A stellar meal at Van Zeller

This weekend found myself and the husband reach our 5th wedding anniversary, so in order to celebrate not having killed one another just yet, we decided to treat ourselves with a trip over to Harrogate and dine at Van Zeller.

I’d heard about Van Zeller through various write ups in the press and also via Steph from The Food I Eat – all very positive and we couldn’t wait to go.

The restaurant is tucked away on Montpellier Road, not too far away from one of our favourite pubs, the Old Bell, Van Zeller itself is a small, intimate restaurant. The interior was crisp, clean and classical with modern touches. As I sat down I couldn’t help but notice the shelves brimming with awards – would the food live up to these? We couldn’t wait to see the delicious treats on offer! We chose to dine from the a la carte menu, the other option being the 7 course tasting menu.

Upon selecting our wine and food, we were treated to some delicious warm bread and a delicious amuse bouche of carrot and caraway. The carrot was prepared 3 ways, puréed, pickled and there was also a carrot sorbet, resting on a caraway crumble.

Spanish Sun Brightens up the Manor

Amidst torrential rain showers we brought a little bit of Spanish sunshine to Dinner at the Manor, courtesy of the hit cook book from Rick Stein. Susie had been raving about his series last year and the book caught my eye at Christmas when he did a ‘best of’ Spain as a Christmas special.

I promptly wanted to eat everything he made. This colourful book features all of the different regions that make up Spain, highlighting the diversity within the country and the reliance on seasonal local ingredients within Spanish cuisine. Stein freely admits that his recipes are his ‘take’ on Spanish cooking, but this perhaps makes it a bit more accessible to a British audience.

A trip to Eric’s place

Sorry, I’ve been sat on this post for AGES! We visited Eric’s the lunchtime after our Beeton inspired supperclub and were amazed by the good food and amazing value. I’ve been between phones recently and so I had temporarily lost the pictures I had taken. Anyway, disaster averted as I have found the pics and can now publish the post, enjoy!

I’ve heard lots of good things about Eric’s from various twitterers. I guess it takes a good few tweets before somewhere really starts to cement itself in one’s mind as a destination venue. Housed on the main street of Lindley (on the outskirts of Huddersfield) it’s fairly unassuming from the outside. Lindley has a real up and coming feel about it with lots of shops, delis, bars and restaurants. It felt a bit like a West Yorkshire version of Stockbridge actually!

Jo returns to Leeds!

Those of you who came to our Mrs Beeton inspired supperclub will have experienced the wit and creativity of comedy songwriter, Jo Stephenson. For those of you who missed her I have good news… she’s bringing her Edinburgh Fringe hit show – ‘Can You Dig it?’ to Leeds in July!

‘Can You Dig It?’ is a musical  comedy smogasbord of songs about the highs and lows of growing your own vegetables, thought to be the number one musical about veg no less! If you are a foodie who likes silly comedy then this is the show for you. It features a love song for Allan Titchmarsh, a Eurovision dance routine and even a rap about slugs! This is not to be missed.

The show is at the Carriageworks on 11 July 2012. Tickets are available at various reasonable prices from their website. Hope to see you there!

You can read more about Jo and her songs when she did a guest post for us earlier this year…