Anstruther Fish Bar, Anstruther

Located in the pretty seaside town Anstruther, the Anstruther Fish Bar has won numerous awards, including UK Fish and Chip shop of the year, so I felt like it was definitely deserving of a visit and a review. I went last year and loved it, but since then went to the Magpie in Whitby, and Poppies in London (read my review here), both of which are lauded as having amazing fish and chips, so I wanted to see how it compared!

You can eat in or take away - we decided to eat in as you get bread and butter, a hot drink and sauces included, and we were going to need A LOT of sauce! If you take away you get them in really cool newspaper print boxes though - we did that last year and it's lovely to sit by the sea and eat them in the sun (just beware of seagulls snatching your chips!).

It's all quite basic - the hot drinks come in paper cups...

...and the bread is bog standard sliced brown...

...but to me that's fine - you come here for good fish and chips, not bone china and toasted sourdough - for a chip butty sliced bread works just fine!

You can view the menu online here - there is a fair amount of choice of fish, and they also have daily specials. I thought the Pittenweem prawns sounded delicious (also partly because I love the word Pittenweem) but I decided to go for battered lemon sole as I love the lemon sole goujons from Waitrose and thought this could only be better! My dad had the same as me, my mum had battered haddock and Christopher had good old battered sausage.

Lemon sole

Haddock

Money shot of the lemon sole!

I think out of all the fish and chip shop chips I've had, these are my favourite. Despite looking quite pale and giving the worrying impression they would be undercooked/soggy, they are delicious - fluffy and hot in the centre, salty, sharp with vinegar and crunchy when they should be. The lemon sole was also excellent; it tasted so fresh and was meaty and flaky, with a light and crunchy batter. Both my mum and Christopher really enjoyed theirs as well, and the general opinion was that it is definitely one of the best ones we've been to. Out of the three I mentioned earlier, I think Anstruther Fish Bar wins best chips, The Magpie wins best menu because of the vast amount of choice, and Poppies wins best bread (I know I said sliced is good, but tiger bread has got to be the ultimate winner!). It's so hard to decide who wins best fish as I tried a different fish in each place, so we'll just proclaim it a draw on that one - they were all excellent!

Also, cool fact - Charles and Camilla have eaten here! If it's good enough for royalty, it should definitely be good enough for the rest of us!

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Kind Kyttock's Kitchen, Falkland

On our trip to St Andrews, my parents wanted to take us for a post walk lunch at a tea room they had discovered on their last visit. I pointed and laughed at the name "Kind Kyttock's Kitchen" (it sounds like somewhere old fashioned, serving dry cake and tea) before realising that that's where we were heading! I'm glad to say though that my first impressions were completely wrong!

Kyttock's IS old fashioned, but in a sweet, quaint way rather than a depressing one. There is an open fire in the downstairs room, lots of pictures and paintings hung on the walls, and Cath Kidston style tablecloths on every table. They also had really nice crockery - watch out for the red and white spotted cake stand - and chunky wooden table numbers which I thought were cool. The menu is pretty extensive and includes omelettes, toasties, jacket potatoes, nachos (definitely not old fashioned!), and lots of different cakes!

It took me ages to decide as usual, but eventually I went for a cheese and tomato toastie on white bread

 Really nice bread and lots of cheese - also I love red onion so was pleased to have that in the side salad!

Christopher had a gammon and cheese toastie

And my parents shared a huge afternoon tea for two!

We couldn't quite believe how good value it was - it was only £14 or £15 and included sandwiches of your choice (my mum had bacon which was deliciously thick and salty, and my dad had gammon), a scone each, a scotch pancake each, bermuda shortbread, carrot cake and millionaire's shortbread! They didn't even manage to finish it all themselves and that is definitely saying something!

Not to be left out (even though this was about 3pm and we had dinner reservations for 6pm!), Christopher and I also had cake...Christopher had Victoria sponge and I had hot chocolate fudge cake with about half a bowl of cream!

Christopher's Victoria sponge was really light and fluffy, with lots of jam and cream, and my chocolate cake was amazing! As I have said before, chocolate cake can so often be a huge disappointment - dry and nasty -  but this one was rich and gooey! Possibly one of the best I have had in the UK! (I nearly wrote England then, what a faux pas!)

Quite a short review, but there's not much more I can say - Kind Kyttock's Kitchen is definitely worth a visit for comforting, homely, filling food after a long walk!

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Hawksmoor, London

Apart from a big juicy burger, there is not much I love more than a big juicy steak, so James and I decided to try the place often touted as serving the best steak in London - Hawksmoor. They have four branches and we went to the Spitalfields one purely because we'd heard it was the best of the best!

I went intending to not have a starter as I wanted to dedicate all my hunger to the steak, but obviously ended up giving in - they all just sounded so nice! We shared potted smoked mackerel and roasted scallops with white port and garlic.

