Urban Deli, City Centre

On the rare occasion I find myself in town of a weekday lunch time I like to meet James for lunch, often making him starving hungry as I expect him to meet me about an hour and a half after he would normally eat.

James and his work friends have told me about Urban Deli before, so last Friday that's where we headed.  There was a number of menus, one for takeaway and one for sitting in.  The sit in menu is extensive, but a little over priced for a quick lunch.  There is a classic sandwich menu and a twist sandwich menu.  They offer soup, jacket potatoes,salads and also a number of hot sandwiches.  The hot sandwich menu was in chalk, implying it gets changed but I don't know how often.

James was adamant he was having a hot sandwich, so he chose Moroccan lamb.  By the time we got there, there wasn't a great selection of breads left, so he had it on olive bread.  The meat was thick, juicy and moist.  It was delicately spiced and there was plenty of it.  There was quite a bit of fat on the meat but it being lamb, I guess that's expected.  I know most people aren't as fussy as I am when it comes to fat on meat.

I took aaaages perusing the menu, I often find it tricky to decide what I want.  The classics menu was still varied and a little different, but the twist menu wasn't as unusual as the name suggests.  It all looked appetising, but I went for the chorizo, brie and black olive on tomato bread.  The bread was a good choice.  The chorizo gave a tang of heat and the brie was thick and gentle.  The black olives are the perfect accompaniment to add salt and offset the mildness of the brie.  However it only worked for four bites as there were only FOUR OLIVES.  On a six inch sandwich.  So whilst the sandwich itself is a delicious mix, the majority of the sandwich was far too cloying, with the chorizo unable to hold it's own against the cheese.  As you can see, I was dreadfully unimpressed by the olive fiasco.

I like that they still have a bar-style seating area for the takeaway menu, and there is a huge amount of choice.  I would have given it a 7.5, but my obsession with equal ingredient distribution has let the place down.  So it's a 6.  I would recommend it, but I suggest you keep an eye on how generous they are with the salad.

The Blue Bar Restaurant, Terra Nova, Majorca

I yesterday returned from my first beach holiday in about three years.  Despite going all inclusive we couldn't resist going to a restaurant.  I've been to Palma Nova a few times and Terra Nova is kind of next to it along the bay.  I had this restaurant in mind before we even left the country as it has probably the best location in the vicinity.  It's on an incline at the end of the beach and above some other bars that gives it a fantastic view across the bay.  We bagged a table outside on the balcony so we could see the entire beach and the moon reflecting off the water.

The Blue Bar restaurant isn't a posh place, it has paper table cloths and place mats.  But the view and the location is fantastic.  I was determined to have paella and sangria, which is exactly what we had.  As with most places the paella has to be for at least two people.  It was utterly delicious.  You know it's going to be special when it's served with a handful of napkins and wetwipes and a shell cracker.  I'm a massive girl when it comes to certain shellfish.  I had no trouble whatsoever in crushing the crab claws and sucking out the insides (there were loads and they were moist and salty) but James had to remove the heads from the prawns and languostines.  The paella was full of pre-shelled prawns, squid rings and mussels but it was also cooked with the full prawns and languostines inside.  That gave the depth of flavour to the dish that is often missing from paella dishes in the uk.  It was utter carnage.  there was bits of shell and peas and soft rice everywhere by the time we finished.  The sangria was the best I had all week, it had strawberries in it!  James and I have been inspired to utilise the giant paella dish we have in the kitchen and find a good sangria recipe on line.  I can't vouch for the rest of the menu, it was pretty electic as most restaurants are in massive tourist spots.  But it was ideal to what we wanted.  The waiters were rushed off their feet, yet they were prompt and friendly.

It was well worth paying for despite our all inclusive wristbands.  8.5/10.