As I had surprised and delighted my friends by coming back to Norwich a little early due to a rail strike, it seemed a wise idea to get some of them together to be entertained by the Tiny Rebel Tap Takeover at the Brewery Tap in Norwich. There were ten beers, which I’m pleased to say that I had a third each of, along with some cans, but I didn’t get chance to try those as they ran out nearly immediately which is a slight shame.
Not the most decadently poured, but these are the four cask beers. The staff here were friendly and helpful, they certainly know their beer and it’s one of my favourite pubs. I don’t go to it that often, but I’m always pleased when I do make it here.
There were a lot of crisps and chips acquired, which complemented the beers beautifully. It was rather lovely to see Bev, Steve, Gordon, Brian and James, especially good to see Steve who has just returned from his huge Camino adventure in Spain. He’s been very brave and he’s clearly lost some weight during the whole trip.
I must admit, I had to work out in my mind which beer was which…. I forgot how similar in colour these three were when I got them back to the table.
I won’t go through each of the ten beers, as I can’t imagine anyone is in the slightest bit interested in that level of detail. My favourite beers were the Wood Aged Belgian Birthday Cake, but that sounds delightful anyway as a concept. The Mixed Berry Double Froozie Sour was right up my street and the Thai PA had a taste of Asian food to it, another intriguing way to add flavour to a beer I suppose. I was less impressed with Baby Cakes, which had a confused taste profile, whilst the Peloton Pale was also quite drab. But, I have no complaints about the overall selection, some very different beers from Tiny Rebel and they like to be experimental. The brewery is quite near where Dave Morgan, the Welsh Walking Wizard, lives, so another great thing to come out of Wales!
I tend not to eat crisps very often unless beer is involved, another fun fact for everyone….
After I got rid of my first wave of friends, I popped to the White Lion to meet Julian, whose birthday the following week I’ll miss as I’m away so I wanted to make an effort to meet up.
The King’s Head and more crisps. Julian is a drinking professional, he can go for hours on real ale, whereas I’m rather more moderate with my volume of alcohol consumed. I don’t think I’ll ever be as professional as him.
I can be led astray, but I was being very sensible, as the night progressed rather late, I stuck to water, I know my limits…. There was much gossip and chat, just what pubs are for.
Anyway, it was great to see some friends in Norwich, rather lovely to be back and also I very much like tap takeovers, so that was a decadent treat at the Brewery Tap.
I didn’t need to make this post, as it’s just more of the same from my not very exciting to write about day. My day involved a lot of sitting about in various places with my laptop (which was very productive fortunately), but I had a desire to upload this beautiful photo from Lucy’s at Norwich market. Large butcher’s sausage, chips, curry sauce and a heap of scraps. There surely can’t have been a better time to be alive.
After beating Liam 5-0 at pool in the evening, I decided it’s a game that we must play more of. I like winning things like this, as it proves to me that the game was a sensible one to play. To celebrate my whitewash, it was another trip to the Artichoke pub so that I could be reassured that it was still there. This beer is the Blackberry Grisette from Jester King Brewery and I have to be honest and note that I didn’t have a clue what a Grisette was. Well, as this is clearly an educational as well as informative blog, I’ve pinched this text from Wikipedia:
“A grisette is a variety of beer originating from the mining regions along the border of France and Belgium. It is a close relative of other farmhouse ales of the region including saisons and bières de garde, though unlike those beers, which were prevalent among agricultural workers, grisettes were consumed primarily by miners. The name, which means “little grey one”, may come from the name of the local grey-colored stone or from the grey frocks worn by the women who served the beer in local pubs. It is a low-alcohol beer that is light in body, with a noticeable tartness similar to other farmhouse ales and in some ways to the gose beers of Germany. As of 2016, only one Belgian brewery was still making the style in the traditional manner, though the American craft brewing industry has started producing several varieties, often working from historically researched recipes.”
This one was 5.3% ABV and is from the American craft brewing industry, it’s from Austin in Texas. Liam ordered a beer that he liked the pump clip of and I privately noted that he still hasn’t got Untappd. I didn’t say anything.
