The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘mains’

We paid another visit to Ambience Cafe Bar at 40 Glllygate York for lunch today.  We wanted something light and quick while out shopping in the City Centre.  As we arrived around 12 noon, the walled garden was starting to fill up with other customers.  We took a seat at one of the plastic tables and waited to be served.  Within moments we were greeted by the friendly owner, who said someone would be with us soon.  A nice touch.

A young guy with a blank look turned up to take our order.  We knew after placing the order, it was unlikely to arrive without problem.   Sure enough my chicken sandwich arrived covered in coronation sauce, despite my specifically asking for it to come plain.  Despite this the sandwich was fine.  Paul had opted for Ham and it certainly looked home cooked.  Accompanied by curly fries (how can respectable places still serve these grease laden things) and a small bowl of soup, it was good value at £5.90 each.

The garden itself is very private and sits within the walls of York City Centre.  It has certainly filled out with planting since we were last time and was as usual very nice indeed.

In summary, this cafe bar, while not exactly serving ‘Gastro’ food, does do what it says on the tin, and provides a nice place to stop and refresh in peaceful surroundings.

Pryordurkin rating 3 stars.

Before going to the theatre last night we looked for somewhere to have an early spot of dinner.  Not having thought about it, ahead of  time, proved to be a mistake.  We entered this restaurant/cafe at around 6pm and there were a few tables taken by families and racegoers (drunk).

The menu should have given the game away.  It was extensive, printed on hard plastic-cum-cardboard and had French titles for what turned out to be typical poor English mass catering food.

It was too late to leave and find another restaurant so were persevered.

The white wine arrived and our glasses were both filled to the brim (an indication of the clientèle they usually get,  me thinks).  Before I realised, the waitress had gone, leaving the white wine bottle on the table in full view of the albeit now descending evening sun.  No cooler was offered….

I tucked the paper napkin (I hate these things with a passion hard to describe) onto my lap while we both sampled the selection of breads and dips.  Awful.  Stale mass produced bread sticks (clearly out of a box) and a poor imitation of classic French dips.

The service itself, I should mention though (apart from the bottle cooler incident) was friendly and reasonably quick.  The surroundings themselves were faux French cafe in styling. The wooden floor however, only echoed the immense noise of glasses and coffee cups being stacked behind the bar by someone I took to be the manager.  I know this, because she was grumpy with her staff and if looks could kill, she would easily strike you down at 20 feet.  It seemed she was taking her attitude out on the crockery. It was deafening.

Anyway, the mains arrived.  I had opted for Demi Poulet or as it turned out, half a cheap chicken and chips covered in garlic oil.  Paul went for the beef bourguignon and a side salad.  I have to start by commenting on the salad.  It was limp, lifeless, small and cheap.   Probably the worst I have ever seen served up during an evening meal.

Back to my main, the chicken and chips were just about OK.  The value though, when compared to the price paid was very poor indeed.  Paul’s meal was just as bad.  The beef bourguignon was tough, the sauce had some weird underlying taste to it.  I thought it had chirozo in, so goodness knows where that flavour came from.

We settled up and quickly left promising never to make this mistake again.

Pryordurkin rating 1 star.

We decided to have a no brain activity evening last night and headed off to Clifton Moor to grab something to eat and take in a mindless but entertaining film at the Vue Cinema. We noticed a Frankie & Benny’s restaurant and despite the awful music they insist of piping outside the front door, we decided to go in. It was not a good start. The ‘greeter’, a man with a huge jaw, scowled a little and showed us to a cramped tiny table with paper napkins (I have a thing about paper napkins OK?) and plastic menus. Sitting a little while we noticed a second table who were seated after us where already placing their orders, so I stopped a passing waitress and asked if we could order. To give her credit, she was very pleasant and professional. Anyway the food was ordered, the drinks arrived and we waited for our starters.
Taking in the surroundings as the restaurant filled up, it quickly became almost impossible to hold any type of conversation due to the noise of the place. The incessant background music, mixed it seemed every five minutes by Happy Birthday and a Congratulations track by Cliff Richard was just too much to take in. To get over this, it seemed every other diner in the room was shouting to make sure they were heard.

Anyway we looked forward to getting our food and getting out quickly (which is exactly what these places are designed to do). The starters arrived and were ok. The table was cleared and yes they did replace the cutlery for fresh ones, so we were happy with that. The mains arrived and I tucked into my full rack of ribs. However Dusty was not so lucky. The fish he had ordered was not properly cooked so he had to send it back for a replacement. Again the staff were quite professional and made no fuss about ordering up a second meal. Dusty finally got his meal as I finished mine and this time, the fish was fresh and cooked properly.

Finishing off, we paid the bill, tipped the staff who were actually good and headed off swearing blind never to return to such a noisy place again.

