Easter Sunday Lunch at Hotel Colessio, Stirling

On Easter Sunday, we spent time with family. This year we decided to have a lunch at Hotel Colessio (http://www.hotelcolessio.com) in Stirling. The hotel opened in summer 2014.

We were wondering what this building was used to be. The building next door to this hotel, now Stirling Highland Hotel, was used to be a high school that my mother-in-law, Mary went when she was a teenager. So we asked her what this building used to be, to which she replied old Royal Infirmary.

Well, the building itself may be old, however you step inside and it is decorated modern. You immediately see the bar on the left and the restaurant on the right before you notice there is a check-in desk right in front of you.

Our table for 9 was booked for 12.30pm however we arrived too early so we decided to sit in the bar to have some drinks till the rest of our party arrived.

Craig, Emily's husband, kindly offered to drive for us so Emily and I had some cocktails to try. We checked the drink menu ...

I ordered Elderflower Cosmopolitan - vodka, shaken with elderflower, cranberry and lemon.  Emily ordered Scottish Mule - gin and ginger mixed with elderflower, fresh mint, topped with ginger beer.  Both were very refreshing and lovely cocktails.

Once everyone arrived, we moved to the restaurant - Grill Room - and were seated. There was Easter Sunday menu which we all tried. Everyone ordered different things ....

The restaurant was still quiet so we were served fairly quickly.

My husband and I tried Hot smoked salmon and Horseradish Tart.

  

Mary, Craig and Paul had Carrot and Coriander Soup, which I thought was really tasty.

Emily and Kaylee had Chicken Liver Pate..

 

For main course, I had Roasted Cod Loin (I asked without Parma Ham) with mushroom, spring risotto and rocket pesto.  Cod was quite a good size, cooked nicely - flaked easily but still moist and not dry. Risotto was actually Orzo pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice.

Some had Roasted Loin of Marmalade-glazed Smoked Gammon. They found it a bit salty but it looked nice.....

Some had Roasted Sirloin of Scottish Beef. Emily and Craig thought this was really lovely ...

My husband had Butternut Squash Ravioli with smoked Applewood garlic cream sauce. Unfortunately he found this to be over powered by far too much cheese sauce ...

After the main course most people decided not to have any desserts except Andrew, Emily, Craig and myself.  Andrew, Emily and Craig tried Creme Egg Ice Cream Sundae with fresh strawberry coulis. I forgot to ask them what it meant by 'Creme Egg' ice cream....

I tried Chocolate Mini Egg Cheesecake with vanilla ice cream.  Chocolate cheesecake was quite delicious, not too sweet with Cadburys' Mini Eggs on it. Chocolate Cheesecake egg was sitting on chocolate coconut, which was really hard to crack (no pun intended...). It would have been nicer if they were chocolate flakes instead.

Overall I enjoyed my lunch however it was hit or miss for some people. I have seen some photographs of their Afternoon Tea on Instagram and it looks nice. Perhaps we may come back for that to try before we make any judgement....  My mother-in-law Mary comes here for lunch with her friends as they also do weekday lunch menu.

Comfy seats in the bar ....

Well, it's always good to try different places, however most of all, it's lovely to get together as a family and have lunch on Easter Sunday. I certainly did have a lovely Sunday.

See you till next time ....? 

Where shall we try for next Easter Sunday ....? Still 51 weeks away to think about.

Hope you too have had a lovely Easter Sunday.

That's all forks.

Thai Afternoon Tea at Chaophraya, Glasgow

Last weekend, Emily and Maria took me to Chaophraya (http://chaophraya.co.uk/venues/chaophraya-glasgow/) for Mothers Day's Thai afternoon tea treat.

I had no idea what they planned for me on the day or where we were going, if we were going anywhere at all. I asked, 'What's the dress code?' They said, 'Smart casual'. So I gathered that we were going somewhere instead of staying at home.

They gave me a box of present and a bunch of Tulip which is one of my favourite flowers.

Yuki being nosy what's in the box .....

When I opened the box, there is a set of lovely teacup and saucer with my favourite Lindor chocolate. This was a clue ... we were going for an afternoon tea. Wonderful! Anything that involves food, that's me!

I still did not know where we were going at that stage. We got into Emily's car and headed toward Glasgow. I listed all possible afternoon tea places on Sunday in the city that we have not been in my head.  We parked the car, started walking on Buchanan Street. I was wondering if we were heading toward Princes Square. Next thing, Emily and Maria pointed at the entrance of Chaophraya. Here we were.

I did not expect this at all. What a lovely surprised and what Thai afternoon would be like!!!

We stepped inside. We checked in at the reception and were taken into our table.

Our table was in Palm Sugar bar lounge. The place was bustling with other Afternoon tea parties already.

A nice corner with my personal throne ....

 

 Table is all set and we were waiting for our food ...

The next thing, our afternoon tea stand arrived!!!

Instead of normal sections of sandwiches, you get Thai style spring rolls, satays and fritter and fish cakes, etc....

These are my vegetarian options....

I had these with a pot of Jasmin tea which went very well with these food... 

We then had scones with Thai infused jam ...

Then moved on to cakes too .... cup cakes, chocolate brownies with peanut butter and mini macaroons.

To be honest, by this time we were full and could not finish all the cakes. We asked for doggy bag ...

That was a lovely afternoon tea. We did not have any cocktails to go with it but we could if we wanted. Maybe next time...  I really enjoyed the afternoon tea.

It was a lovely Mother's Day present - Thank you Emily, Maria, Craig and Dale!!!

And I surely did have a lovely day!

You can also read my earlier blog about the lunch I had at Chaophraya ....

That's all forks!