How to Cook the Best Budget-Friendly Cut of Steak

Steak is probably considered a more expensive choice of meal; something you might have as a weekend treat and as we start to feel the pinch of the increase in the cost of living, saving money on our weekly food shop has become a priority which might make you think that steak is off the menu. 

You might be forgiven for thinking that a cheaper cut of steak means that you're compromising on quality but that doesn't have to be the case if you buy from a reputable butcher and you cook it correctly. I recently ordered some flat iron steak from Swaledale Butchers which is much more budget friendly at less than £10 for 2 steaks. 

Swaledale Butchers say 'Flat Iron, a tender steak that boasts flavour to match the prime steaks. Cut from beneath the shoulder blade of the beast by our skilled butchery team, it is naturally lean, sinew-free and perfect to cook year-round.' 

I enjoy my steak medium rare so the following cooking instructions will produce steak that is cooked as such:

1. Take Flat Iron steaks out of fridge, remove packaging, pat dry with kitchen paper, pop on a plate and allow to reach room temperature

2. Oil the steaks and season generously with coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper

3. Heat a non-stick pan or cast iron skillet until smoking hot

4. Add the Flat Irons to the dry pan resisting the urge to move them and turn after 2 minutes

5. Once other side has cooked for 2 minutes, a rich golden crust should have formed. Turn every 30 seconds or so for a total cooking time of approx. 6-8 minutes

6. Remove from pan and rest for 8 minutes

7. Slice across the grain and serve

As you can see, I served mine with simple accompaniments of fries and tender stem broccoli and I think this works really well when keeping the meal as simple as possible. No sauce required because the steak was so flavoursome!

Cocktail Hour - Cocktails Delivered to your Door

gifted product - always drink responsibly

Weekends are quickly becoming same old, same old now aren't they? There's nothing to do, nowhere to go so I'm finding myself turning to food and drinks for pleasure because it's the only thing that can't be taken away from us (well, I guess they could but please don't!). Our Saturdays general revolve around deciding what takeaway sort of food we're going to have and to be honest I'm quite enjoying trying some of the places in the local area that wouldn't normally offer collection/delivery service. That's the thing with the pandemic, as horrible as it has been (and still is!) and it has presented challenges to businesses like no other, it's been amazing to see businesses adapting and new businesses popping up to meet the new demands of customers. 

Cocktail Hour are one such business who set up to offer premium quality cocktails delivered straight to your door. They offer a monthly cocktail subscription which is currently £49.95 at the time of posting. This includes 2 cocktails, snacks, a food and drink guide as well as a Spotify playlist for you to access which is perfect if you're looking to create a bit of a night out in your own house. 

They also offer one off cocktail delivery boxes like the one I received which are £19.95 and include 2 ready to pour cocktails and either a sweet or a savoury snack to go with them (because who doesn't love nibbles with cocktails?)

Don't get me wrong, experience-wise it's not cocktails at the Alchemist but as far as cocktails at home go, Cocktail Hour have you covered at a reasonable price. In my box there was an espresso martini, which happens to be one of my favourites anyway and it was delicious! I added some ice to the class before pouring and it was perfect; of the same standard as what you'd get on a night out. The Joe and Seph's blue cheese and celery popcorn was a weird one; it will be a love it or hate it kind of snack. When I first started eating them I was really unsure because the texture is odd and being blue cheese, the smell isn't fantastic but they became one of those snacks that I just kept going back for more of!

With Valentine's just around the corner, a Cocktail Hour box would be the perfect gift idea, especially as you could both enjoy it together. Either one of their sweet or savoury tasting packs or you could go for their Ti Amo Valentines Delivery box. Alternatively, if your partner has a favourite cocktail you could opt for one of the specific cocktail delivery boxes (they have White Russian, Negroni, Old Fashioned and Espresso Martini) all served with a selection of snacks. 

Hopefully we're not going to be stuck at home for too much longer but in the meantime but I highly recommend something like a cocktail delivery box to spice up your Friday/Saturday evenings!

Date Night Ideas on a Budget

AD - Working in Partnership with Jack's Supermarket

You want to have some quality time with your other half, you don't want to spend a fortune but you also want to feel like you're treating yourselves a bit. My favourite date nights have actually been where we've specifically taken time out of whatever we'd normally do to actually spend some time at home together without the distraction of phones and, of course, it always seems to involve food. 

