Shaha/Indian/Carlisle

We try to visit this restaurant once a year to celebrate an anniversary.  Looking back on notes I took last year we perhaps shouldn't be so sentimental  ;)

Situated on Tate Street, just off Botchergate, parking can occasionally be found on Tait Street if you are lucky, otherwise use "William Street" Car Park at the beginning of Tate Street and walk down the road.

It is a first floor restaurant, you have to walk up a set of stairs to get in, so no good for people with mobility issues. The stairs, carpet, and walls on the way up look quite tired and don't give off the best impression.

However, inside is nice.  It used to be a very open plan restaurant, but a few years ago they put in lots of dividing walls making lots of little rooms and alcoves.  We had booked ahead, but we were a bit early so we sat in the bar area for a few minutes before being shown to our table.

We went for some poppadums to start, served cold - I do prefer a warm poppadum, it makes all the difference.  The mint sauce and mango chutney tasted nice, but were so thin it was hard to get them to stay on the poppadom without dripping everywhere.

For a starter I went for Vegetable Pakoras. 

They were "ok", nothing special, and a bit soggy in the middle.

Hubby had Chicken Pakora, he again said nothing special, the chicken was very plain (unspiced) and tasted more like a Sweet & Sour Chicken ball from a Chinese Restaurant.

For a main I went for a Creamy Vegetable Curry (sorry the name of the dish escapes me)  I asked for no onions and peppers, but was told there wouldn't be any in there anyway - which was fine.

I have to say I was a little dissapointed as it was basically a potato curry. Lots of potato, one piece of cauliflower, a few tiny bits of carrot (like frozen diced carrot) and a handful of cabbage.  The sauce was lovely though.  I had forgotten to ask for no onions in the Egg Rice that Hubby and I was sharing, so I asked if I could get just half a portion freshly cooked.  This was done quickly, with no fuss, and wasn't even added to the bill.  Excellent service.

Hubby had Chicken Tikka Garlic.

He said "It was ok, but you can get better in Carlisle".

An hour later I was suffering from tummy issues that I have only ever experienced in Egypt !  I wondered if it was coincidence, but that was the only food I had had for hours.

I had taken the leftovers home (as I often do) and after having them for lunch the next day, was suffering the same symptoms within an hour.  Reading on Trip Advisor, this doesn't seem to be an isolated case sadly.

I have heard they are planning another re-vamp.  New menu and decorating.

Our bill, not including a tip, was around £45 for 2 poppadums, 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 rice, 1 chips, a bottle of wine and a soft drink.

Here are the details should you wish to go, please comment and let us know if you do visit.

Shaha

89 Botchergate

Carlisle,

Cumbria

CA1 1RS

01228 520 050

The Filling Station/American/Glasgow

We found this place in a "Good Food Guide" in our Glasgow Hotel, so having had enough of Chinese, Indian, Thai, we thought and American style diner would be a nice change.  In the write up in the guide it stated there were good Vegetarian options.

Situated on Bath Street, central Glasgow, there is no parking directly outside but there are car parks scattered around.

An "Americanised" Diner with booths and licence plates.  We walked in and asked for a table for four.  We were told there was a 20 minute wait and directed to sit at the bar with a buzzer, we were 'buzzed' after only 10 minutes and shown to our seat.

I wasn't hugely impressed with the Veggie options to be honest - a wrap, a pizza, a burger (peppers - bleurgh) and a pasta.  Not very imaginative.

I opted for Macaroni Cheese (served with rocket and Garlic Bread)

The macaroni cheese was actually quite nice, but for around £9.00 it was quite a small portion.  The rocket side serving wasn't worth having on the plate, it was merely a decoration.  Garlic bread was nice though.

My friend had duck wrap, quite fatty lumps of duck and again £9.00 for a wrap and a few skinny chips was a bit overpriced.

The menfolk had fish & chips.  Two small bits of fish, a few chips and some mushy peas.  They both said it was lovely fish, and the chunky chips looked nice.

All in all it was 'ok', but at £9.00 each meal it was well overpriced in my opinion.  Service however, was spot on.

Here are the details for you..

The Filling Station

Tara House,

46 Bath St

Glasgow

G2 1HG

0141 331 2391

Pizza Express/Italian/Glasgow

I do like a Pizza Express pizza, so while visiting Glasgow and with a voucher for a bargain meal, we decided to pay it a visit.

(It's always worth Googling for vouchers before going to chains, especially Pizza restaurants, as you can often find a bargain)

Situated at 436 Sauchiehall Street, there is no parking outside, but there are car parks around the area.

We went on a Saturday afternoon, it was quite busy but strangely there only seemed to be three staff on - one waitress, one chef and a waiter that swapped between waiting on tables and making pizzas.

As you might imagine, service was quite slow.  Even a simple jug of water took some time to arrive, and there was a long long wait inbetween having our sharing starter of Dough Balls and the pizzas.

Other tables were looking a little disgruntled, but we were in no hurry so just sat it out.

Pizzas were great, as usual.  Never had a bad pizza in pizza express.  The staff, although rushed off their feet, were very pleasant.

