Toast Bar and Bistro, Leeds

I recently spent a cold Sunday afternoon wandering around the Reetsweet Craft Fair and the vintage pop up fair in the Corn Exchange. The craft fair was pretty busy and it was nice to see independent crafty people getting the chance to flog their wares. The vintage pop up on the top level of the building was also full of people- all stuff was reasonably priced and there was a massive variety of vintage goodies, from clothes to shoes to accessories to old books etc. I didn't live in Leeds when the Corn Exchange was a mecca for all things independent and quirky; I've only known it as Anthony's Piazza and it was great to see it looking full and with quite a few people wandering around. Others have told me that it is nowhere near as good as it used to be, but compared to a couple of years ago, the place is positively heaving!

After all the browsing and a rather nice espresso from the little coffee stand there,we were pretty hungry and decided to wander over to the West End of town for food. We rarely venture up that way, apart from when we visit the great little bar that is Baby Jupiter and we discovered that Toast was open and serving food. The bar itself is modern looking inside with leather seats and massive TV screens showing the football- it was fairly quiet but I'd imagine it gets busier on weekday evenings when the office workers nearby drop in for post-work drinks.

The menu is fairly standard- a selection of sandwiches, breakfasts, a Sunday roast, burgers and various meat and fish dishes. They also offer a "build your own platter" deal where you choose 4, 6 or 8 items from a deli-inspired selection (cured meats, cheese, olives etc) which I was tempted by, but unfortunately they don't do this deal on a Sunday.

So D and I both chose sandwiches. I went for the chicken, houmous, cheese and sweet chilli sandwich on granary bread (mainly because I was intrigued by the combination of cheese and houmous) The menu has changed slightly on their website from when I went, but I seem to remember the sandwich having a name including either Leeds or Yorkshire- considering Yorkshire folk have a tendency to put cheese on strange things (christmas cake??) I'd imagine that was the reason behind the combination!

Anyway my sandwich was really really good. Massive big thick slices of granary bread, with tender chunks of chicken and tons of melted cheese. I couldn't really pick up on the flavour of the houmous though- I think it could have done with being a bit more thickly spread. The sweet chilli, chicken and cheese worked really well together though, and would have been a delicious sandwich on its own; considering the houmous was fairly unnoticeable and I kind of wondered what the point of it was!



D chose the man's option- steak, caramelised onion, mustard and rocket. He asked for the steak medium, and it came that way, and like mine, the portion was beautifully generous- thick slices of steak, a good pile of caramelised onions and huge doorstep slices of bread. The flavours of the chargrilled steak, sweet onion and tangy mustard complemented each other really well, and D wolfed it all down before I was even half way through mine- a sure sign that he was loving it!



Our sandwiches at Toast were a perfect break from the cold weather- filling (no side order of chips needed, and no space for a pudding!) satisfying and very tasty. The atmosphere in the bar was perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon- relaxed and fairly quiet, and the service was excellent- friendly and attentive. Our food was washed down with a gin and tonic for me and a bottle of beer for me- Toast have a wide range of continental beers, and a cocktail menu as well. Although my G&T came in one of those silly short glasses- my biggest hate in bars is being given a small glass; I like to make my drinks last (plus when wandering around with a small glass I inevitably end up spilling a bit) Note to bartenders- tall glasses for this blogger please! (and yes I'm one of those annoying customers who always waits until the drink is poured and then asks for a taller glass)

I love discovering new places to eat and drink in Leeds- although I have my tried and tested favourites, it's always nice to have a bit of a change. So if anyone reading this knows of any new and interesting places for a Sunday afternoon pit stop, do comment below, and you never know, I might review it :)

Thai Erawan, Oakwood, Leeds

You've probably guessed by now that I am a bit of a wimp and don't like any form of cold, wet or windy weather. (No I don't know why I moved to Leeds either.) So it will be of no great surprise to anyone that on Bonfire Night, I elected not to go and stand in a wet, muddy and freezing Roundhay Park, but instead persuaded D to take me out for a nice meal. Oh did I mention it was cold? So I didn't really want to go very far, plus the buses would have been all crowded and slow because of the bonfire at Roundhay, so we walked the three minutes round the corner to Thai Erawan, a small Thai restaurant and takeaway nestled in a small parade of shops in Oakwood.