Jack's Supermarket recently got in touch with me to ask if I'd like to try some of their products to see how they'd fare in helping me create my date night of dreams. I'd not actually heard of Jack's before I received the email but they're actually the discount sibling of the Tesco family; offering outstanding value on everyday family essentials including fresh fruit and veg, meats and all the ingredients you need to make tasty meals. Having had a nosey in their Sheffield store I managed to pick up lots of goodies to make the perfect date night.

Here are some ideas of how Jack's can help you can organise date night on a limited budget:

Pizza and a film 

If this was a trip to the cinema finished off with a visit to Pizza Hut, you could pretty much wave goodbye to £50 but with Jacks I was able to get bread sticks and dips (for starter), pizza, ribs, cider and chocolate all for under £15!

I was so impressed with the pizza in particular and couldn't believe it was only £2.49; it was absolutely superb quality with the perfect amount of topping on it. The only trouble was, I wish I'd have got us one each because it was so tasty! Ribs can sometimes be a bit hit and miss I find but these from Jack's were beautifully meaty with just the right amount of BBQ sauce. The meal was finished off perfectly with a glass of Crofter's cider and at only 85p a bottle I certainly wasn't expecting it to be so nice; it was the perfect balance between sweet and dry cider!

Date night film suggestions:

Eurovision (Netflix) - the comedy

The Equalizer - the action

The Notebook - the romance

Steak and Pamper Evening

If you're looking for something a bit more 'luxurious' from a meal then Jack's also do some amazingly priced steaks which I picked up and had another night with some homemade chips (top tip: I find that red potatoes make the best homemade chips - just simply cut up, drizzle with oil, shake to coat and pop in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 mins). The pieces of rump steak are only £2.49 each, believe it or not! 

I always slice my steak up to eat it, which I know might make it look a bit weird (I think it's something to do with when I went to Flat Iron) but having cooked it medium rare, it was some of the best steak I've personally ever had at home. Kev's was a little on the fatty side but I strongly suspect that was his fault for picking out one that was a little more marbled. As you might have noticed on the packaging, it's British beef which leads me on to mention that Jack's are also passionate about supporting and working with local farmers and it's a really refreshing change to see quality British products at such reasonable prices!

Perfect pamper night suggestions:

To me, no pamper night is complete without a nice candle lit bath and because Jack's have got a 'When It's Gone It's Gone' middle aisle, I was able to grab some of the softest fluffiest towels to pop on the radiator and wrap myself in afterwards. New products are launched in the WIGIG aisle every Thursday so it's well worth popping in just to see the new offers!

After a candle lit bath I'd highly recommend popping on a relaxing face mask each and taking it in turns to give hand/foot massages (or maybe just hands if feet aren't your thing!). You could also take the opportunity, while you're both relaxed, to do some fun couples quizzes; you can find lots of couples questions on Pinterest and it can be both funny and interesting to hear each other's answers to them!

I'm hoping that Jack's open a store in Doncaster soon as I'd really like to make shopping there a regular thing, if you love the sound of a new discount store with a tempting middle aisle you just need to find your local store (which could be closer than you think!)

La Boca Doncaster Food Review

Good steak restaurants can be few and far between but I really wanted to share an absolute gem of a steak restaurant that I've found in Doncaster and it was all down to a happy coincidence. We have eaten at steak restaurants like Miller and Carter and Estabulo but both were booked up with the Eat Out to Help Out government scheme running; so I logged on to Open Table (an absolute must-have app, by the way, if you eat out a lot) and there was a table available at La Boca in Doncaster town centre. 

La Boca is a fairly new steak restaurant in Doncaster town centre, offering the finest cuts of meat with an Argentine inspired menu. The restaurant itself is quite small but perfectly formed; they've done a great job of making it Covid secure and the staff are wonderfully friendly. 

The menu is concise but there are some amazing-sounding dishes on there. We decided to get a starter each; Kev went for the Empanadas which are Argentinian pasties filled with spicy beef, served with a small salad, I went for the Provoleta which is an Argentinian baked cheese with a red onion and chilli marmalade.

