However, as soon as I arrived, everything that I had assumed proved to be incorrect. The pop up restaurant, based in Granary Wharf was exactly like a swanky restaurant. There was a doorman who greeted me when I arrived and attentive service by the waitresses. In the waiting area there were gorgeous white Barcelona chairs too which Mr Lay the table dreams of owning alongside an Eames chair. The decor in general made the high ceiling building look stylish and elegant without the dreaded Versace look that some restaurants seem to go for. It was light and airy and luckily I got seated directly opposite the window fortunately, so I got some great light for my photos.

I was given a glass of champagne and some green olives alongside so fresh warm bread and butter whilst I read the menu. There was a bit too much for just one so I had to try and resist filling up before I started my meal! The menu was varied but I knew what a lot of it was as I’d see it in our local Morrisons, so when I spied that there was scallops for starter on the menu AND steak for main, I knew that these wouldn’t come fresh from the microwave.

The starter of scallops and peas arrived and took me totally by surprise as to how pretty it looked – again, nothing like I expected. The king scallops were presented on a base of broad beans and peas topped with pea shoots. I’ve never tried scallops before but always wanted to and one I cut off a piece, I closed my eyes and tasted heaven. The slightly browned top and bottom (perhaps cooked in butter) just added an edge. Part of the broad bean and pea mix with blended so they were slightly saucy too and the sweet flavour of the scallop was perfectly complimented by bean and pea sauce. The only thing that really let it down was that the broad beans had not been shelled, so there’s that slightly weird texture of the outer. I would also have done away with the peas and broad beans as whole and just served them puréed them; the meaty texture of the scallop would have been enough of a contrast to make it work.

Next up was the fillet steak, with “jus” on a bed of mashed potato. Not just any mashed potato, a beautifully cream mash with a tiny hint of garlic in it. The steak was 21 day dry-aged which means it’s actually been air dried rather than shoved in a vacuum pack. The flavour is more developed in dry-aged meat and I have to agree that the flavour was deep and I had soon gobbled up the lot. I forgot to add it was also beautifully cooked, although it was a little rarer than I’d asked for I was actually glad it was cooked like it was. I’d actually sitting her almost drooling about the flavour of that steak. I know supermarket steak has the worst reputation and I never buy steak from the supermarket unless it’s for deep-frying (in which case the quality issue isn’t really at the forefront). But this piece of steak was enough to make me reconsider.

Onto the dessert. There was a good choice, but I was unsure about chocolate mousse as I often find it too rich, I nearly always order cheesecake and so fancied something a bit different so I requested the tarte tatin. It was ok, but pretty sickly towards the end, perhaps because I was so full and the portion was quite large. I haven’t got anything to compare this tatin to as I’ve never tried it before, but I reckon a homemade one would probably taste a little better.

All in all, I thought the meal was pretty darn good – the ingredients and food are all available in Morrisons, whether as a prepared dish (like the mashed potato and the tarte tatin) or uncooked like the scallops and steak. I’m very happy that I haven’t become so snobbish about food that I overlooked this opportunity – I guess you should never judge a book by its cover! The staff were also excellent – attentive, informative but never annoying! I was also very glad to meet Chris Wildman of Yorkshire Chorizo fame. I’ve been following on him on twitter for a while, so it was nice to meet him in the flesh!

Probably the best bit about these pop ups is that they’re not exclusive events for bloggers – in fact most of the people there are the general public. And it’s free, for everyone! There’s pop ups coming to Birmingham and Manchester so I’d really recommend going. You can find out more at The M Kitchen website.

Last week I was lucky enough to go to a blogger event at the recently opened Cattle Grid restaurant in Leeds. My colleague had been here where it opened and I heard they had wagyu beef on the menu…how could I resist?

Steve Novak, one of the restaurant partners gave us a talk on the idea for the brand and about the food itself. Cattle Grid is aiming to hit the restaurant middle-market – a chain of restaurants where people go and eat good steak on regular basis: in his words “The Pizza Express of steakhouses”. With this in mind, you can buy a fillet steak and chips for under £20 – this does mean you probably won’t get locally sourced meat (some of the steaks at the Leeds restaurant are currently locally sourced) and they buy vacuum packed in bulk. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s wet ageing the meat. One thing that is local is the bread which is made at Anthony’s, which is pretty much right next door!