May I recommend the Giardiniera (Asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, red peppers, santos tomatoes, olives, garlic oil, tomato & pesto base)  I did skip the peppers, but the rest was delicious.

Hubby had a chicken & onion pizza, always good quality 'proper' chicken.

This is the website for the Pizza Express chain.  (Don't forget to Google for vouchers)

http://www.pizzaexpress.com/

Thai Orchid/Thai/Glasgow

I have been to this restaurant a few times and always found it excellent.

Situated on Argyle Street, literally just minutes from Central Station close to the Alexander Thompson hotel.  Hard to park outside, but there is a multi-story NCP close by.

A small restaurant, but beautifully decorated with nicely set tables.

Staff are very attentive, even to the point of being slightly intrusive, and you wine glass is topped up every time you drink a couple of mouthfuls.

We were given complimentary spicy prawn crackers with a satay dip, and a spicy thai vegetable salad to nibble on while we chose our food.

Menus extensive with plenty of choice, with a decent vegetarian section too.

I went for Tempura Battered Vegetables.

The request for no onions or peppers was noted, and the selection was lovely, with crisp fresh batter and a lovely chilli sauce dip.

My companions had Honey King Prawns...

Chicken Satay....

and Coconut Prawns.

No complaints anywhere, all starters were delicious.

For a main course I went for Stir-Fried Spicy Vegetables with cashew nuts & pineapple. 

Again, it arrived as requested minus the onions and peppers, although the pineapple seemed to be missing too.  The taste was gorgeous though, and it was complimented perfectly by the ribbon noodles and egg fried rice.

My companions had Tangerine Chicken (which was supposidly fabulous, very "tangeriney")

.... and a Thai curry, which smelt particularly gorgeous.

Slight issue in that the rice and noodle dishes which we wanted to share at our leisure was dished onto our plates at the beginning as the waitress wanted to remove the serving plates.  Would have much prefered to get our own when and if we wanted more.

No room for a dessert.

The bill for four people, for 4 starters, 4 mains, 4 sides, two soft drinks and a bottle of wine was around £110 not including a tip.

Here are the details for you.

Thai Orchid Restaurant

336 Argyle Street

Glasgow

G2 8LY

Tel: 0141 847 0315

Feel free to add a comment.

The Coach & Horses/Pub Food/Carlisle

The Coach and Horses pub at Kingstown have made the lounge part of their establishment into a restaurant named Hussars.

I went with my partner a couple of months ago, but forgot to take the camera, as I went back with a couple of friends for lunch last week I thought I would take the opportunity to grab some more photos.  Therefore this blog is about both visits.

Situated opposite the turning into Kingstown industrial estate, it is a beautiful stand-alone building with some nice features.  Out the front is some tables and chairs for a summertime drink - although certainly not good for Vegetarians due to the number of wagons that  pass full of animals heading for the abbatoir!

Good amount of car-parking around the back.

The first time I went I ordered Brie to start (no onions on the salad please)  The brie was beautiful and crisp, a good size,  but alas the salad came covered with onions so I had to leave that.  As the waitress came to collect the plates I asked her to double check the main course would not come with onions on the salad.

For a main I had Veggie Burger.  It was fine.  You can't really judge a place by a frozen veggie burger, but its a great addition to have on the menu - thumbs up for that!  And there was no onions on the salad this time  :)

The chips deserve a special mention though, they are gorgeous.  Unpeeled potatoes, obviously hand-made, and just delicious.

We were going to have a desert, but when the waitress picked up the plate she didn't ask us.  I suppose we should have gone to the bar and ordered one, but when you go to a 'restaurant' do you not expect to be served?  It's a little point I suppose, but makes all the difference.  They lost out on a good few quid as we were going to have a pud each and an extra drink.

This time we went I was planning to have the Mushroom Stroganoff, but alas it had lots of onions in, so went for the Veggie Burger again, asking for no onions on the salad.  Didn't get a salad this time at all, but plenty of chips.

One of my friends had a Burger with egg and cheese, he said it was really good.

My other friend had the sausage & onion baguette with chips  (she got a salad!)

Will definately be back, even if just for the chips!

Cannot find a website, but here is the address.

The Coach & Horses
234 Kingstown Rd,
Carlisle,
Cumbria
CA3 0DE
01228 525535

The Pheasant Inn/Pub Food/Cumwhitton

I was pointed in the direction of The Pheasant Inn by a follower on our Facebook page.

I had to Google it to find out where Cumwhitton is, it is a little village between Carlisle & Brampton, about 12 miles from Carlisle.

A lovely looking country pub, we went on a miserable rainy night, but on a warm summers evening it would be nice to have a drink in the garden.

Beautifully set out inside, with rustic old large tables, nicely set with placemats, cutlery and a decent wine list. 

We were shown to our table, given the menus and our drink order was taken.

There was one Veggie option on the main menu with a note saying "ask about our other Vegetarian options" as there was also a Veggie option on the specials menu I presumed that would be the other option, but how wrong I was !  When I enquired about the other options I was brought a whole new menu with a vast array of gorgeous offerings, with even a couple of Vegan options.  To say I was impressed was an understatement.