As you can see, the empanadas are filled full of pulled beef and it tasted absolutely unreal; the beef itself was very flavourful but not too spicy. These were completely different to any other empanadas I've ever tasted because the meat was so generous. 

The provoleta was also gorgeous; I'm a huge cheese fan and I live for a good cheese pull so this was perfect for me. One thing I will say is that you need more bread, which I asked for and was given but if I were the restaurant I'd serve it with 4 pieces of bread rather than 2 because I knew before I even started that it wasn't going to be enough. 

The main course was obviously what we really came for. We both went for the 10oz rump steak served with rustic fries, chimichurri and roasted peppers. All steaks are brushed with rosemary and paprika butter and cooked to perfections. We also paid extra for Diane sauce on the side.

That for me was the perfect medium rare steak, Kev went for medium which was also cooked perfectly. Obviously rump steak isn't the 'best' cut of steak but for me it is definitely the best value for money as the meat is tender and flavourful. There was a little bit of fat in mine which was inedible but this didn't spoil it for me at all because the rest of the meat was so tender. Until now, I didn't realise how well chimichurri goes with steak and it was the perfect accompaniment. The rustic chips were cooked to perfection and are far better than what we have had at Miller and Carter. You can tell that there's real care and attention paid to these meals and serving good quality food really matters to the staff. 

We saw other people in the restaurant who had ordered the mixed grills which have a mix of steak, lamb, chicken and chorizo which looked absolutely amazing and definitely something I'd consider next time but I would be loathed to choose anything but just steak because it was so good. 

There's a reason why this is the number one restaurant in Doncaster on Trip Advisor and I'm just sorry I have left it so long to visit! Due to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, this meal only cost us £45 including 2 pints of Diet Pepsi which is almost half the price of Miller and Carter and I can honestly say that the quality of this meal far exceeds that. 

If you're looking for a good steak restaurant in Doncaster, I can highly recommend La Boca!

Fat Hippo Sheffield Food Review

It's been a while since I've done a proper food review (mainly because we had the luxury of restaurants stripped away from us for a few months) so I thought I'd come back and tell you about my experience of Fat Hippo in Sheffield. Fat Hippo are known for their burgers, specifically big dirty burgers that require napkins when eating so they pretty much had me with the pictures of their burgers on Instagram.

We visited Fat Hippo in Sheffield (S1) which is kind of hidden away in Lane 7 which is a bit of an entertainment centre with a bowling alley, pool tables and darts. We actually really enjoyed the vibe in there and I'd definitely go back just for that and probably couple a burger with a few games of pool. But anyway, I digress... onto the food. We ordered a Fat Hippo Burger each which consists of a double patty, American cheese, smoked bacon, chorizo, onion rings and Fat Hippo sauce; I went bunless with mine but Kev got his as normal. All burgers are served with fries and there's the option to pimp your fries so we got our fries with bacon bits and Fat Hippo Sauce:

As you can see, the Fat Hippo burger is a bloody good stack and even though mine doesn't have the bun it still looks good. To be honest I'm sold on any burger with onion rings and those onion rings were so good; crispy and a good thick ring of onion. The burgers themselves were clearly homemade and extremely tasty. The combination of cheese, bacon, chorizo, onion rings and burger patty was perfect. Fat Hippo sauce is a little bit like thousand island and also complements the burger perfectly - I'd always recommend getting some to go with your burger even if you just ask for it on the side.

As for the fries, in all honesty I wouldn't get them covered in Fat Hippo sauce again because it was just a bit much, although I daresay if they were in a wider pot it may have been better but there was just too much sauce dolloped on top and it became overpowering. They were nice to begin with but you know when you just have too much of the same sort of taste? I ended up leaving some

We also ordered a side of 'Freddie's Fingers' (nice little play on the movie title, I assume) and I was really underwhelmed by these to be honest. They were clearly homemade and were supposed to be southern fried but the coating was pretty tasteless and dry. The redeeming feature was the buffalo sauce which was amazing but I still couldn't recommend ordering these.

