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.

Flurt, Pinstone Street, City Centre

Just a quick shout out to this place.  Flurt does four flavours of frozen yoghurt: natural, chocolate, strawberry and a fourth which rotates on average every six days or so.  I was wandering along to the farmer's market after an unsuccessful day of shopping.  I was going to break my diet with fresh cheesecake when I saw two girls walk past with some frozen yoghurt.  So I bee-lined for Flurt.  Oh my god.  I had caramel with strawberries and granola.  The small is still sizable and I kid you not, I had such a massive smile on my face I even got ensnared by those people trying to take your money for various charities on Fargate and gave them money!  That's how delicious the frozen yoghurt is here.  Go there.  It will brighten your day considerably.

Ego, Sheffield City Centre

I know this one is a chain, which normally I don't review, but it is a restaurant I hadn't been to before.  Ego is a Mediterranean restaurant, next to the winter gardens and one of the precious few restaurants in town that I could find that had a pretheatre menu on a Tuesday.  Two courses for £12.95 (James has fixed the laptop so I now have a pound sign) or three courses for £14.95.

We were seated next to the window (which I happen to like) on a square table.  The chairs were comfortable enough but they were tricky to sit up in to eat.  I had grilled goats cheese to start.  It was very salty (I am a salty sea dog) and served on toasted brioche.  It was a light dish and piping hot throughout.  The only complaint I have is that there wasn't enough of the chutney and balsamic syrup to fully balance out the cloying texture of the cheese, but that's just nit-picky.  Overall I really enjoyed the starter and thought it was just different enough to stand up to it being a chain restaurant.  James had the pate (naturally) and he enjoyed it a great deal.  It came with a chutney that was served in a really cute little glass lever top jar!  That was the best thing for me, I wanted to steal it (but I didn't!).

For a main I had the salmon in a cream mustard sauce.  It was a tad bland but the texture of the fish was superb.  Perfectly cooked and flaky yet moist.  James had the steak (again, naturally!) which he requested cooked rare.  James is a steak fiend and will judge a restaurant based entirely on how they cook their meat.  Whilst he was pleased it wasn't overcooked, it was closer to blue then rare.  It needed to be hot through.  The vegetables were shared between us which I liked, they were al dente which I don't normally like but with the softness of the fish I needed the bite of the vegetables to alleviate the dish somewhat.

I didn't have a dessert of my own.  I'm THAT kind of girl.  So I was handed James' fork and shared his tirimisu.  I'm a giant tirimisu fan.  The dish was soaked with Kahlua.  I understand it has to have a healthy whack of it to make the taste right but it was drenched.  You pressed on the creamy top and it leaked out.  James quite enjoyed it but it was just too much for me.  I prefer a bit more emphasis on the creamyness then the coffee liquor.

I would recommend Ego as a pretheatre venue, not least because it is bang opposite the Lyceum and Crucible.  It was good for a chain and I would go back.  I imagine they would cope quite well with large groups (but I have nothing to base that on).  7.5/10.

Dada, City Centre, Sheffield

And it was again time for a catch up with a friend from work I see far too little of.  We are a wine-and-cheese-partner-come-pick-me-up-I'm-very-drunk kind of a couple when we get together.  Generally this means we stumble around each other's houses of a weekday afternoon but we wanted some fresh air.  So my friend recommended Dada on Trippet Lane.

Dada mostly does sharing platters, so the choice seemed ideal.  We opted for 3 cheeses, pate, chorizo, olives, pomodorello tomatoes, hummous and two different types of tapenade.  It also came with a basket of bread and butter and crackers.  We coupled this with a chilled bottle of dry white wine.  The result was utterly delicious.  The tapenades and hummous were home made and tasted like it (in a good way).  There was plenty of them, I was eating the hummous with my fingers when we ran out of things to spread it on and the tapenade choices were unusual enough to be interesting.  We weren't exactly spoiled for choice on the cheeses, but the ones we did opt for were adequate.  Don't get me wrong, they complimented the rest of the board very well indeed, but they were run of the mill cheeses, nothing jumped out at me.  The same with the meats.  The chorizo and pate added depth of flavour and texture to the board, again complimenting the rest of the choices we made but not something you can't get anywhere else.

I am being harsh here.  Overall the deli board was exactly what we wanted.  It was a little bit different to the sharer platters offered else where and whilst we didn't pick them, the other options were very ploughman's lunchish and would have made a nice addition to the meats and cheeses.  The service was fast and friendly.  The venue being what it is, the interior can't help but be dark though not oppressively so.  More like a bar in town when they turn down the lights for 'ambiance'.  They've altered the decor from when it was a wine bar just enough for it to be obvious the place has changed hands.  The only real complaint I have is that we paid the extra £1.50 for bread of the day, for it to be just 3 slices of bread.  Considering the amount of spreadable items on the platter, I would have expected twice that.

