Afternoon Tea in Glasgow

At one point we went through a phase of Afternoon Tea experiences last year and have visited a few places in Glasgow.

Let me go back to year 2007 on my birthday - when my husband took me to a "proper" Afternoon Tea along with daughters and my mother-in-law to a famous 5 star hotel with eagle logo and golf courses, located in the central belt of Scotland (I shall not name the name...) for my birthday treat.

It ceremoniously commenced with selecting flavour of tea leaves and then with amuse-bouche (literally translated to mouth amuser, showcasing a chef's approach to the art of cuisine) consisting of series of beautifully flavoured and presented small dishes. As I don't eat, I neither ate nor took photos of any of dishes contained meat but salmon with white cream (see below left) was lovely and so as creme brûlée (below right).

Next, it moved to a selection of sandwiches and rolls with delicious fillings.

And then finally, delectable selections of scones and cakes.

Of course, by this point we were getting really full and could only manage some but not all of them. I especially had an eye on this lovely chocolate cake with gold leaf on it but alas, there was no room in my body to fit this, no matter  how delicious it looked. We hardly touched those lovely cakes sitting on the bottom tier. So we asked a waiting staff if they could box the rest of cakes to go. We were refused - due to health and safety, they said. I remember I felt like I was nearly crying, like a child whose birthday cake was snatched as soon as blowing candles. My husband tried to explain it was for my birthday but to no avail. Due to health and safety and we could stay as long as we wished to take our time to enjoy the afternoon tea, but unable to accommodate our request, they said. 

After all, it is a posh hotel.... commoners like us should not have gone to a place like that and asked for a doggy bag....?!?!?!  We did not make any scene and went home quietly afterwards, without cakes and feeling hugely disappointed... on my birthday...  All I have now are photographs of food we had and we could not have. 

Every time the word 'afternoon tea' came up, I remembered this experience and have had a mixed feeling. 

Then last year, probably fuelled by popularity of British Bake-Off programmes on TV, etc, suddenly everyone is baking cakes and doing afternoon teas. Then many on-line deals for afternoon deals started emerging everywhere.  

One day Emily said, 'Fancy going for afternoon tea but with cocktails?'  So, Emily, Maria and I went to Saint Judes in Glasgow last summer (see my blog for more information and photos, Intoxicating Tearooms at Saint Judes last year). This was the beginning of our Afternoon Tea sampling....

Saint Judes Verdict

WOW Factor	Afternoon teas but with cocktails and procecco!!!  We were WOWed - lovely cocktail to choose, potful of lovely pink procecco and mini cakes!
Service	It was the Winbledon Final, Andy Murray vs Roger Federer; everyone was watching TV but staff kept coming back checking customers if we were alright. And we got extra tier!
Tea Replenishing Factor	It’s all about cocktails….. AND cocktails were really good.
What's to eat Factor	Lots of cute mini cakes. If you don't eat meat, you only have cucumber sandwich to nibble. We did however order some chips afterwards as we wanted something savoury....
Take-home Factor	Best enjoyed while you were there…
Toilet Check	Not a lot of space, not for claustrophobic.
Total Enjoyability	Room was dark with dim lighting but eventually get used to it. We thoroughly enjoyed it.  Emily went back with her friends again…

We then went to Delise of Paradise, off Argyll Street, near Tron Theatre in August. It was not opened that long ago when we went there. The owner was very very friendly and we really hope she would be successful because she was such a lovely lady.

Delice of Paradise Verdict

WOW Factor	We checked their website before we went and raised our expectation too high.... No WOW but the owner was really nice.
Service	All staff and the owner were all very friendly.
Tea Reprenishing Factor	It was a normal tea and coffee....
What's to eat Factor	Cakes were all made at the premises but far too much coconuts used for everything. Could have more sandwich and cakes but it was on-line deal and very cheap so we got what we paid for....?
Take-home Factor	We ate all except coconuts cakes and biscuits so nothing to take home with.
Toilet Check	There is only one toilet for all with disable facility.
Total Enjoyability	Bright decor, nice sandwich and lovely owner but  not much of 'Afternoon Tea' experience as such …

Next we went to Stewarts Victorian Tearooms in the Merchant City of Glasgow. It is elegant with classical music in the background and really put us in the mood for Afternoon Tea. Everything is home made at the premises, the scones came with proper cream and jam, and we got 3 big pots of tea, each time with different flavours of tea. We did not even have to ask for new pot as someone always comes around, take an empty pot away and soon came back with another!!!