Score: 1 Star. Visited April 2009

Being Good Friday we wanted to have fish for lunch, so found ourselves eating at Loch Fyne on Walmgate in York. We arrived just after 1pm and were invited to wait in the bar area while a table was prepared. The place wasn’t full at all, but they were limiting the number of tables in use because they seemed short of staff. The restaurant area at the back and on the second floor were closed.

After a little wait (with no option being given to have a drink) we were shown to our table which was right beside the main fish counter, which doubled up as a sales point for those wanting to take fish or seafood away with them. The service itself was friendly enough though and we placed our order. I went for the Peppered Mackerel pate (£5.00) starter while Paul went for the Smoked Haddock Chowder (£6.00).  My pate was good as expected but Paul was disappointed with the Haddock Chowder, not because of taste but because it was barely warm.

Throughout our meal I was kept amused by the European looking guy who worked behind the fish counter preparing starters. In all the time I sat at our table I never once noticed him wash his hands, despite making up both fish dishes and salads…

Our mains quickly arrived. I had opted for the Poached Haddock on a mashed potato base (£11) while Paul had ordered the Bream and Rocket (£13). Along with a couple of sides, the mains were again quite good. My haddock was moist and cooked well and Paul seemed to enjoy the Bream. Along with a decent bottle of La Play Chardonnay, the meal was very pleasant indeed, but like I said earlier, I was a little concerned at the lack of hand washing that went on behind the fish counter.  The salads themselves seemed to also be kept in plastic buckets without refrigeration, but given the turnover I wasn’t too worried by that.

We left a little after 3pm, settling up our £63 bill.

Pryordurkin rating. 3 stars.  Telephone 01904 650910

We found ourselves back at Maxi’s (Chinese) Restaurant in Nether Poppleton, York, this evening.  We hadn’t planned to come here, it just sort of happened given our first choice of restaurant turned out not to have any food to sell (read about it here).  Anyway we had been here before and looked forward to another good meal.  Walking in through the front door, you  quickly realise this restaurant is set up to cater for large numbers of customers.  It is a  huge cavernous place that always takes you by surprise when you enter.  They have clearly spent some time and money on decorating the venue in traditional Chinese style and the staff are all appropriately dressed and professionally turned out.

We were quickly seated.  We ordered up our food and it quickly started to arrive.  This was very pleasing given we were both really hungry at this point.

The portions served up for starters were very generous indeed.  The prawn crackers were fresh and served up in a large wooden bowl.  I went for salt and pepper ribs while Dusty had honey chicken wings.  We also ordered up 1/2 crispy duck for seconds.  We shared them all and they were really good value indeed.

Attentive service continued with our mains promptly arriving not long after our starters dishes had been cleared away.  They were just as good; big portions, piping hot and great value.  By this point we were really struggling with the quantities of food so couldn’t actually finish our mains.

All in all a nice evening meal in great surroundings with excellent attentive and quick service.  Ideal!

Score. 3 Stars. Opening Hours 7 days a week 12noon – 12am. Tel: 01904 783898

This was a return trip for Sunday Lunch to Hazlewood Castle which lies just off the A64 in between York and Leeds.  This time we were joined by my brother and sister in-law and the kids.  The first time we dined here was great.  With good service, good food and good surroundings we were looking forward to another treat.

One of the measures we look for when reviewing places is consistency.  Unfortunately on this occasion, the food and service were not quite as good as before.  We had telephoned ahead to book a table for 12noon and on arrival were shown straight to our table.  No option of an aperitif in the bar beforehand.  The restaurant manager did not even offer to take our coats, so we found ourselves hanging them over the back of the chairs and I had to put my hat on the FLOOR!.

We ordered up our food and having seen bar menus in use last time, I mentioned there may be a simpler option for the kids to enjoy.  However this time, the waiter never gave any option for the kids to order from the bar menu and they had to make do with a kids tailored version of Sunday Lunch. Our drinks soon arrived and after a little wait were closely followed by starters which were nicely presented and very good.  After the plates were cleared we then had what seemed like a long wait for the mains to come out.  When they did, my beef was tuff and on the small size, as compared to last time.  The Yorkshire pudding, which was so good last time, was hard and brittle this time around.  The kids, who love Yorkshire puddings both seemed disappointed.  The vegetables were cooked to perfection though. Desserts followed and these were very good indeed.

Overall as mentioned earlier, this visit was let down by the service and the quality of the main course.  The restaurant manager made you feel as though you were a bit of an annoyance really and certainly not warmly welcomed, which was a pity as the Castle itself, the grounds that surround it were all great.  She seemed to take particular umbridge at being called over to take an extra order of drinks!

Pryordurkin rating 3 Stars. (dropped 1 star since our last visit in January) Tel: 01937 535353

I returned to Pepe Sale Restaurant on Queens Walk in Reading last night with two colleagues for dinner. I had visited this restaurant on two previous occasions in 2007 and enjoyed both so was hoping for the same quality of food and level of service.

