Keep Calm and Have Lychee @ Lychee Oriental in Glasgow

I had been very busy working away last week and when I came home from work, I could not be bothered cooking. I had to admit that last week was a very lazy week for me and my cooking department let my family down too. Despite 2014 started off with great intension (i.e. supporting Emily and Maria in them following SlimmingWorld diet by cooking oil free or syn free meals for the whole family, anticipating that I too would lose some weight!) as the time goes by, this notion has escaped me.

And then I remembered that I had on-line voucher for 2-course meals with Thai crackers with chilli dip, sides and a glass of prosecco each at Lychee Oriental (http://www.lycheeoriental.co.uk) at 59 Mitchell Street, Glasgow, G1 3LN.  This is actually Maria and her boyfriend's favourite restaurant.

So Thursday last week, we decided to try Lychee Oriental. Glasgow was quite busy with late night Thursday shoppers and people going home after work. We could not find on-street parking space so we decided to part NCP car park which was almost right next door to the restaurant, albeit being rather expensive.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were seated at one of the corner booths which we found it very nice and relaxing with low light. Outside there was bustling and hassling of the city, cars and people, yet here inside of Lychee Oriental, we found calm and relaxing atmosphere.  I said to my husband, 'I think I have seen that staff who showed us to this table .... at Cotton House Chinese restaurant in Longcroft near Falkirk...'  While we were perusing the menu, the same staff brought us Spicy Thai Cracker with Sweet Chilli Dip to our table and asked us 'Do you go to Cotton House?'  Yes, I was right - we did see him before and he is now at Lychee Oriental. It was nice to see a friendly face.

Crackers were really lovely, I could not stop eating. He came back and asked if we wanted more but we resisted the temptation as we had whole 2 courses ahead of us.

When I go to Chinese/Thai restaurant, I like ordering sea bass so I ordered Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Mushrooms for main course with £3.00 extra supplement. This was very delicious. There were lots of oriental mushrooms and underneath were 3 slices of nicely steamed sea bass with lovely soy and mushroom flavoured sauce. I really liked this. Fried rice was sutley seasoned so it actually went very well with this sea bass as I could taste the fish and delicious oriental mushroom and soy sauce.  Some restaurant's sea bass could be really salty but not here. It was just right.

Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Mushrooms

Spicy Thai Crackers with Sweet Chilli Dip  - yummy

After demolished the crackers, for starters my husband had Stuffed Fresh Chillies with Prawns in Black Bean Sauce whilst I had Salt and Pepper Squid. I love squid!

Stuffed chillies with prawns - it was not too spicy -
this came with crunchy pickled carrots and cucumbers which were very lovely and refreshing

I like salt & pepper squid - this too came with crunchy vegetable pickels!

Whilst I had sea bass for main course, my husband had Fresh Scallops with Pepper and Black Bean Sauce sizzling on a pan.

By the time we finished eating all, we were quite full, yet I wanted to see dessert menu. I saw Mango sorbet with lychee fruits. I said to my husband, 'We were in Lychee Oriental, why not try lychee?' So he ordered one between us.

To be honest, I think this might have been my very first time to have tried lychee. The fruit has a delicate and sweet flavour however it never appealed to me .... it looks a bit like an eyeball (sorry for being gross!), not that I have ever eaten eyeballs. BUT, according to Wikipedia, the lychee contains on average a total 72mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of fruit and on average 9 lychee fruits would meet an adult's daily recommended vitamin C requirement,  also low in saturated fat and sodium, and is cholesterol free! Wow, sounds great! Maybe I should eat more. The same Wikipedia page also informs me that excessive consumption can, in certain extreme cases, lead to fainting spells or skin rashes.  Ok .... maybe not too much...or  I just stick to jasmine tea then .....

