Mumbai Lounge,York

When we went up to York for graduation we stayed for not one, but two nights, which meant that I got to choose not one, but TWO restaurants for meals while we were there! After a lot of deliberation, I chose Mumbai Lounge, because it was one of the few top rated ones on trip advisor that I hadn't tried, and because my family all love Indian food (how kind of me to consider them!). Their website can be found here.

I always think Indian restaurants provide brilliant service, and Mumbai Lounge was no exception. From the moment we walked in to when we left the waiters were attentive, efficient and friendly.

However, the one thing I do sometimes find daunting is the sheer size of the menus in Indian restaurants, so often I will just go for the same thing. I was determined not to do that this time though!

We started with the obligatory popadoms with delicious dips

They had even strewn the table with flower petals!

Then for starter, James and I shared two beautifully presented fish dishes

Machli Piza - fish fillet cooked in a clay oven, then cooked  again with onions, tomatoes and mixed peppers - with their special sauce!

Machli Bajja - minced cod and king prawn flat cakes

There was a bit of a mix up in that they thought we were sharing only one starter so didn't bring both over, but as soon as we explained they were apologetic and really quick to rectify the mistake! Both of the dishes were absolutely delicious - so light and tasty I could have eaten triple the amount!

My mum chose a mushroom starter:

My dad went for duck 

And Christopher had onion bhaji

For main courses, my mum went for the most adventurous thing - Molee chicken, which I had never even heard of! Apparently it is chicken made with the "chef's own spices garnished with mushroom, potato, green peppers and finely chopped fresh coriander".She said it was really good!

James went for chicken korma and I pushed the boat out and instead of my usual dhansak chose a king prawn jalfrezi:

James was a bit disappointed with his korma - we both thought it wasn't creamy enough and was almost fragrant! However, mine was delicious!

Christopher's chicken tikka massala and whatever my dad had which sadly I can't remember!!

We also all shared sag aloo, mushroom bhaji, pilau rice and garlic naan, which was all perfectly seasoned and delicious. At the end of the meal we were all even given a free round of drinks because of it being a special occasion for graduation - very kind of them!

All in all it was a great evening with brilliant food and excellent service. I would definitely go back (even without the free drinks!)!

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The Riverbank Café, Ivybridge

As I mentioned in my previous post, Christopher and I recently went to visit our grandparents in Ivybridge, Devon. Some might say there is not much to do in Ivybridge; however, I would disagree and say there is plenty to do and it mainly involves eating! A particular food highlight of the trip there is always the Riverbank Café, a restaurant near their house. It is owned by a really friendly French man, Fabrice, which has led to us all always calling it "Fabrice's" - I think he should rename it that as it would give it a real French air!

It's always been busy when I have gone, but the service is always friendly and because my grandparents go there weekly they are well known! Our table reservation was even done on first name terms!

It's such a nice place to go in the summer because you can sit outside on the terrace by the river

You can find their website and menu here - it's very extensive and has some really nice stuff on it. I have had the crayfish and smoked salmon salad before, and the mussels are also meant to be very good!
This time I decided to choose something off the specials board - there were so many interesting things on it that I found it difficult to choose!

I was tempted by the mackerel, the "Salade Italia" and the "Petite Friture" but eventually went for the Scallops Niçoise, because I had heard from my grandparents how good the scallops always are here, and I have only had them once before!

In all its glory!

It was absolutely delicious! The scallops were perfectly cooked and went amazingly with all the other ingredients; I also particularly loved the olives and the green beans. It was a lovely light salad which was perfect for such a hot day.

Christopher went for ham, egg and chips (his usual!)

My grandad chose the steak frites (going in for a chip while I took the photo!)

And my granny chose the asparagus and parma ham special

They do excellent puddings here as well; normally we go for crepes but sadly they had run out of the batter by the time we were ready to order! I decided to go for a HUGE piece of banoffee pie instead - look at all the cream!!

The best banoffee pie I have ever had was in a restaurant in Toulouse called Café à la Une (review coming soon!) and this lived up to that one! 

Here are everyone else's puddings

Apricot Treacle Tart

Looks amazing - if only I liked cheesecake!!

Summer Pudding

We all left feeling extremely full and satisfied and I even managed to speak a bit of French to Fabrice despite the threat of Christopher being there to laugh at me. This is a really lovely little restaurant and I'm very jealous of my grandparents and their weekly visits here! I think it would do well in any city and I really wish we had one in Reading to break up the monotony of all the many chains. If you're ever in the area, definitely make sure to visit, it is definitely worth it. 

