Fancy taking your doggie out with you for a cup of tea or light lunch? Try The Animal Health Trust cafe in Newmarket which is open daily from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Their homemade soups, quiches, salads and cakes are all very good. The courtyard is also delightful on a sunny day, with ride-on toys provided for the kids.
The French lady in our village has started a frog patrol. She goes out in the evening to rescue frogs from the traffic. We are not quite so sure of her intentions.
The sun is out so that must mean it's barbecue time! Denise and Adrian from The Chilli Company sent suffolkfoodie some jars of their chilli sauces and chutney to sample, so first up is the Extra Hot smoky chipotle sauce - half of the 280g jar easily covered nine fat pork ribs as a marinade. I barbecued them and then the family moved in and wolfed them down before I had a chance to take a snap, so the picture is of the ribs marinading.
Well, the sauce was lip-tingling hot. The cooked ribs had a good kick of chilli, but were by no means overpowering. The sweet and smoky flavours were not lost through the heat of the chilli. However with a little more on the side for dipping the full force was apparent. A delicous sauce, not for the faint hearted, but for those that like it hot - deliciious as a marinade or as a sauce.
Paul Foster is making his name with restaurant critics and is due to appear on The Great British Menu on TV next month. He's Head Chef at Tuddenham Mill. Lunch today was very good indeed with the menu featuring some interesting herbs, some of which I believe are foraged locally. Pictured is my main course of potato terrine, artichoke, mushrooms and watercress. I am pretty sure the plate has chickweed on. What does everyone think?
A set lunch is £20 for two courses and £25 for three courses, with both an amuse bouche and very generous plate of home baked breads. A bit of a treat for a Monday!
Proper leaf tea and fresh homemade cakes all served at 5.15pm when Southwold usually closes up for the night. Winter afternoon teas are served at Tillys until 6pm. Thank you Tillys!
An invitation to Bingo on Monday night meant that inspector x and suffolkfoodie had no time for supper beforehand. Our Winners Dinner was a welcome surprise. A hot and tasty baked potato jam-packed with prawns in mayonnaise for the budget price of £3.50. Many other businesses in the customer service sector could take a leaf out of the book of Winners Bingo Halls. What amazing staff - friendly, fun and helpful. In case you were wondering we did get a winning line, but being the amateurs that we are, called too late and missed the prize!
I found another good lunch stop in Southwold. You can't miss the Blyth Hotel as you arrive in the town. It's not on the seafront, just a short walk away. The bar and dining area has a rustic look and some great dishes on the blackboard. I had a roast beef and horseradish sandwich which arrived with some chips and a little pot of homemade coleslaw.
@ theoldkitchen (fellow tweeter) has quite rightly pointed out the misspelling of the word bagel. So let's be clear - in the USA it's Bagel, in Brick Lane (and Jewish cuisine) it's Beigel - innit.
More...
From the original London home of real bagels - Brick Lane - we joined a long queue that moved faster than you can get your money out and enjoyed the perfect £3.50 breakfast/brunch/lunch/teatime/midnight snack. Bursting with meat and oozing with mustard and pickle, you can see them being steamed and baked out the back, being filled out the front, and they are open twenty-four/seven.
...from the football perspective you understand. We had to go to try it - what with Dad being eighty-something and from Norfolk. It was certainly worth the trip, simple and stylish with a no frills friendly local service and good home-made food. And they certainly pay attention to their bookings as the birthday card was a complete surprise. We had champagne, a three course menu with two very nice wines for around £39 a head, and so as a tribute we feature Delia on our Dish of the Day.
Whether you approve or not the Wetherspoons Brand is making its' mark here in Suffolk. The controversial new one due to open in the beautiful Corn Exchange in Bury and the Willow Tree, just opened in Stowmarket, specialise in budget food and drinks at remarkably low prices. I went to see for myself how Stow was getting on. It was packed on a Friday lunchtime - families with babies in pushchairs, office workers and lone drinkers. My daughter went to the bar and ordered two cokes. A male customer stopped her and asked if if she was on her lunch break, pulled a hip flask of rum from his pocket and offered her a shot in her coke!
I tried the Sweet Chilli Noodles. Described on the menu as egg noodles tossed in a sweet chilli sauce with red peppers, spring onion, choy sum, bamboo shoots and carrots. £3.30 for 356 calories. What arrived was something called Yuk Yuk Yuk so I saved those calories for another day.
A Suffolk woman with a passion for travel, all things chocolate and an old ice cream van called Jimmy has been scooping up awards and commendations all over the foodie world this year. A founder member of Eat St - a collective of street food vendors that sell from a variety of vans all over the country at festivals, markets and parties - she is a chocolatier who sells the best quality ingredients from Choc Star. Looking forward to seeing more like this but have only see my local fish and chip van so far...