Despite living in Oakwood for six months now, we hadn't actually eaten in any of the restaurants here- had a fantastic takeaway curry from Nawaab Khan's one Saturday night, but we usually go either to town or to Chapel Allerton for meals out. However, Thai Erawan has recently been enjoying some very positive reviews, like this one in the Leeds Guide, so we decided to go and check it out.

The restaurant is fairly small, decorated with traditional Thai furniture, statues and pictures and was pretty much empty when we arrived- I guess most of LS8 were up at the park, as most of LS8 don't hide indoors when there is a threat of rain! We were shown to our table by a very friendly waitress, who brought us some peanuts to nibble on while we perused the menu- nice touch, except both me and D despise peanuts. (Well I do, D is one of those fairweather nut haters- more on that later!)

The menu was massive and slightly overwhelming if I'm honest, but after reading through the entire thing I decided to stay away from my usual stir fried dishes and go for something a bit different. For starter I picked the crispy seaweed rolls- I was interested to see how they made the seaweed crispy- and for main I chose a "Sizzling" dish- chicken with black pepper, lemongrass, lime leaves and chilli on a sizzling platter.

The starters came fairly quickly; not surprising as the restaurant was so quiet (at this point, there were three couples including us in there). The waiter brought us a hot plate for the middle of the table and placed the starters on there so we could share- great idea but D had soup- not the easiest of sharing dishes! My crispy rolls stayed nice and warm though! I was slightly disappointed to see that "crispy seaweed" didn't actually mean that the seaweed itself was crispy, but rather the seaweed rolls had been deep fried in breadcrumbs. But my disappointment only lasted until my first bite- the rolls were absolutely delicious. The breadcrumbs were crispy and not at all greasy, the filling of minced chicken and prawn was wonderfully moist and well seasoned and wrapped delicately in seaweed which provided an extra element of flavour and the chilli sauce they were served with was the perfect accompaniment.




D looked a bit wistful as I bit in to my rolls and insisted that he taste some, and I could see he was regretting his choice of Tom Yum soup with prawns (clear spicy soup with prawn, mushrooms, coriander, chilli and lemongrass)- until he tried it! We often make hot and spicy broth style soups at home, and they're always pretty tasty and flavoursome, but they just do not compare to Thai Erawan's soup, which has an extra depth of flavour, probably down to some secret ingredient that we don't put in at home! The prawns were succulent and cooked perfectly (without the intestinal tract that TV chefs are always telling us to remove!), the broth was just the right level of spicy and bursting with flavour, and the mushrooms added a delicious earthiness to it. Both starters were perfectly portioned to whet our appetites for the main course, and I must say, after the excellent standard of the starters, I was excited!



By the time our main course arrived, the fireworks were finished, and hundreds of people were streaming down Roundhay Road, looking for somewhere to eat. The restaurant soon filled up and there was a lively buzz of conversation which improved the atmosphere no end.

As I said before, I'd opted for something a little different, and my sizzling platter did indeed arrive sizzling! Tender chunks of chicken were stir fried in the most delicious sauce I think I've ever had in a Thai restaurant- it was thick, salty, spicy, sweet...and every mouthful was like a little explosion of deliciousness in my mouth. I asked the waitress what was in the sauce to make it so tasty and she laughed and said it was the chef's secret- won't be creating that one at home then! I ordered a portion of jasmine rice to go with it- perfectly cooked and just the right stickiness- the portion was fairly large so probably best to share.



However D had gone for the Pad Thai with Pork so a lot of the rice went untouched. Now, I'd mentioned before how he claims to hate nuts...I did point out that the Pad Thai came with peanuts but he shrugged and said it would probably be nice. Ha. Fake nut hater. And yes, when the dish came, he sprinkled the peanuts liberally over the noodles and said they were delicious. Anyway, I tried a bit without peanuts and without egg (egg is another one of my Food Hates) and he was right- it was really tasty- thick rice noodles with succulent chunks of pork, crunchy bean sprouts and spring onion- well flavoured, moreish and incredibly tasty. The egg had been kind of "spun" over the top of it like a little nest (much like spun sugar) which I thought was a pretty cool touch.

