Jamies Italian Evening Favourites Review

I don't keep it a secret that I'm a fussy diner. Selecting new restaurants to try is a challenge, usually the "cheaper" restaurants means cheap quality which i end up been grudged paying even a small amount for, and for me, when it comes to food, quality comes at a price. Until now there's only been a handful of restaurants I've come across which don't break the bank and don't compromise on quality. Luckily i was recently able to add Jamies Italian to my list of affordable eats, with the launch of their "Evening Favourites" menu. 

The select menu offers an impressive 3 courses for £18.95 pp, with mains including favourites such as steaks, burgers, pasta and pizza dishes. Unlike other early bird style menus, the menu starts after 6pm between Mondays and Thursdays, which is a particular highlight for myself as it means it actually feels like a treat and gives everyone chance to freshen up and get ready, no more rushing to eat straight from work to grab the best deals. Although if you are looking to dine earlier the restaurant also offers a super lunch with 3 courses for £12.95 until 6pm, Mondays - Thursdays. 

Looking through the starters i was impressed to see one of my favourite pasta dishes 'truffle tagliatelle'  so the choice for myself was easy. Tom opted for the 'cured meat plank', again something i was impressed to see on a menu, as I've not come across many 'plank' type starters designed for one person on menus before. 

The 'cured meat plank' arrived and we was both impressed by the variety of the starter. Given it was a starter for one, there was still an array of delights to feast upon, including meats, cheese, pickles and homemade slaw. The waitress was very pleasant and knowledgeable as she explained everything the starter included. I found the starter had a nice balance with a good meat to cheese ratio, the slaw accompanied it all well with a fresh taste and a hint of orange. 

My starter of Truffle tagliatelle was delicious, the truffle was perfectly balanced and not over powering. The pasta was silky and cooked well, making it a very luxurious starter. 

For the mains Tom opted for his favourite...Steak. I decided to go double pasta with the sausage ragu.

The steak was served with a fresh tomato salad and a side of home made fries. The yellow and red tomatoes added a fresh element to the dish and gave it a real Italian feel. the steak was cooked to order 'rare' and although came more on the 'medium' side the thin cut of meat still ensured the steak was juicy and tender so this wasn't a problem for Tom. 

My pasta again was cooked well. The dish was well seasoned although I found the flavour of fennel a little over powering but still a well balanced dish. The ragu was a slightly runny consistency but the bread crumbs incorporated into the dish, soaked up all the flavour and gave a good texture. A trick i will now be trying on my pasta dishes at home. 

After been rather full on my double pasta i would of usually said no to a dessert. Although given the excellent value of the evening favourites menu and spotting a chocolate fondant on the menu...who am i to say no. Plus no meal is complete without a pudding....right? 

The chocolate fondant was excellent and one of the best I've ever eaten. There was a very rich chocolate flavour and the middle was soft and gooey. The dish was completed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream which balanced the rich chocolate flavour. Can we also just take a second now to marvel at the rather cute little flag in the pudding. 

Tom choose the white chocolate cheese cake which again was well presented, topped with fresh raspberries and an amaretto biscuit crumb. The desert again was delicious with my only criticism being the base of the cheesecake lacked 'crumbilness'. 

Overall the food was delicious and the value is excellent. The staff were friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. I would particularly recommend the evening favourites menu for some affordable mid week dining. As said above the menu running from 6pm onwards is excellent for anyone with a busy schedule who finds it tricky to make early reservations. 

Let me know in the comments below if your a fan of Jamies Italian. 

SAMMIE

bloglovin . twitter . instagram



*Food and drink was complimentary for review purposes

Bills restaurant Leeds

A new place in Leeds has opened once again, well quite a lot has been opening (as per-usual) and as always I decided to check things out. 

One of the latest addition to my favourite city, has come in the form of Bill's restaurant, serving up classic comforting home dishes from breakfast through to bed time. Now I really really wanted to check this place out for brunch as I have heard their blueberry pancakes are amazing, however as we all know I'm not a morning person and despite breakfast been served until 1pm on a weekend, it was still quite frankly too early for me to function (although the lure of pancakes was tempting), so a nice evening Sunday meal it had to be. 

