Lunch at Aria Restaurant, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Birmingham

Char-Grilled Shropshire Rib Eye Steak with Bearnaise Sauce,
 Vine Tomato, Watercress and Crispy Onions

The Aria Restaurant, Hyatt Regency, Birmingham is a wonderful place to visit for a quiet lunch away from the hustle and bustle of Saturday shopping.

Hand Cut Chips and Peas, Leeks and Broccoli

We opted for the a la carte menu, there is a good selection for all tastes.  For starters we had Roasted Plum Tomato Soup with Pesto Crostini - this was served with a little theatre which was a nice and unexpected touch - the soup bowl was served with the pesto crostini topped with a roasted tomato, the waitress then poured the piping hot soup into the bowl and served this with a choice of bread.

Unfortunately, there aren't any photographs of our soup because there was a party next to us enjoying afternoon tea and sometimes taking photographs can annoy other diners.  Once they had left their table we were able to then get busy with the camera.

Pan-Fried Fillet of Scottish Salmon with Wasabi Risotto,
 Bok Choy and an Asian Pepper Sauce

The men chose Rib Eye Steak but I was looking for something lighter and chose the Scottish Salmon.  We all agreed our meals were faultless and well presented.

Chocolate and Banana Arctic Roll with Caramel Doughnuts

Dessert was delicious too!  I glanced nosily over at the table where a group of ladies were enjoying afternoon tea and this looked amazing.  I'm now looking forward to my next visit to the Aria Restaurant but this time I would like to go for Sunday lunch, after a little retail therapy in Birmingham.

This was a private visit to Aria Restaurant, Birmingham

Olympic Fun at Blackheath Village, London - Saturday, 11th August 2012

Children of all ages loved the fun fair.

Blackheath Village, London was busy, hot and fun.  It was a glorious day and there was the Big Screen to watch the Olympics, food stalls and great entertainment too.

Oops I have photographed the presenter and not the athletes taking part!

These ladies were Vanessa Mae lookalikes but with drum sticks!

Our lunch stop was Chapters All Day Dining, Blackheath Village - it wasn't too busy and is a great place to sit back, relax and do some people watching.

Burger with Gherkins, Onions, Tomato & Chips

Delicious Seared Salmon on a Bed of Stir Fry Vegetables (I think!)

Tagliatelle with Chives (we aren't sure about this because unfortunately it was bland).

Coming up:  Allpress, Shoreditch - Kaffeine, Great Titchfield Street - St David Coffee House, Forest Hill.

Jamie's Italian, Canary Wharf, London

It was Dance City, Canary Wharf at the end of June and Jamie's Italian was to be the starting point for our afternoon.  We were very fortunate and the sun shone all day.

Hubby and I liked this branch of Jamie's Italian, our local Birmingham branch is huge, Canary Wharf is smaller, which means not so many customers!

View finder for the children's menu and a selection of breads.

Shake Me Salad for the children

There were four adults and two small children in our party, our waiter was a natural with the little ones. He gave them both a view finder to look through - this was basically the children's menu with photographs. We ordered our bread, and the waiter took the children to look at the bread selection, he even gave them a bread stick to keep them going until our main meals arrived.

Scottish Salmon Salad

JI Warm Brownie and Almond Tart

Latte art:)

We all enjoyed our meals, our waiter had great customer service skills -  it was agreed by all he must be the best Jamie's Italian waiter ever.

Sponsored Video - The Cube by Electrolux

The Cube by Electrolux will be in position on top of the Royal Festival Hall in London from 1st June until 30th September 2012 offering a unique dining experience.  This is to be a celebration of Electrolux professional expertise and also to bring together some of the most innovative chefs in the UK today.

This will be an amazing opportunity to spend an evening in a unique restaurant overlooking the Thames in this Olympic year. You will be able to watch your food being prepared in the state-of-the-art Electrolux open plan kitchen that is showcasing their domestic appliances as well as professional equipment. There is one dining table in the restaurant which will seat 18 lucky diners, and they will be able to interact with 6 top chefs who have 8 Michelin stars between them. The Michelin-starred chefs will also offer tips to guests on how to create restaurant meals at home.

All of the chefs will be using locally sourced ingredients to create a unique menu and they are all thrilled to be taking part in this gastronomic experience that is coming to London after Brussels and Milan.

The chefs: Sat Bains, Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham - Daniel Clifford, Mid Summer House Restaurant, Cambridge - Jonray and Peter Sanchez, Casamia, Bristol - Tom Kitchen, The Kitchen Restaurant, Edinburgh - Claude Bosi, Hibiscus, London.

Reservations are being taken for the 1st of June through to the 24th June and later dates are to be released on the 21st May.

Call +44 (0) 207 288 6450 to be part of this fabulous dining experience.

Sponsored Post

The Hardwick, Abergavenny

A visit to The Hardwick in Abergavenny has been on my to do list for a long time now, especially as it's recognized as being part of Wales 'foodie golden triangle'.

On arriving at The Hardwick, we were shown to our room by a pleasant member of staff and we were delighted with our choice of room - Room 8 on the first floor.  It was immaculately clean, always a good start, there was a Roberts radio, flatscreen TV, sofa and a well appointed bathroom with huge fluffy white towels. 

