I've been out for food three times this week. THREE times! I don't think I've ever done that, even when I've been on holiday. We were actually supposed to be going out tonight as well but then the sunshine suddenly decided to come out to play, and sunshine = BBQ, so we're staying in. I'm honestly not sure I could manage a fourth trip out. The whole food outside of your own house situation is lovely, but there's always way more than I would normally eat. And I always have to get pudding too. And then three meals later I find myself rolling home...
Anyhoo, I thought I would let you know about some of the places I've been to because they were all mighty fine!
First up, The Wellington in Wolviston. We were originally going to go to the pub over the road from this one, but then we found out it only had a 2 star food hygiene rating and that is not good at all, so we opted for this one instead. And I'm so glad we did! Other than Dave accidentally ordering me the wrong burger (so forgetful!) which actually made no difference at all as the one I got instead was equally as delicious, the whole meal was flipping delicious!
Dave got the lamb shank which looked so tender that it was just falling off the bone, with chips and seasonal veg. His mam opted for a chicken and brie pie, lose the chips/mash option, also with seasonal veg. And I had the chicken stack burger with chips and salad. I thought it was great that they were willing to swap your options around or indeed not even have one of the things listed on the original order in the case of Dave's mam's no-potato choice - this is great if you have any fussy eaters with you who will only have certain foods in certain ways. I'll tell you what else was great - the chips! Definitely homemade, most certainly chunky and oh so tasty. This is probably going to sound so northern but you really can tell the quality of pub grub when they take the trouble to make their own chips.
Shall we talk puddings? Their brand new menu offered the option of 4 mini puds - of course that was the one I went for. I never can make my mind up what I want anyway, why not get to try four of them out! Dave's mam went for crumble and ice-cream, but that's mainly because she is an ice-cream fiend and will always choose it off the menu! My four puds were blueberry and prosecco cake, cookies and cream profiteroles, tiramisu, and a salted caramel chocolate brownie type thing. Honestly they were all delicious but I'm still trying to decide for top place between the profiteroles and the salted caramel brownie - SO GOOD!
I would 100% go back there again, mainly so I can try out the original veggie burger that I ordered, and also to try more puddings. Yass! I've also recommended it to my parents which is always a sign of a good eating place. Take a trip sometime - you will enjoy!
Next up! Restaurant Week in Middlesbrough. The concept of this is that restaurants put on offers for one week only to encourage people to go out to eat, try new places, that kind of thing. Me and my work wife Rach opted to go and try out an Italian place that I'd heard good things about but had never been to. Step up Elianos Brasserie - to be found located down what looks like a v. dodgy road but don't let that put you off. Once you're inside it is charm personified!
It's honestly like stepping into another world. Full of rustic charm, checked tablecloths, wine bottle candle holders with wax dripping down the edges, warm wood from floor to ceiling and lots of nice space between tables so you don't feel like you're eating with the next door table that you've never met before!
The portions are huge, the food is delicious, the lemonade is Sicilian - sharp and tangy just the way I love it, and the puddings are the size of small babies. I had pasta (of course) with chicken, roasted veggies, toasted pine kernels and parmesan shavings, all in a dreamy creamy sauce, topped with lashings of black pepper and more parmesan (those last two were entirely my own choosing by the way). Boy it was good! And even though I felt so stuffed I'd already ordered the cheesecake so I just had to man up when this quarter slice of lushness arrived piled high with fruit (had to be at least 2 of my 5 a day) and cream on the side. Oh man. When I stood up from the table I honestly wanted to just find somewhere to lie down.
It took me until at least lunchtime the following day to genuinely feel hungry, so bear that in mind when you go. And I urge you to do so - as soon as possible. It was pretty empty when we were there, but when I posted about it on my socials it turns out that it's a proper little gem that people seem to keep to themselves in case everyone else starts going. Well I think everyone should go, cos it was flipping fab!
And now for my final meal of the week. Are you feeling as full as I have been yet? I was out and about in town yesterday after getting my hair did, doing a spot of holiday shopping and I was getting more and more hungry so food was definitely needed! It's a regular haunt of mine but I popped into Baker Street Kitchen for some lone lunching. I had my book with me at first but once my meal arrived I put my book aside, and basically chomped my way through my lunch.
I opted for one of my faves - the open toasted sandwich with mozarella, tomato, pesto, rocket and parma ham. When it arrived it truly looked beautiful and it took all of my willpower not to grab my phone and take a photo. I'd earlier decided that I was going to live solely in the moment and not take any photos, which I regretted almost instantly cos my dinner was sooo pretty, but (self-imposed) rules is rules.