Overall, we really enjoyed our dinner. If you want to go there, you should ask for a booth as it is lovely and cosy. Oh, by the way, apprently there is a very nice toilet downstairs worthy of 'toilet check'; I did not realise this and used toilet I could find on the ground floor, which happens to be a disabled toilet.  Having checked their website, I also discovered now that if you want to part at NCP next door, you could park there for £5 if you phone the restaurant. We did not know that neither so I think we paid around £6.50 for a few hours parking. 

It was a lovely restaurant. Food was lovely and service was good. I may even try another Lychee fruit when we go back...

That's all forks!

Another Afternoon Tea - Grange Manor Hotel in Grangemouth

Quest for 'value for money' afternoon deal continues ... this time, my mother-in-law, my husband, younger daughter Maria and I went to the Grange Manor Hotel (http://www.grangemanor.co.uk/home) in Grangemouth. This was another one of those on-line deals, Groupon deal this time. It was £31 for four people including a glass of bubbly each, equivalent of £7.75 per person.

The staff was very friendly and very attentive, kept checking if we wanted our teapot to be replenished. Both my daughter and I enjoyed nicely brewed pots of tea.  Sandwiches were nice and soft with selections of fillings - cheese, eggs, ham and chicken. Cakes were very moist and delicious - ginger cakes, fruit cakes and butternut white chocolate cakes. There were also scones, small profiteroles and mini meringues with strawberry slices. We got 2 cake stands that came with creams and there are also mini pots of jams to go with these - strawberry, raspberry and marmalade.

The hotel is in Grangemouth, on the busy main road. The restaurant is probably a breakfast room, overlooking the front car park with ASDA's warehouse the other side of the road. So view from the table is not great however the room was nice and quiet, very relaxing.

We really enjoyed our afternoon tea with bubbly at this place. I was particularly impressed with slices of cakes as they were really soft and moist.  Ginger cakes, you can taste ginger but never over-powering.  We also liked slices of butternut & white chocolate - not too sweet but goes well with tea.
The portion size for the whole thing was just right.

Grange Manor Hotel, Grangemouth, Scotland

We all enjoyed our afternoon tea last Sunday afternoon.

I was almost giving up on-line Afternoon Tea deals after recent experience (see my recent blog) however I may change my mind about that after this.  My husband said, just try not to go for afternoon tea deal too often AND just enjoy what we are served. Yes, that's so true...

And that's all forks!

Celino's - tutto per tutti - Glasgow

Somebody told us about Celino's, Italian Deli Cafe at 620 Alexandra Parade in Glasgow (http://www.celinos.com) and I always wanted to try this place. It is a Trattoria and Delicatessen, established in 1982.  I checked on Tripadvisor to read about the place - it sounds good so my husband booked the table for three for 7.30pm - for me, my husband and younger daughter, Maria.

There is no parking place but it was not difficult to find a place to park nearby. As soon as we walked into the place, we were surrounded and mesmerised with delicious looking food sold at deli counter. It was Thursday night and the place was really busy, however as we booked our table, we were seated right away. They do pre theatre menu till 6.30pm however we discovered that they do pre theatre menu all evening on Thursday, so we decided to try dishes from this menu - two courses for £10.95 and three courses for £13.95.

So for the starter, my husband and I had Ravioli Fresca (home made ravioli parcels filled with spinach and ricotta cheese with a butter and sage sauce) whilst Maria had Antipasto (cold cuts of San Denielle, Celino's Parchetta and Salame served with Puglian olive, mixed antipasto vegetables and Italian Bread).

Home made ravioli - this was really delicious!

Maria's antipasto that came with slices of bread - she really enjoyed this!

For the main course, my husband and I had Spaghetti Camberoni alls Ortolana (spaghetti pasta tossed with panfried courgettes, king prawn, sun blushed tomatoes in a white wine and chilli sauce) and Maria had Pollo Diane (pan fried chicken breast smothered with sautéed mushrooms in a cream sauce glazed with brandy with a touch of French mustard served with herb infused rice).

