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.

What we ate for Easter Sunday Lunch

Hope you all have had a lovely Easter holiday weekend.

Yes, we did have a lovely and relaxed one. I was wondering if we should go out for meal but instead we decide to eat at home, which meant I was cooking.  We invited Mary, my mother-in-law, and Emily, who is now living with her fiancé Craig. Craig is currently in Mexico for business whilst Maria was working at a restaurant for weekend.

My husband asked me not to make 10 courses-meal and just do something quick and easy. Well, I don't really do 10 courses, he is just exaggerating but referring me for slaving in the kitchen for hours trying to make something fancy whilst guests are neglected or ignored in the living room...

I decided something easy, something that does not require me being to/from kitchen and living room much whilst cooking and for being Easter, using eggs in recipe.

I made sautéed asparagus with fried egg on top with drizzle of olive oil, parmesan shavings and balsamic graze for starter. This is easy and quick as long as I am careful not to fry eggs too hard as it should be half yolky so that when you cut into the egg, yolk would ooze out over the asparagus.  And I managed to fry eggs too long so yolk did not ooze out and I could not find a parmesan shaver so we had to do with grating the block of parmesan with cheese grater. Well it does not look perfect but it was rather tasty, I must say.

For main course, I made fish pie for the first time in my life. I have some cooking books that feature posh fish pies but recipe sounds far too complicated. I googled and found an easy and straight forward fish pie recipe by Mitch Tonks, 'How to make fish pie' on BBC Food website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/fish_pie).  Ok, potato topping did not turn out as the way it looks on the website however this has now become our family's favourite recipe.  I have also added salmon to the recipe as we love salmon. We really enjoyed this but next time I would also look for another fish pie recipe that uses mustard to give an added flavour.

 

For dessert, we had apricot tart from M&S with vanilla ice cream - I was contemplating baking something but let's be honest, I am not a baker, so I decided not to and bought ready made tart to pop it in the oven. Just as well, it was much better being able to spend some time talking with family rather than slaving in the kitchen all day.

And to finish off, we had macaroons (from M&S again, so no I did not make them) and chocolate fudge with mugs of tea!

We talked about our recent trip to Brussels, our cat Yuki, family and friends, and Emily and Craig's wedding arrangements. Ok, the meal was nothing fancy but at least it was easy and quick to make, we enjoyed our meal with family (minus poor Maria) and it was much cheaper as well!!

Hope you also have a nice Easter Sunday.

That's all forks!