M&S green Thai chicken curry served with Boston new potatoes.
OK, but not great. I can make better Thai green curry. And better in a Thai restaurant.
But, far better than the disgusting Thai dish from Cook.
M&S green Thai chicken curry
May 11, 2024Olé Olé albondigas y copa de mojito
May 10, 2024Albondigas en salsa tomate y copa de mojito en Olé Olé tapas restaurante.
Fried mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in cream sauce
May 9, 2024Easy to make dish from Kazan. [see video below]
ingredients
- mushrooms
- cherry tomatoes
- double cream
- herbes de Provence
method
Splash of olive oil in a pan. Toss in the mushrooms. Could try dry frying first.
Add cherry tomatoes sliced in half.
When nearly cooked, pour in double cream. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
Plate.
thoughts
A tasty dish. But lacking as a main dish. Maybe for a starter or a tapas dish.
It would go well with Boston new potatoes. Or toasted sour dough, topped with creamy mushrooms.
Never use cheap unhealthy vegetable oil. Use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.
Olé Olé tortilla con ensalada
May 8, 2024Outside what looked like a pile of firewood.
Olé Olé not busy.
I knew what I wanted, but always check out the specials.
I decided on tortilla with salad.
Washed down with red wine. I usually have a large glass of red wine but today settled on a small glass.
On leaving I walked to Nonna Juana Deli. Picked up lasagne.
En route I passed by The Old Bakery. They seem to be getting ever more desperate . Now offering street food and bottomless brunch.
Back down in the city centre, I thought look in on Lincoln Jazz Cafe, only to find closed. Maybe no longer open on a Wednesday.
Fried potatoes onions and cheese
May 6, 2024From Kazan. [see video below]
ingredients
- Boston new potatoes
- one onion
- cheese
method
Thinly slice potatoes and onion.
I started with three potatoes, added a fourth.
Used a red onion as that was all I had.
Splash of olive oil, pan medium high heat.
A layer of potatoes.
A layer of onions.
Season with salt and ground black pepper.
Add a layer of cheese. I used Stichelton and Cornish Yarg.
Add a layer of potatoes.
Season with salt and ground black pepper.
Cook for seven minutes.
Flip over. Cook for a further seven minutes
Serve.
thoughts
A bloody disaster. It did not remain as a whole, fell to pieces when I tried to flip over. Stuck to the bottom of the pan.
I did not use a clean pan. Used the one from a pork chop the previous day.
The potatoes were only half cooked.
In the past, when I’ve cooked potatoes and aubergine ergine I’ve saved the potatoes from the previous day. The potatoes need to be par boiled.
I don’t think I’ll try this dish again. A pity as recipes from Kazan are usually excellent.
Coffee Culture
May 2, 2024Sanctuary in the Bail closed a few months ago, gutted, reopened two weeks ago as Coffee Culture. Still work in progress, the courtyard for example not open, misleading a sign in the street courtyard.
Rows of syrups behind the counter are not a good sign.
Service poor. A long time for my cappuccino to arrive. No explanation or apology for the delay. They were not busy, almost empty.
What was served I don’t know how anyone could serve a coffee this bad and keep a straight face.
I took it back and requested an espresso.
Another long wait. The cup did not match the saucer.
The espresso was undrinkable. Left a vile taste in my mouth.
Back to the counter for water.
Water was not brought to the table. It is called service.
Beans on sale on display in the window in the hot sun.
Seven Districts lack consistency.
I could recommend roasteries, but I don’t think the roasteries would thank me.
Magazines on display, give an idea of the clientele aimed at. Not coffee lovers. Same true of books on the tables.
Lack of investment in coffee grinder and espresso machine.
A water filter? I doubt it, but did not ask.
Abstract art on the walls for sale. Swing paints on a string would create the same works. Maybe eye tests for colour blindness. AI can do better.
But yes, the decor an excellent job, although the overall impression is of a greasy spoon cafe tarted up as a coffee shop. It is as though investment in coffee, after all the most important criteria for a coffee shop, was almost added as an afterthought.
Why burning candles when sunlight is streaming through the window? Very bad for air quality.
Sanctuary in the Bail did not serve great coffee, but it was far better than the current offering.
Bailgate needs a decent coffee shop. Bailgate is still lacking a decent coffee shop.
Lincoln has only three excellent coffee shops.
- Coffee Aroma
- Madame Waffle
- Vestry Hall
Lincoln still has only three coffee shops worth visiting.
Update: A new espresso machine installed. Maybe it will lead to improvement, but it needs more than a new machine, it needs skilled baristas to operate the machine. A hot sunny day, beans on sale still sit in the sun. The qr code for the art on sale does not work. Yes, they have a water filter installed.