I would give Dada a 8.5/10.  Unusual enough to check it out and definitely one I would recommend should you wish for a cheese and wine day yourself.  We will be going back ourselves in hopefully the not too distant future.

Cupcake Decorating Class, Cafe Central, Matlock

Another Groupon find.  My good friend Phil and I decided to partake in a cupcake decorating class in Matlock.  We did not bake the cupcakes, nor did we create the sugar or the frosting.  It was basically like spending two hours with edible playdoh.

Matlock is not a particularly tricky place to drive to, but my little clio Stella wasn't impressed by the obcene gradient of the hills.  Our class was at 6pm so I had no trouble parking quite close to the cafe, but should you go to the class at 3pm I recommend you get there enough in advance to scope out a parking spot that you can stay in for more then one hour at a time.  

I got there about 40mins early as the owners were setting up.  They are a pleasant couple who as well as running the cafe, decorate wedding cakes and cupcakes for any number of events.  They also run other confectionery, baking and decorating classes.  After everyone got there and had a complimentary tea/coffee, the instructor went through the basics of spooning frosting on to the cakes then topping them with patterned icing.  It was oodles of fun, using patterned rolling pins and cutters to blanket the top of the cupcakes.  We were then shown how to use molds and pearls to decorate the rest of the cakes.  Half way through there were more drinks and a sample of cupcakes prepared by the owners.  They were topped just with frosting and were bland but teeth achingly sweet.  The instructor also came round with a sample of chocolate cake which, whilst rich, was on the dry side.  

 

After two hours of playing and feeling proud of myself like a three year old who's made a duplo tower, Phil and I left with a box each of cupcakes decorated by our own fair hands.  I loved how they looked, but I don't like thick icing and the cupcakes underneath were soft but tasteless.  Should professionally iced cupcakes be your thing, you would love them.

All in all I would definitely go back for another class and it was a fun and unusual way to spend a few hours but the eating of the cakes was not as fun as playing with the icing.

White Chocolate Chunk Muffins with Raspberry Frosting

These are delicious.  Tart yet sweet, this recipe makes approx. 12 muffins and toppings.  Mine are not the prettiest as I had nothing to use to properly decorate the tops with raspberry sauce.  The pictures are of the raspberry muffins plus some muffins with milk chocolate chunks and vanilla frosting.  They are teeth-achingly yummy and ideal for that mid-afternoon time at work when you need a quick pick-me-up.  This recipe may at a glance look long winded and difficult but trust me - if I can do this, anyone can.

Basic muffin recipe

• 300mls milk
• 100mls vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 120g caster sugar
• 250g self raising flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 100g white chocolate roughly chopped in to chunks

Raspberry sauce

• 75g fresh raspberries 
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

Frosting

• 250g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 100g icing sugar (approx.)
• 2-5 teaspoons raspberry sauce

Muffin method

1. Preheat oven to 180c and line a muffin tray with cases.
2. Beat egg and caster sugar until light and fluffy.  In another bowl combine oil and milk.
3. Add oil and milk to sugar and egg and mix until combined.  Stir in flour, baking powder and chocolate until incorporated.
4. 3/4 fill muffin cases and bake for 15-20 mins, until a wooden toothpick comes out lean.

 Raspberry sauce method

1.  Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and set to a very low heat.
2. Stir continuously until all raspberries have melted away into a seedy goo approx 10 mins and the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
3. Strain through a sieve (I used a tea strainer) into a separate bowl.

Raspberry icing method

1.  Beat butter until softened.  Add icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until texture begins to get thick.  Alternate adding teaspoons of raspberry sauce with tablespoons of icing sugar, whipping with a fork in between each until the frosting achieves the desired consistency.

And finally....

1. Spoon the frosting on top of the muffins and smooth out.  I've been using a spoon for the this and using a circular motion, but go wild.  A piping bag would probably be more artful.
2. Give the frosting a little bit of time to set, then top with the rest of the raspberry sauce.  I attempted to spoon it on and it ran everywhere.  Good for Halloween cakes, but not ideal for pretty little summery muffins.  Next time I'll find a little bottle and splurt it on a bit neater.

For the milk chocolate and vanilla ones, I used the same recipe for the muffins, then used a few drops of blue food colouring and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in the frosting and topped with sprinkles.