The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

Just off the roundabout at Grimston Bar as you head into York, sits Field and Fawcett, a wine merchant and delicatessen that we have come to value for quality and service. I called into the shop yesterday because I was looking for a couple of bottles of decent wine, a good olive oil and some fresh crusty bread. As I entered they were busy doing a stock take, but stopped everything to ask if I needed any help.

Over the next ten minutes they took the time to give me the low down on the Barbaresco wine I was looking for.  I went for two different bottles in the end. A Vendemmia 2003 Barbaresco and a Riserva 2001 Vigneti in Pora Barbaresco. I won’t say how much I paid, but given we have had this wine before and it is one of the few wines, that we both unanimously agree as being fine, I think it is worth the price for a special treat.

I also managed to get a bottle of the Planeta Extra Virgin Olive Oil at £9.95. We’d had this oil before and again both agree it is one of the best oilve oils available. We particularly like dipping crusty bread into the oil that has had a few drops of balsamic vinegar added.  Simply delicious, I could almost drink the stuff neat.  I also managed to get the crusty bread I was looking for and for today this completed my shop.

The place is nicely laid out, clean and with many other tempting products on offer in the delicatessen you could easily spend quite a bit of money in the place. As experience has shown we have never been disappointed either. A particular success was the alcohol enriched fruit cake we bought over Christmas which was fantastic.  I am not surprised to note on their website that it went onto win a Two Star Gold Great Taste Award in 2008.

Worth taking the time to visit and do say hi from the Pryordurkins.

Pryordurkin rating 4 stars.

After a late start to the day we headed into the City Centre for a spot of shopping and a light lunch.  On our way, we stopped off at Deans Garden Centre looking to buy a water butt so we could start to collect rain water for the garden come summer.  Unfortunately they didn’t have the 60mm connection kit so we could link it up with our guttering drain pipes, which (as is now usual with the Pryordurkin luck) are non standard.  Anyway, laughingly we thought B&Q might have it in and promised ourselves we would call on the way home (Aren’t we silly?).

Getting into the City we parked up and walked into the centre.  It was packed full of tourists and shoppers alike.  You would think it was the week before Christmas.  Restaurant, shops, cafes and the streets were buzzing with people who generally looked up beat, happy and pleased to be out.  I still can’t quite square this with the pessimistic downbeat doom and gloom messaging you get every time you switch on the BBC news.  I find myself shouting at the TV the more excited the news presenters get with every bit of bad news.  Perhaps a few of them should lose their jobs and feel the pain many others are suffering.  They then might think twice about making things even worse by creating even more worry and pessimism amongst Joe Public.  While I’m on one, I’m curious how much the BBC Downturn logo cost.  This is the second one I’ve seen so far.

Anyway where was I?   Oh yes, we bought a few items from around town, stopped for lunch at Harlequin (which was packed, even at 2.30pm) and then made our way home.  On our way, as mentioned earlier, we called into B&Q to see if they had the connection kit we needed for the water butt.    Guess what?…….

Since buying my Vauxhall Vectra last year it has never been properly valeted.  I normally muck it out myself every now and then, but like to have a professional valet done at least twice a year.  So it was long overdue and to be honest the car was looking a little worse for wear, especially having been used to carry a ’wet’ christmas tree home on the back seats!

It was therefore fortunate that I happened across a fly-er by Auto Refinishers York based in Dunnington, who are mainly Vehicle Repair and Paintwork Specialists but now offer general servicing and valeting on top.  I rang them yesterday morning hoping to get the car booked in this week and was delighted when they said, they had just re-opened after Christmas and could fit me in today.  I took the car straight down to them and booked the Gold Valet service at £70 including VAT.  The lady behind reception was very nice indeed and the place had a clean professional feel about the place.  A young guy busied himself in the back ground and I could see from the daily work sheets that the jobs were starting to come in.  I left to return later in the day.

I rang to check whether my car was ready and despite a minor misunderstanding by them that they were not expecting me to return until the next day I picked my car up around 4.30pm and was very pleased with what I found.  I have had quite a few valet services in the past and experience has shown that they can be quite variable.  This one was definitely one of the better ones.  The car was spotlessly clean inside and out.  I could now see through my windows without that misty haze of dust and grime you get after a while and it smelt really fresh.  As it happened I was taking to a garage salesman later in the day and he remarked a couple of times about how professionally polished and in good nick my car looked.