Bill's restaurant it self is located in the city centre of Leeds on Albion Place near to the popular Trinity shopping centre. The building is such a great location and really emphasised the charming, rustic, inviting nature of the restaurant. 

Although there are no pictures of the interior on my blog (because I don't want to look too weird photographing when people are eating) you will just have to trust me on how charming and lovely this place is. 

In all honesty despite now been won over and ready to rave about this place, the menu isn't really my kind of menu. Although I was swayed initially by the breakfast/brunch, the menu didn't wow me on first glance, and the dishes are all "kinda classics"  or as I think of it, commonly found dishes on most generic menus. With starters including the likes of, crab cakes, soup, squid, bruchetta and mains including fish pie, burgers, chicken, ribs, salads and steaks. Ohh and fish finger sandwiches, because there cool and secretly we all love them (sarcasm not intended there). I wasn't really expecting anything that good in all honesty.

Perusing what seemed a little like a dull menu for starers, I did come across the halloumi salad (grilled halloumi, with quinola, and lentin sprout salad, a little red chilli, with a caper, mustard and  honey dressing). Obviously I can be won over easily by cheese. 

My friend ordered the crab, chilli and prawn cakes (served with baby gem lettuce, mango and spring onion salad). 

Now as my friend and I waited for out starters to arrive, my friend (who's not really an adventurous eater) did point out one thing that annoyed here with the menu. 

Now this certainly doesn't annoy me, not was it aimed at Bill's, this is mere just something she took note of, but she point out the use of trendy food. You all know what I mean. Foods starting to become trendy. I'm sure it wasn't just me last January sprinkling chai seeds on my cereal like a wannabe health freak, or upgrading my cous cous to bulgur wheat, FYI bulgur wheat is so last season, we're now all about quinola. However as she was pointing out the use of...basically quinola (I've just had to scan the menu again to make this point worth now typing out a full paragraph and I'm yet to spot another) ohh and KALE CRISPS. It was defiantly the kale which set her of. It kind of made me think....

the menu is actually really nice. It's not really that dull, it a nice well rounded menu which would suit a range of customers, with a slightly modernised version of everyone's favourite classics. It's also ideal for those (annoying) indecisive friends, or the ones who aren't that adventurous as there's food to suit everyone yet without been disappointing to the foodies.

The halloumi was actually amazing. I mean I'm never going to fault a plate of cheese but it was a really nice dish and the "trendy salad" complimented it nicely. The honey and mustard dressing was a little too sweet and could of done with less honey more mustard but I certainly finished my plate. 

My friend stated she really enjoyed the crab cakes and really liked the mango salad, she said it worked well and I can only really judge this by the fact she cleaned the plate. 

For the main course, as I said "classic food" seems dull to me so nothing on the menu stood out. I never order this type of (could cook this at home) kinda, food as I kind of see this as a wasted opportunity to try something new in a restaurant, so in the end I choose the Bill's lamb koftas (coated in toasted sesame sea salt pan fried and served with hummus, tzatziki, cucumber, baby gem lettuce, radish coriander and mint salad, picked red onions and warm piadina bread). Despite not been too excited originally by my choice, it was nice and I really enjoyed it. The lamb was cooked nice, the salad was refreshing and the bread warm. My only moaning point was there could have been more tzatziki as in end I was basically eating bread on it's own. Although I'm sure had I of asked for some more this wouldn't have been a problem. 

My friend who again is the opposite to me in the food world, choose the BBQ pork ribs (slow cooked with bbq sauce, with cream slaw and skin on fries). Again I can't comment too much on taste on other than pinching a few chips, but the meat fell clean of the bone and again an empty plate. 

Over all I'm actually really converted to Bill's. The food is all cooked well, the restaurant has a charming character and so what if there's no impressive slightly out there crazy food on the menu (other than kale chips and quniola). The menu is full of dishes we all know and love. It suits the fussiest of eaters, the family gatherings, the lunches with friends and I'm sure a cute little date. I can defiantly say the next time I'm out shopping and want to grab some lunch, or am suggesting a place to eat for friends and colleges Bill's will be at the top of my recommendations, as you cant really go wrong. 

