Capplemans/Fish & Chips/Pickering

Just a quick blog, but this little chippy in Pickering had to be worth a mention.

Situated on Market Place, there is the odd parking place outside, but you are much better using the short-stay car park just around the corner.

We walked into a nice clean, simply set, but adaquate chip shop cafe.

Our orders were taking by a member of staff who was adept, but not overly friendly, a smile and a little chat would have been nice, but she did redeem herself later on with another customer....

Most of the party of four went for Fish & Chips, you could have your fish grilled or pan fried without batter if you wished too, and the rest of the menu was quite vast with plenty of choice.

Fresh crisp batter, beautiful flaky fish and gorgeous proper 'chippy chips' made it a lovely meal.

Being a Vegetarian the choice is often limited in a chippy, however there was an option of a veggie-burger.

I opted to have Egg & Chips though, sometimes simple is good, and this WAS good  :)  Served with mushy peas which were lovely.

No, back to the waitress... an elderly lady came in and ordered fish, which was duly delivered, but then she asked the waitress to take all the batter off for her.  She patiently stood over the old lady and removed all the batter, then said she would try and remember her for next time and make sure her fish was cooked without batter.  Great customer service.

They also have a take-away in Scarborough.

Here is their website for you, with both addresses on and a downloadable menu.

http://www.capplemans.co.uk/

Little Chef/Cafe/Appleby

"Little Chef" - everyone knows the little Chef man (Charlie) and the red logo, you find them on the roadsides and are a welcome sight when feeling peckish on your journey.

The one we visited was situated on the A66  near Appleby, a really small restaurant, the smallest Little Chef I have ever been in to.

There only seemed to be two staff on, but the one that served us was superb, answering any questions we had and generally being smiley and happy - it makes such a difference when the staff are good.

Obviously you don't spend a lot of time in a Little Chef, nor do you generally go for romantic meals out, so the tables and chairs are not the comfiest in the world.  Think canteen.

The menu has changed in the last year and I am sure the prices have dropped slightly.  Loads of choice including Veggie options and Lighter Choices. Have a look HERE.

I went for a Pesto and Mozzarella Burger - £6.99 A sweet potato, soya bean, mozzarella and pesto burger served in a soft roll with red onion marmalade and chips or jacket potato. (Without the onion marmalade)

It was absolutely delicious, one of the nicest, if not the nicest, Veggie burger I have ever had. Served in a lovely fresh bun with tasty chips. 

Hubby had Classic Burger - £6.99.  A 1/4 lb griddled premium British beef burger served in a soft roll with tangy relish, mixed leaves and tomato. Served with chips or jacket potato.

He said it was a delicious burger.

My friends both went for the Hunters Chicken - £7.99 A chicken breast marinated in BBQ spices, topped with a slice of Cheddar cheese and a rasher of back bacon. Served with chips or jacket potato and mixed leaves.

Both of them said it was really gorgeous, and perhaps strangely, it was agreed that this meal was one of the nicest we had had during our whole holiday away.

I have to add they do great breakfasts too - even veggie sausages!

Here are the Appleby details:

Little Chef - Appleby

A66

Kettland Moor

Appleby

Westmoreland

Cumbria

CA16 6LN

Tel. 01768 351467

And the Little Chef website so you can find one near you...

http://www.littlechef.co.uk/

Duke Of York/Pub Food/Whitby

On visiting Whitby we decided to trot up to the Abbey, but on facing the steps decided we needed some fuel first.  Right at the bottom of the Abbey steps was a little door way for the Duke Of York pub.

A really pretty entrance, leading to a more traditional style pub with a fantastic view over Whitby harbour.

Sadly, that's the good bits over with.

The staff were nothing short of rude, abrupt and fankly a little scarey.

We were a group or four, and although paying seperately, wanted our food to be served together.  We asked when ordering at the till and was told "Well your orders are after each other so of course they will come together"  Fair enough.  We pointed out what table we were on and placed our order.

 "Help yourself to cutlery" the barmaid said, without actually telling us where it was.  We found it on the wall, a 'pigeon hole' style shelf thing with the slots full of knives, forks, sauces etc...  it wasn't very clean and we had to sort through the cutlery to find clean ones.

Sitting there chatting and a lady comes out of the kitchen with two plates shouting ORDER 65. So we sat there like dummies not realising we even had an order number.  In the end we worked it out by her not getting an answer from other customers.  It was the last two meals ordered too.  They were plonked on the table and we felt as though we had really held her back.

This prompted me to root about in my pockets for the reciept to find out our order number, all that was on there was a "Colour Touch" number, whatever that might be, but it was 64 so that made sense.  Pity we hadn't been told this at the bar when we ordered, would have made things much simpler.

The kitchen lady returned and shouted ORDER 56, so of course we sat quietly again, having had number 64 on our reciept.  Again, we then worked out it was probably our food, and questioned what she had.  She had a burger & fries and a bowl of curly fries in her hand, so I enquired if there was a cheese sandwich to go with it (this was to check it was our order, not to complain) she barked "Yes, but this is a good start" and more or less threw them down. 

So, we had our food.  I had a cheese & pickle sandwich and a side of curly fries.

The margarine on the sandwich was so thick you could taste it above the cheese.  I had to remind them about the pickle that was then provided in a little paper pot.

The curly fries were lovely - served with a garlic mayo which tasted a bit weird.

Hubby had a home-made cheeseburger with chips. 