Anyway, with my bill they included another fly-er and the same lady who I had met in the morning mentioned that their labour costs were much lower than main dealerships and that they could do my servicing from £85.  Given I paid nearly £400 last time, I will certainly consider dropping the main dealership and going back to this local friendly business.

If you do go looking for them, they are behind the Costcutter headquarters on Common Road in Dunnington.  Easy to miss, but worth the effort in finding.

Pryordurkin rating 3 Stars.  Telephone 01904 481177

It’s the eve of New Year’s Eve and thankfully Paul seems to be getting over his 24 hour illness the symptoms of which are still too graphic to describe in polite society. It was that bad we even had to cancel our cleaner coming today in case she was at risk of catching the bug.  This means of course that for the first time since we moved into this house, we will have do some housework ourselves!  Paul doesn’t have much energy today but at least he is now taking a little food.  The only good thing according to Paul is that he lost nearly 11 pounds in weight over 24 hours but I’m sure he will put this straight back on when he is drinking properly again!

We did manage to get out of the house for a spot of fresh air today though.  We made what is now the third trip to the garden centre because of the ongoing problems with the Christmas gift I bought him (I’m sticking to socks and underwear next year!) and we had a short walk to post a birthday card for my niece but primarily just to get ome fresh air.  Apart from that it was a quiet day all in all and we’re looking forward to a slightly more active New Year’s Eve itself.

In the meantime have a great New Year yourselves and see you in 2009! P&M xx

We’d popped into the Little John on Christmas Eve at around 10.30pm having had a very nice meal at a nearby restaurant on the Shambles.  We wrote up our experiences and to be fair there has been equal numbers of people who have commented either sharing our views and not sharing our views.

For us, this is not the type of bar we would generally go back to as we have perhaps outgrown that side of the gay scene and prefer something a little different these days, but to be fair it is the only gay bar we know of in York and for that it should be supported.

The bar area is long with seating on both sides and at the back of the bar there seems to be smaller seating areas.  We never managed to check out downstairs when we were there as it was closed (there was some rubbish on the stairs) but posters seemed to indicate some functions took place down there.

The drinks seem very reasonable but if you like a particular brand be certain to ask for it otherwise you might be served up the house varieties which we didn’t like.  They seem to have a number of functions organised during the week and when they re-launch their website, details will no doubt be provided on there.  Their original website was taken down over Christmas/New Year, but we think this was because of the html errors that kept appearing.

Anyway,  all in all, not our ’cup of tea’ but judging by the comments received to date, it gets votes for and against in equal measure.

Pryordurkin rating 1 star.

We finished our Christmas Eve outing with a stop off at the Three Tuns on Coppergate in York.  This old wood panelled pub has a warm welcoming feel to it as you enter the main door.  To your left is the bar where we ordered up a couple of decent brandy’s and we were pleased to have them served in proper brandy glasses!  Sitting down we spent the next 30 minutes relaxing, people watching and people listening and people commenting.  Three great hobbies of ours.

The bar was fairly quiet at around 10.40pm when we arrived. A small group of students were in a what looked like a snook at the far end of the bar.  A couple of elderly gentleman were passing the time in similar fashion to ourselves, but without the people watching bit.  The bar staff busied themselves, cleaning the bar area, the tables previous customers had just left and casually chatting to themselves and customers alike.

A very nice relaxing pub and one that we would definitely go back to.

Pryordurkin rating. 3 stars.

Tel 01904 623120

We have been to this restaurant before and returned on Christmas Eve for dinner.  We arrived at around 8pm and were immediately shown to our table on the first floor, in what is a very cosy restaurant with seating for no more than 25 covers.  We ordered up a bottle of Barbaresco which is a fantastic Italian Red and then chose from the menu.

The starters were fantastic.  My chicken liver pate was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed eating it.  For mains, I had the Sea Bream, which was de-boned at our table upon serving.  Nice touch.  Paul had the Sea Bass and he was as equally pleased.  Served up with vegetables which you order separately, the overall meal was very nice indeed.

