Congratulations !!!! A & C

After almost 8 years of courtship, My flatmates have finally tied the knot.
*sheds a tear of joy.
Was so glad that We all managed to make it for the wedding after a wee flight mishap at Dubai (O.D on Moet hahaha)

The wedding was held at the very nice Swiss Hotel: The Stamford where a 10 course banquet was served.

The classic cold dish comprised of a few interesting additions which I have not seen before. The salmon nigri was fresh and sweet. Char Siews an interesting one. Not commonly seen and certainly competently done. Although I much prefer it on a plate of rice haha. Salad prawn, spring rolls and crispy deep fried octopus make up the rest of the dish

I suspect my flatmates are Shark lovers although they've never mentioned it. A nice lobster soup was served rather than the controversial lobster soup. I had 2 good bowls, each with chunky bits of canadian lobster. YUm yum.

I love this... Scallops stir fried with asparagus and pine nuts. The sweet flavours of the nuts work in perfect harmony with the freshness of the scallops. Shiok!.
Ate 2 plates hahaha.

Chicken with prawn paste. Its a nice change from roasted chicken and most other chicken dishes I have had in the past.
I was suffering from lack of Singaporean food syndrome. So everything tasted exceptionally nice hahaha

Once again, I had to leave the wedding halfway to catch a flight. Din't get to finish the rest of the dishes.

C's mum made this cake all 3 layers including all the decorations.
Quite impressive eh.



: )

Cail Bruich West End

Cail Bruich West is located in the bohemian district of the city's west end, adjacent the hinterland of the Glasgow Botanical Gardens.

Under the guidance of chef patron Chris Charalambous we offer a sumptuous menu adhering to our principled aim of seasonality and freshness. Our respect for Scottish food and a passion for evoking that special dining experience for our customers mark our uniqueness in our industry.

We have a range of menu's that will cater for all occasions from classic brunch dishes through to our seasonal a la carte.

The warmth of our family owned and operated restaurant permeates into the dining room ensuring our diners an intimate culinary affair. Our wine list is carefully from small suppliers around the world crafted to create the perfect partnership for our menu.

~~ Quoted from the Website ~~

This post is way way way over due. It was my birthday dinner treat from C. hahah how nice eh

I can barely remember what these dishes were called but this one certainly looked like a terrine of some sort.

Here is my pea soup with a nice poach egg. Its one of the best soups I've ever tasted. Very velvety in texture. Very posh indeed

Scabster Hake, Ratte Potatoes, Samphire and hollandaise. C had this.
Ever heard of Samphire?? I love it!!

I went with pork belly. The pork was good, moist but lack the crispy skin. As for the corizio chick pea side, I din;t feel that it was a good pairing. just seem abit too dry and overwhleming in taste?

Lastly a vanilla rice pudding and.................. a chocolate moose?




Thanks C

Cail Bruich West
----------------------------
725, Great Western Rd,
Glasgow,
Lanarkshire
http://www.cailbruich.co.uk/


G12 8QX

Roasti Bubbly Jocks

C and I had a great lunch at Roasti Bubbly Jocks last weekend. I can't recall the number of times I have driven, walk and ignored this wee restaurants on my way to Sainsbury and Morrisons. Its a pity this restaurant is not located nearer to byres road.

The food is unpretentious and in every way charming. COuld it be because we had lowered our expectations before going to the restaurant? Or was I biased towards the their contemporary Scottish style of cooking

The big question was how could there be no one here on a Saturday afternoon when 5pm does such a great lunch time deal

I have taken alot of pre-meal bread shots recently. TOday, we have sun dried tomato bread? .
*

Mediterranean Fish Chowder. Rouille Crute. A very healthy portion of seafood medley that was good enough as a main meal on its own.





The vegetarian option of Cream of Celery Soup, Parsley and Croutons.

Seafish with Tagine Chermoula on Roast Aubergine. A Morrocan inspired dish that reminded me of sambal fish minus the heat.

Slow Roast Scottish Lamb Shoulder with very refreshing mint pea.



I highly recommend this place for lunch. Huge portions , home cook goodness PLUS great value makes a perfect start to the weekend.



p.s: Cash or cheques only

Roasti Bubbly Jocks
----------------------

450 Dumbarton Road, Partick

Glasgow, G11 6SE

Tel: (0141) 339 3355

MacCallum’s of Troon Oyster Bar

It seems that every time we make a day trip somewhere, it always ends up with a big meal of some sort.

Our curiosity in a car auction brought us close enough to Troon to visit one of the most talked about restaurants in the area.

MacCallum's of Troon !!!





This former engine house is now a restaurant beaming with pride as one of the most iconic part of the habour. Sitted right next to the Troon Fish Market, the restaurant is likely to benefit from the tonnes of fishes that pass through this historic habour





I especially love the high ceilings and aged walls adorned with pictures of sailboats. There is no mistake that one is in a seafood restaurant after looking at these pictures.

