Eating the Country - Seafood at Southport

This place is great for atmosphere and good honest seafood, shrimp were a little overcooked but still pretty good and the crabcake was really tasty. Loved the fact they gave us salad instead of tons of fries. They have a great system where you just go and get beers as and when, then tell them at the end how many you had. View of bay stunning, clientele and staff friendly and fun. If you ever come by Southport, check it out.

Eating the Country - Asheville

It's amazing when you visit somewhere and never have a bad meal - anywhere. If you want to eat some incredible food Asheville is a foodie's paradise. We were there for 3 day and had everything from nouveau local food, latin inspired, organic and traditional a la carte. Above is a picture of the Sisters McMullen bakery full of incredible cupcakes and great sandwiches, and cheap too.

Locally Sourced

Our first night we ate at Table on College Street. They change their menu everyday and pride themselves on using locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. I ordered rabbit and was impressed with how tender it was. The peas and ricotta gnochi were good accompaniments, however I found the sauce a little overpowering for the subtle taste f the meat.

Staff in the restaurant were friendly and knowledgeable concerning the menu and I had the biggest martini I have ever seen. Great atmosphere, recommended.

Rockin' Pizza

Second night we went to the Mellow Mushroom on Broadway Street. The pizza is more deep pan, but the toppings and sauce are delicious, I went for the Kosmic Karma pizza which had spinach, feta and pesto - really wonderful. Unfortunately it was raining when we went so couldn't sit out on the terrace, this would've been preferable as we found it a bit too loud inside.

Food with a View

For a dinner with oodles of atmosphere you can't beat the Grove Park Inn. Nestled in the mountains just outside of Asheville the views are truly spectacular. We ate on the Sunset Terrace which has an a la carte menu of steaks, duck, seafood and more. We opted for their 3 course for $30 with mussels to start followed by steak diane and cheesecake for dessert. Everything was perfectly cooked and with perfect seasoning, and considering the views, this is an excellent bargain.

Breakfast

We ate breakfast at 3 different places, all great.

Over Easy Cafe on Walnut Street

West End Bakery on Haywood, West Asheville

Chorizo on Page Avenue - by far our favourite, service was a little 'relaxed' but food well worth the wait. Tortillas with eggs, thick pieces of bacon, chutney, guacamole, cilantro-fragrant salsa. Heaven.

In Search of the perfect Nshima

Currently this a favourite place of mine for nshima. They are really friendly and are just opposite the gallery where I spend a lot of my time these days.

The nshima was not as good as the first time, when it was soft and yielding with no dryness, but they give you a huge piece of chicken and 2 relishes. This huge meal costs K15,000 which is about $4 I think!

But the search for good places to eat nshima in Lusaka continues!

Pizza in London

Pizza Naplolitana - Da Mario's


Pappadelle with spinach, cream and pine nuts - Da Mario's

When looking for a decent pizzeria in Britain I have certain criteria.

Is there a wood burning stove?

Are the staff, mostly Italian?

Does it smell like the places I used to go to in Italy?

And finally, perhaps more importantly:

Are there any Italians eating in there?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then you can be confident that the pizza will probably be pretty good.

Pizzeria Pappagone in Finsbury Park marks 100% on the above check list and makes good sized pizzas not like those piddly ones at Pizza Express (which I don't rate at all.). Plus their staff are really nice and the service excellent

Then there is Da Mario on the Gloucester Road, a favourite of the late Princess Diana, also does great pizza albeit slightly smaller. And yes, they got a tick for every aspect of the checklist, as well as having a rather interesting oil painting of the late Princess looking saintly as chef makes a pizza.

So keep the above quetions in mind and you can't go far wrong.

Peak District Eats - The Royal Oak and the best ribs in UK

Ok, so Stoke-on-Trent is not on the top of everyone's list of places to visit - unless of course you have excellent taste in ceramics. But travel north out of the city through Leek and you are soon into the wonderful Roaches and the Peak District. And here are some wonderful places to eat. Choose Tissington or Ilam for tea (which we did) and for lunch you must visit the Royal Oak near Hurdlow.
They have a great menu with lots of variety, which sometimes spells trouble, but here they know what to cook and cook it well. I had liver with red wine gravy, red onions and smoked bacon on delicious mashed potato, the liver was tender and the gravy robust and comforting. My husband opted for ribs and steak. Good ribs are difficult to find here but these were delicious, tender, a generous size and the sauce was amazing. We later found out the owner had been given the recipe to him by a friend in Nantucket, Mass.

We all ate well and would've had dessert if the mains hadn't been so big! The staff and owners were super-friendly and clearly love what they do and they are careful to source their ingredients locally. Highly recommended and they have great ales too.

Vegetarian Food and Art at The Warehouse Cafe, Birmingham

Selfridges in Birmingham dominates the skyline in the north with its UFO/aquatic/futuristic - like design. But if you venture to the area of Digbeth below, you will find an interesting modern art scene, quietly growing. (More at Scrapbook )

Walking away from Selfridges towards the top of Digbeth, you will soon come across a little sign for The Warehouse Cafe. Situated on Allison street, it is a vegetarian restaurant, network centre for Friends of the Earth, and shop. It has won awards, been reviewed, but is it that great?

I went there for lunch and had refried bean tacos with potato wedges and piquant green salad
dotted with green pickled chilli slices. The tacos were crisp with a gooey mixture of well-seasoned beans and cheese, made even nicer by adding the yoghurt and coriander side sauce to it and some of the salad. The potato wedges were tasty, crispy on the outside and beautifully soft in the middle. It was a perfect light lunch and only £6.

My only criticism was that I was expecting a kind of semi-gallery feel with lots of art, but instead there were some very small examples kind of dotted around. The restaurant itself had that typical veggie character with unfussy pine and formic tables, I didn't find the atmosphere that inducive to hanging out. However I did notice they have plans for refurbishment this month. And anyway, the food was really worth it!

The Warehouse Cafe

View Larger Map