Coffee enzoni
April 30, 2024Last week I found Sable black grapes in M&S. The flavour took grapes to another level.
Having tried red grapes (maybe black grapes), sable black grapes take coffee enzoni to another level.
– sable black grapes
– 20ml Brettos coffee liqueur
– 20ml Campari
– 20ml Topaz Blue London dry gin
– 20ml fresh squeezed lemon juice
– 10ml Monin Muscavada sugar syrup
Shake with ice, strain into chilled crystal rock glass, garnish with three sable black grapes.
Stray’s at The Ossington
April 29, 2024I visited Stray’s 21 January 2024 when it opened at The Ossington
I’ve visited bad coffee shops but Stray’s has the accolade of being one of the worst coffee shops I’ve ever had the misfortune to visit. It’s so bad, it’s in a league of it’s own.
Where else can you order
– espresso martini made with cheap vodka
– a cappuccino that looks disgusting
– coffee beans dark roasted and burnt
Where wait over 30 minutes to place an order and have to chase staff more than once. That is after on walking in have to wait until allocated a seat. Most people ignored the sign and walked in. Had to wave to catch the attention of a waiter and point to an empty settee.
Where when chase a waiter to take an order, shouted at to sit down and someone will come to the table. Not, sorry sir, can I take your order?
Where wait more than 30 minutes once ordered for the order to be brought to the table and have to once again chase staff.
Wrong order brought. It then went round every table. No takers. The coffee looked disgusting. Maybe a cappuccino, milk not frothed correctly, wrong size cup.
When order finally arrived, I’d long forgotten what I’d ordered, but what arrived, no idea what it was, and one sip, it was disgusting. A vile nasty taste in my mouth I could not get rid of. No water was brought to the table.
Water brought to the table with a coffee is called service. The norm in good coffee shops.
Looking around, the cappuccino brought to other tables looked disgusting.
Another long wait for the bill, once again staff chased. I went to the bar to ask if I could pay the bill? Told to sit down and someone would come to the table.
The bill was wrong. No one came back to enable the bill to be paid. Again long wait, staff had to be chased. Big argument ensued. Waiter had to be brought to the table and his attention drawn to what had been ordered. Also drew his attention to a tea pot, not ordered, previous customers, no one had cleared or cleaned the table. Then back to the bar, the bar where previously told I could not pay, to point out on the screen, to indicate what items, to ensure the bill was correct.
The previous bill he kept and would not hand back, he crumpled and threw in the bin.
It would have been quicker to hop on a train to Lincoln or Nottingham for a coffee. And get far better coffee.
Stray’s, according to the mural on the wall, established 2003. Twenty years on, and they still don’t know how to make coffee or know what constitutes good service.
A seating area alongside the bar. Further in a dining area. If this long to wait for a coffee, how long if order food?
Jazz was playing, loud, distorted, unpleasant, impossible to relax and hold a conversation. The problem was, piped around the building. Why not play in the dining area and let it drift around the building?
Whilst waiting for the bill, I asked the barista of the beans. They roast their own. He filled an espresso cup with beans. I took the beans back to the table to examine.
The beans I buy, have a wonderful aroma. These beans a very unpleasant aroma. Dark, over roasted, a slightly oily sheen. A note of burning embers from a wood fire.
The menu shows cocktails. Not a clue.
Stray’s had a coffee shop in the centre of Newark. I visited maybe four years ago. The coffee was undrinkable the service appalling. Nothing has improved.
The coffee shop in the centre of Newark went into liquidation a couple of years ago. The staff were not paid. Have they paid their staff monies owed from when they went bankrupt?
For coffee, make a trip to Lincoln or Nottingham or Butler’s in nearby Bingham.
For jazz and cocktails, visit Lincoln Jazz Cafe.
I revisited Stray’s a couple of weeks ago. No surprise to find empty.
Roasted Lincolnshire sausages Mediterranean style
April 21, 2024Lincolnshire sausages roasted in the oven on a bed of red pepper, red onion and new potatoes.
ingredients
- Lincolnshire sausages
- red pepper
- red onion
- Boston new potatoes
method
Cut red onion, red pepper, potatoes into small chunks.
Potatoes in a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Simmer for five minutes. Drain.
Vegetables in a pan, toss with olive oil. Season with salt and ground pepper, a pinch of herbes de Provence. Prick the sausages, lay on top of the vegetables.
Fan oven for sixty minutes, until the sausages are cooked, turning occasionally.
thoughts
OMG this takes Lincolnshire sausages from Redhill farm shop ( the best in the country) to another level.
The flavours of the red onion, red pepper, Lincolnshire sausages compliment each other.
I found it needed longer than 60 minutes to cook the sausages.
Accompanied by a glass of Greek red wine.
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