Lots of king prawns ....

Maria's chicken - she really enjoyed this one too!

By this time we were all full but my husband and I also wanted to try their Tiramisu so he ordered one so that we could all share.  A big slice of Tiramisu came with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream with warm chocolate sauce.

I then had a macchiato and my husband had cappuccino. Yes, you are not meant to have cappuccino after lunchtime but he likes to have this after meal so he did. I thought the coffee was good.

Including 2 glasses of wine and Maria's drink, it all came around £50 - which is not bad at all!

When we first entered Celino's, I spotted Arancini right away.  These are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, filled with mozzarella and peas. Wikipedia informs me that the name derives from the food's shape and colour, which is reminiscent of an orange (the Italian word for orange is arancia, meaning 'little orange'), and is said to have originated in Sicily. Well, this was one dish on my 'to eat' list when we went to Sicily and to my regret I never tried it when we went there twice! If you are a fan of Inspector Montalbano, you know how much he loves Arancini, so I got to eat this someday ... and here I am, in Glasgow, I finally get to eat this!

After we paid the bill, I did not waste anytime at all to approach the deli counter.
I bought 2 Arancini balls, a tab of antipasto vegetables, and for my husband's lunch, Vegetable Calzone.

The next day, he heated up the Calzone in the oven with crunchy antipasto vegetables. There were lots of vegetables inside of Calzone and he enjoyed this too.

I asked him if he would get this again and he said yes so it must have been delicious. I had my Arancini cold (as I did not deep fry them and not sure if microwave may explode this...?) with salad and crunchy vegetable and I enjoyed it.  Next time when we go back to Celino's, I may try this for starter so that I could eat it hot properly.

Celino's - tutto per tuiit, 'everything for everyone' indeed!

That's all forks.

Fifi & Ally - afternoon tea

Since my daughters, Emily and Maria, are on SlimmingWorld regime, I have been also trying to cut down rubbish and fat from my diet but that has not been working. Clearly ... and it is such time that one also wants to eat something sweet, dessert, cakes, creams, YES, let's have another Afternoon Tea!

So we have just been to Fifi & Ally (http://www.fifiandally.co.uk) (Princes Square, 48 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, G1 3JX) for afternoon tea through on-line deal.

The voucher deal notes: £14 instead of £30 for a decadent Prosecco afternoon tea for two including a choice of delicious gourmet sandwiches, mouthwatering cakes and meringues, tea or coffee and a glass of Prosecco each, saving 53%.  The voucher further informed us that a selection of finger sandwiches including mature cheddar, Argyle hot smoked salmon, tuna mayo and hand-cut ham; a selection of Chef's organic cakes and scones with cream and jam, a choice of English breakfast or Early [sic] Grey tea or coffee each and a glass of Prosecco each. Wow, sounds very promising, so off we went.

I was salivating with thoughts of mouthwatering cakes and meringues.

The Afternoon tea started with a glass of Prosecco, which was quite nice. Emily was driving so I had her glass as well, ha ha ha.

Cheers or Kampai!  Emily with glasses of Prosecco 

Then came the Afternoon tier stand....  how do you tell if they are organic? Are there any meringues they promised? Cakes are rather tiny and so as scones.....  After all, technically we only paid £7.00 each but it was not certainly worth £30 for this ...?  I think it was fine for what we paid for.  Once we settled in that argument, we started enjoying the food.  I liked the hot smoked salmon sandwich. Somebody else liked the carrot cake.  It was just .... everything was small... it was like eating Afternoon tea sample.  Never mind, it was only £7.00.  Yes, yes that's right, it was only £7.00, don't forget....

It did not take that long to finish all neither. You know, all the other afternoon tea deals we have been, this was the only place we ate all. At other places, we could not finish all and even took some home afterwards. But not here, at Fifi & Ally, you get sample size for £7.00 and it was fine for what we paid for. Just remember that....