Despite the disappointing chicken, we did really enjoy the burger and we would visit again but I'd be tempted to just go for regular shoestring fries with plenty of salt and maybe try a different style of burger. Fat Hippo have two locations in Sheffield, and one in Jesmond, Newcastle and Durham so it's very much a Northern gem - I'd highly recommend visiting if you're near a branch! Also check out the Fat Hippo Instagram for some ultimate burger pictures to get your mouth watering!

Tukin Foods Discount Code and Review

The last 10 weeks has been a testing time in more ways that one; we've had to completely transform our lives in a lot of ways and adapt quickly to new ways of living - most of which I will continue with well beyond lockdown because some of it has actually been revolutionary! One of the biggest changes I have made over 10 weeks of lockdown is the way I buy food. I've gone from shopping 3/4 times per week; just picking up a few bits on the way home from work (which by the way, was totally inefficient and used to do my head in!) to relying on a 'big shop' once a week and topping up with other bits and bobs usually from smaller businesses as and when I can.

Tukin Foods is a small business I've been introduced to recently who offer handmade curries delivered to your door which I think is absolutely revolutionary. Sounds a bit daft to refer to a ready meal as revolutionary but I think we all have that image of 'ready meal curry' in our heads as being a bit sad and uninspiring; something that you chuck in the microwave because you have nothing else to eat. Tukin has completely changed my perception of ready meals!

Based in Leicester, Tukin offer a full range of handmade curries, naans and and sides which make for the perfect takeaway treat at home without paying a premium. They were kind enough to send me a care package full of a selection of their products so I wanted to share my thoughts.

I'll start with the curry ready meals: I've tried the Chicken Korma, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Jalfrezi and Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry (all priced at £4.50). These can be heated in the microwave or the oven (I would recommend putting the curry into another container if you are going to use the oven though as I found that the plastic packaging isn't oven-proof). The first thing I noticed about each curry is the beautiful texture and consistency; they are gorgeously thick and the meat curries all contained plenty of chicken. They also do a Lamb Rogan Josh and a Vindaloo if either of those tickle your fancy. 

My personal favourite has to be the Chicken Korma; it was so creamy and coconutty - I much prefer this to the Kormas I've had from restaurants and takeaways because it was creamy but not overly sweet. The Chicken Tikka, again, wasn't as sweet as I've had from takeaways but it was so tasty and doesn't have that luminous red colour that you often get from restaurants and takeaways as it's made with all natural ingredients and no preservatives. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Vegetarian curry - this was delicious and very filling! The Jalfrezi is the hottest of the 4 curries but not unbearable - still not too hot that you don't get any of the flavours but if you don't like a kick then I would stay with the milder curries such as Korma.

Now onto the Indian side orders - I had a Chicken Tikka Samosa, Vegetable Samosa and Onion Bhaji (all £2.00 each) and they were all lovely! They're large enough to share between two if you wanted to try a bit of each and done in the oven they come out beautifully crispy as you would expect in a restaurant - I highly recommend these even just as a snack to take to work!

I was also sent some drinks which were the Nix and Kix Cucumber and Mint and Blood Orange and Turmeric (both £1.30 each). I'm not a fan of the Cucumber and Mint because it was simply just like drinking cucumber water which really isn't for me but the Blood Orange and Turmeric was so refreshing straight out of the fridge!

Mango Lassi is classed as a drink but it's basically a yoghurt drink and I can't describe how nice it is! I would 100% buy this again as it's the perfect dessert kind of drink after a curry - it really cools your mouth down and is gorgeously creamy!

Finally, onto the Curry in a Naan. Where do I even begin with these. Gone are the days when I will buy a boring pre-packed sandwich because these are a quick lunch game changer! They can be eaten hot or cold (although they are better hot) and they are absolutely divine! They do the Naans with Korma, Tikka, Jalfrezi and Vegetarian and I can confirm that they're all beautiful and only £2.70 each. If you check out the Tukin Foods Instagram page you'll see that I'm not the only one raving about their fresh products!

You can buy Tukin products at selected Tescos, One Stops, Co-ops, Wilko's, Nisas, Booths, Jacks and Franprix but I think the most convenient way to order is by doing it directly on the Tukin Foods website. They offer free next day delivery nationwide if you spend over £25 and if you enter my discount code: FOODIE10 at the checkout you'll also receive 10% off your order! All their foods are delivered in a box with cool packs so it reaches you in tip-top condition and it's all freezable so you can stock up to reach that free delivery threshold!

