The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘evenings’

Paul started out this morning by visiting a new hair stylist in York where he had a new cut and some colour put in.  (I’ll put the picture up soon!)  By the time he got home I had finished breakfast and was out of bed and showered by 11am.  We both went back into the city for a spot of lunch at 1331, which continues to be consistently good. After a little shopping at Molton Brown and Barnitts, we got home around 4.30 and have now started to prepare for this evenings Eurovision Song Contest coming from Moscow.

We’re expecting the usual camp fest of music and with Graham Norton stepping into Sir Terry Wogan’s shoes as main presenter for the BBC, it will be interesting to see how entertaining he makes it.  (I’m suspecting it won’t be as funny).

Anyway, have a great evening yourselves and here is betting the voting results are just as predictables as ever.

We moved to York early last year and after a while discovered A Barker Butchers in Dunnington near York.  You could easily drive past this butchers in Dunnington as there is little by the way of a sign saying butcher or even A Barker!  However once you know where they are and try the produce, then you will no doubt go back again and again.  There are a number of friendly guys who work in the shop and even if you are in a grumpy mood (what me!) you will always find them trying to engage you in friendly banter.  That aside!, I especially like the locally sourced chicken, beef, pork, pork sausages and bacon.  The quality as compared to the meats you can buy in any supermarket are in a class of their own.  While it can be a tad more expensive (but not much), the difference in taste and knowing where the meat comes from is very good value alone.  We are now regulars and will often just pop in late afternoon to pick up some fresh meats for that evenings dinner.

By the way they also sell vegetables and a few cakes, but these are a bit hit and miss.  If you time it right the vegetables can be quite fresh, but not always.  We much prefer the Balloon Tree down the road.  (read review)  The cakes are a bit on the cheap side when it comes to ingredients so I now give these a miss.

However as a butcher they are great and despite their friendly banter every time I visit, I keep going back.

Pryordurkin rating 3 Stars

Telephone 01904 489265

Huge quantities of mass catering food are on offer at this local Pub.  Don’t ever order the mixed grill if you have a delicate stomach.  This pub is very popular indeed with people who travel far and wide to enjoy its fayre.  The locals however don’t seem to go in too much because (they say), once you have been in a couple of times, all the dishes start to taste the same.  The prices charged for food is quite high for what it is, but to be fair they do pile it on the plate.  However for us this is not really what we look for these days.  More quality less quantity seems to suit us better.  But hey, each to their own.

The bar and restaurant area are traditionally decorated but what I can’t understand is why the place never has a window open, even when it is stiflingly hot inside.  It takes the enjoyment away as far as I am concerned and the staff seem oblivious to the lack of clean fresh air and heavy sweating customers.

The bar has a few rooms available for overnight stays and these seem popular with travelling salesmen who you find supping away on a beer and mixed grill most evenings in the bar.

Sunday Lunch is popular but do book, because for reasons completely lost on us, it is very popular and busy throughout the day.  I am convinced there must be a retirement home nearby and this place serves as the canteen.

The owner seems to have a thing about mobile phones, which must be turned off whilst inside.  He is also not that shy when telling his prospective customers to avoid smoking just outside the door.  Actually when you look, there are warning signs barking orders for every possible misdemeanor, which strangely brings out an urge to break them in me.

Anyway, if you fancy a trip down memory lane by listening to the conversations around you while eating some northern fayre, give it a try. But don’t take your mobile phone, make sure you can lose some clothing and if you order the mixed grill forget about wearing a belt!

Score: 2 Stars. Last Visited 17th September 2008

Having a ’billy no mates’ kind of evening, I opted for takeaway Fish and Chips from the Fish Bone Restaurant on Cleveland Street in London.  A very short hop from the Holiday Inn on Carburton Street, I was back in my room within five minutes of being served piping hot and freshly cooked Fish and Chips.  At £5.50 for the large Cod and Chips, they were good value indeed and went down quickly as I lay on my bed watching My Family on the BBC.  Serving soft drinks, bread rolls and if you fancy it, bottled lager, this place is great if you just want to slob out in front of your hotel TV with a bit of comfort food.   They even offer up desert for those with a sweet tooth.  Black Forest Gateau being this evenings option.  (I was good and give it a miss).

The restaurant, as the name implies, also caters for those who wish to eat in and while it was not busy when I called round at 8.00pm, it did look clean with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Rating. 2 Stars.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7580 2672

Next door to London Television Studios at Southbank was Riviera Restaurant at Gabriel’s Wharf.  The setting for this evenings dinner after work.  With a couple of colleagues I sat at a window table around 7.30pm.  With views across the river to St Paul’s Cathedral and Canary Wharf it was a great location to spend the next hour or so. 

Unfortunately I can not be as positive about the food.  I went for the Soup of the Day at £3.95 for my starter.  It was a butternut squash affair and reasonably priced.  However I was disapointed to find it didn’t come with crusty bread.  My main course was a rib-eye steak at £14.95.  To be fair, it was actually cooked very well i.e. it was medium as I had asked.  However what let it down was the taste of fish.  It had clearly been cooked on the same griddle pan as the fish mains served up to other diners.    It would have been a good steak otherwise.  

The restaurant itself was clean and could handle 70 covers across two floors.  The toilets were reasonable but inaccessible to the disabled.   The service was poor as is usual in restaurants and bars near tourist hot spots. I therefore didn’t leave a tip. 

Rating: 2 Stars.  Visited 13th August 2008.

What I have never been able to figure out in Hotels that provide mini bars in rooms, is why the prices charged are so prohibitively expensive.  It has over my working life always puzzled me, why this particular aspect of the capitalist society is immune to the normal supply and demand principles that apply to pretty much every thing else.