Meanwhile, Craig ordered his Chicken open sandwich with salad. You can't see it properly but underneath the heap of rocket leaves, there were mass of chickens hidden too. I don't eat meat but even I almost fancied eating his as it looked delicious and 'a lot' on the plate.

Ah, they also brought us tea - in a tiny pot with tea bag...

I say I only talk about positive and never complain about food in my blog, so I am very sorry today ... To be fair to Fifi & Ally, it was what we paid for and there was nothing wrong about the food they served.  The problem was probably us ... I think we all had certain expectation from Fifi & Ally; we expect them to be expert in cakes and desserts and were looking for them to showcase what they are good at - cakes and dessert.  We should never have had high expectation to begin with.
Do we go back to Fifi & Ally?  Probably not because there was no USP and there are so many other places to try, still it was good to go there and try their afternoon tea. After all, I had an extra glass of Prosecco from Emily so by the time we left the place, I was like Brewhaha, ha ha ha!

That's all forks!

Love Sarti - Glasgow .... lunch menu

Everybody who knows me knows I love Fratelli Sarti (http://fratelli-sarti.co.uk), so much so my husband and I alternate our almost weekly visits between Renfield Street restaurant and Wellington Street Restaurant for my Sarti-fix! They also have Bath Street restaurant but unfortunately we don't have enough body to split our time to include that branch!

What I like so much about them is that the quality of food they serve is excellent and always consistent, service is excellent - everyone works there is really friendly and gives you such a warm welcome. Sarti is like my 'Little Italy' that every time I go there, I want to go back to Italy for holiday or reminisce about the great time we had in Italy!

Considering the numbers of times we have been, I tend to order same things off the menu so I have recently declared to my family that I would start ordering dishes off the menu top to toe!  So far,  I am not doing that well as I am kept distracted by the lovely selections of dishes available in lunch menu.

The other day we went to Renfield Street restaurant and ordered from lunch menu.

For starter, I have chosen Insalata di Calmari Calda (warm marinated calamari served on a crispy salad).  I love squid and this is really a delicious dish!

Oh, I also like their focaccia to mop up the sauce and with a glass of Rose! 

For main course I had Raviolli del Contadino (large hand-made ravioli filled with grilled vegetables and served in tomato and cream sauce).  I really really enjoyed this one!

To finish off with fine meal, I like to have a lovely cafe macchiato. And they gave us a bit of freezer cold limoncello  as digestivo!  Yummmmm!

You see, this is the reason why I keep trying different things in lunch menu.

I promise I will order something off the main menu next time....

That's all forks!

dragon-i in Glasgow

31st January 2014 was Chinese New Year and I have just thought about the time, well, good few months ago, when my husband and I went to dragon-i (http://www.dragon-i.co.uk) restaurant in Glasgow.

The restaurant is directly opposite the Theatre Royal and is conveniently located.  We went there to try as we got on-line voucher deal for 2 course meals for two with a bottle of wine. Considering it was Friday evening with lots of theatre goers and group eating dinners, the service was excellent and the meal was lovely.

For starter, I had Tom Yam Gong (Thai chilli seafood soup with lemongrass, cherry tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms) whilst my husband had Jiao Yeem Choi (Tempura vegetables, wok fried with fresh chillies, garlic and rock salt).  I loved the soup with lots of seafood.  Vegetable tempura was good but personally I would like to have had some dipping sauce with it.

For main course, I had Jhing Yu (steamed sea bass on a bed of pak choi with fresh ginger and spring onion topped with soya sauce) served with garlic butter fried rice.  I love sea bass, steamed with soy sauce and ginger. This is what I love to eat when I go to Chinese restaurant, so I got to try dragon-i's sea bass. I really enjoyed their sea bass.