And I promise, you won't be bored in Ivybridge, you will enjoy some really delicious food!

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The Cornish Deli, St Ives

On a recent visit to see our grandparents, who live in Devon, Christopher and I decided to take a day trip to St Ives.

It was an amazingly hot day and the sea and sky were so blue that we felt like we were in Greece or Italy - definitely not in England anyway!

Porthminster beach

When we decided to go, I did my usual trip advisor search and found a lot of nice looking places for lunch. My parents had been there a few weeks before and gone to Hub and loved it, but I fancied something a bit lighter for lunch. In the end we decided on the Cornish deli.

On our way there we saw a huge queue outside a bookshop and realised it was because Rick Stein was there doing a signing! The deli is located on Chapel Street, a little side street near the main area of shops. Its website can be found here.

The first thing I really liked about this place is that they had put the glasses in the freezer! So even for my tap water I had a lovely cold glass - such a nice touch in the hot weather.

Christopher's Cornish apple juice

It was a really delicious menu, but I knew I wanted to sample the local speciality, so I went for the hand-picked Cornish crab baguette:

Christopher also stuck with the Cornish theme and ordered the full Cornish breakfast:

Ketchup in a tiny jam jar!

Everything was absolutely delicious - the crab and the salad with it tasted so fresh, and the baguette was lovely and crunchy. It was really pretty inside the deli too:

All in all it was a brilliant choice of place to eat and we were very pleased we had found it! Afterwards we went to the beach to sunbathe (in my case) and swim (in Christopher's case):

Followed by a drink on the beach

Then to Harbour fish & chips for the obligatory chips (the post card I bought in St Ives says, "Fish and Chips, it's a seaside tradition" and we obviously agreed). I had garlic mayonnaise with mine and it was the best I've ever had - the chips were also salty, hot and crispy yet fluffy on the inside!

I managed not to get attacked by scavenging seagulls - we did see a child on the beach get his whole plate stolen by a particularly greedy one though!

St Ives is one of the best places I have ever been and I feel like I only began to tap the potential of food (particularly seafood!) there, so I really want to go back soon!

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Rustique, York

All seasoned York foodies probably already know about Rustique but I thought I really ought to dedicate a post to it because:

a) It is amazing value
b) For anyone new to York/just visiting, it is a must-do
c) I chose it as my meal out on my graduation day which in my mind says a lot!

Me and James after my graduation

So, having been to Rustique probably more than any other restaurant in York, I was well placed to choose my "all star" menu for graduation. I always order off the set menu because it is amazing value (£14.95 for 3 courses and it's quite a big choice for a set menu, plus it doesn't have silly small portions like other set menus I have ordered from). After much deliberating, my all star menu consisted of:

Chicken liver pâté for starter:

It's so creamy and rich but not overwhelmingly so - when I ran out of bread I ate it on its own and it was just as delicious! The red onion marmalade goes very well with it too.

I then followed this with beef bourguignon and mashed potato:

Normally this is amazing, but sadly this time the sauce wasn't as thick as it usually is - I wondered if perhaps they hadn't reduced it as much? A shame it happened on my final trip there (for a while at least!) but it's as usually so good I wrote it off to how busy they were over graduation and decided not to be sad!!!

I then had the only pudding I have ever tried there, because I always know I would regret it if I went for something else. I always describe this crepe as "so good that you close your eyes with joy when you eat it"!
It comes with vanilla ice cream, banana and caramel sauce.

Absolute heaven!

Here are some of the other starters, mains and puddings that my family went for:

The crab cake with sweet chilli salsa

Mushrooms cooked with garlic and cream which I know my friend Clare loves!

My mum's crepe stuffed with seafood, pesto, cheese and a white wine sauce which very nearly made my all star menu!

Christopher and his steak frites

Cheesecake

The pot au chocolat - not pain au chocolat as James once ordered when attempting to speak French!

We even got champagne which surprisingly wasn't the cheapest one on the menu!!

I should also probably give a mention to the dauphinoise potatoes which came with my dad's main (he had the Brittany style chicken) as they were one of the nicest things I have ever tasted!

Rustique is amazing and you definitely wouldn't regret going! It's also really nice as a lot of the waiters there are French - it adds to the authenticity. Definitely book in advance though as it's quite small so gets full very quickly - I have never been there with it not being full. They're actually opening a new one just near Jamie's Italian too although I'm not sure if it will be exactly the same menu. Exciting though!

Here are a few more photos for the road... they are from various other visits with friends.

Sophie!

Me and Isy

Me and Sara - the pork I had here came with the most delicious mustard mash I have ever eaten I think!

Me and Megan

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