• Added: 17th of November 2008
• Area: Thames
• Category: Restaurants

Thames

kspence said
Gold-starred seafood place!
At the Kopu Smokehouse they smoke their own fish and shellfish on the premises - you can buy a whole range of different types of seafish - I'm ashamed to say I can't remember the types as I'm unfamiliar with NZ species - smoked to different degrees (mild to 'very' smoky). The very pleasant and friendly patroness will advise you if you want to know any more. It's all spanking fresh - they smoke the fresh-caught fish daily - and the quality is wonderful, you really couldn't ask for anything better than this. The smoked mussels are in a choice of barbecue or oriental style sauce - Rick Stein'd have a fit, but what does he know - try them, they are absolutely delicious.

All this and it's also an excellent fish and chip shop! The quality of the fish (and chips) is needless to say also outstanding and the portions very generous. The deep-fried mussels and oysters are cooked from fresh (not frozen, like they are in the majority of NZ chippys) and they are succulent and wonderful. We travelled a long, long distance out of our way on the return leg of our holiday mainly just to visit this smokehouse again (a good choice as we got to spend more time in the Coromandel peninsula, and that's wonderful too).

This is a terrific place. It's quite easy to accidentally drive past as it's in amongst a number of trade / motor shops on the main road through Kopu, but look out for the dark red painted frontage as well as the tall black 'seafood - oysters' sign at the side of the road beside it, and turn back if you happen to miss it. You can park right outside the shop, and it has a couple of tables inside if you want to eat there too. It shuts at six in the evening so daytime trading hours only really.

• Added: 17th of November 2008
• Area: Christchurch
• Category: Restaurants

Christchurch

kspence said
Nice premises, shame about the shocking chowder
This is a nicely done-out restaurant, with an attractive (and, seemingly, quite recently refurbished) and in some places 'architectural' interior, situated towards the end of Kaikoura's main seafront shopping street. The staff seem quite friendly and the ambience is pleasant, so it's a shame to have to report that in regards of the main and most important point that'll make or break a restaurant - namely, the quality of the food - this place utterly falls flat on its face.

Most ill-advisedly, we payed what was in comparison with what we ate, a small frickin' fortune at the 'Cray Pot' for 'seafood' chowder that turned out to be composed almost entirely of lumps of 'surimi' (that's those dyed red-and-white factory produced el-cheapo crab-flavoured 'ocean' sticks for non-Kiwis) suspended in a matrix of nasty pale-beige-coloured gunge that had the unfortunate glutinous texture, and much of the total absence of flavour, of lukewarm flour-and-water paste.

We ate relatively late in the afternoon (the place seems to be open all day) and I strongly suspect that by that time, in the inimitable words of John Bon Jovi, 'all the good shit was gone' - by which I mean (and here I'm making the generous assumption that the following list of ingredients were at one point included in the dish - although it certainly didn't taste like it) they'd served all the green-lipped mussels, the chunks of white fish, and prawns and shrimps that we were led to believe would be the 'seafood' components of our chowders (yes - sadly, we bought not one but two of the these) to the earlier lunchtime guests.

So faced with two unexpected orders for chowder late in the day, I imagine they cut the residual gloop with low grade processed fish product and doled that out to us instead - charging us the equivalent of about £8 per bowl of soup. Hey, we were obviously only tourists! Why bother keeping up food quality standards for people who won't be staying long in the district?

It was absolutely shocking nosh and we were greatly disappointed - especially given the promising first impression we got from the restaurant. Undoubtedly what we had there was the worst meal we ate in New Zealand - so the 'Cray Pot' gets a big thumbs down. Actually, there's an excellent Maori-owned chippy at the other end of the high street in Kaikoura - where you'll get food that's universes better than this stuff and at a tiny fraction of the price. I strongly recommend you go there instead. But if you don't like fish and chips, make your own sandwiches and sit and eat them in the gutter - still better than going like a lamb to slaughter to be ripped off in the 'Cray Pot', I reckon.