However at last I have found a hotel that breaks this rule once and for all, albeit in a very strange and frankly annoying way.

I arrived back at my hotel for the evening and as you will see in an earlier review, settled down to watch a bit of mindless television with a glass of wine.  I noticed in the mini bar a small 25cl bottle of white wine, checked the price and thought £3.95 was extortionate but given my current state of dress, worth taking.  It was only when I was recounting the previous evenings meal in the hotel restaurant that I remembered I had been served the same 25cl bottle of wine at £5.55.  So in my mini bar, I could buy (albeit only 1 was stocked and this is important to remember) the same bottle of wine as I had in the hotel restaurant the previous night for an extra £1.60.  OK you might think I paid a premium for the use of the restaurant.  Fair point, for now.

However this evening I wanted to stay in my room and started leafing through the short room service menu.  This time, the same bottle of wine was again priced at £5.55.  I had a choice.  Ring reception and tell them to re-fill my mini bar, where I could then take said bottle for £3.95.  Or, I could ring room service, likely to be answered by same people, and order a bottle of the same wine from the room service menu and pay £5.55.

This was an annoying option in it’s own right simply because it had no logic.  However things got worse.  Feeling a little peckish I decided to order up some food.  Like many hotels now, there is a tray charge (£2.50 here) and that itself winds me up. However it is just about (with a strong wind) justifiable on the grounds they have to carry the food upstairs.  So I browsed down the new menu, and noticed many of the exact same dishes as were served in the restaurant, only this time they were more expensive.  An example (not a good one as it shows my taste but hey, I’m working class), Benn & Jerry’s ice cream.  Served at £5.00 in the restaurant for a little tub (they don’t even try to add value these days), but on the room service menu it was £6.00.  Outrageous.  Not only were they charging £2.50 for the tray charge to bring it to my room, but the cost of the food had mysteriously gone up by 20% as well.  How can this be.  Is it me.  No logic to the pricing structure, except one that is based on the assumption customers are stupid and there to be ripped off while tired and relaxing in the hotel.  I am very tempted to stop coming to this hotel on these grounds alone.  That all being said I quite like this hotel.

The hotel accomodation is fantastic. Clean, smart, stylish and fresh from a recent refurb.  The service is generally friendly and attentive.  The lifts work (not like the Holiday In Regents Park) and the place is popular with business people and cabin crew alike. Not many tourists thank goodness.

The hotel is next to the Bloomsbury centre, where a range of (chain) restaurants and shops seem to do a roaring trade.  So instead of room service or visiting the hotel restaurant, along with colleagues I will often dine out.  Around the area there are also a good many Italian and Greek restaurants, some of which are very good indeed.  Failing all that the Waitrose shop in the Bloomsbury offers you the chance to just buy some basics and prepare your own meal in your room.

Anyway, give it a go and see if you can figure the wine pricing structure.  If you see me, I’ll be the guy asking stupid questions at the bar.

Pryordurkin rating. 3 stars.

Well here I am again at the Croydon Park Hotel and the usual routine of taking dinner (on my own) in the restaurant leads me to practising (sometimes without much effort) the art of listening to other peoples conversations.  At this point I should of course tell you about my experience on the train down from Yorkshire this morning.  While working at my seat, I could clearly see the girl sat in front of me, sending text messages to her boyfriend.  She had quite a big phone and of course out the corner of my eye I could not help but notice what was being written.  Anyway, the text messages that were coming out of this otherwise petite and conservatively dressed girl would have shocked a Navi.  In essence it turned out the boyfriend was working up a sweat at the local gym while this girl was texting him.  She spent the next half hour sending messages describing just how hot under the collar she was getting thinking about him working up a sweat etc etc!  By the way, this is the clean version!  What would her mother say?  However it was entertaining and passed an otherwise normal mundane journey.

Anyway back to Croydon.  With my hobby of people watching now an established pastime, listening to the conversations taking place around me in restaurants proves to be as entertaining as any good Soap Opera.  This evenings installment went along the lines of.  Joe maybe gay, but hides it well, although everyone in the office thinks he should just come out and admit it.  Meanwhile Frank (the boss) is a useless manager, hopeless at motivating his staff and Amy (sat at the dinner table speaking) knows a big secret but she can’t tell.   Amy (bless her) kept plugging away at the fact that she knew a big secret, but unfortunately (for Amy) her colleagues weren’t biting or pushing to find out what it was.  The disappointment on her face was palpable.  Anyway, this is my life in a hotel.  It’s just like Crossroads and I am waiting for Benny to show up any minute.

PS.  Has anyone else noticed how when you get a group of work colleagues together on a train / in a hotel they all try just that little bit too hard to be outgoing/friendly/popular.  You can normally hear it happening.  Forced laughter, giggling and inane dribble being passed off as conversation.

PPS.  I’ve had had quite a fun day so am not grumpy before you ask!

A very good hotel in the centre of Barcelona which is straight friendly. Although we thought it was a little tired looking during our last visit, it is still worth a try. The staff are impeccably turned out, professional and friendly. Breakfast is a very interesting time, as you check out all those people who say goodbye over a croissant to last night’s trade.

The occasional afternoon tea dance and the roof top bar and sun lounge make this a great place to rest from those very long evenings in Barcelona. Just remember, if you’re eating dinner before 11pm, you are to early!

The hotel is ideally located in Barcelona and most of the tourist attractions can either be walked to from the hotel or you can quickly find a taxi or local bus stop.  The underground and train systems are very close by.  Not far away is the La Ramblas where you can walk down through the main shopping and tourist area to the beach.  Be aware of the touts who line the road though as they are generally all out to scam poor unsuspecting visitors.  The card tricks, really ARE just card tricks and we’ve seen many people taken for a ride with this common scam.

Rating: 3 Stars.