Recipe: Wagamama Style Chicken Raisukaree

We're in the third week of the UK 'lockdown' and I think it's safe to say that we're all starting to miss our favourite takeaways and restaurants and it's definitely made me realise how eating is an actual hobby of mine rather than just a necessity to live!

One of the things I miss the most is Wagamama Chicken Raisukaree so I decided to try and recreate my own and it was surprisingly simple to do so I thought I'd share my recipe and method so you can also have your own piece of Wagamama while in lockdown and beyond!

Chicken Raisukaree Ingredients (serves 2)

250g chicken breast (cut into thin slices)

2 teaspoons lazy garlic (or 2 cloves minced)

1 red onion

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 can coconut milk (400ml) - I use light coconut milk but you can use normal

1 chicken stock cube

100g mangetout

1 red pepper (sliced)

Juice from 1 lime

Small handful of coriander

How to make Chicken Raisukaree 

1. Heat a wok or frying pan with a drizzle of oil or a spray of fry light 

2. Slice the red onion (I like it to be quite chunky) and add this, along with the garlic, to the pan and fry until soft. 

3. Add the chicken and cook through 

4. Add the curry paste, fish sauce, stock cube, coconut milk and lime juice. Mix gently and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

5. Add the sliced red pepper, mangetout and coriander and continue to simmer for another 3-5 minutes. This should mean that the pepper and mangetout still have a crunch.

Serve with rice (I used a heart shaped dipping bowl to get the heart shaped pile in the middle of the plate) 

So that's it! That's how to make Wagamama style Chicken Raisukaree - a really simple recipe that doesn't cost an absolute fortune to make and I guarantee you'll want to make it more than once! 

What's one recipe you'd love to recreate at home?

Sunday Lunch Around Yorkshire - Bishop's Bar and Bistro Review

I recently decided that there's definitely a market for rating Sunday Lunches in my area, yes we've got Trip Advisor, the semi reliable source for restaurant reviews but I think there's so much more to reviewing a Sunday Lunch than just a couple of lines and an overall mark out of 5, so treat this as the first of many reviews.

Finding the best Sunday lunch in Yorkshire will be a difficult job, I would imagine, but by looking at a number of aspects of each venue I hope to give you a properly rounded view of where's best for Sunday Lunch near you. When reviewing, I will be looking at 5 aspects: quality and choice of meat (obviously), quality and choice of veg, quality of Yorkshire pudding, eating environment and value for money.

Firstly, I'll be doing a review of Bishop's Bar and Bistro in Howden. I will start by saying that this meal was complimentary because I won it but there were no obligations whatsoever for me to review it, in fact I daresay that unless the owners read this review, they'll not know I even have a blog to share my view on.

Eating Environment

Space isn't a luxury enjoyed by Bishop's Bar and Bistro, I must admit, although the atmosphere and decor is lovely. As you can see on the photo, they have beautiful copper beer pumps mounted on a solid wood bar; I think they've gone for a rustic yet modern kind of look which I do think they've achieved for the most part. In the bar area they have some sofas and other comfy seating which can be used while you wait for your table and it does section off the main eating restaurant from the customers just in for a few drinks which is always a good idea I find, if possible. 

The restaurant area has wooden bench seating which runs across the back of the room which then has space for several tables to be positioned in whichever way suits the bistro at that particular time and they then have 4/5 other separate tables and chairs at the other side of the room. Quite rightly so, they have utilised every bit of space available but at peak times when the room is full it does seem very, very busy and ends up being quite a close eating experience with other guests. Not a huge issue for us as we were on a table for 2 in a bit of an alcove but if you don't like being close to other diners I would suggest you make the team aware so they can try and seat you accordingly.

Quality and choice of meat

As you can see on the menu above, they have 7 choices of main course: roast beef, roast lamb, roast belly pork, poached chicken, poached haddock, steak and ale pie and leek and potato pie (vegetarian option) which, for me, is an amazing choice for any pub or restaurant for Sunday Lunch and to have the option of lamb is also quite a luxury compared to some places so in terms of choices there's definitely plenty of them! You can also choose between 3 different sizes of lunch, small £8.50 (one meat), medium £10.50 (two meats) or large £11.50 (to be honest, I'm not sure whether this gave 3 choices of meat or just more of two meats). 

