30th Birthday Eats

So this week I turned the dreaded three zero. It wasn't so bad, after a wonderfully indulgent party at The Colour Inn where everyone brought their best Mad Men costumes and drinking habits the rest of the week was dedicated to eating as many of my favourite foods as I could. Here is just a selection of what I consumed in the past few days.

An Old Fashioned

Mad Men mini cupcakes

white chocolate and raspberry birthday cake (thanks mum)

truffled mushrooms with sage and parmesan (thanks Rosemarino)

Eggs Royale with a side of streaky bacon

Thick milk hot chocolate

Warm scotch egg with home made salad cream

Hudson's  Birthday Steak

Mozzarella, tomato and pesto salad

Artichoke on a pizza, my new favourite thing

I also had a wonderful steak at Hudson's on the night of my birthday, Rich has those photos though so will update the photo blog when I acquire them. Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday and all the cards and presents I received I felt very humbled and happy to have such nice and thoughtful people around me. Next proper blog post will be on curry at Kathmandu, watch this space.

Brunch at Rosemarino

Saturday was the first consistently sunny day Bristol has seen for weeks. It was warm and beautiful outside perfect day for brunch. We had already agreed to meet Jamie and Boz for brunch and they had been dying to try Rosemarino. Rich and I have been to Rosemarino a few times so we didn't need any convincing.

Downstairs the sun shone down on us from the above windows it was a perfect morning. I already knew what I wanted so I sipped my previously ordered Pago cloudy cherry juice, my new current favourite soft drink perfect for a cherry fanatic, whilst the others decided. I was going for mushrooms on toast with parmesan, truffle oil and pan fried sage leaves, for everyone else it was Eggs Royale all round with various sides of bacon. Eggs Benedict in it's various forms, is Rich's favourite breakfast bar none, I occasionally make it for him, having perfected the poach a few years back, but he would be quick to agree that I am far too slack at providing aforementioned dish.

Pago Cloudy Cherry(hoping more places stock it soon)

Mushrooms on Toast with Parmesan (plus side sausage)

Mushrooms on Toast with Parmesan with Crispy Sage Leaves

For me, a mushroom fan, I have tasted no finer breakfast than this in Bristol so far, it is rich, creamy, indulgent and heavenly. It says a lot about the superior quality of this dish to sway me from Eggs Benedict or a Full English, though I have had Rosemarino's full English before and it is wonderful.  The earthy sage and truffle oil brought out a lot of the flavour of the mushrooms whilst the cream and cheese made it indulgent and helped make a king of this ingredient which is usually treated as a side line in the breakfast line up.

Eggs Royale with Side Order of Bacon

Eggs Royale with Side Order of Bacon

All you could hear from our table for a good 5 mins was the sound of steady enthusiastic munching, peppered with the odd mmmmm and mutterings of 'so good'. The quality of the bacon was particularly praised the sausage too was fantastic, herby and really meaty. The Eggs Royale was declared the best in Bristol and totally perfect, the eggs were beautifully runny and ran into the salmon and through the hollandaise, a taste sensation right there.

Having not been for brunch at Rosemarino for ages it was so great to return and I think we will probably be paying them another visit for Rich's birthday brunch when the time comes along next month. But what I really want to do is to pay them a visit for dinner one evening. The menu sounds superb and if it's anything like as good as their breakfasts then sign me up asap! To check out any of their menus visit the Rosemarino website.

Brunch at Deco Lounge

I love The Lounge bars that decorate Bristol and beyond, I used to live down in Southville close to the original Lounge where it all began. Now I live close to Deco Lounge in Cotham and they are both so relaxing to visit. There is definitely something about the atmosphere at The Lounges that I go back for again and again. Last weekend I ended up at Deco Lounge twice, Friday night was a catch up with some girl friends where we partook in wine, spicy cashews and fries and Saturday Rich, myself and our friend went for brunch.

Our friend and I went for the Lounge Breakfast, a full English, whilst Rich went for the Lounge Eggs, pretty much eggs Benedict, which looked so tasty I was almost wishing I had ordered it. Rich went for bacon as well as salmon and it was very nicely presented, he ate it all without letting me have any, so it must have been good! The full English comes with the usual trimmings, for me the thick cut bacon and herby sausage patty are the best in this breakfast, the mushrooms were bland and they clearly had used low sodium baked beans, which is not on at all! Having said that it was tasty on the whole and I still think the atmosphere at Deco Lounge and it's Lounge brothers and sisters is hard to beat. Definitely worth going any day of the week for coffee, a glass of wine or just some nice home cooked style food or tapas.

Although their breakfasts are good I personally think Rosemarino does a better brunch, I would travel far for their mushrooms, with parmesan and sage on toast with truffle oil. Now there's an idea for next weekend...