From Garden to Plate

Nestled in spectacular views with the river Usk meandering around, The Newbridge on Usk is a restaurant with a difference.  Owned by the Celtic Manor 5* resort you really are set up to expect quality food and excellent service.

The Celtic Manor run a range of cookery demonstrations and live cooking experiences, but this was the first at the Newbridge.  It was run by the head chef Adam Whittle, a local chap who really has the passion for food you'd hope for in a head chef - he's always looking for ways to reduce food miles and keep food as local as possible.  The Newbridge also have their own kitchen garden run by head gardener Anthony Maw which we were lucky enough to not only walk around, but sample some food from.  Adam's ethos is to keep the food 'from nature to plate' as much as possible, which even includes some foraging. 

The kitchen garden

The day kicked off at 11:30 with coffee and tea in the bar, and an introduction by the general manager Ronan Hunter.  From there we moved onto their new patio, I'm not sure you'll find an outside area in a restaurant with better views here in South Wales - on the tips of our toes was a bend in the river Usk, home to a small family of swans and their babies, and the view in the picture at the top of the page (taken from the patio).

It was here Adam began the demonstration with his soux chef, Rob Maw.  Adam prepared two different types of meringue (Italian and French) to show us their take on the eton mess (which we were lucky enough to have a taste of - delicious!).

Adam making the meringues

While Adam was finishing off creating the meringues, Rob started preparing some scallops.  He showed us how to get them out of the shell without damaging the meat, and then seared them in a hot pan (I didn't have a taste of these as I'm vegetarian, they did smell great though) and served them with a little burnt aubergine purée.  The scallops they use in the restaurant are pretty much the best you can buy, their hand-dived off the coast of Carmarthen, and brought straight down to Cardiff.  That was actually Adam's pro-tip with scallops - to go as expensive as you can, as the quality becomes so much better as you pay more - so if you can afford hand-dived, that's the best (the price averages £2-5 per scallop if you opt for this yourself).

Rob preparing the hand-dived scallops

After all the food was prepared we were invited to come and take a closer look and a taste.  I obviously made a bee line for the eton mess, which was served with a strawberry soup and edible flowers (grown in their kitchen garden), it was so pretty and tasted amazing, so many different but lovely flavours.

The Eton Mess with some rosewater meringues (as well as normal)

When the demonstration was over, we were given a cocktail each - an apple and blackberry mohito made using a local blackberry bramble sirop which was exquisite!

Apple and Blackberry mohito's

After that we moved to the upstairs restaurant.  I was sat on a round table with 4 other couples/pairs. It was lovely to get out of my comfort zone and get talking to other people, all who were passionate about food and cooking (in case you didn't know, I love to cook, especially bake).

I'm afraid, here's where my details get sketchy, by this point the cocktail I'd had was making me feel a little fuzzy (I'm so not used to drinking in the day, or at all now that we have a baby).  They'd created a special vegetarian meal for me which wasn't on the menu card, so I can't quite remember what I'd had... they did serve up a glass of white wine (pinot grigio) to accompany the starter, and a glass of red wine (I think it was cabernet sauvingnon) to go with the main course - I didn't drink either as I was going to be looking after my baby very shortly after that and wanted a clear head, so I stuck to the water.

My starter included a cucumber sorbet (which was amazing!) and I'm not sure what the main feature of the dish was, I know, I should have written it down! It tasted like a goats cheese souffle, or something like that, either way, it was gorgeous.  The presentation was fantastic too.

My starter

After that it was on to my main course which was a (I think...) spinach and ricotta roulade (pasta) - it tasted amazing.  It was served with new potatoes, roasted carrots and some seared asparagus.

My main course

I had to dash off before the dessert of fresh strawberries was brought out as I had a prior commitment, but I must say,  of all the restaurants we've been to, and all the time we've spent in this neck of the woods, I've never dined with such a spectacular view, a view I'd never tire of.  The food was excellent and not your run-of-the-mill cuisine.  The cucumber sorbet was probably my favourite, it was delicately sweet and so refreshing, as cucumber is.  And as you'd expect from any establishment linked to the Celtic Manor, the service was excellent too.

If you'd like to find out more about the different live cooking demonstrations and masterclasses the Celtic Manor run, you can check out the events here (the afternoon tea masterclass sounds fantastic!). This particular live cooking demonstration (with lunch) was £45, which all things considered, I think is a very fair price.

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*Attendance was complimentary, views are my own

Creating my Perfect Porridge

A couple weeks ago, the lovely people over at Flahavan's sent me a bit of a porridge survival kit to create my #PerfectPorridge with.  If you follow me on Instagram you might well have seen lots of pictures of my porridge in the morning.

For years porridge has been my go-to favourite breakfast, it's healthy and filling.  But it wasn't until Flahavan's sent me their parcel that I tried 'jumbo' oats, or chia seeds, or goji berries and an assortment of other tasty treats to adorn your porridge with.