I was sitting with Katie from Leeds Grub, Ellie from The Magic Square Foundation and Leanne who I had followed on twitter thinking she was someone else! They don’t have starters on the menu but Steve had recommended the ribs so we ordered ½ rack of normal ribs and ½ peri peri. Seriously, if there’s one thing you need to do, it’s order the ribs here! I’m somewhat of a rib connoisseur – my infamous slow cooked ribs fall off the bone, but Cattle Grid’s ribs are an extremely viable competitor and if any of my friends find out about them, I think my rib crown will be taken away. The baby back ribs were so tender and the sauce was amazing, I think it had honey in it and a good kick of spice – and that was just the normal ones! The peri peri one’s had more of a kick and some of the ladies weren’t so keen on them, but if you love spice as much as I do then they are definitely for you.

For my main I ordered fillet steak done medium with peppercorn sauce. Steve also recommended that we ordered onion strings – their version of onion rings. Due to one of the fryers having issues our onion strings were a little delayed getting to the table so we didn’t eat much of them – but oh my god. They are just AMAZING. So amazing that I took the leftovers him a box and had them the next day. Basically the onions are coated in a tempura-like batter and don’t feel greasy like other onion rings. You really must order these when you visit – one bowl is enough for two!

So to the steak – it was very good. The signs of a well hung steak were all there: the flavour was excellent and the texture had just the amount of chew and softness, despite my previous reservations about vacuum packing and bulk buying. The steak my mum buys from Howells of Wells-Next-The-Sea still tops it though. Mine was cooked perfectly and sauce was pretty good too – I do think peppercorn sauce really adds to the flavour of the steak.

For pudding I had a brownie although it was a little too crunchy and a little less squidgy than I prefer. I’m not sure the pudding list here is anything to write home about but fortunately the decent main meal portions and choice should be enough to make you return visit here.

Would I recommend it to people? Yes definitely, if you’re looking for a a decent steak in town then you’ve come to the right place, but what really makes the place different from other steakhouses are the ribs and the side dishes which come with your steak.

Let me give a little insight into my life at the moment: HECTIC. Life as a food blogger seems to either move at 0mph or 100mph! I’m also excited to be running my own blogger event at work which has taken over both my waking and sleeping life – it’s this Friday and hopefully things will all go swimmingly! Luckily amid all this hubbub, I found time to go to the opening of the new Cafe 164.

Katie from Leeds Grub and I sat down to a special blogger’s sample lunch: some delicious focaccia sandwiches. The focaccia is baked fresh every day and all the fillings too. The bread’s baked in-house overnight and made straight into sandwiches. All the fillings are Mediterranean inspired – totally delicious, even the one with the goat’s cheese which I’m not normally keen on! You really get a taste for the freshness and the love that gets put into the not-run-of-the-mill sandwiches.

The whole place feels really warm and friendly. It’s an art bar but doesn’t have that exclusive feel of some of the more traditional art cafes. This is contemporary and I think it’ll bring good lunchtime grub to that side of the city. There’s some great art work in there, plus some gorgeous t-shirt designs and some beautiful lampshades. There’s also a couple of gorgeous comfy leather chairs to sink into and have a good read of a book with a cup of coffee.

Just before I left, I spotted these beautiful pearlescent meringues/macarons out for sampling (sorry pic’s a bit blurry!), aren’t they beautiful? Get down to Cafe 164 on Duke Street (just opposite the bus station)!

I first knew of Salvo’s after watching Ramsey’s Best Restaurant last year when I still lived in Portsmouth. I really wanted to go there and when I had my first job interview up in Leeds, Chris took me for lunch in the Salumeria. I got overly excited when Gip, who’d been on the programme, stood about a foot away from me and I was mouthing to Chris “OMG he’s been on the telly”. Yes, I am that sad.

I was invited to go to lunch in the restaurant and of course, I was dying to try it! I sat and had lunch with Rachel, the PR lady for Salvo’s and she told me loads of interesting things about the restaurant. For instance, the majority of meat and vegetables are locally sourced e.g. from Swillington Organic Farm. Some of the more special items, like the buffalo mozzarella are brought in from Italy each week, piggybacking on a delivery already bound for Leeds.

The Salumeria is an absolute beauty to behold too – Chris works a stone’s throw away and often returns from work with a story about some cheese or cured meat he’s procured earlier in the day. Funny none of it ever makes it home….

Now to my food! I ordered the porchetta (belly pork) which comes with polenta mash. The pork was cooked beautifully had a smoky taste that really enhanced the flavour of the meat, but didn’t overpower it. The polenta mash was delicately flavoured with herbs (though I couldn’t tell you what, but it tasted good!). We were brought some home-baked ciabatta with olive oil that looked like liquid gold. I came away feeling nicely full after my lunch and wanting to stay longer and chat about good food.