Deciding to explore a little before dinner we went into the bar area where they have wonderful huge leather plush settees to sit and relax. In fact so plush, you just want to sit there and cosy up for a long, long time.

Our starters were delicious and for our mains we had a sharing platter of A Taste of Local Beef - Grilled Fillet, Ox Tail Suet Pudding, Rib Burger with Creamed Mushrooms & Onion Rings, Braised Shin with Confit Shallots, Seasonal Greens and Sauce Bordelaise served on a fabulous wooden board. To follow I had a A Jar of Lemon Crunch with Italian Meringue which looked amazing.

I didn't take any photographs of the meal because I wanted to enjoy the evening free from a camera, but if you look on the internet you will see photographs showing examples of the meals served at The Hardwick.

Stephen Terry has a loyal following of fans who make the journey to The Hardwick at Abergavenny and I am really looking forward to seeing him on the BBC Great British Menu - the Welsh chefs' episodes - starting on 21st May 2012.

Jamie's Italian, Brighton

Great food at good prices, great ambience and a funky interior - happy:) We arrived at 12 noon before any customers arrived to take a few photographs, hence no customers! Shortly afterwards the place was full to overflowing!

Indigo Restaurant

I was recently invited to the VIP Evening at Indigo Restaurant. My husband took the photographs and as you can see, we all had a wonderful time. The narrative is by one of the partner's daughters who has kindly written this Guest Posting.



The restaurant concept - we wanted it to be funky, modern, yet unique in style and something to stand out. Although we chose vibrance as colour, we wanted private seating arrangements away from the outside life. As you may notice - we tried to prevent windows and made the restaurant enclosed from what is going on outside. Instead, we chose to select ideas and detail to catch the eyes of customers inside the restaurant.


Interior and colours - the colours chosen came from the name itself, Indigo and led to a purple/blue theme, which just expanded with ideas. The Managers also travelled out far to explore different restaurants (the top ones), to see what they offered, so that we could be on a similar level. We wanted the interior to look different, unique and a style no one had seen before (especially locally). Again, much research was done to get the interior spot on.

The artist with some of her work which adorns the walls of the restaurant.


How the restaurant name was chosen - the colour created the name itself, also the fact that the restaurant provides Indian foods, Indi-go!!


Food - the food served is a la carte, it was a buffet on the VIP evening though. All food is cooked from fresh including the desserts. The food on the menu includes Himalayan, Rajasthani and Jaipuri dishes and also dishes from some of India's biggest and famous cities.


The chefs - there are several chefs with years of experience. They work fast and will only cook from fresh.

Indigo Restaurant
Claverley Drive
WV4 4LQ
01902 621155/621144

Breakfast at the Wolseley

Yes - that was me! Did you see me in there a couple of Saturday's ago?
I chose the one decent Saturday in January when the sun shone all day, to take a trip to London from the West Midlands.
Every year in late January I go to London for the day and have a mother and son day.
Our birthdays are just four days apart, in what must be one of the most miserable months of the year.
This year our plan was foodie experiences.
We started the day at The Wolseley for breakfast . Neither of us are fans of 'The English Breakfast' and so we opted for Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Toasted Brioche. This was beautifully presented, although as you can imagine it was quite rich. Fruit juice and then one of the Wolseley's fabulous coffees. We decided at this point that neither of us were feeling full but as the breakfast had been quite rich, that it would be sensible not to order any more food, but to stop off a little later for further sustenance!
If you click here and here you will be able to savour a little more about The Wolseley.
A few years ago, I went with my daughter and her new baby for Afternoon Tea at the Wolseley and I can highly recommend that too.
As we were in Piccadilly, we then walked along to see the revamped Fortnum & Mason.
I have been to this store a few times and have always felt in awe of this beautiful department store. We both felt sad at how clinical it felt. My son commented that there wasn't any love in the store. For me, it had lost its soul. Perhaps you would like to read this article by Guardian Unlimited on the Fortnum and Mason revamp.
The revamped sweeping staircases are breathtakingly beautiful as is the decor. I would love to revisit Fortnum & Mason again, now that I have overcome my shock at the revamp. After having had time to reflect, maybe the time had come for them to move on. Change is never easy and it just takes a little getting used to.
A sustenance break and then onto Divertimenti on the Brompton Road. We were both a little disappointed with the shop, I guess that's where sometimes you expect too much after looking at the online store. That said, where I live all of the kitchen equipment shops have disappeared and it was, therefore, a real treat looking at all the kitchen goodies.
Along the road we stopped at Patisserie Valerie to see all of the wonderful cakes that were on display in the window. Incidentally, there is also a shop more or less next to the Wolseley at Piccadilly.
We then came to Harrods (I've been a few times before). It was ridiculously busy and so we decided to move on!
Next stop was WholeFoods Market. By now we were very very weary and thought we would be able to get a decent meal here. Unfortunately, that wasn't our experience.
It was so busy, we found it difficult to get around the store to have a look at the food on the shelves. I guess next time, we would need to go first thing in the morning.
After all this, I said a fond farewell to my son and headed home, happy but worn out!
Now what shall we do for our Mum and Son day next year? Any suggestions anyone?