• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Hexham
• Category: Restaurants

Hexham NE46 1NQ

parisianskies said
Friendly Italian restaurant
It's a while since I've been to La Famiglia as I haven't been up to Hexham lately, but I definitely want to go again, because I love it. The restaurant is up some stairs along one of my favourite side-streets, but they usually have a board out so you don't miss it as you walk past.
The atmosphere in the restaurant is warm and friendly, and the decor is gorgeous, as it's made to look like a sort of cave with lots of fairy lights everywhere - very pretty. It's a great place to escape on a chilly day as it's nice and cosy up there and you can easily forget that it's raining and freezing cold outside (as it often is!).
The food is tasty and there's a lunch happy hour special most days, at a reasonable price. Definitely have a coffee too, it's a great way to finish a meal.

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Restaurants

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE11 9XF
0191 461 8710

parisianskies said
Nice normal Italian food
Est Est Est is what you would expect from an Italian chain restaurant, ie. pretty much the same things you would find in all Italian restaurants: lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, marguerita pizza, etc.
The decor in this particular restaurant is modern, and even though it's right next to the busy cinema, it feels quite quiet as it's tucked away behind some escalators.
Everything else is pretty standard, normal drinks menu, not much in the way of different choices, but meals are cooked well and are tasty, so if you want nice normal Italian food, go to Est Est Est.
If you work in the Metrocentre, you get 10% Metrocentre staff discount too if you have a staff discount card and show it when you pay.

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Restaurants

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE11 9YG
0191 460 0762

parisianskies said
Good cocktails - both alcoholic and non-alcoholic!
Chiquitos used to be one of my favourite places, and my friends and I used to go every week for a meal, some nachos, a dessert or just drinks. However, I think we sickened ourselves with it, because now we like a change. We also weren't impressed by the menu change a few months ago.
We do like the wraps - the Santa Fe wrap is filled with mexican rice, chicken, salsa, cheese and sour cream and the Barbecue Rib wrap is filled with strips of barbecue rib meat and cheese. I also like the fact that they serve a range of non-alcoholic cocktails, in case you don't fancy the usual coke or fruit juice, and the alcoholic cocktails are good too if you aren't driving.
This Chiquito is in a convenient place, next to the cinema and the transport interchange at the Metro Centre, and is open until about 11pm, so you can pop in after you see a film (you also get 20% off the food bill Monday-Thursday when you show your cinema ticket).
If you have room, or if you just fancy a dessert, the Pecan Pie is also worth a try!

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Restaurants

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE16 3BE

parisianskies said

I like Frankie and Benny's for the great menu it now has, with lots of choice, including the usual Italian dishes and some different extras. I love the salmon and red pepper fishcakes and the breakfast pizza (with mushrooms, ham, sausage and a fried egg in the middle!), but some other things are also good.
The music and the atmosphere in the restaurant is fun, and you'll find it hard to stop yourself dancing in your seat! There's also an Italian language CD playing in the toilets, so you can brush up on your Italian while you wash your hands!
I never have room for a dessert, but I've heard they're tasty so I'll have to try one some day. They also do non-alcoholic cocktails, always appealing for someone like me who always takes the car on a night out and usually ends up drinking coke.

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Durham
• Category: Cafes and Coffee Shops

Durham DH1 3NP

parisianskies said
Good for coffee and cakes
I love Vennels! Whenever a friend comes to visit and we go to Durham, we always pop into Vennels. You'll find it when you walk up the street towards the Cathedral and take a right through a little passageway near the entrance to the Prince Bishops shopping arcade. You'll then come to a little courtyard - this is Vennels' outside seating area, with heaters in the cold weather.
The feeling in Vennels is good - it's friendly and cosy and the cakes are really delicious (and huge slices!!).
Their banoffee pie is famous but they also do different homemade cakes every day. A good idea may be to share a slice with a friend, or even to get 2 slices and try a bit of each! Their hot chocolate is worth a try too!

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Durham
• Category: Restaurants

Durham DH1 4SL

parisianskies said
Terrible treatment, awful manager
We've been to Inshanghai before and never had any problems, but then again, we'd never encountered the awful manager before.
I'm not a fan of Chinese food but we went to Inshanghai for my sister passing her exams in August. We first decided to go before a certain time (can't remember whether it was 6 or 7pm) to get a cheaper price for the buffet, but my sister was running late so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to go for the later, more expensive price for the same food! Then, I saw that with a valid NUS student card, you could get 15% student discount. However, this was not to be! I told the manager when I went in that I had a student card and he informed me that they didn't do student discount over the summer, in a very rude tone, even though all the menus still boasted student discount and didn't even mention that there would be no discount over the summer. I told the manager that it was still on the menu and that he should then give me it, but he refused and told me, again very rudely, that he was the manager and he could do whatever he wanted to, he could take away the menu from me if he wanted to do that! I would have left but my family were hungry and still wanted to stay. The rest of the staff were very nice and the food was ok but the manager has put me off ever going again.

• Added: 9th of September 2008
• Area: Consett
• Category: Restaurants

Consett DH8 0HX

parisianskies said
Nice if you like it traditional with a twist
As a gastro pub serving traditional English style food, it's not really my type of thing, and the size of the menu didn't really leave me with much choice of what to have. It's relatively expensive for the area it is in, as it's just in a small village, but not excessively so. If you like your meat and veg done in a classy way, you'll like it, but I wasn't too keen. I finally decided on the chicken breast in a red pepper and cream sauce which I enjoyed in the end, but it wouldn't necessarily have been my first choice. The desserts were nice, but the drinks were quite expensive.

• Added: 8th of September 2008
• Area: Consett
• Category: Restaurants

Consett DH8 0HH

parisianskies said

If you want simple, cheap Italian food, here's the place. With a happy hour menu of a starter, main course and coffee for a very reasonable price, Sale Pepe is extremely good value. The food is simple but done well, with choices like deep fried potato skins and bruschetta for starter and pasta dishes, pizza, chicken, salmon and steak options for mains. There's plenty of choice, even on the happy hour menu, so you don't feel as though you're limited by it, and almost everyone can find something they like. The only downside is that the restaurant is next to a busy junction and that's the only view.

• Added: 8th of September 2008
• Area: Consett
• Category: Restaurants

Consett DH8 9EL

parisianskies said
Beautiful surroundings, meal not so good
After having visited Knitsley Mill a few years ago and loved it, I decided to go again for a meal a few weeks ago and was quite disappointed.
We chose from the special table d'hote menu, with starter, main course, a glass of wine and a coffee for a fixed price. The starter of carrot and red pepper soup was nice, but I wasn't impressed with the main - Chicken breast wrapped in bacon and served with a bacon and mushroom cream sauce. The chicken was served on a bed of mashed potato but it tasted like it had been re-heated as the texture was not as it should be. The bacon was streaky and not very appealing, and the overall feel of the meal did not inspire me to return any time soon.

• Added: 8th of September 2008
• Area: Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Category: Events and Entertainment

Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 6BR
0870 905 5060

parisianskies said
Good things come in little bundles
The Theatre Royal is a beautiful place, but after visiting recently, I thought it was a lot smaller than I'd remembered from my childhood - obviously this is not the case, it must have just been the fact that I was so much smaller myself and everything seemed big. However, I do think that, being the main theatre in Newcastle, the stage is a bit small and the number of seats limited.
Nevertheless, the theatre is gorgeous, both inside and out, and is a real gem in central Newcastle.
I recently saw Cats on tour at the Theatre Royal and was amazed by the show they managed to put on, especially taking into account the number of performers on a small stage, so this just shows that size doesn't always matter!