I opted to skip a starter, having seen they offered three different Creme Brulees. 

So going straight to main course I had Brie, Mushroom, Cranberry & Spinach Wellington. When the food is served the waiting staff put on white gloves to handle your plates.

It was delicious, served with the most gorgeous chunky fluffy chips and freshly cooked vegetables.

The portions of the chips and veg look a lot smaller than what you would perhaps get in other places, but to be perfectly honest it was refreshingly nice not to be faced with a massive amount of food.  The amount of chips was just perfect, and when we had started eating one of the staff came to the table to ask if we would like more veg or salad - a lovely touch, and so brilliant to offer more rather than just give then excess gets wasted.  Well done Pheasant.

Hubby had a homemade burger.  He said it was "very very nice, tasty, perfectly seasoned".

For dessert I went for the Ginger Creme Brulee served with a shortbread biscuit.

Absolutely gorgeous !!

Hubby had Sticky Toffee Pudding with ice-cream.

Again, he said it was divine, lots of gorgeous toffee sauce, and a quality ice-cream.

We will definately be back, quite regularly I would think. The staff couldn't do enough for you and the place was beautifully clean & tidy - even the toilets were spotless, nicely decorated and well maintained.

The bill came to £32 for two mains, two puds, one large wine and a large coke.

Here are the details for you.

The Pheasant Inn
Cumwhitton:
Brampton:
Cumbria:
CA8 9AX:
01228 560 102
 

http://pheasantinncumwhitton.co.uk/

Taybarns/Pub Food/Newcastle

Taybarns was recommended to me as it had "loads of Vegetarian options", so while in Newcastle we decided to track down the closest one which was in Swallwell, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. 

The website boasts an impressive list of different foods, Indian, Chinese, Chip Shop, Carvery along with Soups & Salads for a set price.  The set price changes according to which day and time you go, as we went on a Saturday evening we payed the highest price of around £8.25 each.  The sign outside had a huge white price of £6.20 with a tiny tiny black "from" above the pound sign which you could only make out if standing right beside the sign.

 I wonder why the price changes though as you seem to be offered the same food, there isn't anything extra offered for the extra money which I think is a bit cheeky.

Busy car park, but it is shared with the Premier Inn which is next door.

The restaurant itself is vast, loads of tables.  As you go in you queue at the till to pay, you also order your drink, you are handed an glass with ice if you order a soft drink (they are refillable) and whatever other drink you have ordered, then you trot off to find yourself a table.  Staff are great, really friendly, and they explain how it all works if you have not been before.

So, we got our table and headed off to check out the food. Imagine a motorway service station canteen and you wouldn't be far wrong, only you can have a bit of everything.  A lot of the dishes were empty though, pr just had half a portion left.
I started with a slice of pizza, cauliflower cheese, vegetable korma with rice, chips and corn on the cob.

Although the place boasts a "chip shop" section, they were just frozen (school dinner type) chips, although sadly, the nicest thing on the plate !
The pizza was ok, cheap 'tinny' tomato sauce and barely cooked base, but they had an impressive pizza oven.  The cauliflower cheese was watery and tasteless, I usually love cauli-cheese, but this was awful. The vegetable korma wasn't any better, in fact worse !  The vegetables in it were new potatoes (with skin) peas and cauli, and again, tasteless. Corn on the cob was shrivelled and cold.

I ate the pizza and chips and decided to try again !

This time I went for cheesy pasta bake, potato wedges (just two as that was all that was left) and another slice of pizza with chips as I knew I would eat those.

The pasta bake, like the cauliflower cheese, was watery and tastless - so dissapointing.

In the end I decided that the best food in Taybarns for a Vegetarian was this......

A chip & bean butty  :)


Hubby fared a little better, he went for the Carvery and got some good chunks of turkey, hand carved.  Veg was un-seasoned and luke-warm.  He liked the yorkshire puds though.

His second plate said a lot !  Yorkshire puddings, naan bread and nachos.  :)

A good range of deserts, again help yourself.  There was three jugs of cream, all with crusty tide marks inside the jugs, two were empty.

I couldn't decide between bakewell tart and victoria sponge, so I chose the smallest slices of each and had both  :)

The bakewell tart was delicious, the best thing I had tasted in there. The victoria sponge was not so nice with an incredibly sweet sickly butter cream inside, to sweet to stomach to be honest.  So you will impressed to hear I only ate one pud after all :)

Hubby had chocolate fudge cake with ice cream, which he said was "alright".

We went to a lot of buffet restaurants when we were in the USA and if this place could get it right they could be right up there with the best.  The UK is crying out for a place like this BUT the food needs to be HOT and the quality much better.

Definately a case of quantity over quality.  Would we be back?  Probably not, although £5.00 for a bottle of wine (yes really)

...... and refillable soft drinks, plus £8.25 for as much as you can physically stuff in is a tempting offer.

Here is their website.

http://www.taybarns.com/

Let us know if you go.