This is the Keith coffee stout from Wild Card Brewery in Walthamstow and I have no idea why they’ve named their beer Keith. It’s an unusual name for a beer, but it was suitably decadent, chocolately and rich, a nice way to savour my pool triumph. But I won’t keep going on about that.
Liam, who doesn’t seem to be able to keep out of pubs so that he can order random beers, demanded that we went to the King’s Head for a few hours, and so I went along with this. Charlie was on top serving form again, he’s good at this bar thing. I went for the Scoundrel from Tydd Steam Brewery, partly because I had gone through most of the other beers the previous night, which was a well-kept session bitter from Cambridgeshire.
I hadn’t intended to be back in Norwich for a few days (the rail strike caused the change of plan), but with the delights of chips, winning at pool and craft beer, I’m glad I was. I’d add that this is all research as well, it’s not just for my enjoyment, but the LDWA NEC are coming to Norwich for the weekend in a couple of weeks and I’ve got to check my favourite venues are OK. Stuart is a martyr to decadent beer, I can’t have him let down.
Before I start on today’s riveting blog post, I feel the need to comment on the road works currently taking place at the end of Riverside Road, near Norwich railway station. I very much approve, although they seem to have been doing them for ages, but my civil engineer friend Liam reassures me it is physically impossible to do these things any quicker. Well, something like that.
Anyway, it’s a very worthwhile project which will make things better for pedestrians and cyclists at what is currently an annoying junction. I imagine car drivers will be annoyed, but I’ll live with that since I don’t have a car. I’m slightly disappointed that the pavement at the rear of the above photo isn’t being widened, but the rest of the project seems very positive. In fairness to the county council, who are often quite car focused, they’re doing some really important work at making the city move pedestrian and cyclist friendly.
And a new pedestrian crossing between Old Library Wood and Norwich railway station which is now completed. When Stuart comes to Norwich for the LDWA NEC meeting, he will be able to use this exciting new crossing to get to his decadent accommodation on Riverside Road. I can almost sense his excitement already.
But today’s blog excitement (I accept once again that I’m setting the bar low here) was a quick trip to Sheringham and back. I hate getting the bloody bus, so paid a little extra for the train service. Here comes the Sheringham Thunderbolt into Norwich railway station.
The train was relatively busy, but I got a table for four so that my laptop and I could be comfortable. The service ran on time and I was pleased with the efficiency of the entire service, I was very pleased indeed that I didn’t have to get a bus.
Getting back from Sheringham was a different matter. To cut another of my long and meandering stories very short, Greater Anglia were hopeless in their announcements following a trackside fire which cut off North Norfolk from the city of Norwich. The rail planner said that services would operate to North Walsham, so I thought I’d go there by train and get a bus from there.
Services, it transpired, weren’t going to North Walsham and one train was still scheduled to operate which actually clearly wasn’t. I contacted Greater Anglia to ask them what they thought the 50 or so passengers at Sheringham should do, although I knew the only option at this point was to get the Sanders bus. Greater Anglia responded quickly and wrongly, telling me to get the rail replacement bus. Really what they meant here was get any random bus I could find, something they’d failed to tell the people in Sheringham and Cromer (and probably elsewhere) who waited patiently for a replacement bus service to come to the railway station.
I got the Sanders bus since there were no rail replacement buses in operation. There was confusion as to what people should be doing (not least because the information from Greater Anglia wasn’t just lacking, it was wrong), but the bus driver was helpful and didn’t need to see my rail ticket, he was aware of the situation. Anyway, I mentioned to Greater Anglia (who I’m sure think I’m an idiot) that they still had a service showing as departing from Sheringham, marked as delayed, which people were waiting for. To their credit, they responded immediately and said they’d get that fixed, which they did within a few minutes. This pleased me, I didn’t have to feel guilty about the fate of the people patiently waiting at the railway station.