We both went for a medium with beef and belly pork. 

Unfortunately, you can't actually see the beef as it's hidden under the slab of belly pork but it was definitely there. The belly pork itself was beautiful, obviously it is a fatty meat so please be aware of this before you order but the fat makes the meat beautifully tender and flavoursome. The crackling on top wasn't the best I've tasted but I ate it nevertheless because for me, there's something strangely appealing about a layer of cooked fat on top of pork. 

I was slightly disappointed with the beef, but only because it was sliced so thinly, thin slices will suit some and not others though! I just prefer a thicker cut. It was still lean and tasty though so I can't fault it on that basis. 

Yorkshire Pudding

The Yorkshire definitely looked and tasted homemade which ticks a box straight away and it had properly risen to pretty impressive heights. Was it the best I've ever tasted, no, purely because maybe the mixture was a little bit thick as it was quite a stodgy pudding, less crispy and more stodgy but it was also by no means a bad Yorkshire!

Choice and Quality of Veg

In my opinion, the veg really can make or break a Sunday lunch and luckily, Bishop's Bar and Bistro delivered on that side of things aswell...

In separate serving bowls, we had carrots, brocolli, leeks in a creamy sauce then cauliflower cheese and I think they were honey roasted parsnips and carrots. All veg was cooked to perfection and I love the fact that they offer leeks in the creamy sauce - I'm not 100% sure what the creamy sauce was but it was gorgeous! The cauli cheese was also really tasty and had obviously been finished off under the grill or something to give that browning on the cheese. We could have had more veg, if we'd wanted but it was more than enough for us two to share!

Value for Money

I couldn't do a review of Sunday Lunches up north and not make a comment about value for money because it is something that most of us look at regardless of what we're buying. As I mentioned earlier, they do have 3 different prices for Sunday Lunch at Bishop's Bar and Bistro; between £8.50 and £11.50. I realise that we didn't actually pay for ours as it was a competition prize but if we had, it would have been £10.50 each which I think is more than reasonable considering the quality and amount of food we received! It's definitely not the cheapest Sunday lunch you'll find but as we all know, it's often a case of 'you get what you pay for'

Would I recommend Bishop's Bar & Bistro? Absolutely, just make sure you book in as they do seem to get very busy and make sure you give any seating requests on booking and I'm sure the team will do their best to accommodate you!

Silversmiths Restaurant, Sheffield Review

Meal and associated drinks were GIFTED

You'd not normally find me in a restaurant which is labelled as 'fine dining' because I'll be honest, it's not really my scene; I like to feel full when I've finished my meal and I don't get the impression that I would be after most fine dining experiences. However, when I was contacted to ask if I wanted to try Silversmiths Restaurant in Sheffield, a relaxed fine dining experience, I had a look at the menu online and I couldn't resist. 

Silversmiths is situated in the heart of Sheffield, close to the train station, so it's easily accessible from surrounding areas (the only slight issue I had was parking - there are plenty of car parks around but Saturday lunchtime tends to be quite busy; although on a night I would expect the car parks to be much quieter). 

They pride themselves on their Yorkshire heritage; using fresh locally sourced produce to create the finest British cuisine with a true taste of Yorkshire. They have a couple of different menus to choose from: the a la carte menu which has a choice of three starters, three main courses and three desserts plus cheeseboard plus a simply British menu which gives you a few more options. You can mix and match the menus if you wish and you can also take advantage of their pre-theatre menu before 6:30pm which is £23 for 3 courses. 

The restaurant itself is quite small and intimate but after their recent refurbishment, Silversmiths have made the most of the space while making the atmosphere relaxed and welcoming. They also have a private dining room upstairs which can be used for small parties of up to 16 or corporate meetings.

Part of the main restaurant dining space

Private dining space

To begin with, I decided to try a cocktail from their new cocktail menu (launching soon); I asked for something not overly sweet and was presented with a Black Forest Manhattan - a Silversmiths twist on the traditional cocktail; made with bourbon rather than blended whiskey which gave it a more palatable flavour. 