By this time we were fairly stuffed so decided against pudding (partly because of this, and partly because none of the desserts looked particularly appealing; there were the usual Thai desserts like Thai custard, fried banana, and even fried ice cream, but there was also a bizarre collection of ready made frozen desserts) The service all night was impeccable- friendly waiting staff with just the right level of attentiveness (not hanging around, but not taking ages to bring you something) and the restaurant had a really nice family feel to it. In fact, someone called up to order a takeaway and the woman taking the call knew him by name and asked how his family and job were which I thought was a nice touch. I'm glad we have such a great little restaurant in Oakwood and it's convinced me to try some of the other eateries here; Oakwood doesn't have a great reputation for fabulous independent restaurants but I'm hoping that will all change once I've sampled them all. Come on LS8! (the best postcode in Leeds!)

Just thought I'd mention that Thai Erawan also do takeaway, and there is an Early Bird menu which offers great value at two courses for £7.95 or three for £9.95, served from 5pm to 7pm. They also do a loyalty card- visit/order a takeaway 5 times and receive £10 off your sixth meal. No excuse not to go now!

The Delightful Delia

Have been neglecting amusing cat stories in favour of serious stuff about food and restaurants and supermarkets and food festivals etc...poor Delia is feeling left out as I did promise some of the blog would be about her, and well, she likes the limelight. So here you go, comical anecdotes accompanied by cute pictures to cheer you up on this windy November day.

Firstly, since my last kitty update, Delia has had The Operation to remove any chance of her coming home pregnant. (Any parent's nightmare!) We took her in first thing in the morning (there was a tear in my eye as I shut the door on her scared little face in a cage) and went to get her later, after I'd interrogated the vet on chance of death etc. Vet warned us she may be a bit groggy and sleepy. Not Delia. The moment we got her home, she was running around, getting into mischief and generally acting like she was on crack. Got to take the mick out of her for a bit though because a massive bit of her fur was shaved off- it still hasn't completely grown back now. She looked ever so silly.



Anyway, a few days later, she was allowed outside. I love watching her play outside. She chases flies, hides in the hedge, nibbles on leaves and runs for cover every time a car goes past. I'm glad she's scared of cars. Not like my old cat who used to sit in the middle of the road for fun. Yes, he got run over. Survived luckily, but it still hasn't made him realise that cars can kill. Delia is much more of a wimp and for that I am thankful. She won her first fight the other day though! One of the fat fluffy cats from across the road dared to try and set foot in our garden; there was a loud yowl and I looked out of the window to see Delia sitting triumphantly at the gate whilst Fat Cat No1 From Across The Road ran away looking terrified.

In other news, Delia has been wrecking our house. She broke the window blind which meant we had to buy a step ladder so that every day we could take the blind off the window and put it back on. Here she is climbing the ladder. We have a new blind now. I give her a week before she destroys it.



I also cannot remember the last time I had a good night's sleep, because the beastie has decided that the ONLY place she wants to hang out between the hours of 10pm and 7am is our bedroom. She's either in the bed (purring, taking up all the room), in the wardrobe (leaving her little hairs all over my clothes) or chasing things around the floor extremely noisily. Oh and a couple of times she has been hanging out in the chest of drawers:



Dinner times have also become a nightmare- she gets up on the table, sniffing our plates, chasing bits of food around the floor and howling loudly if we dare to lock her out so we can enjoy the meal in peace. The other day she would only leave my dinner alone if I gave her something to eat. We had spicy fish (not for cats, although I would like to see what would happen if she ate madras paste!) and potato wedges, so I gave her a bit of potato. She liked it. She also likes to steal salad leaves off our plates and run away with them. Here she is on the table "helping" me make breakfast:



The cold weather means that the heating is on during the day now. Delia's favourite place to sleep used to be on top of an old rucksack (no I cant explain why she chose that over the lovely soft warm cat bed that we bought for her either!)....



