had chosen Baowow on Baldwin street and to take our choices to Castle Park to enjoy the last hot hot heat of the year.  It's a venue I've been wanting to try for a while as it offers something a little bit different for lunch than most central Bristol venues. Run by the same people who make the Thai food at the Old Fish Market, if I remember correctly, this is something a little different than what they serve there.

At Baowow they celebrate the bao, amongst other things, the Chinese bun, we know them best in the char siu bun form but at Baowow they like to experiment with this classic and have many options to choose from as well as noodle and rice pots. Taking the flavours of Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam and combining them to form a pretty tasty sounding menu. My main personal gripe is that about 75% of the dishes contain coriander, which to me tastes like evil, but I am not going to hold that against them as it's just what I feel.

The inside is small but has a few tables for eating in, it is nicely decorated with some great blackboard work on the walls, there was a bit of a queue and waiting in the sweltering heat was tough but we powered on through. I was going to go for a bao but it had been a very heavy lunch week so I decided to try one of their noodle pots instead.  I chose the Thai roast pork and noodles whilst Jayne went for the chicken katsu with noodles. We headed off to the park to consume our giant pots of noodles and meat.

first impressions

after a slight stir

After picking out all the coriander I could find I gave the pot a good stir to make sure things were properly mixed in as the noodles at the bottom were totally naked. The portions at Baowow are certainly generous you get  a nice lot of pork and khao moo dang sauce, which tastes quite a lot like char siu sauce to me, and the overall impression was a tasty one. I still could have done with even more sauce but this could have been down to the need for even more vigorous stirring by me. I would go back to Baowow but it wouldn't be my first choice, it was tasty but did not have the wow factor for me, but I would take a chance on one of the baos next time. 

Thai roast pork noodle pot up close

I always welcome a new cuisine choice near my office as although I don't go out to lunch often it is nice to try a new place to see what they have to offer. It still doesn't beat the previous lunch out at Sandwich Sandwich but the fresh flavours and healthy sized portions mean that you won't go hungry here either! To see what Baowow has to offer, visit their website.

An Unplanned Lunch at Sandwich Sandwich

So on Tuesday I found myself unable to take up my usual lunch plan as the work breakout area had been shut off for eating, so my soup and crackers were left uneaten. I decided to treat myself to lunch out and I fancied something cheering and indulgent so I picked newly opened Sandwich Sandwich on Baldwin Street to give me a food pick me up. Sandwiches are a bit of passion of mine which I don't indulge in too often these days but I used to be known as the Sandwich Queen at home.

I arrived at Sandwich Sandwich just after 1pm and wow is this place popular already luckily the queue was dealt with swiftly thanks to a highly organised production line. There is a lot to choose from, house sandwiches, baguettes, hot sandwiches, flat breads, salads, cakes and their already famous scotch eggs. It is worth noting that they even do vegetarian scotch eggs made with falafel, very clever Sandwich Sandwich, I see what you've done there.

The picky appetite can rejoice as you can subtract or add any items you like at no extra cost, unless you want to add more meat, and frankly who doesn't (sorry vegetarian readers). Although I toyed with the idea of choosing the jerk chicken flatbread or the porky parcel, thick cut bacon, ham hock, pork loin, stuffing, celeriac remoulade, apple sauce and crackling dust I eventually decided on the pulled pork flatbread which was toasted and filled with Mexican rice, guacamole, cheddar and spinach. So after about a 5 minute wait and handing over £4 to the cashier I headed off to find a place to eat and read my book.

first glimpse

Oh my word! I knew it was going to be tasty but this was some sandwich! It was enormous for one thing and I could feel my hunger growing as wafts of my lunch escaped it's papery prison and I quickly freed it to receive my bready reward. Sandwich Sandwich certainly know what they are doing, this was an award winning flatbread.

The pork, which I technically wouldn't describe as pulled because it was more chunky, it was however obviously slow cooked as it was very tender and juicy. There was nothing I didn't like about this sandwich there was just the right amount of rice and it was nicely spiced but not spicy the cheddar was mature so gave a lovely rich creaminess to the whole flatbread. I could go on but I think the pictures speak for themselves.

mouthwatering pork flatbread

plus just the right amount of melted mature cheddar

It is probably one of the best sandwiches I've had, definitely on par with the one I had at Mi Casa at the Big Chill a few months ago. It was generously filled and they make their own bread, so I urge you strongly to go check out Sandwich Sandwich it has so many lunch options and the flavours are really good. Plus you can make up your own sandwich combinations with as many fillings as you like, so let your imagination run wild. To see what Sandwich Sandwich can tempt you with check out the menu on their website. Next reviews to come are on finally my sampling of Meat and Bread at the Three Tuns and lunch from Bao Wow.