Ladies that Lunch
March 31, 2010My Dream Day:
Spend the morning gyming.
Spend the lunchtime ‘Lunching’
Spend the afternoon baking.
Spend the evening sleeping.
Oh that sounds dreamy….I really enjoyed the Lunching part of my day today! No-one in my family ever goes out to lunch really (we tend to go out in the evening – even our Christmas dinner is a 7pm affair) so it was quite a treat!
My mum and I went to a new restaurant (well, newish) which we’d never been to before..but we thought it was worth a shot 
The inside decor was lovely, really light and fresh and modern – but the place was packed! Who’d have thought, Wednesday lunchtimes are the new Saturday night, blates 
But hey, busy-ness is good – a bad place wouldn’t be packed! I was glad I booked
The menu was all quite meaty, which isn’t the best for people like my mum and I – we eat fish and birds, but not red meat. But saying that, we still had lots to choose from:
While we waited for the food, I had half a piece of bread:
I’m not usually a restaurant bread eater (bread is just ‘blah’ to me!), but this stuff was warm, fresh, with a verrrry soft inside and crunchy crust – I had another bit after that piece
After we finished the bread, my mum tested me on some psychology revision..isn’t she a star!?
I love her
Anyway, then came the real food! My mum hadn’t reaaally wanted a starter, but I hd my eye on one thing, so we decided to split it – Southend cockle and cauliflower fritters, curried butternut squash. That’s never something I’d normally pick on a menu – hence why I did!! I wanted to branch out Plus, I thought if the fritters were gross, at least there’s the butternut Here it is:
My portion (about a 1/3 in the end – I went back for a bit more 
):
It was DELICIOUS!! Deep frying sure isn’t my preferred method of cooking, so I didn’t care as much for the outside of the fritters (I suppose that defeats the point a bit!?), but the inside was lovely. The squash was amazing too – so flavourful! And whatever the black things were – jumbo raisins maybe? – they were a super compliment to the dish. Very impressed!
For our mains, my mum and I shared again. We each ordered our own thing, then split everything in half when it arrived. My mum had Breast and thigh of guinea fowl, rosti potato, sticky red cabbage, & honey roast parsnips:
Amaze! I’ve never had guinea fowl, but it’s like a better version of chicken; softer and more flavah packed. Definetly want that again! The cabbage was beautiful too, very sticky and very sweet. I’ve no idea what they put in it, but it was amazing! And the honey roast parsnips…judging by my meals every day, I bet you can guess my opinion on them The only bit I didn’t care for was the potato rosti 
I tried it, but potatoes (bar sweet ones) just aren’t my thing.
For my main, I had crispy seabass, porcini risotto, and maple-glazed chicken wings:
WELL. Where do I start!? Very soft fish, a nice maple thing going on with the chicken…but that risotto – OH MY DAYS! SO GOOD! I’ve never had such a delicious risotto in my life!! It was very strongly flavoured, quite cheesy almost. But it was truly unbelievably amazing I loved every bite! I probably had about 1/3 of what was there of the risotto, cos it was very rich; but worth every bite
Good meal We were perfectly full afterwards, so skipped dessert and instead just had a little gossip about the very loud, very money/mobile-orientated, very posh people next to us
Oh, and before I forget – look at the cute picture they had on the ladies’ bathroom door, to show it was for ladies:
Hehe!!
After the meal, we ran a few errands – bought some spinach, purchased a shed load of easter eggs for my sister, the usual! – and then headed home. My mum had clients and I had the horses to do, which was a naaaasty job – SO COLD! I was out in my hat, scarf and gloves! I think Chika was a bit on the nippy side too, cos I when I brought their hay out, she was going mad in the field, bucking and leaping BLESS!!
I had a hot chocolate to warm up when I came in, and then had a lovely simple dinner:
Stir fried chicken (with leek, garlic and soy sauce), and roast squash, parsnip and chickpeas – coated in agave, cinnamon, cumin and coriander.
Delicious!!
I’ll probably have my usual snack in the evening too
Out of curiosity, when you go to a restaurant, what do you order? For example, I used to always order chicken dishes – but now I’m trying to branch out, hence the guinea fowl and cauliflower fritters Do you stick to what you know you’ll like, or try different things?
Food for thought, as they say Have a good evening!
