My recipe rolled out in Jamie's Italian Restaurants for Food Revolution Day

The Jamie's Italian chain were looking for a Spring inspired pasta dish created by one of it's customers to be sold for a week in May in all it's branches nationwide, with £1 of proceeds going to Jamie's Better Food Foundation.

Food Revolution Day was on on 17 May! If you don't already know about it, it was a chance for people who love food to come together and share knowledge, cooking skills and resources to get people to improve their eating habits and get them cooking from scratch.

I love a recipe challenge, so decided to enter my dish of Smoked Trout & Spring Leaf Pasta with a Rocket Pesto Crostini.  The pasta dish is a staple in our house especially after a workout, it's a great low fat but tasty bowl of goodness as the sauce is made with creme fraiche and horseradish.  It was a worthy winner and I was proud to see it on the menu and to go down to my local restaurant at Gunwharf Quays to try it out.  There were recipe cards too issued to anyone ordering the dish.  So here it is:

Koh Thai Tapas - Southsea

The old 8 Kings Road building has certainly changed hands a few times in recent years, with each restaurant venture proving unsuccessful, so when I saw a new Thai restaurant emerging, it's hard not to assume a similar fate.

But this may not be the case this time.  It would appear that Koh Southsea is not the only one.  Both Bournemouth Boscombe and I believe Bath all have a Koh, so this evidently is a small independently owned chain emerging in a time of little growth.

The interior is quite dark and sultry, and would appeal to the younger crowd for sure.  The interior a far cry from it's predecessors, with it's dark woods and predictable feel.

Friends gave me mixed reviews, so I went with an average expectation.

Service was swift, and the waitress pleasant.  We ordered 7 tapas dishes including Squid, Satay Chicken, Spring Rolls, and a couple of tapas size Thai curry's. Satay Chicken and Spring Rolls are not my usual choice, but if a restaurant does this well, you can get a good idea of what to expect from the rest of the menu.

I was not impressed by the first three - they seemed very average to me (so not much to say that you wouldn't already guess), but I did however think the Thai curry dishes were tasty and I would order these again.  We had the classic Green curry and the other was a Duck curry made with a red curry paste base with pineapple and grapes in with the sauce.  I thought it sounded wacky, but a few cocktails in, I was curious and glad to say I really enjoyed it uniqueness.

I have no images to share as it was so dark in there they never came out on my iPhone! 

I was not blown away by the food, but I'm sure Koh Southsea will be a success as it will cater for the masses.  However, on a positive note they do a takeaway/delivery service and I would be happy to try that out and just order from the Thai curry dishes on offer, as there were several inventive sounding dishes that caught my eye.

Top tip:  The couple sat next to me had ordered 9 tapas dishes and they all arrived at the same time!  Perhaps they requested this, but if this was the case - bad idea.  Cold food is never excusable or pleasant!

Coast to Coast Gunwharf Quays

Main courses were the best dishes on the menu by far.

I was invited to the launch night at Coast to Coast a few weeks after it’s opening.  Coast to Coast is Gunwharf Quays new American Restaurant and Bar.  This is always the best time to try a new restaurant; once they have settled in.  Coast to Coast is a small chain with Gunwharf being the fourth to open, and others to come.  The whole restaurant was filled with other invited guests and members of the public who had won the chance to dine for free, so there were absolutely no paying customers.  The atmosphere was energetic due to the live band and Radio DJ Steve Power hosting.  They had a neat P.R stunt upon arrival; snapping everyone on a red carpet before they entered the building, and during the evening issuing us all with the OK! Magazine Style photograph covers.

So what about the reason I was there for – the food!  I’m usually not a fan of American Restaurant’s in this country, as they offer little resemblance to the authenticity of true American food.  But Coast to Coast claims to be different than the rest, and created out of a desire to put this right.  I'm only three months back from an epic food fuelled trip to Orlando, Florida, so was this the case?

I purposefully chose dishes that you find in most American restaurants to see how they were better here, and I also chose dishes that I feel to be more authentically American.  However the outcome was mixed.

I couldn’t praise the cocktail menu enough – the Red Berry Cheesecake and French Martini (£5.95 each) were drinks most of us girlies take one sip out of and immediately fall in love with.  It is well worth just nipping in here on a night out to the bar area only with cocktails this good, and cocktails certainly not found anywhere else in Gunwharf like this.

The bread and olives board (£4.95) was average. With fresh vibrant green olives such as Castelvetrano now available in supermarkets and other chain restaurants, it was disappointing to see jarred, pitted and marinated dull green olives arrive. 

The appetiser menu hosted the usual suspects, so we opted to test out the Calamari (£6.55) which is often a poor show in many restaurants, and blue cheese mushrooms (£4.95), which too can be a let down.  Sad to say these did not hit the right notes.  The ‘lightly fried calamari’ was heavy in batter, chewy and over greasy, and the mushrooms with blue cheese had far too much blue cheese. It was sickly even for a blue cheese lover like me.