Then came the starters; in all honesty I wasn't blow away by the choice on either of the menus so I decided to go for soup of the day which was Celeriac with an Apple Velouté and Kev chose the Venison tartare with egg yolk emulsion, horseradish, olive and dripping. 

As you can see, the portions are as you would expect from a fine dining experience but I must say that the soup was beautiful; not a lot of it but what was there was delicious. I only realised when I'd finished that my bread was supposed to have butter which I think had been forgotten but had I noticed and asked I have no doubt that they would have brought me some as the service was very attentive. The Venison tartare wasn't really Kev's cup of tea; mainly his own fault for not knowing what the word 'tartare' meant (raw meat). My advice in a fine dining restaurant is to ask if you're unsure of what's on the menu, especially in Silversmiths as the waiting staff are more than happy to help; it is much more a relaxed atmosphere than pretentious. 

I could tell that Kev was much more excited about the main course choices; he went for the House smoked brisket and Hendo’s pie, seasonal vegetables and mash (classic Sheffield!) and I went for the Pork belly, black pudding mash and spring greens. 

As you can see, the beef brisket pie was absolutely packed full of amazingly tender beef brisket, the pastry was perfectly cooked and the mashed potato was gorgeously creamy. This definitely did not disappoint and Silversmiths really came into their own with these courses - even someone who is adamant they don't like fine dining would enjoy both of these dishes and they'd come away feeling full and satisfied (we certainly did!)

The belly pork was the best I've ever tasted; if done wrong belly pork can be awful but this was cooked to absolute perfection and it just melted in my mouth and the black pudding mash complemented it perfectly. The only thing I felt my dish was missing was 'spring greens' I understood spring greens to be similar to what came with the pie but what actually came was rather more like cress - it didn't hinder my enjoyment though because as I say - the belly pork was out of this world!

By this point we'd both already eyed up our dessert choice; I went for the Chocolate suet pudding,

chocolate custard and wagon wheel shortbread, Kev chose the Sticky toffee pudding, butterscotch, Yorkshire tea ice cream and brandy snap:

True British cuisine really shines through in these desserts, again, with a Silversmiths twist. I would have loved if my chocolate suet pudding had had a jug of chocolate custard because I didn't feel that there was quite enough but it the pudding itself was the sweet hit that I needed after my meal and the wagon wheel shortbread was beautifully baked. However, the sticky toffee pudding was the real winner here; it was amazingly moist and sticky and the ice cream was perfect for cutting through the stickiness making it an absolutely delicious dessert (I'm not going to lie, I did have food envy at this point - my chocolate suet pudding was nice but the sticky toffee pudding stole the show).

Overall, we had a really lovely experience at Silversmiths, the food was all well cooked and knowing that it was locally sourced makes it even better! If you're looking for a relaxed fine dining experience in Sheffield, maybe for a special occasion, then I highly recommend Silversmiths. My personal menu recommendations would be the Hendo's pie and the sticky toffee pudding - absolutely spot on!

Check out my other restaurant recommendations in Yorkshire.

The Castle Wakefield Refurbishment

Meal and all associated drinks were GIFTED

A few months back I was invited to the Prince of Wales in Sheffield to have a first look at their refurbishment and new menu; I was hugely impressed by the whole new feel of the pub and the food was out of this world so when I was invited to a similar event at The Castle in Wakefield I knew I wouldn't be disappointed!

Their refurbishment is now complete so you can experience the luxury country pub feel for yourself but this is a sneak peak of what you can expect when you visit. Their menu changes to suit the season so naturally their Winter menu is now on offer as well as plenty of choice on a separate vegan menu.

The dark purples, creams and greys with bold patterned wallpaper and sophisticated lighting throughout complement the furniture to create a modern and stylish feel while maintaining the traditional country feel with the open fires and hearty menu. It's the perfect venue to meet up with friends or family with plenty of comfy seating and something for everyone on the cocktail menu and food menu.

As well as the luxurious feel, The Castle in Wakefield are still offering fantastic value with their fixed price lunch menu offered Monday - Friday plus an extensive range of home cooked dishes in the evening.