Stewarts Victorian Tearooms Verdict

WOW Factor	It lived up to our expectation of Afternoon Tea atmosphere, so we were WOWed. As soon as you step into the restaurant, you will be in the mood for the Afternoon Tea, with classical music in the background, elegant decor and friendly and efficient staff.
Service	Friendly and efficient service.  No problem for catering vegetarians.
Tea Replenishing Factor	Pots are replenished immediately without having to ask and each time came with different flavoured tea!  Really good tea.
What's to eat Factor	Cakes were all made at the premises. Scones delicious and came with proper cream and jam.
Take-home Factor	Best to enjoy at the restaurant with atmosphere, not much to take home with.
Toilet Check	Nice and clean toilets. There was no door knob inside of the toilet I went in but I managed to get out... phew....
Total Enjoyability	Good 'Afternoon Tea' experience with affordable price. Would like to take my mother-in-law sometime as I am sure she will enjoy it. They also do High Tea so we may try that too.

And then during Christmas holiday, we went to Chocolate Factory at Charing Cross for chocolate afternoon tea. They also cater children's birthday party making chocolates and also have good selection of vegetarian light snacks such as sandwich, panini, salad, soup, etc. Scones had chocolate chips in them and you finish off with lovely hot chocolate.

Chocolate Factory Verdict

WOW Factor	The shop was too spacious, a bit cold and less cosy but good for chocolate lovers. Hot chocolate at the end of Afternoon Tea was a nice little WOW -  really good as in photos!
Service	Staff was friendly and accommodating for vegetarians.
Tea Reprenishing Factor	Normal tea but no problem to ask for another pot of tea ....
What's to eat Factor	Scones had chocolate chips in them but nice. Eclair with chocolate cream filling was lovely, but there is only so much chocolate you can eat....  Make sure to leave some room for a small cup of lovely hot chocolate drink.
Take-home Factor	Took home left over cakes but best to eat them at the premises as we were chocolated out and did not manage to eat them at home, shame!
Toilet Check	Forgot to check....
Total Enjoyability	Interesting chocolate experience …  Vegetarian would have good selections of sandwiches and salads to order from menu. Parking could be a problem.

To be honest, after that experience in 2007, I went to all these places, carrying tupperware in my bag in case I may take home cakes that I can't manage to eat, but in the end you never eat them when you go home and left them sitting inside of the fridge for some time, eventually thrown away. So, it's best to enjoy cakes with pots of tea at the premises with the right atmosphere as Afternoon Tea as it is intended, not as Afterwards Tea at home sitting in front of TV.  It's just not the same.

I have also heard from people that the said posh hotel mentioned earlier now allows guests taking home cakes. This does not make me going back there as it only brought me back sad memories. You have no idea how disappointing that was ...  However, let's move on. Maybe we might not have eaten any of those cakes after all had we had taken them home, as you would never be able to recreate that afternoon tea atmosphere and experience you would get from 5 start hotel.

Afternoon Tea is alway best to be enjoyed at the right place with the right atmosphere after all!

That's all forks!

Chez Azra

My daughters, Emily and Maria and I were invited to Ladies Lunch at Azra's house yesterday.  Azra is a beautiful Pakistani lady who is an excellent cook and is also a close friend of my mother-in-law Mary.  I think there were around 12 ladies at the lunch including Mary, us, my sister-in-law and her daughter Rebecca, Mary's friends and some Azra's neighbours. It was a lovely, enjoyable afternoon, eating lovely home-made meal whilst catching up with everyone or getting to know each other.

Azra invites friends over to her house once or a twice a year and this is one event which everyone is looking forward to every year. She prepared lots of food from the previous night with her daughter Tashin. There were so much food... vegetable pakora, fish pakora, savoury potato balls, home made popadoms, roasted vegetables, rice, etc.  We were wondering what kind of butter Azra used to fry potato balls as they are not usual bread crumbs. My mother-in-law Mary explained how Azra made the savoury potato. Mush potato and season this using some spices, possibly touch of curry powder or turmeric. Make them into balls. Soak slices of white bread in water, squeeze any water out and wrap potato balls with this and deep fry!