I was looking forward to the main courses ordered.  Burgers, steaks, hot wraps and sandwiches, fajitas, pizzas, pasta’s and salads can all be found on the menu at Coast to Coast.  Uber trendy pulled pork featured on the menu a few times, so this was a must, and we also ordered a classic steak.  Suddenly the meal was redeemed! The pulled pork dish I ordered was in the form of a burger, and sat on top of a 6oz beef patty – a pure meat feast.  It was delicious (although very sweet), and I have not had that combination together in a burger before, as you usually find one or the other inside the bun. (£11.95).  The steak was an 8oz, 28 day matured fillet steak (£21.95).  I’m glad we ordered it as it was beautifully executed to medium rare, and the sides of ‘homemade slaw’ and sweet potato chips were every bit contemporary American and elevated the dish. We opted for the 5 grilled prawns as an extra with the steak, but they were flavourless and a little superfluous.

Desserts were lacking in creativity and the choice was as you would expect to find in American restaurants. The cherry crumble came with a scoop of ice cream and custard on the side in miniature bowls, but the ice cream was unpleasant and very manufactured in taste, as was the crumble.  I’m not actually sure what flavour the ice cream was supposed to be, and the cheesecake too was just ok.

The service was sharp and the staff very pleasant, always willing to engage in conversation.  They were more than happy to change the dishes I was not overly keen on – and although I stuck with what I had ordered, this was refreshing and nice to see. 

Coast to Coast is definitely one of the better American chains.  However, as my meal was hit and miss, when I return it will be for cocktails and main courses only! 

 I would recommend a visit though.

Calamari

Blue Cheese Mushrooms

Cheesecake

Cherry Crumble

The Chambers, Landport Terrace

Finding somewhere stylish around town to lounge over a relaxed breakfast/brunch is quite a challenge. Well not any more.  Please may I welcome you to 'The Chambers'.  It's urbane environment makes it a perfect choice for a weekend treat with friends.

Located at 27 Landport Terrace The Chambers has only been open a few weeks, and seems to be making waves in the right ways.

Rather than plump for the obvious choice of a Saturday night booking, I thought I'd pop in for a spot of breakfast last Saturday morning as I'd seen them advertise breakfast between 8am-midday.

The choice is good.  Full English, eggs Benedict, eggs Florentine, grilled Kippers to name a few.  I'm a sucker for eggs Benedict, so I ordered that, but requested to have it with smoked salmon rather than ham.  This was not a problem and the helpful confident waiter made the amendment.  It was great to kick back in a wing back chair and read the papers on offer whilst sipping Earl Grey and waiting for the food to arrive.

It is much bigger inside than you think.  They can seat over 70, and it has a section upstairs too.  It's elaborate layout will certainly appeal to the well heeled crowd of Portsmouth.

But is it style over substance?  Not at all!  This seductive newcomer totally wowed me with the best Hollandaise sauce I have ever had anywhere locally - it was a delight!  The dish was rich in colour and taste (from the good quality egg yolks), creamy and well thought out, I was impressed the chef added hints of chopped fresh tarragon to elevate this smoked salmon version.  Now that's what I call care and attention to detail.  My muffin was slightly over toasted, but nothing worth complaining over, and as for the price my dish came in at a very reasonable £4.75, (when compared to a Gunwharf chain that charges £5.75 for their ordinary version).

So all in all I'm loving what I see and eat.  The main menu has some nice additional finds for people who just want to go along and soak up the atmosphere in the lounge area (such as a bottle of house wine and a choice of Moules-Frites or Nachos with Guacamole and toppings for £20).  They also offer a 'Champagne and Oyster Friday' consisting of a bottle of house Champagne served with oysters for £39 for 6 Oysters, £45 for 12 Oysters.

Have you been for a main meal here - what did you think?  With this establishment and The Garage Lounge in Albert Road I hear myself saying.....

  "Finally - restaurants with a bit of decadent style in Southsea!"....watch out Brighton!!!!

Fire & Stone Portsmouth new menu Autumn 2012

The good people at Fire & Stone have rolled out a new menu this autumn and kindly asked myself and a guest to sample it and feedback.

I have always loved this place since it opened.  Combining it's quirky pizzas, funky restaurant, and great offers, is what makes Fire & Stone a perfect place to eat pizza with friends.  In my opinion it is the best chain pizza restaurant out there, because what it offers is different from the norm. 