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Berkeley
• Category: Food and Drink

Berkeley GL13 9EU

kspence said
Great local farm shop
Puddleditch Produce is a farm shop in Berkeley Heath, very conveniently located by the A38 (on the left side going north) between Berkeley and the Dursley turn-off. It’s a relatively small farm shop but does a very good range of produce – there are all sorts of things available. Some highlights include the excellent dairy products - locally-produced butter and Gloucestershire cheeses (including the (in?)famous ‘Stinking Bishop’) and other south-west specialities such as nettle-wrapped Cornish Yarg (to name a couple from there that I can remember having tried). They also sell bacon, sausages and meats - all from local farms, and home baked cakes, jams and chutneys and free-range eggs. As well as all this, they also supply some wooden garden products – we got a very reasonably-priced trellis there – and they have some fancy-looking chickens and ducks in the garden on the premises that are popular with the kids. Unfortunately the only downside – and it’s a very slight one – is the A38 in this area is quite a fast road, which makes the shop all too easy to by-pass unless you know the location already – you might not realize where it is there on your first pass. It is a great farm shop and well worth stopping at!

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Dursley
• Category: Food and Drink

Dursley GL11 6LQ

kspence said
An excellent butcher's shop
Cam and Dursley have several very good butcher’s shops, and Cam Family Butchers is the very best of the lot. It’s situated with just a handful of other shops in Woodfields, outside of the town centre but it’s easy to find. It sells a wide range of locally-produced meat and poultry, including free-range pork that’s of exceptional quality, as well as other products such as free-range eggs from a farm in Tetbury (that are also excellent), cooked meats and home-made pies, and preserves and pickles. They sell home-made sausages in a range of flavours – which are really top-drawer – and the sausages’ less fashionable relation – meaty faggots, which are also well worth trying and good. The staff are also exceptional – friendly, helpful and knowledgeable; if they don’t have the cut you wanted ready prepared, they will prepare the meat for you then and there, and they can also advise on how to cook your purchases. The shop’s nicely fitted and decorated inside and out too – you might not quite be able to make this out from the pictures on the shop’s own website, but it’ll give you the general idea. You’ll never find a better butcher’s shop. Excellent!

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

Bristol BS37 5PW

kspence said
Great all-day breakfasts!
Why write a review for a Morrison’s in-store restaurant? Well everybody can’t be spending all their time in bijou little back-street eateries, and if you’re doing the weekly shop, Morrison’s café is usually a good bet. Also, I just wrote a scathing review for the one at Cribbs Causeway, which I think is atypically bad for a Morrison’s café, and though this would in some way redress the balance.

So, this is what Morrison’s supermarket cafes should be like. What I’m recommending specifically here, and have given the rating for, are the range of all-day (from the time the café opens till 4.30pm) cooked breakfasts. They do everything from a bacon roll to a ‘light-bite’ breakfast with only two or three of items, also a veggie breakfast, to breakfasts with everything - all the trimmings, including fried bread and mushrooms and hash-browns and tomato. They’re all good value and whoever is in charge of cooking them at this Morrison’s knows what they’re doing because the breakfasts are perfectly cooked, obviously by someone with a good eye for breakfast detail. They’re served on nice big, hot plates that keep everything warm. Great!

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Bristol
• Category: Food and Drink

Bristol BS34 5DG
0117 950 9103

kspence said
Good supermarket, terrible in-store cafe
Please note that the following review is only for the cafe at the Morrison’s in Cribbs Causeway, and not for the store itself, which is fine. I particularly recommend the fish counter and the good range of hot pies that’re available there.