Some complimentary bread to get our appetite going !!!

I started off with a large plate of grilled langoustines. The portion looked large but there were only 5 langoustines. As long as the taste was good I wouldn't have minded BUT... my suspicion got the better of me when I realised that they might not even be fresh. The texture of the meat was powdery and they came out of the shell in bits rather than whole. Sorely disappointed that I had spent 17 quid on this. Its only consolation was the garlic herb sauce.

The cullen skink was a much nicer starter. Well balanced smokiness and fishnesses with large chunky fish meat.

C insisted on having some oysters since we were in an oyster bar. No one's going to stop her.
I don't eat oysters btw.

The mains were the star of this luncheon. I had a sea bream pan fried with some herbs and lemon. Absolutely smacking delicious. My mum's probably thinking in her head right now what's so special about the fish. Afterall, she's been pan frying fish in the household for umpteen years. haha.

I have to emphasise though that the Scottish style of eating pan fried fish lends its taste from the use of olive oil, fresh herbs and lemon juice. That I am pretty sure is different from the CHinese way of pan frying the fish in purely ground nut oil or sunflower oil.

C went with the lemon sole which was once again delivered with perfection.

Aa went for the big kill and settled for a 1kg lobster. It was huge !!!

This giant prawn fared much better than the tweenie langoustines.


I firmly believe that the hallmark of a good seafood restaurant prides itself on sourcing the freshest seafood. For me, Maccullum's almost hit the mark if not for its langoustines.
If you like fish, this place should not disappoint you.

MacCallum’s of Troon Oyster Bar
-------------------------------------------

Harbourside

Troon, Ayrshire
KA10 6DH

Tel: 01292 319339




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Mobile Food War

It started with me sending C a picture of this during her weekend shift





I got no reply so .......


I sent her another cheeky picture

.
.
.
.
.
.


A week later..... during my weekend shift....whilst she was in London.


She sent me this

followed by this

AND this ........

Grrr...........

Lochleven Seafood Cafe

The anticipation of visiting the Best Scottish Seafood Restaurant 2011 was building up throughout the day. Its not everyday that we get so hyped up by a restaurant and when our research on restaurants around Ben Nevis eventually brought us to the Lochleven Seafood Cafe Website, we were truly salivating at the pictures of the wonderful platters that they serve.

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The journey to Fort Williams took approximately 2 and a 1/2 hours from Glasgow. In case you are wondering, we did not travel all the way up for this but having eaten here, we actually might.
Finding the place would be easy if you follow the signs and persevere on. Heading up north, once you have passed the Balluchullish Bridge on A82, look out for the Tourist information sign (brown in colour) and turn right onto B863. From there, it is another 4.4miles down the road. If you ever feel worried you are lost, dont.. because we felt the same as it seem like a never ending drive. I reassure you the cafe is there even though the picture seem to suggest just a barren pitch of grassland.

Loud cheers were heard all round the car when we eventually found it. True to their philosophy of letting the natural flavours of the seafood speak for itself, they have kept their establish simple and allowed the natural landscape to take centre stage. Nestled next to the shores of Lochleven with stunning views of the loch and landscape, this cafe was started five years ago as an addition to its sister Company, LochLeven Shellfish. In my opinion this is probably the best way of getting the freshest of seafood: from Loch to distribution centre and straight to your dinner plate.

It was 830pm when we arrived. I am glad C had the foresight to book the place as I heard it tends to fill up quite quickly. Seriously, you don't want to make a trip up and stare at the happy diners whilst you chomp on your fish and chips.

Enough said. Let's move on to food !!! < (: )))>< ~~~

Hot Roasted shellfish in Aioli for 2

The platters were their signature dishes and these come in hot and cold version. In addition to these, you could order specific seafood like langoustines, scallops, mussells and lobsters as an individual main dish. The menu also features an alternate menu for the non seafood lovers which gets refreshed every so often .

Stop hiding you Lobster


There were plenty of wows and oohhss not just from our table but from the neighbouring tables as well as everyone tried to take in the visual spectacle. Every formidable shellfish that Scotland had to offer was on this plate (haha I think*). I couldn't wait to "dive" in but me being the avid food photographer had to stall back my hungry eaters for your visual and reading pleasure.

Cold enough for 2

The Cold platter for 2 turned out to be equally amazing and overloaded. I am salivating again as I look at the pictures. (will need some excuse to go back again for the food)

Since it was 4 of us sharing 2 plates of 2 person platters, I got to try most of the seafood cooked in both ways except for a couple. The lobster was eaten cold and there was just something about the coldness that reminded me of the sea and automatically freshness. The meat was definitely succulent and it was as if the coldness had preserved in the umami taste.

