Lunch at Poets House, Ely

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A few weeks ago we ate somewhere new, Poets House in Ely. A hotel with a restaurant and bar just steps away from the Cathedral in a beautiful old townhouse - named so because a local author used to live there.

I've been hearing lots about it from local bloggers - Sian and Heidi dined there and Miss Sue Flay recently sampled their afternoon tea. Needing somewhere to go with visiting relatives, I decided upon Poets House for a relaxed Saturday lunch.

The main dining room is elegant and beautifully decorated in black, white and grey - very swish indeed. It was reasonably quiet for a Saturday lunchtime, which did mean we had the full attention of the staff. The service was excellent, and our waitress explained the various menu options to us and was on hand for any questions we had.

I spotted an Indian wine on the menu, very intriguing, the sommelier didn't know what it was like, as he hadn't tried it, a little disappointing as far as I am aware from a sommelier - but we ordered it anyway! It was a white wine, Sula Vineyards Viognier from a winemaker based in the small town of Nashik, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was excellent, I'm not a much of a wine buff but it was a really nice wine, and great to see some interesting wines on the menus instead of the usual European options.

Wine ordered we proceeded to look through the menus - there are several choices. There is A la Carte, the Set 'House' menu and also the Garden Menu - a special menu based on local produce and all vegetarian. The set menu is really good value, with decent amount of vegetarian options, £22.50 for 2 courses or £25.50 for three courses.

I started with 'Flamed Mackerel' - which came with lime jelly, horseradish cream, little slivers of fennel and radish and a cucumber and lime sauce. The mackerel was so fresh and the skin crispy - the little condiments were great to break through the richness of the fish.  A nice refreshing start!

My main was a mushroom tagliatelle - expertly made fresh pasta with lots of different kinds of mushrooms and parmesan. It also came with a foam, which I hate, I find them totally unnecessary and showy - it didn't add anything, and as it dried it left an odd ring around the dish. No foam please!

Next up was my dessert - simply titled white chocolate parfait with raspberry and caramel popcorn. It was gorgeous - the parfait was rolled in some kind of crispy coating and alongside it was sweet caramelised popcorn, little meringues, freeze dried raspberries and honeycomb. It was a beautiful looking dish and it tasted fantastic - my favourite one of the meal.

My dining companions were similarly happy with their choices - an excellent tomato soup, pan fried seabass, a vegetarian leek and pastry puff and the richest sticky toffee pudding.

Our lunch at Poets House was excellent and full of little surprises - a very well thought out menu. The surroundings are very plush and the staff very attentive. We took our coffee in the bar area which is an indoor/outdoor conservatory style area with one side being floor to ceiling glass. Afternoon teas and bar meals are served here - along with cocktails later on.

I've heard some excellent things about the afternoon tea, and the dinner, so I definitely think it is a place to return to for more treats.

Poets House
St Marys Street
Ely

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Parsnip & Sage Soup

It's December so every restaurant menu is awash with parsnip soup with various additions and of varying quality. Inspired by many disappointing parsnip soups I've had in Christmasses past, I thought I'd whip up this festive version with a bit more punch than your average Christmas pub menu soup.

I think this soup would be a great way to use up leftover roast parsnips from Christmas Day, to make a nutritious and virtuous Boxing Day lunch. My parsnips were raw chopped ones boiled but I think roasted ones used the same way (but cooked for less time) would be fantastic.

Parsnip & Sage Soup
Serves 4 (2 for dinner and 2 lunch sized portions!)

Olive oil
1/2 white onion
3 large parsnips
Handful of fresh sage
3/4 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
mascarpone and your favourite bread to finish

Heat oil in a large saucepan, roughly chop your onion and fry it in the oil for a few minutes on a medium high heat. Peel and roughly chop the parsnips and add to the pan, fry for a couple of minutes til they start to get a bit of colour. Season well and then chuck in in the sage (stems and leaves are fine) and pour over the stock - you want the stock to go about an inch over the top of the vegetables.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes til the parsnips are very soft. Blend with a stick blender, check for seasoning. If it seems a little thick add some more stock to thin, or a little cream if you are feel fancy.

Serve with a nice dollop of mascarpone and toasted bread. I had some lovely pumpkin seed and cranberry bread from Morrison's (thank you Miss Sue Flay for the tip!) which is nice and festive as well as being yummy.