My husband had, I think, Lat Gee Hoi Sin (grilled tiger prawns, scallops and fish tossed in a chilli tomato, pepper sauce topped with fresh coriander) served with garlic fried rice. Well, I am actually reading this off the menu on-line as I can't remember the exact name and what was in it but I have just realised that the photo shows lots of mussels too and I wonder if it is the same thing ....?  This is what happens when you don't update your blog straight after you went to restaurant. Anyway, my husband enjoyed it and it was delicious as it looked in the photo.

I then had a pot of jasmine tea - it was good that they didn't serve a tea bag. It was a proper loose jasmine tea and it was nice and refreshing.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal. They also do lunch menu, according to their website. 2 courses for £7.95 and 3 courses for £9.95!  As we don't eat meat, choices for us are rather limited however there is quite a good selection if you eat meat. It's a pity that the place is a bit away from main bustle and hustle of the city centre and you forget it's actually situated at a very convenient location.

I got another on-line voucher deal - 3 course meals for two with a glass of wine each at Lychee Oriental Restaurant in Glasgow. I shall tell you all about this once we go there and this time I make sure I blog about this straight after our dinner.....

That's all forks!

Pasta la Vista in Glasgow

I have mentioned the other day that my daughters are on Slimming World (http://www.slimmingworld.com) diet so I have also been preparing meals to support them, using low calorie oil sprays and trying to come up with healthy option for dinners.   But, you do need to enjoy your life and we can't resist temptation to eat out sometime, right!

Well, my husband, my younger daughter Maria and I have recently went to Coia's Cafe in Glasgow (http://www.coiascafe.co.uk) and we really had a fabulous dinner.

The highlight of the evening for me is their Linguine alla Pescatora (seafood linguine), our favourite pasta at this restaurant (see my earlier blogs, 'SEE'food in Glasgow, Cafe Coia for everyone and Great Seafood Soup in Glasgow). It's £15.45 but abundant with lots of seafood - langoustines, big scallops, calamari, mussels, king prawns - there are so much on the plate that I can only finish half of it, in fact it could feed for two. I ask for a doggy bag at the end of the evening and the next day I ate this for lunch, definitely there was more than enough for one left! It' definitely worthwhile to try this pasta!

Cafe Coia's Linguine alla Pescatora - mixed seafood with garlic, chilli and tomato sauce

Use these to tackle langoustine shells ...

Maria and I had not had mozzerella cheese for some time since Slimming World commenced in our household so we decide to have Insalata Caprese (tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil with extra virgin olive oil) for starter. That was nice and refreshing.

For main course, whilst I had seafood linguine, my husband had Tagliatelle Alfredo (creamy sauce with tomato, pesto and Parmiggiano Reggiano).  I confess. Earlier in the week, we had already been to Coia Cafe (so this was our 2nd trip to this restaurant in the week .. so much for Slimming World....) and he had seafood linguine then, he went all vegetarian for a change, well, almost except cheese and cream!

Tagliatelle Alfredo

Maria could not decide whether she would go for chicken dish or pasta, so decided to choose Pollo Milanese (chicken breast coated in breadcrums with spaghetti promodoro) and she could satisfy both of her wishes! You should see the size of the plate ...  I think she was really happy with her choice.

Maria's Pollo Milanese

No matter how full we are, we always have room for dessert ... Maria had Chocolate Chip Cheesecake - a baked New York style cheesecake with chocolate chips, decorated with chocolate chip pings on a sponge base! It came with vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream. I had tried a little and it was really yummy!

I had tried Gelato Affogato - vanilla ice cream topped with crushed Amaretti biscotti and served with a shot of hot espresso for pouring. Affogato means 'drowned' in Italian, so ice cream is drowned in espresso! This was really good.  Just thinking about this makes me want another one right now!  The combination of cold ice cream with hot espresso with crunchiness of amaretti is really addictive...

Well, we had fantastic meal at Coia's Cafe! Seafood linguine is excellent! It was definitely Pasta la vista, and I WILL BE BACK!!

That's all forks!