A Mini Pre-holiday Photo Post

So today Rich and I fly out to Valencia for a week in the sunshine, although who'd have thought we didn't need to bother leaving Bristol for that? Anyway whilst I am away soaking up the sun, sangria, tapas and Europe's biggest aquarium I thought I would leave you all with a few foodie photos of meals I have enjoyed recently but that didn't make a post due to already being reviewed or there were simply too many photos to choose from. Once I return I shall be armed with the knowledge to share where to get the best tapas and paella in Valencia, with any luck. So enjoy the rest of the sunshine Bristol, I shall miss you but the return will be all the more sweeter for my absence from you.

bruchetta starter at The Riverstation

Moroccan from St Nicks

Beerd pizza

pizza at Beerd

Carla's Cruella Brownies

Jamie's Soba Noodles

my first maki/nigiri

ham and rabbit croquette from the Townhouse

pork belly roast at the Townhouse

Yorkshire loaf from the Townhouse

the taste of Summer

So whatever everyone is up to this week enjoy the hot weather, have a Pimms and relax. Looking forward to a well deserved break, keep an eye on my Twitter for occasional Spanish updates.

A Moroccan Lunch at St Nicholas Market

The other day Jayne T and I had decided to meet up for lunch on our break. We both work in the centre and St Nick's market is less than five minutes walk for both of us. I have sampled a lot of what the food court at St Nick's has to offer and as the weather was rather inclement we decided something warm was what was needed. It was a choice between Pieminister and Al Bab Mansour, the Moroccan place, we picked the latter as neither of us had been.

Moroccan food is something I enjoy but sample fairly sporadically. Ironically like buses, two posts on this cuisine pop up in the same month after 9 months of nothing, thank goodness we don't have to wait that long for public transport, although sometimes it does feel like it.

Falafel Lunch

Al Bab Mansour, like most of the dine in places under the glass arcade at St Nick's, is small but the turnover of diners is fairly high at lunchtime so chance of getting a seat is basically pot luck. Inside it is beautifully decorated like a soft furnishings stand in a souk it does make you feel like you are a world away just stopping for lunch before going off to haggle a deal with a spice vendor. Jayne chose the falafel whilst I went for the Moroccan chicken.

Moroccan Chicken with Cous Cous

For under £6 (for mine and less for Jayne's) the quality of food you get is fabulous. My Moroccan chicken dish was very hearty, full of lots of veg and flavour, really warmed me up on a grey day, without being too stodgy or unhealthy. Going out for lunch mid week is a bit of a treat for me, I usually bring my own soup to work and spend the hour reading whatever book I have on the go. However I have tried nearly all the places to eat in the glass arcade now, looking forward to revisiting Al Bab Mansour, Caribbean Wrap and Spice Up Your Life again, amongst other places. I am sure a lot of fellow Bristolians have been to Al Bab Mansour so would be good to hear other people's views on it.

Moroccan Evening at Assilah Bistro

The wonderful Jamie had organised a meal out last weekend at Assilah Bistro, a family run Moroccan BYO restaurant in Totterdown. Now I completely trust Jamie's recommendations she expects a high standard of food and it has to be well flavoured, every place she has said was good has turned out to be spot on. So 6 of us travelled to Totterdown, a pretty much unexplored area for me, to Assilah for 8pm.

Assilah from the Outside

Assilah inside is really nicely decorated, lots of Moroccan style mirrors, draped cloths, cushions and ornaments really makes the place feel like you are somewhere far away. The back room, which we didn't dine in on this occasion, was decked out more Moroccan lounge style with low seats and more soft furnishings, I hope next time we will get to dine out there.

much to look at inside 

The menu at Assilah is fairly short but all the Moroccan bases are covered with staples of tagine, grills and falafel. It didn't take us long to decide what to eat nearly everyone on our table prompted for the same dish, Chicken Megrebi, bar two and we shared a couple of starters. Rich and I had bought a nice bottle of Spanish red to enjoy with our food and so our table got settled into chat mode.

Falafel Starter

Sardine Charmoulla

Whilst Rich and I decided to share some falafel as we can never resist these delicious balls of chickpea charm, Jamie and Boz picked the sardine charmoulla dish. The hummus that accompanied the falafel dish was very tasty but the falafels were lacking somewhat, we found them a little dry. After sampling the sardines I realised Jamie had won this round. The grilled sardines were so good, flavoured with coriander, harissa and garlic amongst other things, it was superbly seasoned and really delicious. What was good was that it was not something I probably would think to order but I definitely would next time, that is how good the sardines were.

Chicken Megrebi

Lamb Meshwi

Seafood Tagine

As you can see the portions are very generous so you certainly won't go away hungry. Four of us went for the chicken megrebi, a whole poussin which was cooked in ginger, honey and saffron topped with flaked almonds and boiled eggs. This was some of the best Moroccan food I have ever had. The flavour of the sauce was just the right side of sweet with some whole apricots sunken down into the dish like little hidden amber treasures. The chicken was juicy and full of flavour, I would be hard pressed not to order this again as it was so good. 

Rich went for the lamb meshwi, it arrived and the amount of meat on the plate was sizeable. The lamb was marinated with Moroccan spices and chargrilled the meat was full of flavour and really good quality meat. Mar, one of our other dining companions, picked the seafood tagine which was full of cod, mussels and prawns in a tomato based sauce, proclaimed very good. All mains came with cous cous or rice and salad.

We were pretty full by the end, a whole poussin is quite an undertaking but we decided to order two portions of baklava and some mint tea for the table.

Just one of the portions of baklava

Each plate came with 7 pieces of this classic Moroccan sweet, which makes me very grateful we didn't order more as this was more than enough for 6 of us. Great baklava, it is easily one of my guilty pleasures, I am glad I don't come across it too often because I can easily eat a couple of pieces, which for a person with not such a sweet tooth is quite a feat. 

Assilah's windowsill

I could not recommend Assilah Bistro enough, home spun authentic Moroccan food in a relaxed atmosphere with friendly service. Yes we had to wait a bit longer for the food but in such nice surroundings and company I really didn't mind. The corkage is £2 and so all in all I think for 3 courses we paid just over £15 each which is pretty good going for a Saturday night. If you want to know a bit more about Assilah Bistro check out their website.