Everything was freshly made and really tasty and you just want to try everything.

Vegetable pakora (back) and fish pakora (front)

Savoury potato balls

Home made popadoms

Beautifully roasted vegetables

My plate - I wish I can have this again now!

Mary's friend Mrs Mary Brown brought her sponge cream cake for dessert. She is an accomplished baker. She has made many beautiful cakes for her family and her friends including Mary's special birthday or our wedding.

Mary Brown's sponge cake.

Sponge was fluffy and light and so as cream as it was low fat.
It was really delicious!

Azra's friend popped in to bring a traditional Indian dessert called Ras Malai, which is made of fresh milk, condensed milk, dried milk and egg.  According to Wikipedia, this sweet dessert is originating in Eastern India and means juice/juicy cream. I think the dish might have been flavoured with slight hint of cardamon. This is a very very sweet dish and to be honest it is a bit acquired taste with interesting texture but I imagine this, given using milk, could be an excellent finish to spicy or strong flavoured meal as some of Indian dish can be really spicy. 

Freshly made Ras malai by Azra's friend.

Azra also suggested we try Masala Moong Dal - spicy snack made of fried split green gram.
See the packet below.

We finished our meal with teas and coffees. There were still so much food left over. My mother in law whispers to Azra and asked for a doggy bag for my husband on my behalf. She went into her kitchen and came back with a huge plateful of vegetable and fish pakora, rice, potato balls and popadoms for me to take home for him. To this, I could not contain my glee, clapped my hands with excitement whilst everyone laughed.

Well, we all really enjoyed the lunch and it was also definitely a blog-worhty lunch!  Can't wait for another Ladies Lunch event at Chez Azra and would like to thank Azra and Tashin for wonderful meal.

That's all forks.

Do The Mussels

Well, it's new year and people are back to normal eating habits, some people start going on diet, some going to gyms. New series of Biggest Loser (American version) has started on TV and I have started watching this. This programme should inspire us to be active, to have regular exercise for better health and well-being. My problem is that every time I watch this, I always end up being couch potato, munching junk food away. Not a single lesson learnt....

So you need to find a restaurant where you can have something guilt free (a sort of) and it does not break your bank balance.

My husband and I have recently been to Mussel Inn Seafood Restaurant in Glasgow (http://www.mussel-inn.com) for their Lunchtime Quickie deal. For £7.50 you can get a bowl of mussels or seafood chowder with salad or chunky French fries, with crusty bread, a choice of bottle of Carlsberg, glass of wine or soft drink.  For sauce, you can choose from Natural (simply cooked in their own juice), Shallot (white wine, garlic, shallots and cream), Red Pepper (roasted red pepper sauce and basil pesto), Leek (leek, Dijon mustard and cream), Moroccan (chillies, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin) and Blue Cheese (cheese, bacon and cream). They are doing this deal 7 days a week, how wonderful!

We both order mussels with Natural sauce (Yes, healthy!) with fries (You got to!), and a glass of wine each (Definitely!).  Portion was just right and by the time we left the restaurant, we were happily full, not stuffed and felt almost light to the point that we could actually 'Do the Hustle', ha ha ha.

To be really honest, next time we would probably go for Shallot sauce so that we can mop up all the juice and sauce with lovely crusty bread!  And as we felt so good after the lunch, we went to Tinderbox in Princess Square (See my earlier blog, A little Lisbon in Glasgow) for coffee and ended up ordering a custard cream cake each!  So much for the healthy option....

If there is any consolation, according to Mussel Inn's website, mussels are nutritious, low in sodium and saturated fat and provide a readily absorbed source of B&C vitamins, amino acids, Omega 3 fatty acids and vital minerals including iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.  There you go. This does not make me feel so bad!!

Having checked their website, they are also doing pre-theatre menu for £10.95 for 2 course and also if you register on-line now, you get £5 voucher toward your order when spending £20 or more. I think I should get a commission from them telling you all these .....  Not!  They do other seafood as well, not all about mussels so we must go back there again. Anyway, Do the Mussels!

That's all forks!