Salvo’s deserves each and every award they’ve won – in fact they’ve received five this year alone, including the AA rosette. The feedback I’ve had from friends and foodies has always been extremely positive and I can’t wait to go back and eat there in the evening.

Want to find out more about Salvo’s? View Salvo’s website here.

It taking two and half hours to arrive in London, we decided to go for early doors and have lunch at 12:30. We were almost the first people in for lunch at St. James restaurant. It didn’t bother me too much though, I’m pretty sure the waiter service would have been just as efficient had there been fifty more occupied tables around us.

We splashed out a little and got ourselves half a bottle of champagne, although we felt cheapskates for ordering the cheapest one off the menu, it was actually the nicest champagne I’ve ever had as it wasn’t too dry. Chris was impressed that we had a waiter who never let the glasses get empty and seemed to be there specifically just to pour wine!

For starters, Chris had a cold mezze which included a selection of salamis and parma ham served with plump juicy black olives and crunchy bread sticks filled with herbs. I had corned beef, served with parma ham and truffle. The corned beef wasn’t especially to my liking and unusual I thought to be served in such a high class restaurant, but the overall taste of the dish was delicious.

For main (and the whole reason for going on a Sunday) was the roast beef. I loved that we were asked how we would like our meat, a far cry from the trays of heat lamp dried meat of the £8.99 Toby carvery. It was served with the most divine roast potatoes which we couldn’t quite put our finger on what made them taste so good, green beans and truly the most amazing cauliflower cheese I have ever tasted. It was a little bit crispy on the top and the cheese was wonderfully creamy underneath – I think if I’d just have been served that I’d have been just as happy! And don’t forget of course, no roast dinner is complete without a Yorkshire pudding! The portion was huge, too huge for me – Chris told me to “eat it all up do you know how much it’s costing us” so I proceeded to gorge myself until I felt like I might burst. Having done this, we asked if we might have a little break between that and the dessert course, so I could attempt to make a little more room in my tummy to squeeze it all in.

For dessert we both had plum bakewell with ginger ice cream and honey. The ginger ice cream really helped clear the palette and whilst I am not normally keen on plums, I found the tart delicious especially with the little drizzle of honey.

As you can imagine we were full to the gunnels at the point, and I felt we needed to get up and waddle around and start to work off some of the many calories we had just consumed. I suggested we looked around the shop but at this point it was just ridiculous as we had absolutely no inclination to look at food having just stuffed our faces, so we waddled outside and continued the rest of our day.

PS Sorry the photos aren’t as great as normal but when you’re in a restaurant like that you feel a little odd getting out your SLR and taking photos of your food so we took them with an iPhone.

You can find out more about Fortnum & Mason here.

Butler’s Pantry, The Appleyard, Holt

I could spend ages in this kitchenware shop buying Emma Bridgewater teapots, mugs and everything else! They also have a fabulous range of eco frying pans, Joseph Joseph and cake decorating materials. I bought a super cute traditional style salt pig with spoon from here. Their adjoining restaurant is also excellent (I’ve eaten there a couple of times in the past and the food has always been great).

Adnam’s Cellar and Kitchen, Victoria Street, Southwold

Indulge yourself in a day out in Southwold! Home of Adnam’s ale, it is a beautiful seaside resort which largely remains unspoilt by crass tourist attractions. What you will find here though is the beautiful Adnam’s shop full of their ales (as one might expect), a good selection of carefully chosen wines, specialist and locally produced foods and some wonderful gifts. We picked up this beautiful lighthouse schnapps bottle for £24.

Find out more about Cellar & Kitchen here.

Dairy Barns, Hickling

As I will reiterate time and time again, I love to support local business, so I’m happily introducing you to Dairy Barns, a former milking parlour converted to a comfortable and beautiful bed and breakfast. It’s a beautiful setting to get married and hold your wedding reception. I also love the fact you can hold an afternoon tea here (with champagne!) – perfect for ladies who lunch.

You can learn more about Dairy Barns here.

Simply Norfolk, Staithe Street, Wells-Next-The-Sea

Gorgeous homeware, I wish I could buy the whole shop (to put in my dream home!). Cute little bird decorations, Gisela Graham mugs to die for and beautiful rose candle holders. I bought some gorgeous Cath Kidston-esque napkins from here (post with them in coming soon!)