....but now she prefers stretching out next to the radiator (on the broken blind). Snoring away and looking adorable. She likes the fireplace too but hasn't quite yet learned that flames are dangerous and can burn whiskers. I think I might have to invest in a fireguard.



Finally, here's a (blurry) picture of her in a bag! She climbed in, so we carried her around the house. Maybe a little mean, but she is such a spoilt little brat at times, she needs to learn that me and D are the bosses! And there is nothing like being carried in a bag to strip away a little bit of dignity.




Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

LS6, Hyde Park, Leeds

A couple of weekends ago, D and I braved the FREEZING weather (no, I'm not a Northerner, I'm a wimp!) and took a little trip to Hyde Park- I'd heard about a clothes swap going on there and wanted to get rid of some summery clothes and swap them for winter woollies! The clothes exchange was held at Remade, a small community fashion studio in Hyde Park, who use unwanted clothes and community skills to create new fashion items- website here. They hold a monthly fashion exchange, where people can bring clothes to swap, which are exchanged for tokens, which you can then redeem against clothing and accessories that other people have brought along. I went with 11 items of unwanted summery bits (mostly shorts- I think I'm getting too old for sparkly denim hotpants!) and left with 7 new items- 2 dresses, a skirt, a jumper, a pair of boots, a pair of woolly tights and a hat, plus 4 tokens that I can redeem at the next exchange, which is this Saturday (November 13th), details here. Hope to see some of you there, and it truly is a great project- encouraging recycling, promoting community involvement and providing a great little social space (there's a cafe selling homemade cake and hot drinks) and something different to do on a Saturday.

Anyway, after swapping my unwanted stuff for a whole new wardrobe of warm clothes, it was lunchtime and D and I were both starving! There's a decent little collection of cafes, bars and takeaway places on Hyde Park Corner, so we wandered up there and decided to go to LS6 (formally known as the Clock Cafe) as I had never been and wanted to check out somewhere new.

The cafe was rammed; full of families and students- rather than putting me off, I quite like busy places as it suggests to me that it's a place worth going to. We found an empty table and, due to it being really busy, had to wait a while for a waitress to acknowledge our presence- something that would normally have annoyed me, but to be honest, it was nice and warm inside so I wasn't too bothered! Eventually, we were handed menus- D had been craving a fry up, so went for the Full English, whereas I chose a hot sandwich- the menus aren't available online, so I cant remember exactly what it was called, but it was the one with falafel and houmous in it! . We also ordered two black coffees. The decor of the cafe is seriously cool- retro furniture, mirrors all over one wall, bright colours, cosy little alcoves, and all the menus came in old record sleeves. (Mine was Paul McCartney's Pipes of Peace, which was actually number 1 on the day I was born, there's a bit of trivia for you!)

As I mentioned before, the service was quite slow and the waiting staff didn't seem to be overly concerned by this- it did take a while for our order to be taken, and then for the food and drink to come, and a few other tables nearby were getting a little annoyed and resorting to shouting at any member of staff who walked past in order to get their attention, but to be honest, the whole vibe of the cafe was casual and relaxed, and this slow service seemed to fit in with the whole "lazy Saturday lunch" atmosphere. Maybe avoid if you're in a hurry! I love relaxed places though, the coffee even came in huge mugs which just made the place feel homely and chilled out.

Anyway, the food finally came! D's fry up was huge and contained all the essential elements you'd expect from a full English- it's definitely easy to see why this cafe is popular with the hungover Saturday afternoon crowd! His only complaint was that both the bacon and the toast were rather soggy and underdone- it did say on the menu that the sausages and bacon are cooked in an oven rather than fried to make it more healthy, so that might be an explanation for the bacon! I would not have been impressed if my bacon had come like that as I like mine crispy and cremated. D did wolf down the entire breakfast in record time though, which shows that it hit the spot perfectly- decent, hearty, no frills food to fill you up and banish any Saturday afternoon blues.