To see the prettiness for yourself you'll have to pop along and see their newly refurbished place. It's worth a visit for the floor tiles alone, as if the totally divine sounding sandwich isn't enough to convince you that you need to go. They also had a lush looking strawberries and cream cake on offer but I manfully resisted this and called around the corner to Bedford Street Coffee to bring home a brownie for me and Dave.
Just on a one woman mission to keep the economy of Middlesbrough alive in one day there!
Where have you been out to eat lately? There's so many cool new places popping up that I want to try - I can't keep up with them all. And neither can the button on my jeans - meh. Bring on all of the food, I love it so!
I think a post every six weeks or so seems reasonable...erm, oopsy, fell off the blogging wagon before I'd even started again! Meh, as I said in my last post, I'm here when I'm here and hopefully that will be enough...
I took a day off work last week, not that unusual in March when everyone frantically tries to use up their last remaining leave before they lose it forever, or something like that anyway. What was kind of unusual was that it was a day off with purpose. Me and the work wife, Rach, had to be out and about taking photos for a blog post that we were writing for work and we had some very specific locations to visit. One of them was of course the Transporter Bridge.
Infamous to our fair town, the big blue bridge soars over the River Tees in all her glory. I've been there heaps of times, photographed it even more heaps but I can honestly say, hand on heart, that in all my time as a resident Teessider, I'm not sure if I've actually been across it!
Well I have now!
I was slightly nervous. It's a gondola type thing that can carry both cars and pedestrians and I think what's always put me off is that it might be a bit too 'motion-y' for me. It's the dodgy ears you know - these days whenever I do anything that rocks the horizon it sends my rubbish ears into a tail spin and it's dizzy-central, definitely not a state that I actively seek out, as *U G H*
For anyone else feeling nervous, I'm here to reassure you, it's not at all like that. It's a verrrrry smooth ride and it's so much fun to do! I was imagining that we would have to stay stuck behind glass but they let you go out and basically lean on the barrier and watch the journey across the river. The freakiest thing was approaching the other side and thinking it was going to be a big bang as it hit the connecting part of the bridge (dead technical explanation there or what!) but that fear was also completely unfounded. Smooth as smooth and we sailed right up to the edge.
We essentially turned right around and came back over as the car was parked Boro-side, and I would say that the return journey is definitely the prettier. With the sun reflecting just so on the river and Temenos and the Riverside Stadium in your eyeline, you really can't get much more Boro than that!
If you've never been before I can highly recommend it. It was the best £1.20 (single journey) that has ever been spent! For the bravest of the brave, there's even a top of the bridge tour where you ride up in a glass lift and can walk right across the top. Obvs this is never going to be a thing that I brave, but I've heard it's absolutely worth it for the views across our fair land.
Oh Boro, people say many things about you that are less than complimentary but I definitely think you have some true beauts up your sleeve!
You know that feeling when everyone else in the whole world has been somewhere and you haven't, and you're desperate to try it but life just keeps on getting in the way? That was me about Barbarossa Pizza on Bedford Street in Middlesbrough. So many people were going, posting photos, checking in, eating ALL OF THE PIZZA and I wasn't and frankly it simply wasn't on! The temptation to spit my dummy out was high! After many failed attempts at trying to organise it, Dave and I finally got our bums in gear and decided to go there to celebrate our 8 year 'non-iversary' (thus called because we're not actually married, except we practically are in everything but the piece of paper declaring it legal and all that boring stuff). Wednesday evening at 6pm, the table was booked, I stayed behind at work cos there really was little point in going home then coming back - excitement levels were high!
First up let's talk decor. Like many of the foodie delights along Bedford Street there's a definite trend towards minimal, NYC loft-style with all the brick and all the wood. This pleases me no end as it's a style I really like and is really appropriate for the small size of most of them. The best thing about this place though is the GIANT pizza oven that you can see through the open kitchen hatch. The giant pizza oven that basically cooks up the most delicious of pizzas that taste just like they do in Italy. I'm actually drooling just remembering how utterly divine it really was...
Next up the menu. Just the right amount of toppings to choose from and three different options for the dough: sourdough, wholemeal, and gluten free (yay for the GF family!) We opted for the sourdough base with chicken, peppers, and rocket, with a side of patatas bravas, just in case there wasn't going to be enough carbs with the pizza...a glass of pink for me, a red for Dave, badda boo badda bing, bring on the pizza!
The pizza: oh me, oh my. Perfectly proportioned, there is no other way to describe it other than dreamy. The base was perfect, the sauce was just right, the chunks of fresh mozzarella were so fresh and so yummy that I can't even...the chicken, the peppers, the peppery rocket with the balsamic dressing. Oh. My. God. Pizza of dreams. Easily the best pizza I have eaten in years, and definitely - DEFINITELY - authentic. Which didn't really come as too much of a surprise to me as the chef is Sicilian, plus the one million reviews I had read from friends who had been/seen/checked in/drooled, you know the drill.