This was beside our table as everyone was still in festive mood when we went there....

Happy New Year with Happy Stomach!

A Happy New Year to you.  The year 2013 is the Year of the Snake according to the Chinese Zodiac which is represented by 12 animals rotating 12-year circle. So for those who are 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 or 72 years old this year are all born in the year of the snake and are said to be meticulous with planning, seductive, charming, good with money, analytical, smart and hard-working.

12 animals are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon (last year), Snake (this year), Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (Boar in Japan).

Big zodiac signs placed on the ceiling of the main gate at Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka. 

Every new year's eve before the bells, my husband and I eat soba noodle in accordance with Japanese tradition. This is called Toshikoshi Soba, meaning 'ending one year and entering into another year' and the soba represents longevity with the belief that one will have a long [and prosperous] life by eating the soba as they are very long and slender. My husband is not that keen on soba noodles but I say to him, 'Live long and prosper' with the Vulcan salute. Being a sort of Trekkie, he finds me funny saying this. We then eat small portion of the soba noodle for living long [but not convinced about 'slenderly' as I think we got long way to go for that, I am afraid...] to welcome the new year.

Soba noodle, with Japanese zodiac ornaments for lucky charms
- a pair of dragon from last year (right) and a snake (left) for year 2013.

On New Year's Day, we had eclectic new year celebration dinner at home. For appetisers, we had Inarizushi and Makizushi, Tuna & Potato cakes and mackerel pate and melba toasts and selection of Spanish salami.  Inarizushi is a pouch of fried tofu filled with sushi rice (see brown balls in the photo) while Makizushi is sushi rice with variety of ingredients wrapped in seaweed called Nori. It was a last minute decision to make Makizushi so I had to do with what I had in my fridge and made two flavours, one is tuna mayonaise and the other with fried egg, seafood crab sticks, carrots and spring onions. It would have been better if I had cucumbers to add some colours....  These are Emily and Maria's favourite. They also love Tuna & Potato cakes - I mix tuna, potato, spring onion, red chilli, coriander, flat parsley, lemon juice, making the mix into flat balls and coating them with first flour, then egg and finally panko (bread crumbs) and shallow fry them.  Mackerel pate was made by my husband using creme fraiche and lemon - they are healthier and tastier and we know what's inside it and I made melba toast to go with the paten, using up slightly old bread. I also got selection of Spanish salami for Emily's boyfriend Craig as he likes meat. 

For starter, we all had home made vegetable soup. I put carrots (lots of them), leeks, potatoes, lentils, turnips and some onions... good for five-a-day! Craig is a meat lover but he said he liked my soup very much.

Inarizushi and Makizushi

Freshly fried Tuna & Potato cakes

Very eclectic combination - Japanese, Spanish, fish, meat and lots of vegetables....

For main course Emily, Craig and Maria had traditional steak pie whilst my husband and I, who do not eat meat, had mushroom ragout with red wine sauce with pastry. I have never made the mushroom ragout before but I think this dish turned out very well for the first time attempt. I think next time I may use wild mushroom and may also use hint of soy sauce for little bit more densines in taste. 

Traditional steak pie with mushed potato and turnip, carrots and brussel sprouts. 

Mushroom ragout with red wine sauce with pastry.

Having had all these, we were so full, we did not have desserts in the end to complete the dinner, however a few hours later some of us had strawberry cheesecake, others had chocolate cupcakes Emily made and one person had both.... well, actually that was me (but they were small portions, honest!). I must say the sponge for the cupcake was nice and moist, chocolate topping was not too sweet and the size was perfect. It was a very nicely done cupcake, Emily!!!

We had a lot of food left over, which will do for our lunches and dinners for the next few days, saving me doing much cooking too! I have also given Emily and Craig some Sushi and Tuna & Potato cakes to take home with while Maria is heating up another round of stake pie dinner for her as I write this. Our fridge is still full and so as our stomach. 

Our 2012 ended with lots of lovely and happy food experience, and the year 2013 has definitely began for all of us as happy family with lots of food, with happy stomach and with happy thoughts. 

Wish you everyone also a Happy New Year and hope you too will have wonderful food experience this year AND live long and prosper!  That's all forks!

Cupcakes which Emily and her friend Jennifer made to celebrate year 2013!