The Last Wine Bar & Restaurant, George’s St, Norwich

I hadn’t been here for a good four years, but on my return, the food was still amazing. Friday is steak frites night and the steak is wonderfully juicy (like i’ve never had before!). But what really stuck out for me was the starters: Wood pigeon skewer with asian spices, mouli and green mango salad and scallops with spinach oshitasi, crispy rice noodles, wasabi and sweet chilli. Simply delicious.

Byford’s, Shirehall Plain, Holt

The best cream tea we ate all week! I saw a quote from Smitten Kitchen that she gets nostalgic for times and places she never knew. This was exactly how I felt in Byford’s. I could imagine Victorian ladies meeting friends here, the low ceilings with its wooden beams and traditional interior. It really served as the perfect environment to enjoy a spot of scones with clotted cream, finger sandwiches and a selection of their wonderful cakes.

Arthur Howell – butchers, Staithe Street, Wells-Next-The-Sea

Quite simply, the nicest fillet steak I’ve ever seen in a butchers. The meat was well hung, marbled with fat and full of flavour. My mum loves shopping here too (she usually buys up the shop).

Saturday was the perfect day for the tea party and we were brought straight into the garden to sip on some wonderful iced tea and nibble on some seeded cheesy biscuits. The iced tea was refreshingly fruity, the likes of which I’d never tasted before, even in my travels across asia where pretty much every drink is an iced tea. The cheese nibbles not only looked pretty but packed a real cheesy punch and being fond of strong cheeses (although I do draw the line at Roquefort!) these went down well and I had to resist filling myself up on these before the main event!

Lynn introduced everyone and although we didn’t have time to play her “getting to know you game” it soon became clear who was who and whilst it seemed we all have diverse career paths, we all had one common denominator: food! We split into two rooms and I sat with a couple of bloggers: Rachel who writes http://www.ramblingsofadrunkenspinster.blogspot.com and Katie who writes http://www.leedsgrub.blogspot.com and her friend.

We were served our afternoon tea on beautiful vintage china and we had a selection of teas to choose from and could have milk or cream with it. We all happily tucked into the savoury tartlets and cute little sandwiches (I particularly enjoyed the ham and chutney ones myself) and generally rambled on about all sorts of things.

At “half time” with waistlines rapidly expanding, we were served cupcakes and butterfly cakes, macaroons, a stunning looking (and tasting!) victoria sponge with fresh strawberries and cream, scones and fruit cake with wensleydale. I’ve never been a fan of fruit cake but it’s the perfect accompaniment to a strong cheese and something I will make sure to eat again.

I couldn’t fault this event, not one bit. I only wish I’d made more effort to talk to more people but I was glued to my seat gorging on the amazing food. Perhaps when I get a bigger place I’ll be able to host one myself. Thankyou Lynn for making it such an enjoyable event! Read Lynn (Bakelady59) ‘s blog here: http://bakelady.wordpress.com. You can also find an underground restaurant in your area here.

Before we even got there, I was pleased to be asked if I had any special dietary requirements and if there was a special occasion on the table, and I was called on the day to confirm the details again. When we arrived our coats were taken and we were seated at “the bar” where Chris had a G&T and I had a limoncello. I didn’t realise it was a shot, not a long drink on this occasion and felt a bit out of place downing said shot whilst Chris slowly sipped his drink down. We were served canapes – I’m afraid I cannot remember the names of them, but I will describe them to you:

• A radish slice containing goat’s cheese
• A Malaysian(?) curry spiced roll
• A Caerphilly cheese croquette

All were divine and a great promise of things to come. We ordered our starters and as neither of us are particularly competent with choosing wine to go with our meals, we were given some great advice. There is a good range of wines in terms of price range and variety, and there is also a rare wines menu too for those whose noses and tastebuds are a little more attuned to the good stuff.

Once we were seated to our table, we had a little pre-starter of a shot glass of creamy almond and swede velouté with bombay potato served in a little espresso cup. It was the perfect amuse bouche and similar to the kind of taster we’d had in Bistro M (in there we had a pea and red pepper one which we tried to recreate without success). After that we were served a roll with seaweed and sesame topping and a sundried tomato ciabatta – I was served saffron butter with mine and Chris has seaweed butter with ours. This was dependent on our choice of starter – I ordered the king prawn and mussel chowder with potato and leek cake and Chris ordered butter roasted scallops served with brown shrimp sand and oyster foam. I was a little surprised to see that my chowder also contained salmon as it hadn’t been mentioned on the menu but it was delicious all the same. I don’t normally like fish (I tend to only eat prawns) and I’m a bit of fussy eater so didn’t fancy the other starter options, but the mussels were so soft and tender I completely changed my opinion on seafood. Chris’s starter reminded me of sandcastles on a beach when the sea had gently lapped over them and the shrimp sand added to the seaside feel. We later heard the people on the table next to us complaining that they though there was too much shrimp sand, but it was served on the side so you could have as little or as much as you want.