The place is tastefully decorated and clearly popular with people who like a bit of quality.  The tourists walking along the Shambles below though would probably not realise what a gem lies behind the front door, because on the ground floor, all you see is a couple of laid tables, and a delicatessen counter.  The waiters were very friendly and attentive and in the main quite nice looking which for us is always good. We think they were all actually Italian as well, which only added to the experience.

Overall settling up the £80 bill which included wine, we were very happy indeed.

Pryordurkin rating 4 stars.  Visted 24th Dec ‘08.  Telephone +44 (0) 1904 670247

We visited the Biltmore Bar and Grill on Swinegate in York on Christmas Eve for a couple of pre-dinner drinks.  We arrived around 6.30pm and the place was already quite busy.  It had a mixed set of clientele generally in their 30’s to 50’s.  Very contemporary in style, this bar is housed in what used to be the former Elim Pentecostal church.  On the first floor, where you can down into the main bar area below, there is seating for both people wanting to sample the grill menu and also a separate Champagne Bar area with comfortable sofas to rest while parting with large chunks of cash.  We opted for a few drinks downstairs and started with a couple of Gin and Tonics, which came to £13.60 for two doubles of house gin.  (No Bombay Saphire in sight!)  Not cheap, but if it keeps the riff raff out then worth it.  There was music playing in the background and with the wooden floors and chatter from other customers, it was difficult to hold a conversation, so we settled for people watching instead.  With some eye candy scattered around, we enjoyed the next hour and half in what was a relaxing and generally pleasant environment although we could see there were a few clique groups of customers who seemed to get better service/attention from the staff/owners than the rest of us punters.

Pryordurkin rating. 3 Stars.

Opening Hours
Monday 4pm till Midnight
Tuesday to Friday 12pm till Midnight
Saturday 12pm till 1am
Sunday 1pm till Midnight

Telephone 01904 610075

With the last minute shopping done, we’re pretty well set for a few days eating, drinking, sleeping and watching TV.  Some might say “How is that different to any other day at home?” but we tend to ignore those questions.   The last few days had us trying to second guess what the other might want as a little pressie from Santa.  We had said earlier in the year, that we would invest in the house instead, but at the last minute we bought a couple of token gifts to open on Christmas morning.  (Well I’m hoping they are token. Mine certainly are!)  Finally I had thought of donating some money to save the rainforests but apparently it is not as important as it once was!

The nice man from Royal Mail brought us a package this morning.  Marked from Australia we’ve resisted the urge to poke and prod. Instead it is safely nestling under the tree.   We haven’t quite decided if we will travel anywhere over the holiday.   We might just close and lock the gates our home and spend a few days locked up with just each others company.  However we are planning to start the onslaught on our digestive systems with a few drinks in town tonight followed by dinner at a (with a) small Italian we know on the Shambles.

Anyway have a good one yourselves and don’t forget to eat all your greens!  P&M  xx

It’s been a pretty fast paced week that ended with me picking Paul up from York Railway station last night at 10.00pm.  Paul had been into London on some science people type meet up.  Earlier in the week, I had been into London for a couple of meetings and a couple of Jollys.  We’ve also welcomed a new review to the Pryordurkin website from my fellow diner and friend Sticky T (read it here).   We’re still waiting for our Australian correspondent to submit her first review!

Before Paul got back last night I took the opportunity while he was away to put up some tacky flashing Christmas lights outside the house.  A nice blue LED lit doorway awaited his return.  Those who know him well can only imagine the look on his face.  It was priceless and worth every penny I spent at Barnitts buying them.

Having a fairly leisurely start to the day this morning, while Paul was ignoring me by playing with Lara Croft downstairs (the game – for those who don’t know Paul!), I found myself stumbling across some good music on BBC Radio Three and enjoying it for the next hour or so.  I remembered while listening that the general rule of thumb when it comes to getting old in England is that you start life by listening to Radio One, move onto Radio Two when you hit your thirties.  This is then followed when you reach middle age by becoming an avid BBC Radio Four listener telling your friends and colleagues it’s for the news and comedy only.  The final stage before you order the box that will take you into the ground is listening to BBC Radio Three and being intolerant of noise, children, the general public and basically anyone who gets in your way when walking on a pavement, into a post office or queueing at Marks and Spencer for a little treat.

Those who know me, will realise that this brief encounter with BBC Radio Three is just that because I have never displayed any of the other aforementioned symptons.