Expectations were high. Expectations were met. Since going there I too have raved to about one million people, and my new boss was so utterly convinced by my review (and the fact that they have gluten free) he is planning to take his wife there soon.
I'm not gonna lie, since going I've probably looked at the photo of that pizza at least 3 times a day. It's like I can't get it out of my head! I'm not sure my usual 'highly recommends' even comes close. If you're a pizza fan I urge you to go and try it.
Make sure you book a table, it's small and understandably always full up. You can call to reserve a table: 01642 802409 and you can follow their Facebook page: Barbarossa Pizza.
I reckon that the last time I went to the Dorman Museum was when I was in art college and we stopped off over the road at a greasy spoon for a full English breakfast. As that was probably in like 1994 I was well overdue a visit. I called on my ladies, Tee and Andy, plans were made and to the museum we went.
The primary reason for this visit was to see the Memories of Childhood exhibition before it closes tomorrow (nothing like being late to the party...) and, in full disclosure, to drink tea and eat cake. All things absolutely worthy of a soggy Saturday in early September. The exhibition was cute and full of all sorts of weird and wonderful things, including a tea caddy that I'm sure used to belong to my mam! The stuffed animals were a bit on the eep-y side, so not my thing, but the rest of it was interesting and the stories behind some of the famous children's tales were also really interesting! The exhibition itself was pretty small but we wandered around the rest of the ground floor of the museum (definitely going back to see upstairs next time!) which was also full of all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Including a car and an ice-cream bike truck!
I think it's safe to say we were all keen to get to the tea rooms. I was particularly looking foward to it as it came highly recommended from my new colleague who is a total cake fiend just like me (YES!) so after a quick wander round the shop at all the childhood toy memories, we headed right there and slotted ourselves into a table for three.
I opted for crumpets, followed by brownie. Tee had toffee crisp cake, and Andy had brownie too, topped off with a pot of tea for three, and please can we have one of those really cute tea cosies too!
My crumpets were pretty much perfection. Call me weird but I always ask for them to be toasted extra as I like a crunch in my crumpet, so it's always very pleasing when they arrive just how I like them.
Yasssssss! Crunchy, crumpet-y joy right there. The brownie was also good, as were the 3 cups of tea in the mismatched crockery.
All in all it was a very satisfactory visit. I am almost certain I will be back for more as there were many things on the menu that I wanted to try including a wensleydale and mango chutney sandwich - hello! You had me at mango chutney #chutneyforlife
I would highly recommend a visit. The museum is free (unless you are attending one of the temporary exhibitions where you sometimes have to pay) and the tea rooms are just inside so if you're not a museum kinda person (if this is you I'm not sure we can be friends...) so you could still enjoy all the yummy delights and cute tea cosies.
The website to find out more about the museum and the upcoming exhibitions can be found by clicking the link after these handy dandy arrows >> Dorman Museum.
Enjoy!
Me and Dave, we like our coffee. So when new places open up we always like to give them a try and see if they can beat Espresso 10 - the strange little coffee truck in the town that has somehow always stayed the winner, until now...
I'd like to introduce you to Bedford Street Coffee. Based in Bedford Street in Middlesbrough, this is one of the newest developments in town and it is absolutely stonkin'! I've yet to give anything else a try, but let's just say a walk down that road, has me salivating at all the potential tasty delights (a burrito bar?! Words cannot even!). I digress, back to the coffee.
The coffee house is cool personified. Exposed brick, wooden floors, subdued lighting, it's everything you imagine a New York City loft to be in the shape of a coffee house. Coffee is ordered by size of cup and it is very bloody delicious! Using Rounton Coffee everything is about keeping it local and keeping it tasty. This time round I had a peanut goldie/brownie and a 10oz cappucino and Dave went for an 8oz black coffee, with an extra shot, and a chocolate and raspberry brownie. In his words: that is the best bit of brownie I have had in years...trust me, I do not need to say anything more.
They've recently upped their foodie game even more by bringing in #projectbetty who I was delighted to discover is an old pal from art college! That was a happy reunion for a Sunday morning! They have big plans for Sunday brunch and all sorts of other tasty delights, needless to say I'll be back for more and am already looking forward to trying out some of the bagel options. And good news for any gluten-free readers as a lot of their food is GF friendly.
If you're in the area I would highly recommend a visit. You'll probably see me there as I aim to spend much more time there trying out all the different brownie options. Find out more on their Facebook page here and I'll see ya there for coffee!