So what did I make of the new menu? 'Whilst you wait' nibbles, starters, pasta, salads and sides all feature fairly equally in quantity to the pizzas on offer, thus showing that Fire and Stone is not just about Pizzas.  One thing that I have noticed since it first opened two and a half years ago, is that the 26 pizza's that were on offer on the original menu has now been reduced down to 17. So with that in mind we ordered a pizza (obviously), and a pasta dish.  The new Alexandria pizza (£10.95) is based on a chicken tagine with chicken, green olives, preserved lemons, coriander and yogurt.  This was delicious with the sharp and salty preserved lemon really making every bite extremely flavoursome, and a pizza I would highly recommend trying.  I went off piste and thought it would be good to review a non-pizza dish, and opted to have their beef ragu (£9.65) as my first choice of the tiger prawn and lemongrass pasta was off the menu as they had run out of prawns.  This dish follows the ever current trend of slow cooked pulled beef in a rich sauce, served with tagliatelle with F&S sauce.  Enjoy it, I did - however the sauce needs to be way punchier for it to stand apart from other beef ragu dishes if I am to order it again.  I think it could be improved with the addition of more acidity perhaps in the form of more tomato in the base. Still a very pleasant dish by most standards.

Gooey home-made chocolate brownie (£4.95) for dessert was an excellent pudding and very well made, but the vanilla and lemon cheesecake was rather dull in comparison, missing it's billed 'strawberry slices'.  I would love to see the vanilla panna cotta with fresh berries back on the menu.

19th of November sees the festive menu begin, and there is one pizza on the menu I can't wait to try: The Berkshire - crispy roast pork belly with apricot and almond stuffing, caramelised shallots, chopped sage and apple sauce.  I'll be back!!

 Top tip:

Check out the offers Fire and Stone have via http://www.fireandstone.com/pizza/specialoffers/portsmouth.asp
There is currently a fantastic deal to enjoy 50% off your total food bill every Friday until November 23rd!  (Valid when dining off the A la Carte menu only and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Valid for group bookings of up to 6 people)

A night to remember; Electrolux present a multiple-Michelin starred charity dinner

Ok, so anybody fancy spending a night with several of the countries most talented chefs?  Silly question! Well take a look at this link then, as this may well be something for you: FIVE MICHELIN STARRED CHEFS FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY:

http://newsroom.electrolux.com/uk/2012/11/02/the-bobby-moore-fund-for-cancer-research-uk-in-partnership-with-electrolux-present-a-multiple-michelin-starred-charity-dinner/

The Bobby Moore Fund in partnership with Electrolux will present a gastronomic extravaganza which will be a must attend event for serious foodies.  The event is a one off charity dinner comprising of five exquisite courses each cooked by a Michelin starred chef.  Top chefs, led by two-Michelin-starred Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House Restaurant in Cambridge, will produce a culinary feast for 250 guests in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund.  Confirmed so far are: Daniel Clifford, Atul Kochar, Simon Rogan and Jonray & Peter Sanchez.

When:                  Thursday 24th January 2013
Where:                Gibson Hall, Bishopsgate, London
Tickets:                Prices start from £395 per ticket, with VIP tickets and Chef’s table tickets also available.  To book tickets please email: davina.yanful@cancer.org.uk

I know this will be an incredible night to remember, I have first hand experience of Electrolux putting on a great show.You will not be disappointed.

Festive Seasonal Menu 2012 @ All Bar One

Tonight I was invited to go and sample this years festive menu at All Bar One.  I must say that All Bar One Portsmouth must be praised for holding these events, as not many other restaurants at Gunwharf do.  So what did we sample?  Well the complementary Prosecco and the welcome by Jonny and the team were both warm and friendly.  We were handed the festive menu to peruse whilst the kitchen were busy preparing the dishes.  The festive menu starters are:

French onion soup with cheese crouton
Roasted Portobello mushroom topped with baby spinach and goats cheese
Chicken liver, pork and mushroom parfait
Prawn cocktail.

All dishes (excluding parfait which was not available to sample) were tasty and to the standard you would expect from All Bar One.

Main courses are:
Roast turkey wrapped with bacon
Salmon wellington
Rib-eye steak (£3 supplement)
Shallot, parsnip and sweet potato tarte tatin

Here is where I tell you that I was very impressed with the salmon wellington and the vegetable tarte tatin, which I would love to go back and eat again.  Vegetarians would be super-happy with this dish oozing taste, texture and......, and the salmon wellington was made with a buttery shortcrust pastry which I did not expect (please do not change this for the usual bland, and potentially soggy puff pastry synonymous with Wellingtons), accompanied with a delicious...... cider and tarragon cream.  These were the stand out dishes of the night!

Shallot, Parsnip, & Sweet Potato Tarte Tatin

Salmon Wellington

Desserts are:
Sticky fruit pudding
Lime & lemon tart
coconut and chocolate tart

Sticky Fruit Pudding

Unfortunately of the desserts listed only the sticky pudding was available, and it's very much like a sticky date pudding.  A cheese selection and coffee and mince pies are also available at an additional cost.

So all in all it's a thumbs up for the slight variation and welcomed refreshing change to the traditional and predictable festive menu's we see throughout November and December in all restaurants. I had almost forgotten that it was a festive menu which personally pleased me no end!  3 courses will set you back £22 each and must be booked in advance.  There is also a buffet menu available at £15 per person but this is for a minimum of 10 people and must be booked too.