My sandwich was equally as filling- a generous portion of tasty falafel sandwiched between two massive slices of ciabatta. The sandwich itself was lovely; the middle Eastern flavours of falafel and houmous and roasted veg worked really well together, and my only complaint would be that the bread could have been a little more toasted as advertised on the menu; it was a bit reminiscent of eating one of those "oven bake at home" ciabattas from a supermarket straight out of the packet. The sandwich came with a side salad and some coleslaw; neither were particularly impressive; the coleslaw had too much mayonnaise and the side salad was just a bit of tomato, cucumber and lettuce with no dressing, a bit like the salads you used to get in late 80s/early 90s pubs (and definitely like the one you still get at my grandma's, although last time I went there for tea, she'd obviously been watching a bit of TV cookery- probably not Nigella though, as in my gran's words, she's "very frightfully frightfully" (er think that means posh!)- and served up separate leaves of cos lettuce, each containing a cherry tomato, a walnut and an olive) I'm just being picky though, because like D's fry up, I ate the lot and it definitely filled me up, warmed me up, and kept me going until teatime.



Like other eateries in the area, LS6's menu has a predominantly Mediterranean/Middle Eastern feel to it and has a pretty decent selection of breakfasts, hot and cold sandwiches, salads and cakes. It also does an evening menu and I think sells alcohol as well, so I might check it out one evening- the ambience and decor of the place is great, and with a few tiny improvements, the food could move up a couple of levels as well, taking it from decent Saturday afternoon student fare to food that could compete with some of Leeds's best cafes. Definitely a place worth checking out for a relaxed weekend lunch.

Foodie Festivals

This post has been a really long time coming, so long in fact, that it no longer seems that relevant! However, I promised, and I have the photos, and this post can be resurrected once next year's festivals come around!

Anyway, as you probably know by now, I like food. So every time there's some kind of food festival event, I like to try and go- I love looking at the stalls of local, independent producers, and watching cooking demonstrations. Plus when a city puts on a food festival, the restaurants get in on the act too and offer cheap deals or special menus for the "foodie" crowds. And some festivals even get the celebs in!

The first festival I went to this autumn was the York Food and Drink Festival, held back in September and lasting a week. D had a week off work and suggested a day trip to York- I forgot the festival was on, but was pleasantly surprised once we got there and spotted it- a massive long row of tents and stalls in the central square (Parliament Street?) and a tantalising aroma of spices, meat and baked goods.




The festival's main aim seemed to be to showcase the best of local food and drink producers, and a quick check on the website just now confirmed that! Furthermore, it isn't run by the City Council- it's totally independent and not-for-profit. On the Monday when we were there, all visitors were given the chance to vote in the Yorkshire Post's Readers Awards- we were given a form with a list of stalls to go round and sample their products, marking them out of ten. My favourites were Indie Ices (from Leeds!), who sells delicious, authentic and creamy kulfi (Indian ice cream), The Chilli Jam Man, who makes a range of chilli jams ranging from mildly spicy to blow-your-mind hot, and Keelham Hall Farm Shop's incredible rhubarb and mango pork sausage (sounds freaky, but is actually amazingly tasty- I kept going back for another sample!)

Since the festival, both Indie Ices and The Chilli Jam Man have become a lot more well known and popular in Leeds and on the Yorkshire Foodie Scene- Indie Ices have just started a collaboration with home cooked Indian food delivery service Manjit's Kitchen, and The Chilli Jam Man was on Calendar News! If only I'd written this blog immediately after the festival instead of being lazy and waiting this long, I could have been one of those smug "I told you they'd be big" kind of people, but as it is, you're just going to have to believe me that I SAW THEM FIRST!

Anyway, I was mightily impressed with the York Food And Drink Festival. Not only were independent, local producers heavily supported and promoted, but there was a huge variety of events taking part all over the city- Leeds Loves Food could do with taking a few tips from these guys!

(Oh and as for the winner of the Yorkshire Post Readers' Choice Award- Newfields Organic Produce. So I dont always have my finger on the pulse.)

