Mitchell's Deli, St Andrews

At last I'm getting round to writing about my final (sob) restaurant stop during my visit to St Andrews. We'd spent the day wandering round the town and beaches - we saw the oldest tree in St Andrews (!)..

..I completed the pier walk again, along with Christopher's housemate Yuyan...

...we saw Kate and Wills' old halls...

...and we walked along West Sands (the place where they did the Chariots of Fire running scene!) in the pitch darkness!

After all this I was more than ready for a meal at Mitchell's - a restaurant with possibly one of the nicest exteriors I've ever seen. Beautifully Christmassy and quaint - you can imagine it being a war time butchers or bakery with a queue right out of the door!

As you go in, there's a deli selling delicious looking cheeses, olives, meats etc, and they also sell bottles of dressing and drinks like pink lemonade - if I were Christopher I would spend so much money here to fill my fridge up with treats! They sell Mull cheddar which is a really mature cheddar I tried last time I was here, so I'm definitely going to have to buy some next time I go.

Through an archway to the left you get to the restaurant, which is almost as nice inside as it is out! It had pretty Christmas decorations, and above two raised booth type tables it has these really cool light features made of wine bottles! Sadly I didn't get a photo but I will try to next time.

As we were there at 6, we had the option of ordering off the "Before the Rush" menu - sadly there is only an out of date version of it on the website so I can't link you to it, but here is the normal menu. They also had a good number of specials. After much deliberation (2 menus plus specials to choose from?!?!), I decided to have a special starter, and then main and pudding off the "Before the Rush" menu. Everyone else went for the "Before the Rush" menu for everything.

I chose my starter because it sounded so interesting - "caramelised sausage and apple bruschetta with a honey glaze" is definitely not a typical feature on menus.

Very nice presentation (making what is essentially sausages and bread look attractive is no mean feat!), and the vintage looking plates added to the quaint and cosy feel of the place. Also, this starter was really excellent. Such an interesting concept, and they'd balanced the flavours really well. The sausage was juicy and well cooked (and not too herby!), the honey added a subtle sweetness, and the chutney a sharpness so that no one flavour was too overpowering.

Kiri, Christopher and Anneka went for toasted brioche with mushrooms

Which looked really tasty and would be a definite consideration for next time (although the sharing boards on the main menu have also really taken my fancy!). Lizzie had cajun spiced tomato soup and Natalie had haggis fritters, but sadly I didn't get a photo of either.

For our main courses, we split into two camps - Anneka, Kiri and I went for the breaded haddock and chips, and Lizzie, Christopher and Natalie chose the steak pie (Lizzie and Christopher had chips and Natalie took the sensible option and had mash - pie just has to come with mash!!).

I never usually order fish and chips when I'm not in a fish & chip shop, but I love breaded fish as it's less greasy than batter and has a better texture I think, and also I absolutely love tartare sauce (it may seem weird I would choose to order a whole meal around that but it is such a good sauce!). I thought it was a really good meal. The fish was light and flaky and the breadcrumbs added a nice crunch, and the chips were soft, fat and fluffy! The tartare sauce was tangy and I went through two pots, and could probably have had more.

I usually prefer pies which have shortcrust pastry completely encasing them, rather than pies with a puff pastry lid, but everyone really enjoyed this one and it did look good, with big chunks of tender looking meat in a thick gravy.

Everyone who had pudding went for the same thing - sticky toffee!!

I had heard rave reviews about this sticky toffee, and luckily I wasn't disappointed. The sponge was moist and satisfyingly "spongey" (for want of a better word, but at least it lived up to its namesake - nothing worse than a non spongey sponge!), and the sauce was thick, buttery and sweet. The ice cream presented a nice cool contrast and cut through the sweet sauce nicely, ensuring it wasn't overpoweringly sweet.

You can see the wine bottle light fixture in the background!

Something else that I should definitely mention is that the service was really excellent. Christopher works for Forgan's (which is owned by the same people) and had seen on the staff group that Mitchell's were extremely short staffed that night, and the food did take a little longer than you might expect, but our waitress, Carmen, was so friendly that it more than made up for it. She was constantly upbeat even though it must have been pretty stressful for her (she was new as well) and it made the whole experience even nicer, so thanks Carmen!

I think Mitchell's would probably receive the accolade of my favourite restaurant in St Andrews - the menu, décor and service all made it a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Like Forgan's, Mitchell's was another place which I revisited on my recent trip to St Andrews with my parents. The food was great again, and the service was friendly - and we even got to sit at one of the tables beneath my favourite wine bottle fixtures!!