He said the burger was really nice and tasty, but the insipid chips, which there was very few of, were dry and boring.  He ate half of the curly ones instead.

Our friends had baquettes - Crab and Ham

Both of them said the baguettes were very chewy, so either undercooked, or stale.  But the ham was lovely.

When our tables were cleared, the barmaid said to me "I see you have left the healthy stuff" obviously meaning the quarter of tomato, few limp lettuce leaves and a sprinkle of cress!

What a shame about this place, it has the most amazing view and could be a fabulous little diner - even if they just got the baguettes right - nice, fresh, warm and crusty.

Here are the details for you, please comment if you have been.

Duke Of York

CHURCH STREET,

WHITBY,

N.YORKS,

Y022 4DE

01947 600324

 http://www.dukeofyork.co.uk/

The Four Alls/Pub Food/York

We drove past this pub twice a day while staying at Griffon Forest near York.  On the last day we decided to try it for a meal - we wished we had tried it earlier as we would have gone back again.

Situated on the A64 between York and Malton, it has it's own car park but the road can be incredibly busy so can take some time to get in or out of it.

The inside isnt posh in any way, just regular family style pub tables and chairs, but clean and tidy.

We went on a Thursday night, it was quite quiet with just the odd local characture hanging about.

The staff were all lovely, chatty and very helpful with food questions.  The barman even suggested that if we were going to have more than two glasses of wine it would be cheaper for us to buy a bottle - so we did!

We skipped the starters in favour of puds at the end, and went straight onto a main course.

I had Broccoli & Cream Cheese Bake - I did originally want Vegetable Kiev but alas they had run out, but it was a good second choice.

Served with chips and a salad garnish, the bake itself was really tasty, with nicely cooked chips. 

My friends went for a steak each, which was cooked as they asked and served with a huge amount of onion rings, chips, mushrooms, tomato and salad garnish. Both said the steak was gorgeous.

Hubby had a Gammon, but the photograph was terrible.  A great big thick slab of meat, served with a mound of onion rings and trimmings.  He said it was very nice.

Only two of us decided on puddings in the end. I had a chocolate fudge cake, hot with cream. 

Just your regular fudge cake that you can get in most establishments like this, but very yummy.

The other pudding was a Sticky Toffee pud, again a bought in pud, but nice & sweet and served with fresh cream.

The bill was around £58, not including a tip, for 4 mains, 2 puds, bottle of wine and 2 soft drinks.

Would definately return when we are next in the area.

The details for you:

The Four Alls Inn

Malton Rd

York,

North Yorkshire

YO32 9TW

01904 468 233

http://www.thefourallsinn.co.uk/

Let us know if you go.

The Three Tuns/Pub Food/Thirsk

Situated in the Marketplace in the centre of Thirsk, this is a large statement building with plenty of parking out front in the Marketplace  (first hour is free, two hours is 40p)

A J D Weatherspoons establishment, it is beautifully set out inside with loads of little rooms set off the main room.  The ladies toilets are like something you would find in a posh hotel with full size mirrors and comfy sofas.

We were just passing through, so seeing a chain we recognised, we decided it would be a good place to grab a quick lunch.

We just had a main course each, I went for the Vegetarian Spinach, Sweet Potato & Chick Pea Curry.  Served with two poppodums, a mini naan bread and rice.

It was delicious, really tasty - the rice was a bit hard though, but a good sized portion at a very reasonable price of just over £6.00

The rest of the group went for.....

Chicken Tikka Massala, again served with Poppodums, naan bread and rice.  My friend said it was one of the nicest curries she had had.

Gourmet Chicken Burger.  A huge burger with chicken, bacon....... served with relish and chips.  The relish was splattered all over the little pot, which looked terrible to be honest.  Not sure why it was like that.  Not a huge portion of chips, but sufficient.

Burger Deal - which consisted of a burger and a drink for around a fiver - great deal !  But again served with splattered relish.  The only complaint was the burger was a bit fatty.

Will definately go back to a Wetherspoons, food wasn't gourmet food, but served quickly, good portions, great prices and loads of choice.

Here are the details for you:

The Three Tuns

54 Market Pl

Thirsk,

North Yorkshire

YO7 1LH

 01845 521370

 

 http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/

The Rahi At The Waterloo/Indian/Carlisle

This is a follow up blog for this establishment.
No photos unfortunately.

This time a group of girls visited for a friends birthday.

We were greeted as we went in and offered a drink.  As we were trying to decide what wine to choose, we were given samples of the house wine, which was "gluggable" in large quantities, so we got a few carafes of that.

Poppodums were served, with plenty of tasty dips, and extra brought on request.

On choosing a starter, I asked if a dish could be adapted into a Veggie option.  It was, and I had the most gorgeous Mushroom Chat.  Delicious and a large portion.

For a main, I did the same - asking for something to be adapted. Not only was this fine, but suggestions were suggested to make it better.  I ended up with a Paneer and Spinach dish in a sauce that I cannot remember, but it was very lovely.

Everyone agreed it was a delicious meal, the staff were attentive and helpful, and we all got a little shot of something at the end of the meal. (Midori & Baileys I think).

Referrring back to the original blog about this restaurant, I had to follow it up as there were no complaints at all this time.  Could have been we went on the opening day last time so odd little things needed tweaked, seems like that has been done.

Rahi at The Waterloo

Aglionby
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA4 8AG
01228 549200