The scallops were presented absolutely beautifully and tasted even better - the sauce was rich and flavoursome yet light, the scallops were cooked perfectly and the breadcrumbs added a nice texture. The potted mackerel was meaty and smokey; there was lots of it to pile onto the toast, but it was so good I also just ate it straight out of the jar on its own!

The waitress was very knowledgeable and helpful with the steaks; they have their usual ones on the menu, but then on a blackboard they have other cuts and sizes, which they cross off as they're sold!

She asked us how we usually liked our steaks cooked (medium rare/rare for both of us) and advised us accordingly; we both eventually went for the rib eye medium rare - I love rib eyes because I like the fat in them! Also it's a rib eye steak that I used to get at my favourite place in Toulouse (Café à la Une) so it brings back good memories! I went for béarnaise sauce and James for stilton hollandaise.

We also completely over ordered on sides but it had to be done - I wanted to try it all! We had mash and gravy

Triple cooked chips

Macaroni cheese

And bread and butter which I didn't bother taking a picture of! As you can see, the steak was amazingly cooked - nice and pink in the middle, it basically melted in the mouth and was still so juicy. The béarnaise was delicious too - very rich and buttery and not only tasted great with the steak, but was better than mayo and ketchup with the chips! The chips were crunchy and fluffy and the bread was a nice soft sourdough with a chewy crust. The macaroni cheese had a crispy top but sadly was a bit disappointing underneath as the sauce should have been much more abundant and more creamy, but never mind - I guess their macaroni cheese isn't what they boast about! And saving the best side til last....the mash was absolutely amazing! So smooth and velvety with a rich meaty gravy on top - I could have eaten about 10 dishes of the stuff.

My new favourite phrase seems to be "in for a penny, in for a pound" and it was definitely that I was thinking of as I ordered pudding - a sticky toffee sundae!

Lovely sticky pieces of toffee sponge mixed with ice cream and caramel sauce - how can you go wrong?!

This was a pretty expensive meal (only about £25 less than I spent at Dinner by Heston) but overall we thought it was worth it - the steak really was delicious, and that's what you come for. If you just came for mains and didn't order too many sides (avoid the mac n cheese but get the mash!!) then it wouldn't be nearly so expensive, and you'd still be getting the best bits of the meal - the others are just fun extra frills. James thought the steak was better than his one at Dinner by Heston too - quite a compliment! I'd have to broaden my London steak eating horizons before I could say it's the best in London, but it's definitely the best I have had in the UK - so save up and go and gorge yourself on steak!

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Atomic Burger, Oxford

On Saturday I went to visit my school friend Omnya in Oxford; not content with exploring only the London burger scene, we decided to visit the famous Atomic Burger to see what they had to offer. Despite Omnya studying here, she had never been before (something she admits herself is "shameful for a Oxford student") so it was new discoveries all round.

Everything in the restaurant is cartoon/film/famous character themed, from the menu (which you can see here) to the décor - there is even Barbie wallpaper in the ladies' toilet!

I like the little Tardis hanging from the ceiling! We decided to skip starters (shock horror) and go straight into burgers, as even I was worried I might get a bit full if I attempted all three courses, particularly as I was ordering a double burger, The McLovin. Omnya is now vegetarian so went for the veggie "Frito Bandito" which has cheddar cheese, nachos, salsa, sour cream and guacamole. I ordered "dirty fries" with mine (topped with chilli, aged cheddar sauce and jalapeños) and Omnya had normal fries (what a let down!!).

The mighty McLovin'

The McLovin is basically a giant, better quality Big Mac - the sauce is similarly delicious and tangy, and you have plenty of vinegary pickles and plasticky (in a good way!) American cheese! It was absolutely huge so after making a few attempts to eat it with my hands I had to go through the knife and fork shame....(see my post on The Bird for a good summary on how I usually feel about people who use cutlery for burgers)...my mouth just isn't that big though! I need to be like one of those snakes who can dislocate their jaw to eat their prey.....!!

A beautiful tower of juicy meat. It was well constructed so it didn't fall apart as you attempted to deconstruct it. My one issue with it was that I asked for it medium rare, and to me it definitely wasn't pink enough to be medium rare, but ah well - it was still juicy and tasty so it wasn't the end of the world! I also thought I might not like the bun as much as it wasn't brioche, so I was worried it would be dry, but it was soft and squidgy - that'll teach me not to make food snobby assumptions!

The fries were really good too - as I've said before, I normally prefer actual melted cheddar to a sauce, but this one was nicely strong and didn't make the chips soggy, so it's all good! There wasn't quite as much chilli as I'd have liked, but the jalapeños and hot sauce added a lovely kick! I could definitely eat another bowlful of them now, I'm starving...