Over the next couple of weeks I will share a couple of recipes with you on how I make my #PerfectPorridge - I'll give you a hint - both recipes will be super-duper easy :)

Excuse the blurry picture, but here's a picture of the lovely kit that Flahavan's sent to me - I adore the bowl and spoon! I don't mind admitting, even if I haven't had porridge and I've had cereal, it's been out of that bowl since (it's an M&S Truro bowl)

Here's some of my creations so far - the top two were overnight oats which is why they look so milky - I'd never tried overnight oats with milk before, and now I know why! Much better with yoghurt. The top left one has goji berries, chia seeds and fresh blueberries.  Top right is goji berries, coconut flakes, and cocoa nibs. Bottom left is goji berries, chia seeds, coconut flakes and a big teaspoon of seedless raspberry jam, and bottom right is just the raspberry jam (with the porridge ofc!).

To make these, I used:

40g Flahavan's Jumbo Porridge Oats
250ml milk

I tend to let it very gently simmer on a very low heat, giving it only the occasional stir.  Then I add in the toppings at the end, depending on what mood I'm in, depends on what I'll add.  I'm loving it with fresh fruit - I did buy some pineberries the other day, they would have been amazing in this!

How do you make your perfect porridge?

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*Post contains PR samples

Malaysia Cafe - Cardiff

Earlier on this week I was invited to sample the delights at Malaysia Cafe, a Malay street food restaurant here on Woodville Road in Cathays, Cardiff.  The decor was really cute, they'd put out Malaysian flags down the table and some menus of the food we'd be sampling.

I can seriously recommend the 'Kopi' - black roasted coffee with condensed milk

The lovely Dhruv Baker, winner of Masterchef 2010, who was cooking for us

After having time to check out the menu, Dhruv came out to chat to us about Malasian cuisine and the food we'll be eating, and how it's very authentic and true to typical Malay food.

The first food to come out was the Coconut & Chilli Salad, this was surprisingly nice, I'm not normally a fan of beansprouts but with the flavours of the coconut and chilli, it helped to balance out the 'damp' taste/smell that they have.

After that, it was time for the 2nd starter sample, the Inchi Kabin (Malaysian fried chicken), I'm afraid I didn't taste this since I'm vegetarian, but I'm told it was lovely :)

The final starter to come out was the Squid Satay.  Being the lucky vegetarian I am, they also brought out some Paneer (pic below).  The satay was lovely, it wasn't overly sweet or runny, the nuts had been chopped up beautifully so they weren't too small or too rough.

The paneer version of the Squid Satay, it was delightful!

Squid Satay -Marinated squid with a peanut sauce

Next up the first of the mains - this was a Tofu Laksa (everyone else (meat eaters) had chicken & prawn laksa), this was definitely my favourite meal of the night.  It was in a creamy coconut and chilli sauce - it certainly packed a punch.  Instead of combining it with noodles, it was mixed with spiral cut vegetables to add some bulk to it but keeping it lighter than noodles.  The flavours were immense, I'd have been happy to have had a Ramen-sized bowl of this and nothing else :)

These are the Vegetable Murtabak, a leavened bread stuffed with vegetables and spices - this was very tasty too and complimented the Laksa really well.

I am sorry, this was the Tofo Rendang (the veggie version of the beef dish the others had), it looked so delicious I just jumped right in before photographing it - so this is it, mostly eaten!  It had quite the kick, but nothing I couldn't handle.  Most of the food had a spicy chilli kick, taking the spice level to about medium I'd say, maybe slightly milder.

Dessert - Buah Melaka - Malaysian rice balls with melted palm sugar inside.  These were lovely, not too sweet.  They reminded me of mochi, the Japanese dessert, they had a similar springy texture, but the addition of being covered in coconut was lovely, and the palm sugar inside wasn't too much, they were a lovely treat to finish the night on.

The inside of a Buah Melaka.

There was also Pisang Goreng, which is Malaysian banana fritters, but I'm allergic to bananas, so I didn't sample them.

It was a lovely evening and my first time ever trying Malaysian food.  It's a safe bet to say I'll be returning and bringing the hubby with me - it's a well priced restaurant with main courses costing around £8.50.  The restaurant had a laid back street-food-style vibe with a hint of canteen and overall great value for money.

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*Meal was complimentary, opinions and views are my own

Foods, oh not so glorious foods

From what I've experienced so far, food is no longer my friend.  Now, that's a good thing in my ways, being overweight already brings many challenges, and with food not being my friend, that can only be a good thing.  But, seeing as I'm vegetarian, it throws me a bit of a curve ball.

Foods I used to love like quorn escalopes (they make me want to hurl just thinking about them now!), cheese, tea, coffee, bread... all make me feel horrid.  Whereas I used to love rich food, like dauphinoise potatoes (ermergherd!) now make me feel sick.  Garlic... not something I like anymore either...

My diet is pretty limited to very simple and plain food now.  A typical working day for me looks like:

Breakfast - Oatso simple porridge
11am snack - grapes
Lunch - Plain jacket potato with butter, and a side salad
Afternoon snack - grapes
Dinner - Plain jacket potatoes
Drinks throughout the day - apple & mango squash,  mineral water and sometimes a cup of tea

So my diet isn't bad per se, but I'm not getting all the nutrients I need either, and in typical Irish fashion, my diet is full of potato!  The idea of eating most veg makes me feel sick, so I'm a little stumped.

What I wonder, is this just an early pregnancy thing, or has pregnancy changed my tastes for good?



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