My starter was absolutely brilliant again this time (maybe Mitchell's starters are my favourite course!). My mum and I shared their "surf board" which had bread, butter, hot smoked salmon, trout pâté, sardines, peppered mackerel and olive tapenade.

We only realised afterwards that they actually forgot to give us any trout pâté but to be honest everything else was so good that it probably didn't even need any extra! The mackerel was so smoky and soft, the salmon was meaty and fresh, and the sardines were sharp and vinegary! The olives tapenade was salty and delicious on the soft homemade bread, and even just the bread and butter was great!!

My dad had crispy fried haggis balls (haggis was a theme of the week for him!) and Christopher had the creamy mushroom brioche like last time!

 For main I had the veggie lasagne with swiss cheese and artisan bread, my mum had marinated pesto chicken with roasted med veg and melting dolcelatte, Christopher had rump steak (medium well, shame on him!) with peppercorn sauce and chips, and my dad had fish and chips.

 A small disappointment was that my lasagne topping was slightly burnt, which meant the dish was quite a bit drier (and crunchier!) than I would perhaps have liked, but the cheese was nice strong and the vegetables were well cooked - I just maybe wished I'd gone for the sea bass fillets instead! But ah well, next time! My mum loved her chicken and my dad his fish and chips (it was smoked haddock which was definitely an interesting change to the usual cod/haddock!), and Christopher enjoyed his steak a lot - even with the extremely hot peppercorn sauce!! This was another really enjoyable meal at Mitchell's, and again I have to say how good the service was, and the presentation of the food. Already looking forward to my next visit!

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Gorgeous, St Andrews

Despite the slightly cringey name, Gorgeous is a really nice little tearoom just off Market Street, with a welcoming, Christmassy (at the moment!) exterior.

Downstairs is takeaway only, with plenty of cakes, scones, savoury options and drinks to choose from (they do quite a lot of gluten free stuff too, so it's good for coeliacs), while upstairs there is a cosy little room full of old fashioned knick knacks for people who want to eat in.

I especially liked the washing line with clothes on, and there was also an old fashioned sewing machine - the comfortably messy unpretentious style made you feel as if you were eating in someone else's house rather than a restaurant.

As seems to be a bit of a habit for St Andrews cafés/restaurants, there is no website, but I took a picture of the menu again!

I was quite impressed by the range of fillings on offer - with a baked potato (one of my favourite comfort foods) you could have three toppings included in the price, so I went for smoked applewood, cheddar and roasted veg

I liked the presentation with the potato in the bowl, and the toppings were both generous and tasty. The one thing I would have changed is that the roasted veg were cold - I would rather they were heated up. I also had a HUGE glass of freshly squeezed orange juice - with curly straws and ice (top marks)!

Christopher went for a sausage, egg and bacon roll...

...when I asked him for comments I got the single word "nice" - definitely nothing to complain about! Also he got a double yolked egg which apparently is lucky! 

Also with his breakfast tea the milk came in a tiny little bottle - something which pleased me almost as much as things being served in jam jars!!

Christopher then had a cheese scone which was massive and had a really delicious crusty cheesy top

I'm not quite sure why they brought jam with it, but each to their own! The service was really quick and friendly and all in all it was a relaxing and cosy atmosphere. Also look what I spotted just as I was leaving

Definitely worth a return visit just to sample these!! 

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Jannettas, St Andrews

During the summer holidays when I was at my grandparents' house, my granny showed me a Times article about the 10 coolest ice cream parlours in Britain. The number one place was not, as you might expect, London based, but Jannettas in St Andrews! So, despite the sub zero temperatures during my visit, we had to pay it a visit.

It's a family run ice cream parlour with a friendly atmosphere - lots of newspaper cuttings, postcards and pictures on the walls, and they had already made it look Christmassy with lots of baubles.

Christopher had been before on a "hot" (for St Andrews!) summer day, and apparently the queue went right out of the door! Even though there wasn't a queue on the cold November day we were there, there was still a huge range of ice cream flavours. I took some photos on my phone to try and get them all in - apologies for the poor photo quality!!

I really liked the way they had seasonal flavours like Mince Pie and and Christmas Pudding, and traditional Scottish flavours like Cranachan and Scottish Tablet. I decided to go for one scoop of Scottish Tablet as I had read great things about it online, and one scoop of Nutella, as I can never ever resist Nutella!

I went for a tub as I'm not the biggest fan of cones, but if you are, look at the cool sprinkle covered ones you can get! Firstly, I loved the "B Janetta" emblazoned wafer - light yet buttery and perfect for scooping up the ice cream. Secondly...the ice cream. It was, without a doubt, the best ice cream I have ever had (it even beats Heston's salted caramel popcorn ice cream!). So often ice cream doesn't taste very strongly of whatever flavour it professes to be, but both of these scoops packed a punch in the flavour department. The Nutella was just what you'd expect - nutty, chocolatey and deliciously rich, but the biggest triumph for me was the Scottish tablet. As Christopher said when he tried it, you could even somehow taste the texture of the tablet, even in the creamy ice cream - that sweet sugary grittiness (for want of a better word) that characterises it!