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Tiffins Tea Emporium, Long Melford

I do love a day in Suffolk, it is a very picturesque area of the country and not too far from us but feels like such a change from normality. We were booked for a morning 'Owl Encounter' at Lavenham Falconry, and this fortuitous turn of events meant we could visit nearby Tiffins, who I'd been following/admiring on Twitter for a while.

Long Melford itself is beautiful and the tea room definitely lives up to its surroundings. A pretty little building with a tower of scones in the window, an array of cakes on stands, tea pots and lovely vintage style furniture.

Tiffins is run by the very cheery Kirstie who made us feel really welcome. We started with savoury - a goats cheese and pepper ciabatta for Mr and the intriguingly named Suffolk Ploughmans for me, cheese scones instead of bread - but toasted so the cheese is all melty and lovely - served with 'cheeky chutney' which was a lovely fresh salsa like chutney made with tomatoes. I had some of the Tiffins Blend loose tea and Mr some Suffolk apple juice.

Of course we had to have some cake too - and it was a tough decision - there is such a great choice of sweets - chocolate, coffee, lemon drizzle, victoria sponges, flapjacks, brownes, tiffin (of course) and fruit scones. Mr had a slice of pleasingly orangey Chocolate Marmalade cake with little white chocolate stars, and I had a coffee cake which was tooth achingly sweet - perfect for me. I had a bit of a sugar high upon leaving and then a crash later on in the afternooon...

We really enjoyed our lunch at Tiffins, it is a beautiful place and very relaxed surroundings. You can find them on Twitter and they have a website too. Do visit if you are in the area - Long Melford has some pretty shops and neighbouring Lavenham is a must see.

Oh and here is a picture of one of the owls we met!

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Easy Paprika Chickpeas

A little lunch idea for you which is ridiculously easy, healthy and cheap to make! It is in a similar vein to my recipe for Spiced Chickpeas and Peppers but I've altered it so all you need to do is chuck in some flavourings with some freshly boiled chickpeas.

I used dried chickpeas which I soaked and boiled with stock for 40 minutes before draining and adding the dressing. But because these are meant to be easy I'd recommend using tinned. All you need to do for tinned chickpeas is boil them for about 5 minutes. Having the chickpeas warm when you add the dressing really helps them to soak it up a bit more.

For the dressing - dresses 1 400g tin of chickpeas

1 tablespoons of good quality olive oil
1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
1 heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika
pinch of cumin seeds
salt and pepper to taste
handful of parsley, chopped.
half a chilli, finely chopped.

Add all this to your bowl/pan of freshly cooked chickpeas, stir, cool, store in the fridge and then put into your tub for lunch. I put some fresh spinach on top of mine, the whole thing gets a quick 1 minute zap in the microwave to wilt the spinach and lunch is done! I have mine with a dollop of houmous.

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Little Chef, Kettering

I think that has to be the least glamorous sounding blog title I've ever written.

But some of you may know that Little Chef has been undergoing something of  makeover. I watched Heston's Little Chef back in 2009 and from the looks of it there didn't seem to be much hope for Little Chef changing beyond the few restaurants they made over, but now there are 10 new Little Chefs with the updated menu and new diner style decor.

We visited the Kettering West branch just off the A14 on our way down to Shropshire a couple of weeks ago, something I've been meaning to do after Ino at Kitchen 22 blogged about it. The interior is fantastic, booths and diner style furniture with the famous 'blue sky' on the ceiling. Service was fast and friendly and the menu had so much choice. Breakfasts, little light bites, proper mains, puds and a great selection of tea and coffee with reasonable prices.

We were just stopping for a light lunch so I ordered the starter scampi, Mr Giraffe had a mushroom and pepper cheese toastie and we also got a side of chips to share. Oh my were we glad we got chips. If you don't get anything else here, make sure you get the chips. They are the triple cooked affair which Heston Blumenthal has made famous, ridiculously crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. I want to go back now and get some.

The scampi was brilliant, under the batter was proper crayfish instead of the reconstituted seafood mush you normally find, I think this is the first time I've had proper scampi. The toastie was filled with proper mature cheese and a rich mushroom and pepper rattoutile with a tomato base.

This is good food, done properly - everything tastes very fresh and it is clearly made onsite. It is very simple to get food right if you make it right. Well done Little Chef!

For 2 light lunches, a coke, cappucino and a side of chips it was £17, probably more than you'd spend on a motorway lunch but much nicer than anything else you can get off the A14.

If you love chips, go. I think that is my main message.

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