I started off with a few cocktails from their extensive cocktail menu; the first of which was a Raspberry and Peach Gintonica; a Mediterranean twist on the traditional gin and tonic with herbs, spices and fruits to complement the gin botanicals:

I then moved on to a Cosmo Twist which is the Castle's take on the traditional cosmopolitan with Seville orange gin, elderflower liqueur and cranberry juice. As designated driver, Kev decided to try a mocktail from the Saintly Sips page of the drinks menu; he went for a low-alcohol pineapple Caribbean Mule (alcohol vol 0.08%) made with ginger ale, pineapple juice, lime and a dash of bitters which he said was very enjoyable (something a bit different to the usual Diet Coke). Finally, on the cocktail front, I had a British Bramble which was an incredibly sweet cocktail made with gin, lemon juice, sweet syrup and blackcurrant cassis.

Now onto the food. I'm a bit of a cheese fiend and Kev tends to order squid no matter where we go so the sensible choices for us were the baked camembert served with rustic toast and sloe gin chutney and the salt and szechuan pepper squid served with aioli

Kev has eaten a fair bit of squid in restaurants over the past couple of years so he feels qualified to say what defines good squid and what doesn't. In his opinion this is the best squid he has ever tasted; better than Miller and Carter and better than the Botanist. The portion was huge, it wasn't greasy at all and it was incredibly tender. If you don't have a big appetite, I think you could probably share a portion of the squid because it did look to be a lot.

The camembert was delicious but not quite as good as the one I had at the Prince of Wales; I think this one was slightly overcooked as the cheese had started to solidify but nevertheless I ate every last bit of it because I just love camembert!

For main course I ordered the Dirty Burger and Kev ordered the Fillet Steak; we also ordered a side of halloumi fries and some onion rings for good measure.

The dirty burger was served with the most amazing beef dripping sauce which perfectly complemented the burger and the fries and I was also extremely pleased to see a whole pickle on there because I am one of those people who will ask for your discarded gherkins; I love them! The fries were perfectly cooked, as was the burger and it was every bit as messy as you'd expect a burger named as such but delicious nonetheless. The bacon was super crispy and the cheese was more of a nacho cheese sauce which gets a thumbs up from me. This did leave me extremely thirsty because the fries and the beef dripping sauce were both quite salty but that was just a good excuse to try another cocktail!

My burger was nice but Kev's fillet steak really did steal the show and I did have slight food envy when I tried a little piece of his because it was the ultimate in melt-in-your-mouth steak. Absolutely to die for. Served with the same amazing beef dripping sauce as came with my burger this was the ultimate in pub grub with twice cooked chunky chips which were also out of this world!

Onion rings are an absolute must for me with any burger or steak and the fact that they're home made makes them even better; these had just the right batter to onion ratio and the halloumi fries were just as good; the sweet chilli sauce is the perfect accompaniment. These are the kind of side orders that'd be perfect as nibbles while enjoying early evening drinks!

At this point, if the dessert menu hadn't been so tempting I might have been inclined to end the meal here because we were more than satisfied but when we saw the melting chocolate and hazelnut bomb and the house sharer, we knew we couldn't leave just yet.

The house sharer (meant for 2 people) consists of home-baked chocolate brownie, white chocolate & blackcurrant cheesecake tower, Belgian chocolate & hazelnut mousse and a Bourbon vanilla ice cream cookie sandwich. After that list you can probably understand why we couldn't leave without trying it; the only bit of it that may look a little bit dodgy on first impressions is the mousse but I can assure you it tastes absolutely incredible. I just wish the ice cream cookie sandwich had been a little softer and less crunchy but overall I'd definitely recommend the sharer if you want a little taste of lots of things.

The chocolate and hazelnut bomb is something else though, think a Fererro Rocher encased in a thick chocolate ganache drizzled with white chocolate. It's very chocolately but absolutely amazing; the vanilla ice cream does help to tone down the intense chocolate. Just look at the golden sprayed sphere.. it's the perfect Instagrammable pudding and it tastes sensational!

Safe to say, we left feeling incredibly full of food but we enjoyed every single mouthful and the Castle have managed to create a lovely luxury country pub atmosphere while providing excellent friendly service and unreal food!