Omnya really enjoyed the Frito Bandito - she thought the veggie burger was the best she'd ever had! Crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside, without rogue unblended peas or sweetcorn which can sometimes add a lumpy texture! The nachos added a nice crunch too.

After debating long and hard over pudding (a milkshake? Or an actual pudding?) I went for the "Wookie Cookie sundae" with vanilla ice cream, oreo cookies, chocolate and butterscotch sauce, marshmallow fluff, cream and a cherry on top! Omnya was too full but I kindly allowed the waiter to bring two spoons so she could try a bit!!

Flashback to a year 8 trip to TGIs where we put the Toffee Popcorn brownie sundae meant for four between the two of us and tried to stop anyone else from sharing it...!

The sundae was so good! We both said we normally only like sundaes with brownie in, but this one was absolutely packed with oreo cookies which added an excellent crunchy texture (it's the different textures that plain ice cream sundaes lack, hence why we both usually only get ones with brownies in!). The fluff was sticky and sweet; the whole thing was just really indulgent. By the end it was almost too much...but obviously I did still finish it.

After the meal we definitely needed to walk it off, so we headed out into a lovely sunny day and wandered around Oxford.

Magdelene College

We also saw these really cool street performers by HSBC - Mr Woodnote, Lil Rhys and Eva Lazarus. You can see some videos etc of their stuff here - it was so good, definitely worth giving it a listen.

A lovely day in Oxford with brilliant food - Atomic Burger were tweeting a while back about opening in Reading, and I really hope they do now!! I'll be at the front of the queue!

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Sweeney & Todd, Reading

Sweeney & Todd is something of a Reading institution - my parents used to go there while they were students (it's even the same lady who makes and serves the pies now as it was then!) - and seems to be the place to get a pie in Reading. I had been meaning to go for years, but reading a not-so-positive review of it in another blog I enjoy (Edible Reading) spurred me into going, as I really wanted to see who I agreed with!

It's located opposite Evissa, on the edge of the town centre; at first when you go in, it appears to just be a pie shop with a bar and a few tables, but it's actually deceptively large - downstairs there are a few different sized dining rooms, as well as small nooks and crannies with booths and tables tucked into them. We sat at one of the booths which was really nice as it felt more private and was a bit quieter - until a group of raucous wannabe lads (including an old teacher of mine!) sat in the next room, that is! But still, it was quite amusing listening in on their "funny" anecdotes and stories!

There's no menu online so as always I took pictures!

The waitress comes and lists off every pie they have available, which was most of the ones on the menu list, plus a few extras. I went for the Five Nations pie (steak, Guinness, garlic, mustard and leeks) and my mum had the chicken, chilli, and chorizo, and we ordered bread and butter, ratatouille and cauliflower cheese to share.

The ratatouille was tasty with big chunks of courgette, and the cauliflower cheese had lovely crispy cheddar on top, even if the cauliflower was slightly on the soggy side. I thought the pastry on the pies was great - buttery, crisp and flaky, and the fillings were equally as good. The meat in mine was mostly tender (apart from a few odd pieces!),I really liked the flavour of the leeks and garlic, and the gravy was nice and thick. My mum's had a gentle heat from the chillis without the spice being too overpowering, and the chorizo added a lovely smokey flavour. I've read a couple of claims that they microwave the pies here...who really cares?! If they've made the pastry from scratch beforehand and microwaving them is the easiest way to heat them up, I really don't mind at all, especially because I thought the pastry was crisp anyway so definitely hadn't been spoilt if it had been microwaved! A couple of small grumbles are that the side salad is pointless (although I do love raw onion) and I wish more than anything they did mash, but at least it got me to try different sides!

Our little booth!

Sweeney & Todd do quite a wide variety of classic British puddings (definitely puddings, not desserts!); I went for bread and butter pudding with custard and my mum had treacle tart with custard (she'd been going on about it since her last visit!)

My bread and butter pudding was really good - it was made with French bread which I loved as you got a different, more chewy texture from the crust to contrast with the sponginess of the actual bread, and the custard was nice and vanilla-y. The treacle tart would have been too sweet for me to eat a whole piece, but for those with a sweet tooth it would be excellent - sticky and sugary with thick, buttery pastry.

Without wanting this to be construed in a negative way (as I really enjoyed it!), "school dinner food" is probably the best way I can think of to describe the meal - it's basic and unpretentious but comforting, filling and surprisingly tasty. It has the few little mistakes/short cuts that you might expect from school dinners (eg tinned tomatoes in the ratatouille, little lumps in the custard) but the thing about Sweeney & Todd is that isn't haute cuisine, and nor is it pretending to be; the little mistakes and quirks are partly what gives this place its character, and there is definitely no denying they make a really good pie - the amount of years it's been open and stood up against all the chains in Reading is a pretty good indicator of that too! It's perfect hangover/post work food, so with all ideas of food snobbery set aside, go and enjoy some stodgy British classics!

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