Three days later, I hopped on a train with D and we went to Nottingham to the Nottingham Food & Drink Festival. It was a much smaller festival than York's, with only 20 or so stalls, but they had celebrities! And one celebrity in particular, who I must admit to having an incredibly huge crush on, the lovely Gino D'Acampo. I think it's the accent. And the dashing good looks. And the....anyway I digress. Yes. Food festival. My first impression was that the Nottingham foodie scene isn't quite as impressive as the one in York, or the one in Leeds. Yes there were quite a few decent local stalls, but most of them seemed to be from Leicestershire! I was glad to see that Homemade Cafe (one of my favourite places to eat when I was a student in Nottingham- check them out if you're ever there. Amazing sandwiches and cakes.) had a stall at the festival. However the focus did seem to be on the celebrity theatre and demonstrations, and there was much more of a commercial feel, with chains such as Yo!Sushi and Wagamama setting up stalls there.



I was impressed with how many celebrity chefs Nottingham managed to get in for the festival; the lovely Gino, Ainsley Harriott, Momma Cherri, Atul Kochhar and Sat Bains- the festival's main aim definitely seemed to be to pull in the crowds and raise Nottingham's profile. And this definitely all becomes clear when you read that the festival was put on by We Are Nottingham, who run the Business Improvement District for the city centre- "improving your experience when you visit Nottingham" So more a tourism/business venture than promoting local producers/independent activity then. Or maybe I'm just horribly cynical.

Anyway, Gino. Mmmm. There was a massive queue for the book signing. And a massive crowd for his demonstration. I was part of both. And yes, he was amazingly lovely and good looking and charming and even a little bit rude (you might not want to take your children to one of his live shows!) even if he did only boil some pasta, add some pesto to it (he got someone in the audience to make it!) and then make a tiramisu in a glass- one of my biggest hates; Tiramisu should be done in a big dish so all the sponge and cream and alcohol layer up together like a big old creamy spongy alcoholic lasagne. So 2/10 for the cooking and 10/10 for the entertainment. And 12/10 for the looks.



The third and final foodie festival that I have visited so far this autumn was the World Curry Festival in Millennium Square, Leeds. Held in a big marquee on the first weekend of October, it promised big things- celebrity chefs, a corporate day, local food producers, curry samples....but the general opinion of the event was that it was a bit of a disappointment. Firstly, on the Saturday, the first of the public days, the curry had all run out by 2pm! And secondly, on the Sunday, torrential rain meant that it was literally a washout...rivers of rain flowed through the tent! D and I went on the Sunday luckily, and braved the rain (my feet were soaked through after five minutes!) Tickets were originally £6 but for some reason, we only paid £3 for the Sunday- maybe the organisers had decided to cut the price following complaints and refunds on the Saturday.

The curry on offer was provided by students from Leeds City College- a great idea to encourage young talent, but a bit of a shame for any local curry businesses who may have wanted to showcase their dishes at the event. There weren't that many stalls at the festival- and most of them were selling pre-prepared curry sauces in jars and various spices- not much to sample, and not much to excite any curry enthusiasts. The college students had cooked a variety of curries from all over the world, from India to China to Jamaica to Malaysia etc, and you could sample four of them plus bread and rice for £5- a pretty good deal I thought, especially as there were eight dishes on offer and between two of us we managed to sample the lot. They were tasty, although nothing was particularly original or mind-blowing.



We settled down after lunch in front of the demonstration stage to watch Hemant Oberoi who cooks at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, and then Jean Christophe Novelli, that well known curry chef (!) who threw a ton of spices together and told the audience that curry didn't have to follow any rules; you could just experiment and see what worked. Entertaining, yes. Informative, authentic and correct- maybe not.



I know I sound like I'm putting a complete downer on the festival but I just felt that if Leeds wants to host a World Curry Festival and promise "a celebration of all things curry" then they could have done it so much better. More stalls with samples and offers from local businesses. Not confining it to a marquee but making use of all the space on Millennium Square so that it wasn't so claustrophobic feeling and crowds could flow more easily. Maybe even not putting so much emphasis on the "corporate day", which from the brochure looked pretty good, but making it more accessible to visitors from all over. The best part was definitely the involvement of local students, investing in the city's culinary future and providing opportunities for them to learn about a great type of cuisine.