Morrison's cafe usually does an excellent range of all-day cooked breakfasts (till 4.30pm, at least), also serviceable canteen-style lunches (fish and chips, sausage and chips, fish or beef and ale pies etc.) or just for a snack, cakes and individual portion biscuits and hot and cold drinks. Usually a good bet, I’d say, except in this case. I went there yesterday and it was shockingly bad. There is a sign in the café saying something along the lines of - ‘please bear with us during our refurbishment’ but there was no sign of refurbishing, and what was wrong with the place had nothing to do with any building work. There were abundant staff in the café, but few if any of them seemed to have much idea what they were doing; many appeared to be wandering aimlessly and the majority looked terribly out of their depth. The worst thing was the food, however. My fried egg was cooked in stale to rancid oil, and had a horrible acrid aftertaste. The coffee wasn’t coffee – it was basically brown, lukewarm water with barely a hint of flavour. I complained and they let my try a different nozzle from the automatic hot drink dispenser but no; it was all like that. I would’ve complained further but the queues were gigantic, the staff looked like they had enough to deal with, and the customer service desk was temporarily unattended. The one star I’ve given it stands for ‘appalling’. I have been to other Morrison’s cafes and they are definitely not all as bad as this.

• Added: 9th of October 2008
• Area: Gloucester
• Category: Restaurants

Gloucester GL2 7NY
01452 742111

kspence said
Excellent, friendly choice
The China Garden is an excellent Chinese restaurant situated on the A38 between Stroud and Gloucester, in the village of Whitminster. Its part of a small complex of restaurants at the Whitminster Inn - there is also an Indian restaurant next to it that opens in the evenings, and a traditional English pub and hotel adjacent to it. There is even a takeaway fish and chip shop next door! There is a big car park and it’s very easily accessible.

At the time of writing, it does a terrific-value set lunch comprising a generously-portioned main dish and starter for about £7 on weekdays and Saturdays (12 noon -2.30pm). There are Chinese-style curries and stir-fries as the main dishes, and soup, seaweed, satay etc. as the starters. From this choice I’d particularly recommend the Japanese-style barbecued pork and the chicken and sweet-corn soup – the soup might sound like pretty standard fare, but it is really very good. Actually, whatever you choose is safe bet as it’s all very good. It also does a buffet-style lunch on Sundays. The food is of excellent quality, and it’s very nicely set out and decorated inside (photos of the interior can be seen on the website). The ‘sizzling’ dishes – served on a hot-plate - from the menu are also very impressive. Highly recommended.

• Added: 8th of October 2008
• Area: Bath
• Category: Take Aways

Bath

kspence said
What a white snack van!
The owner of this snack van has been plying his trade in the same place for over 13 years, which says a lot about the business – mobile customers such as car and lorry drivers can very easily up and go somewhere else if they don’t like a place, but this snack van gets loads and loads of repeat custom, because for an operation of its type it is very, very good. It’s all hot-plate fried food – bacon, sausage, eggs, burgers, etc. and it’s all served between slices of bread or in rolls. There are also crisps and snacks and hot and cold drinks. You can get your tea or coffee in a proper mug, which you return afterwards, or in a disposable cup if you want to drive off with it. We are of course, talking about eating in your car here, and although there are usually a few garden seats set out in the summer for customers, it has to be said that you’ll be sitting outdoors in a lay-by by the side of a very busy road, and how much fun is that? Admittedly, what’s available is a fairly limited menu, but the food is fresh-cooked to your order on the spot and is extremely tasty. The bacon and egg / sausage and egg sandwiches are a real treat. The patron is nice and friendly too.

How can you find this hidden gem of a place. Well, despite the listing, it’s not exactly in Bath – but that’s about the nearest TrustedPlaces spot I could find. The snack van parks in a lay-by on the left hand side of the A46, going north (signposted to Stroud / Castle Combe), just off Junction 18 of the M4 – about 500m north from the junction. You’ll need to be using your own preferred method of transport as it’s geared up for road-traffic trade, but you can’t miss it. It’s there from quite early in the morning through most the day most days of the week – possibly with the exception of Sundays – but leaves pretty smartly after the lunchtime rush, so if you’re looking for anything after about 3-4pm it’s not guaranteed he’ll still be there (the van packs up and goes every night). As previously mentioned this business is well-known locally and quite busy – you may be able to squeeze into the lay-by with the van, but there is another pretty big lay-by directly opposite which is often a better bet. In a sense a good thing about this place is that people come and go quite quickly, so you should be able to find a parking space. The road - the A46 - is hideously busy, sometimes with a lot of thundering HGV traffic and is a real hazard to cross at this place, especially if you’re carrying fried egg sandwiches back to your car – so you should be extra vigilant and aware of this.

