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Take Away foodie

Take Away foodie (5)

Friday, 26 February 2021 17:34

LÉA – Oh la la!

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What a brilliant idea of Pascal and Karine Canevet (from Bury's superb Maison Bleue) to create a French take-away menu that is served in simple, elegant glass pots. I ordered a family meal last Saturday, originally planning to eat it on Sunday as a casual lunch, but blown away by the delicious menu of seasonal French dishes we decided instead to set the table and sit down to a candlelit dinner on Saturday. What a menu! Every item that Pascal has created works so well in the mini Kilner style jars. There were 5 starters, 5 main courses and 5 desserts to choose from, the kind of menu that you have to dither over, as everything sounds so good. I started with a velvety smooth, brandy laced chicken liver parfait topped with a Port gelée, others in the family tried the pork, pheasant and sultana coarse paté with cranberry and also the salmon and smoked salmon rillettes with cucumber. Nobody was willing to part with their pots or share so I didn't get a taste. Crisp toast was also packed in the food parcel to accompany the pate and parfait. Any misgivings about eating food from a jar (I do like a plate) were allayed by Karine when collecting the meal who told me ' You must eat from the jars' and also seeing the care with Pascal's presentation. We couldn't possibly turn these out! Main courses which were in bigger pots took 20 minutes in the oven at 160 degrees to heat through - the contents already being cooked, so no worrying about cooking times or burning your food. There's a microwave in about 2 minutes option too, which might be easier if you are dining solo or choosing to eat for a quick lunch. My cod, tarragon and carrot stew produced forkfuls of glossy white cod, aromatically flavoured with tarragon; the King of french herbs, with sweet chunks of carrot and celery. A thickened buttery and wine infused sauce met with pomme puree at the bottom of the pot. Mum's Beef Bourguignon was so generous that she couldn't manage it all, maybe is was the side dish of Gratin Dauphinois Mum ...  Mr SFoodie chose Pork Belly with Le Puy Lentil (again, not sharing but declaring as tender, with lots of herbs) Scarlett ordered the Smoked Haddock Cassolette, which would have been my second choice for a main course. Lovely lovely smoked haddock with prawns and rather delicious and fragrant pilau rice with hints of lime and coriander. Three courses make the meal a set price of £19.95 and I'd seen the images of the Mont Blanc on Insta and wanted one. It's one of my favourite desserts, I even have a vermicelli press bought in Switzerland years ago to make my own. To be honest if it had been the size of Mont Blanc I could have managed to eat this one, with a tangy blackcurrant puree cutting through the sweet chestnuts. Mum had Rhubarb Panacotta, light, vanilla infused, creamy and wobbly. Chocolate Mousse with salted butter Caramel disappeared in front of Mr SFoodie. But what was simply 'magnifique' was the Pineapple, Brioche, Chantilly. Oh la la!

Tuesday, 01 December 2020 18:01

The Goatfather

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The resilience of restaurants throughout the lockdowns and the ingenuity of proprietors just amazes me, none more so than the Get My Goat campaign from the lovely Justin and Jurga Sharp at Pea Porridge. For a start the marketing and humour from Justin, the Goatfather, is one of the best calls to action on social media I've seen for a while. Who could resist Bury'sGoatTalent and GoatWhisperer Justin's beautiful four course dinner? We ordered the middle eastern style, heat at home GoatToGo supper last week. It was phenomenal! Justin and Jurga are great advocates and supporters of Cabrito Goat, who source meat from British dairy farms and who supplied the kid goat meat for the four course menu. Not only was the menu fantastic, but the information sheet and serving instructions were superbly presented and included interesting information about the ingredients, and the cooking techniques used for each course. Plus exact reheating instructions - this is the kind of dinner that I enjoy. While the Goatfather mans the kitchen alongside award winning chef and flatbread maker extraordinaire, James Carn Pryor, Jurga ensures that the ordering, payment and collection of the GoatFest goes smoothly and will sell you some wine; it's good, buy it.  From Lowerland, Prieska. (the land of the lost 'She' goat) high altitude, hands- off naturally farmed grapes are made into complex wines. Loweland, Die Verlore Bokooi NV (red) and Lowerland, Die Wonde-Draai (white).  My goatness we are lucky in Bury St Edmunds.

Get My Goat continues to be available each Thursday, Friday and Saturday at £55 for two people.

Saturday, 03 October 2020 10:26

The Suffolk Mermaid

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Literally swimming into Walsham le Willows last weekend. The Suffolk Mermaid, the best fish and chip van in Suffolk. Check Chris and Tanya's FB page for their routes through Suffolk. Next landing in Walsham will be on October 16th at 4.45pm 'til 7.30pm.

Tuesday, 08 September 2020 13:03

Coming up for air in Gislingham

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Well it's September and I haven't written a blog post for ages - how time flies.  Eventually, in June, Mr S.Foodie and I moved up north to Gislingham and since then have got stuck in to some decorating and gardening at our new home. I haven't been out much but discovered there's a monthly charity cake stall in the village, with the BEST cakes and the owners of the village shop sell superb homemade Sri Lankan food to takeaway. Now someone please buy the pub.