I look forward to next year's festival however, and hope that the organisers manage to make it bigger and better, in order to pull in more visitors to Leeds and mark it as one of the country's great foodie destinations. We have the knowledge and the skills, we just need to use them a bit more!

Waitrose, Meanwood, Leeds

Oh how I love Waitrose. When living in Chapel Allerton last year and hearing that the (frankly rubbish) Scummerfield..er Somerfield supermarket was being taken over by either the Co-Op or Waitrose I got a little excited. Sadly Chapel A got Co-Op. The crap town in the Midlands where my parents live got a Waitrose. I went home that summer to cat sit and found my generous dad had left me and D £60 worth of Waitrose vouchers. For two days. We spent the lot and rolled back to Leeds, bellies full and eyes opened to a whole new supermarket experience. (Not that the ungrateful residents of the town appreciated it of course. I heard one woman remark "Where have the chicken nuggets gone? It's not as good as Somerfield here.")

Anyway, Leeds finally got a Waitrose in Meanwood. The fact that it is 15 minute walk followed by a 15 minute bus followed by another 10 min walk from my house did not phase me or D and we shunned the Tesco that we live next door to, as well as the Co Op that we live down the road from, and set off for the Promised Land. (OK, so I may be exaggerating the excitement slightly, but for a girl who loves both shopping and food, a good supermarket is like finding those shoes you wanted in the sale in your size!)

Waitrose did not disappoint. OK it's brand spanking new, so all nice and clean and white and full of enthusiastic friendly staff who hadnt yet been beaten down by weeks of dealing with stupid customers, but I was really really impressed. The shelves were full and everything was in the right place and there's a rather nice homeware/cookware section (as well as getting excited by supermarkets, I also love to spend a few hours lusting after kitchen gadgets and equipment and mentally refurbishing my entire house. I am aware I need to get out more. Working on it.)

And there's a cafe! That's something my parents' Waitrose does not have...possibly as I suspect the inhabitants of the town would rather spend their hard earned cash on a pint of warm lager or a pie and chips. Not that I'm a snob. Or spent 18 years of my life dreaming of moving away. Anyway, the Waitrose cafe is fairly similar to an M&S one- a small selection of hot food, along with sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee and various other baked goods. D and I decided to take a short break from our wandering around open mouthed in awe and wonder at the vast selection of high quality food in the shop and had a black coffee each (fairly decent) along with an apple danish for me and a marmalade sponge for D.






Both cakes were delicious- my pastry was flaky and light with a pretty tasty apple filling- you could tell they made the filling themselves and didn't just get it out of a tin of ready made apple pie filling. (And if they did, then it was a very good quality pie filling!) D's sponge was quite dense, yet moist and full of tangy marmalade flavour. The only negative I can find to say about the cafe is that they put all the calorie counts on the cakes. I know some people might find this helpful but come on, if you're going to eat a cake, you know it's not going to be good for you! I don't want to know that the pastry I just ate had more calories and fat than my entire lunch and breakfast combined thank you Waitrose. I don't want to leave the cafe with cake-guilt.

Waitrose's selection of both fresh and dry ingredients puts most other supermarkets in the shade. I subscribe to Olive magazine, and quite often I've been unable to source certain ingredients such as Belazu rose harissa, or good quality dried porcini, or those wonderful Merchant Gourmet puy lentils- Waitrose have them all and then some! It may be a little expensive and indulgent for a weekly shop (although they do have a pretty good "essentials" range and price match Tesco on many branded goods) but for a delicious pre-prepared Saturday night in front of X Factor dinner (we had roast rump of lamp with a herby crust- as good as a restaurant!) or for the odd hard-to-find ingredient, it's perfect.

Oh by the way, I should probably add a disclaimer- no I do not work for Waitrose, have never received any free stuff for them, and am not being held at gun point by the manager of the Meanwood store to write a decent review. I just like supermarkets. And as supermarkets go, Waitrose is definitely my number 1.