SAMMIE

bloglovin . twitter . instagram

Bar Soba Leeds | Restaurant review

Last week Leeds saw the launch of a new restaurant. Bar Soba. Finally a new eatery which isn't a burger bar. Bar Soba is the newest edition to Merrion Street along side, the not long opened Manhatta and The Pit and old classics such as Verve and Mojos. 

With the perfect location selected Bar Soba offers a downstairs bar space, serving cocktails and a range of around the world beers then upstairs a modern dining space. I'm really quite impressed with the interior and the vibe Bar soba has created. Serving up pan-Asian style street food, the bar is unlike any others in Leeds. After attending the launch last week I was keen to actually sit down and enjoy just what Bar Soba had to offer. 

To start my friend Kel ordered the Thai sticky pork ribs £5.25 (sang som rum and lime marinated pork ribs finished with a sticky hosin glaze), I choose the char siu pork steamed buns £4.50 (with ginger plum). My starter didn't come across as very well executed, the sweet sticky pork filling was lost I the mound of "steamed bun" which engulfed any chance of flavour the meal had. I'm not sure if the bean sprouts were simply there to fill the plate, as they added nothing. Other than  making an already dry meal...well worse. I would of like to to have seen some dressing on these to add another flavour. Even my efforts of trying to drizzle a little soy sauce to the meal to add flavour was laughable when it simply seeped through the basket onto the table. The two pieces of ginger plum was nice but not enough to added a "sauce" to the dry meal. 

I had a sample of Kels pork ribs, which looked meatier than my meal and more flavoursome however the pork was greasy to say the least and any hosin glaze that may have been there was masked by the film of grease which filled my mouth. 

Forgetting the mediocre starters we moved onto the main courses. I finally decided on the Miso beer fillet with a honey glaze £15.95 (with pickled shitake mushrooms, tempura vegetables, rice and ginger soy dip) after lusting over most of the menu. 

My views on the restaurant quickly changed when I tried the beef which melted. It was a shame the plate was cold (although it did appear some mild attempt had been made to warm it) as everything cooled rather quickly. I usually expect this when beef is cooked pink in the middle (as I like it) it isn't going to stay warm for long, but I expected the tempura vegetables to be fresher and crisp. It seemed they had no crisp fresh texture and tasted again a little greasy. The rice was plain and had no fragrance or taste which didn't add much to the meal, other than bloat me, which patted down onto my plate also cooled pretty quickly. The ginger soy dip wasn't doing much either. By the time I had enjoyed the beef I was left with a plate of plain cold rice and greasy battered veggies, twiddling my thumbs. 

Kel ordered the Lemongrass and coconut chicken £12.95 (with a light green curry sauce and indonesian fried rice). Kels not as harsh as me when it comes to critiquing food, she did say the chicken was really nice, although she did look a bit taken a back to find prawns in her rice. I'm not sure if it's common knowledge Indonesian fried rice will contain prawns. This could maybe be explained on the menu or by the waiter. Again like the bean sprouts, the salad accompaniment was "undressed" sat looking a little shy on the side of the plate not adding the greatest amount of flavour. 

The one redeeming factor of the restaurant was the staff, attentive always smiling and generally an asset to the place. Don't get me wrong the restaurant is an amazing designed space in a brilliant location,  but far more attention needs to be paid to details...and the bean sprouts. Even the cocktails lacked ambition with what looked like fruit juice poured over cubes of ice, this is a picky one, but when I order a cocktail I want crushed ice. 

There is currently 50% of main courses vouchers at Bar Soba running on Pink Gorilla voucher website. 

SAMMIE

bloglovin . twitter . instagram

Scheduled post *currently away on holiday*

Luck Lust Liquor & Burn review | Manchester

When I recently ventured across to Manchester for the day, one thing on my mind was trying out a new place to eat. I had been recommended Luck Lust Liquor and Burn by Terri and since it was a sister restaurant of one of my favourite Leeds burger joints Almost Famous, I couldn't wait to see how Luck Lust Liquor &Burn compared.

Located in Manchester's Northern Quarter Luck Lust Liquor & Burn is a Mexican american eatery. I've found it fairly uncommon to every come across a restaurant which serves up both good quality Mexican food along side great burgers. Usually it often feels burgers are just added onto menus to please the masses, with little though or creativity going into them. 

As expected the restaurant serves up great cocktails, although I boringly opted for a glass of white wine, my friend kel was more in keeping with the theme with a glass of beer-garita. 