We arrived around 7.30pm and were greeted at the door by a friendly chap who took my hat, coat, gloves and scarf (it was freezing outside). We were seated at a window table and offered up some Sardinian breads with olive oil while we looked through the menu.

I was pleased to see it had not changed from last year and therefore ordered up a Pasta Casereccia for starter and the Spigola Al Sale for my main. The Pasta Casereccia was a Sardinian variant of Pasta with Bolognese and was very nice indeed. Well seasoned, served up with parmesan cheese, it went down a treat. The Spiogola Al Sale was Fresh Sea Bass baked in a crust of sea salt that was broken away at the table by the waiter, who de-headed the fish and went onto remove the bones before sprinkling extra virgin olive oil over the white moist flesh. This was a fantastic treat both in terms of looks, the experience and taste. Served with fresh seasonal vegetables, it was a fine meal indeed. My colleagues all enjoyed their starters and mains in equal measure but had just a glint of “I wish I’d ordered the Sea Bass” in their eyes!

I skipped desert, because I’m looking after my figure but my two colleagues both said the deserts were beautiful. Finishing off with coffee all round, it was another very pleasant meal. The service was very good, the restaurant itself, although perhaps looking a little tired still had that relaxing feel about it and during the course of the evening had filled and emptied of many a satisfied diner. I was therefore pleased to conclude the service and quality of food hasn’t changed one bit and is just as good as I remembered.

Settling the bill of £125 for three people that included two bottles of wine, reminded us that you do tend to pay for good quality, but we enjoyed every penny. Of course the old expense budget won’t quite stretch to that, but I don’t mind chipping in a little personal money because of the fine dining experience.

Pryordurkin rating. 4 stars.
Telephone 0118 959 7700

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

After walking around Pickering, we wanted a spot of lunch.  The nice people in the Art Shop we had just visited recommended Mulberries on Bridget Street.  Entering at around 2pm, the lights were out, but we were greeted by a friendly looking chap who said they were still serving food in response to our question.  We sat at a table near the small window and next to a glowing electric fire.  The friendly chap then turned the lights on for us and an assistant took our order.  We both went for the Carrot and Ginger Soup at £3.50.  To follow, I chose the Home Made Cottage pie with vegetables from the specials menu and Paul opted for a Roast Port with Apple Bap.

This is a small restaurant / coffee shop.  It had a look of a mediterranean cafe about it with white washed walls and bare brickwork showing in places.  It was very nice and clean but I got the feeling that it hadn’t quite decided whether it wanted to be a restaurant or an upmarket coffee shop.

Anyway, after a short while, the soup arrived.   It was excellent.  No other way to describe it.  Piping hot, perfectly seasoned and clearly home cooked.  Served up with warm crusty bread it was just what was needed to counteract the winter weather outside.  The mains quickly followed.  Pauls Roast Pork Bap was again excellent.  Moist, tender and accompanied by warm freshly cooked apple slice.  I took a bite myself to check and it was worth every penny of the £3.50 cost!  A bargain for that price, given in most places you pay that for a limp takeaway sandwhich.

My cottage pie (£5.95) however was a little bit of a disappointment.  It was tasty enough but the minced beef used looked as though it had come out of a can.  This was a major surprise given my starter was so excellent.  Accompanied by roasted parsnips I was just left a little unhappy.

As we left, a young boy was closing up the restaurant for the afternoon at around 3pm.   Our total bill came to £18 which for lunch was fantastic value indeed.  I think this place could be onto a real winner.  The setting was certainly perfect for a cosy meal with other quiet respectful diners.   We’ll pop back some time to see how they are getting on.

Pryordurkin rating 3 Stars.  01751 472337

Along with Helen, Mark and little James we found ourselves having lunch at Sapori on Drury Lane near Covent Garden in London.  We arrived around 1pm and sat at a table for six on the ground floor.  The staff were very friendly and attentive and we were soon tucking into freshly baked Italian breads with Olive Oil and Balsamic dips while looking through the menus.  We ordered up a variety of mains including Linguini, Chicken Skewers, Spaghetti Meat Balls and Lasagne.  I was delighted to note the linen napkins and the general decor of the restaurant was airy and bright.  The tables though reminded us all of a back street cafe.  After a reasonable wait, the food arrived and it was very very good value indeed.  The only minor complaint would be I think restaurants should always warm their plates.  Ours were cold, which meant the food didn’t stay hot for long.  Aside from that though it was fresh and flavoursome. By the time we left, the place had filled up and emptied of customers and settling the £90 bill for four, we were very happy to have enjoyed a very nice lunch break with Helen, Mark and James..

Pryordurkin rating. 3 stars.