This being a lay-by in effectively the middle of nowhere, there are of course no amenities like toilets or places to wash your hands or anything nearby. (You might consider having some wet-wipes in the car if you go; your fingers are likely to be both greasy and eggy afterwards.) In fact personally, I count this as a good thing: I've seen snack vans parked up where there are public conveniences, but they all look dodgy as heck and I for one have never actually fancied eating in that kind of place.

If it’s lunchtime and you’re in the area and you like this kind of food, it’s well worth a shot.

• Added: 8th of October 2008
• Area: Oxford
• Category: Take Aways

Oxford OX3 8DJ

kspence said
Nice restaurant, shame about the access
You can’t really not write a review for a McDonald’s restaurant in Oxford, can you? The subject’s irresistible – all those high-end, haute-cuisine eateries specialising in food from countries you’re not even entirely sure where they are on the map to choose from in Oxford, and you to a McDonalds. Well doesn’t justabout everybody? And I suspect that might even include a few of those stalwarts from the Botley Mums protest group who were carrying out that slightly embarrassing campaign focussed on the one on the A420 a few years ago.

It’s a McDonald’s. What you expect is what you’ll get. It’s clean inside, the food - for any visitors from outer space who are reading this, is generally beef burger and chip based - and is as good as it ever is. It’s reasonably priced. It’s in a good position – if you’re trekking out of or through Oxford, it’s on the way to London and the south-east so it’s a very handy stop-off, especially as there isn’t another easily accessible McDonald’s on that route till Hemel Hempsted, really. It’s open painfully early in the morning till late at night. Offers anything and everything you could want from a McDonald's – except. And this is why I’ve knocked off one star, as in every other respect it would easily be a ‘three’. Despite being situated in full view of, and right beside the main through-traffic route, it is devilish difficult to get to from the main road. You end up being routed round the back of residential closes. The resulting tricky access must have made whoever planned the - otherwise commanding - positioning of this place weep.

• Added: 7th of October 2008
• Area: Oxford
• Category: Bars and Pubs

Oxford OX2 8PN
01865 302071

kspence said
Beautiful riverside pub
The Trout Inn is very well known locally and for fans of the television programme as the ‘Inspector Morse pub’. This has had a slightly unfortunate effect because the place is generally mobbed at popular times; the road through the village of Wolvercote is narrow and winding and high-walled at best and because of the pub’s popularity, you run a real risk – either as motorist or pedestrian – of being involved in a road traffic accident when trying to get to, or from, this hostelry. I also seem to remember some foolishness about the pub car-park being located a few tens of metres down on the opposite side of the (narrow and winding) road from the pub, which doesn’t help the situation. There is good reason for this though – since the pub is situated directly on the banks of the river Thames.

I see from the other reviews this is reputedly a gastro-pub and although I usually pay attention to these things, I haven’t the slightest recollection of what I ate there when I visited. Five stars still, though, for if nothing else the utter beauty of its setting, which has made me quite forgetful of the usual practicalities of eating out. This isn’t to detract from the many qualities of this pub of course – which is nicely appointed indoors and out, has a lovely terrace seating area on the river-bank, takes card payments (fortunately, becasue it's not exactly cheap), and does good food and a range of beers and beverages etc. etc. etc. But what ideally you’ll remember if you go is the sight of the green willows and the lazy river, that wooden footbridge, and if you’re lucky, the peacocks sitting on it in a gentle, hazy rain...it’s almost too pretty to be believed, really.