For main, I ordered the 30 hours cooked belly pork which was a 6 hour upgrade from the one at Bistro M and was delicious as expected although with all the canapes, pre-starters and starter I’d eaten was probably in terms of portion size a little large and rich for my tastebuds and I didn’t quite finish it all. Chris had black forest Gressingham duck which was complimented perfectly by the cherry and dark chocolate.

We also had a pre-dessert which was lemon (again sorry I can’t remember exactly what it was) and it cleared the palette perfectly and was gently fizzy on the tongue and left me feeling light and refreshed ready for pudding.

Pudding I can only describe as sheer delight – if you watched any of the Masterchef Best of British last year where one guy made a sweet shop on a plate, then you’ll know exactly what I mean. The desserts were beautifully presented – a wonder to the eyes and tasted as good. I had the apple crumble icecream cone served with madeleine cake and calvados jelly and Chris had the dark chocolate marquise with nougat, custard truffle and almond gel. I really enjoyed mine but didn’t feel the calvados jelly really went with the other textures of my meal (despite jelly and icrecream being a childhood favourite, it didn’t work with the crunchy tuille cone). The marquise was enjoyable and I loved the nougat particularly.

At the end of the meal I was given a little treat of chocolate cake in a box for my birthday which I haven’t broken into yet – it’s a nice gesture especially as I was so full from all the other delights I’d tasted that evening.

A word about the atmosphere – there’s only about 10 tables which is a good size and ensures it doesn’t get too roudy or noisy in there, but I felt that the ceilings were too high and created a slightly village hall feel about it. There was little to create a cosy atmosphere – there’s not too much to look at on the walls and there’s an picture of two children on the wall (I’m guessing the chef’s children) which seems out of character to the rest of the food related images. If Michelin took into account ambience (which apparently they don’t) they wouldn’t get the sought-after Michelin star. I was also slightly disappointed with the service – we were asked if we wanted dessert wine and then had to ask our waiter to take the dessert order after the first waiter wanted to take the order within 1 minute of being given the menu, and consequently disappeared after we said we needed a little more time.

Our meal came to £106 with two bar drinks, a bottle of wine and a glass of dessert wine between us which I thought was good. I’m still unsure if I would go back – I am a die-hard fan of Montparnasse and not sure whether the same environment has quite been recreated here. The food was surely fantastic though!

Visit the Restaurant 27 website.

I ordered yakitori skewers (chicken flavoured with soy sauce, mirin, sake & sugar) and pork gyoza (half moon shaped dumplings fried then gently boiled in frying pan). Both were extremely tasty and good sized portions, we felt we could’ve just ordered more of the same for our main course! The special soy-vinegar dip for the gyoza was tangy and added flavour to the meat in in the dumpling.

For main I ordered a chilli chicken ramen bowl, whilst Chris had beef teriyaki bento box. Mine was good; the miso was tasty, the noodles perfectly cooked, but it was really Chris’s Bento that was the star meal. The beef was deliciously smokey/chargrilled and there was just the right amount of sauce to mix some in with the rice.

I have long been a fan of York, I went there many New Years as a child and I’ve visited Betty’s Tea Room a few times since. The surroundings are classic and tasteful, and the waiting staff wear traditional uniforms, both which add to the whole experience.

We took advantage of the delicious teas available – I had Ceylon blur sapphire tea and Chris had Earl Grey. It was loose tea so it had a really good taste and I loved using the tea strainers and sugar lumps! We also had a very scrummy lunch – I had a potato rosti with ham and raclette cheese. It was the best rosti I’ve ever tasted, very buttery with a good amount of seasoning. Chris had a very eyecatching BLT which tasted as good as it looked.

Even though we were both stuffed we both wanted a dessert! I saw the cauliflower cake and just had to have it. It was a soft madiera sponge decorate with marzipan leaves. It seemed a shame to destroy it but my tummy thanked me! Chris had the equally mouthwatering fruit tarte, served with a generous dollop of fresh cream.

We also had a good wander around York and I was so impressed with market stalls selling all sorts of homemade treats, including this cupcake stall I found. The decoration is so neat and pretty.

We also bought some Yorkshire stilton from a little stand on the main market. We teamed it with some Sicilian salami we bought from Little Italy Restaurant (which also sells deli items), and a fresh whole bap and made a very tasty sandwich on Sunday!