For starters me and Jess shared some of the chips and dips options. I choose the Bleu cheese and bacon dip and Jess the smashed guac. The guacamole arrived with all the fresh ingredients in a bowl and the waiter "smashed" this up to create fresh guacamole. I was kinda peeved that you wasn't able to do this yourself. It killed the concept really by watching someone else essentially play with your food. If anyone is playing with my food, i would like this to be me. The guac did taste lovely and fresh in fairness. The Blue cheese was far less exciting. The Blue cheese tasted like it was straight from a jar, if anyone remembers the ranch dressing from the Pizza Hut buffet it was basically the exact same. Both "chips" were less exciting. The guacamole came with basically Doritos and the Blue Cheese what looked like straight out the bag pop chips. I would of loved to have seen, crisp , home-made tortilla chips. 

The restaurant did redeem it's self....a lot, with the main courses. I opted for the taco roulette and other's burgers and burritos.

The taco roulette, consisted of  6 fish and chicken tacos, one loaded with damn hot sauce! Fun with your food theme continues. I actually loved this concept, it made me actually think about the flavours of the food and eat slower...you know just in case I need to reach for the wine water to put my mouth out. The tacos were all well thought out and a nice mix of flavours across the board with the chicken and fish both cooked well. I'm not sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate but I never noticed the hot sauce. Maybe this was a blessing. 

Overall despite a few grips about the "chips" I did really like Liquor and Burn, the fusion of Mexican and American worked well and creates a great menu to choose from. The quirky taco roulette is something a little different and works well to incorporate something fun into the menu without the need to start adding random ingredients *cough, the oreo ice cream topped burger* *cough* *almost famous*. 

I also thought the food was good value. starter £4, Tacos, £13. 

SAMMIE

bloglovin . twitter . instagram

Katz's Delicatessen New York | review

Katz's Deli New York! A tourist attraction or brilliant New York food at it's best? 

Well it's been a few days since I've told you all with my travels to the fair city of New York. Now since I feature all the new restaurants I like trying out on my blog it seemed fitting to share with you all Katz's Deli and dedicate a little post to this unassuming modest street corner Deli. 

One of the best things for me about travel is been able to sample the local delicacies. As soon as I booked New York the first thing on my mind other than a trip to Sephora, (typical blogger) was sampling a "proper" New York Sandwich. 

After a subway ride and a little bit of wondering around lost we came across Katz's Deli, an unassuming corner street deli in the suburbs of East Houston. However the unassuming location is not something to take for granted as the Deli is something of a New York icon. 

Famed for it's well loved sandwiches alongside other family favourites such as matzo ball soup and well "that scene" from when Harry met Sally this was number 1 on my New York to visit list, sorry Statue of Liberty. 

With neon signs hanging along the deli counter and busboys busy clearing the tables, this place defiantly had the characteristics I had imagined. Pictures framed across the walls of celebrity who had visited the establishment which hung proudly, only enforced the understated tone of just how great this place is to locals and non-locals alone who flock here to sample the food. 

I ordered the classic Ruben sandwich, corned beef, Swiss cheese, Russain sauerkraut on rye bread with a side of pickles. 

I really really really wanted to like the food, like really bad! Maybe it was my choice, maybe it was the overwhelming quantity of food stuffed between two pieces of bread calling it's self my sandwich or maybe it was my high expectations, but, ohh I don't want to say the words, ok I'll whisper...I didn't like it. 

I tried hard to enjoy it, I really did, I even attempted biting into the sandwich whole, before de-constructing my piece of New York on my plate, pulling it apart one slice of corned beef at a time, but I just didn't see the big deal. We had got along well until my first bite, the staff were amazing, I was ever so excited to even be in the restaurant so many celebs had praised, yet the sandwich and I just didn't get along. 

I found the meat fatty, the bread crumbled away under the monstrous filling, the cheese cold and congealed together and the sauerkraut didn't do it for me. 

Now obviously I would give this place a 2nd try if I hopefully get to Visit again, Although with two holidays booked for May, Corfu and Croatia it won't be any time soon unfortunately. However I would maybe sample something a little different such as their French toast for breakfast.

Sammie

Twitter | Blog Lovin | Instagram