The brown crabs were huge like HUGE!!!. Ok you can't compare them to Sri Lankan crabs but by the scottish standards, these were your big brothers. I had these served roasted. As expected, it lack the sweetness of its other species. I did not enjoy this as much as I hope but hey I've got plenty more seafood to eat.

The mussels and clams were sweet. After many rounds of cold mussels, cold clams, hot mussels and hot clams, I came to the conclusion that the cold clams tasted the best. That bread by the was yummy. It tasted like a banana bread and was extremely good when you soak it in the seafood juices from the hot platter.

Loving langoustines for once. These were huge, succulent and tasted as sweet as prawns. Be it hot or cold, they were absolutely fabulous.

I have forgotten to take pictures of the razor clams. Too hungry I guess.

The initial plan was to have 6 platters for 4 of us .. haha.. but we settled just for an additional plate of scallops with soy dressing.

Dinner ended at 1030pm.... and it was 1am by the time we got back.


Well.. You can always argue that most of the ingredients can be found in Glasgow, but when it comes to freshness, this place triumphs in all ways.
There you have it. One of the best places I have eaten in Scotland.

Lochleven Shellfish
-------------------------------

Loch Leven,

Fort William, PH33 6SA

Phone: 0185 582 1444

Website: www.lochlevenseafoodcafe.co.uk

25% off at Zizzi's for the month of April

I have blogged about zizzi's before (Here & Here) and I like it because of the convenience and ambiance.

but today, I wanna share with you this great discount

CLick here for the link -->> http://www.zizzi-offers.co.uk/

Btw I din't get 100% discount for doing this post lol

I had this pasta dish called Chitarra Alla Pescatora and as the menu description says it is a "Calamari, mussles, King prawns and chilli in a tomato and white wine sauce with Chitarra spaghetti. This traditional pasta is ideal for holding the rich pescatora sauce with its rough square edges. It's made using a machine called a chitarra (guitar in italian)"

YOu can find out more about how this pasta is made from this European Foodie or from Prof Wiki

This is a very heavy pasta and you've got alot to work through each strand. Definitely a Winter type pasta and one that will send you to ZzZzZ land (no punt intended).

I made the stupid decision of having the mains and appetiser sent together but obviously that proved wrong for a very good reason haha. We ended up quite hungry after.

C loves her Calamari and I am pleased to say I enjoy it as well. Must give extra stars for the sizable portion.

We also had some lovely deep fried courgettes. My first time. Great tempura batter and veggie flavours.

C had a nice pumpkin and pancetta rissotto. This tasted much better than I expected it to be. Pumpkin is not a vegetable that I normally enjoy eating but this one sure impressed me. I wonder if a poached egg atop it will make it nicer .. hmm..... (ok maybe its just my imagination)

I wish this post came out earlier but I was busy with reading. Enjoy the last 7 days of the discount !!!

Zizzi
------------------

8 Cresswell Lane
Glasgow
G12 8AA
Tel: 0141 334 8258
Monday – Saturday; Midday to 11pm
Sunday: Midday to 10.30pm

p.s It was a massacre...

Number 16

Cosy, quality food, friendly service and great value in a much loved neighbour were the words chosened by the owner to describe this wee humble establishment just at the bottom end of Byres road. I knew I was set for a great lunch deal snatched off www.5pm.co.uk.

The set up of this place was nice and warm with a low lying ceiling providing what was describe as a cosy atmosphere. A little too tight perhaps in some areas that might just be abit intrusive if you were considering a romantic one on one date. Nevertheless, nothing that a good meal couldn't make up for.

We were served warm seeded bread for a start with a nice dallop of butter and balsalmic olive oil on the side.

C had a oven baked mini fish pie with saffron mash. Pies are not a commonly cooked item in the flat, much less a fish pie. I can see why she decided to go for it. Great taste and a great portion for a starter. If not for the scorching temperatures, she might have wolfed it down.

We try not to order the same dishes when we go out to maximise the variety. I had a warm salad of ham hock and cornichons with poached egg, goats cheese mousse and watercress. I absolutely love this. Its was an exciting myriad of flavours. The meaty salty flavours of the hog, acidified by the gerkhin and then you get neutralising effect from the oozing poached egg, only to be awaken by the freshly blended pesto sauce. Yum yum...

My mains of a pan roast venison haunch with moroccan spices and greens was much less of an exciting and probably an overkill on the meat/salad combo. In retrospect, I wish I had ordered something else because the salad totally set the standards too high.

C completed her meal with a rainbow trout and lemon rissotto combo. Very substantial, nicely baked fish and a well seasoned and refreshing rissotto.


We were too stuffed for any dessert.

Just to remind you, this meal cost only 9.95 pounds for 2 course with a free glass of wine or soft drink. How good is that you tell me?

Number 16 Restaurant
-----------------------------
16 Byres Road,
Glasgow, UK
G11 5JY
0141 339 2544
www.number16.co.uk