Christopher had one scoop of White Chocolate Vanilla Pod, and one scoop of Oreo (a close third choice for me) both of which were also intensely flavoured and moreish

At £2.90 for 2 generous scoops and a wafer it was very reasonably priced, too!

An indulgent snack for any time of year, even in hat and scarf weather! Also they make ice cream cakes for Christmas - a perfect alternative for anyone (sensible) who doesn't like Christmas Cake! Check out their website here

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Rascals, St Andrews

After literally months of twitter, instagram and facebook stalking, the night where I could finally sample a Rascals burger had arrived!

My obsession was born from seeing this article about Rascals' "Man vs Food" style challenge - The Poppas Revenge. It's 5 12oz beef burgers, 8 slices of bacon, melted cheese (a whole block, apparently..!), and pulled pork, plus chips, sweet potato fries, a side salad, coleslaw, 6 magma wings (so hot you have to sign a disclaimer before eating them) and an ice cream milkshake topped with cream! If you eat it all in an hour you don't pay, but if you fail....it's £39.95.

While I didn't think my eating prowess would quite stretch to this almighty challenge, I definitely wanted to sample the burgers at the place which offered it; all my facebook stalking had shown me amazing looking pictures of burgers piled with cheese, chilli, pulled pork...I could go on all day.

So, with high expectations, I arrived at Rascals, and sat down in our reserved booth (the American diner style stretches from the menu all the way to the interior design), already knowing exactly what I wanted to have. (If you're planning a visit, look here for their menu so you can do the same!)

I shared the Hobo Fries with Christopher's friend Muir

and I have to say, they were an absolute triumph! Chips piled high with cheese, pepperoni, chilli, pulled pork and jalapeños. The pulled pork and chilli were particularly good - the pork was sticky and sweet, and the chilli thick and meaty, with the jalapeños adding the spicy kick I so love, and the cheese making everything taste even better, as only cheese can do. 

For my main, I went for a beef burger with double cheese, chilli and jalapeños, with sweet potato fries, coleslaw and salad

  

It looks like a meat volcano! First things first, the sweet potato fries were nicely crispy, and dipped in the creamy coleslaw they were really good and disappeared quickly. Now onto the burger....I started by eating some of the chilli which was erupting from the sides, and I was not disappointed. Just like on the chips, it was thick and meaty, and also added a nice bit of sloppiness to proceedings - you can't have a burger without it being messy! They definitely didn't skimp on the cheese, which was nice and mature and adhered well to the chilli, giving a double whammy of flavour.

However....once I had cleaned up a bit of the meat lava round the edge of my burger, I decided to cut into it. Despite having the slightly pink interior that the menu promised, the burger was one of the most dense I have ever had. It wasn't burnt at all, but the actual meat was so dense that it wasn't easy to slice or bite through! 

I really like a coarse ground, juicy burger which pretty much falls apart in your mouth, but sadly this wasn't it. It was such a shame that I had this experience because all the toppings and sides are amazing (and the chilli did add some of that all important juiciness) - but for me the actual beef patty just didn't hit the mark.

Everyone else really enjoyed their burgers though, so it definitely is all about personal taste. Kiri and Muir both had the "Cheesy Chobacoroni" (chorizo, pepperoni, cheese and double bacon), which they both loved

And Christopher had the Ranch Burger (cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce and onion rings) but with a chicken burger rather than beef

Christopher doesn't even like burgers very much, but liked his so much he said he'd definitely come back again soon. He also thought the chips were so good that he ordered a second portion for pudding!

Oyinkan had chips with chorizo, plus a strawberry milkshake

followed by a waffle for pudding (which I tried - it was the perfect combination of fluffy and chewy)

Kiri had some chocolate fudge cake which I didn't try but she said was great

And I tried to have an oreo milkshake but the blender was broken by that point! Quel dommage! 

Overall, I did enjoy Rascals (the Hobo fries will forever be beloved) but it was a real shame that the burger didn't match my personal taste. However, everyone else loved theirs, and I would still go back to try the burgers again - maybe I just got unlucky this time. If not, I'd still go for the topped fries and milkshakes - or maybe just a bowlful of chilli and cheese?! If anyone has had a more juicy experience at Rascals let me know, because I would love to be proved wrong and to be able to keep Rascals in my head as the burger place of dreams.

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