On the bright side, full credit to Greater Anglia who must have an automated process for Delay Repay, as my ticket was refunded in full within 15 seconds of my applying for it. Not that I want to make this blog sound like a series of incidents that I feel the need to complain about, although that’s sometimes the direction of travel it seems, I’d say that anyone visiting Sheringham (and especially one not speaking English) would have found it very challenging to know what to do in this situation. No staff on site, incorrect information on Greater Anglia’s web-site and on Twitter, this is why stations like this really need to be staffed. To be fair, a staffed station at Sheringham would be challenging as there isn’t a station to manage (the old station is now operated by North Norfolk Railway for heritage purposes), but maybe one day. But, that’s enough moaning for today I’ve decided. And, as a spoiler for the next few blog posts (since I’m writing these two weeks after), I haven’t got anything else to complain about for ages.
Here’s a photo of Jarrold’s Mill that I took after my walk back home (which is a much longer walk than when I get the train, but I won’t dwell on that) to end on a positive note.
Back in Norwich and so an uneventful day other than for a couple of highlights that I’ll briefly mention.
OK, there are no shortage of photo from Lucy’s on Norwich Market on this blog, but this is really rather lovely food. Those meaty butcher sausages, topped with rich curry sauce and heaps of scraps. What a healthy treat! James and I should really go to other locations for lunch more often, but this quality keeps on calling and we’re not very adventurous.
I thought I’d take myself to the Leopard pub in the evening as they had a little bit of a tap takeover from Artefact Brewing from Bury St. Edmunds. I really like concepts like this, although being away so much I miss a fair few of them. They had four different beers on cask and so as I couldn’t decide, I had a third of each. I can sometimes make rapid and sensible decisions like that. They also had three or so keg options, I came back on a different day to try one of those, I think the only one that was left. I had already eaten, and was still full from my delicious chips earlier on in the day, but they had the Mr Ragu food truck type thing outside for those who wanted to pair their beer with some snacks.
From left to right (in both photos), these are the Amber Haze IPA, the Ixworth Blonde, the Session Pale and the Dark Mild. All perhaps inevitably tasting fresh, well-kept and at the appropriate temperature, they were all very delightful. Looking back at my Untappd scores, as I can’t remember everything (people like Nathan can tell me without checking what beer they had in 2017 and what condition it was in), I liked the Ixworth, Session Pale and Dark Mild equally, with my 3.75 scores. The Amber Haze IPA was for me the best of the lot, a 6.4% which had a richness of taste to it and a caramel aftertaste, all as good as this type of real ale is going to get for me.
Using the railways seemed exciting a few weeks ago, there was a rail sale, the network seemed in good shape and I got a ticket to go from Norwich to Peterborough for just £4. Rolling forwards, there looks like a summer of turbulence on the rail network with strikes and other outages, it’s really not ideal for those without cars. On a brighter note (for me, as I’m not sure anyone else would care), this was the first day with my new phone, so the photo quality may, or indeed may not, be marginally better. Just to show how unobservant I am, this is the first time that I’ve noticed you can sponsor a flower box (or whatever they’re called) in front of the railway station.
The train on the left is going to London Liverpool Street and the train on the right, which I was catching, was going to Liverpool Lime Street. I mention this as the conductor made three announcements on board about the difference, so there must have been a number of passengers getting confused. It made me wonder which destination I’d prefer, and I’d be happy with either, but I think it’s time that I go to Liverpool again. Although there’s a direct train there, it’s usually cheaper and even quicker to go down to London and back up. Actually, it’s a shame that the conductor didn’t give some numbers about how many people got on the wrong train, to spice the story up a bit. Is this a regular problem he has?
It was a relatively quiet service and these trains must be some of the last not to have power sockets of some kind. The conductor, who seemed quite chatty with his announcements, also mentioned at Ely not to be worried that the train goes into the railway station in one direction and then back again in reverse on the same track. I have mentioned to people in the past not to be worried about this (not pro-actively, I don’t tell people on the off-chance they don’t know, they have to look concerned for me to intervene) so I liked that the conductor explained the reversing technique used here.
We arrived on time into Peterborough and this pleased me, as there’s little point in hoping for Delay Repay when the ticket only costs £4. I’ve been to Peterborough on numerous occasions before and surprised and delighted my readers (or reader) with stories of the previous expeditions, so I won’t linger unnecessarily.
The frontage of Peterborough Cathedral, one of the more underrated religious buildings in the country. Incidentally, I was pleased during lock-down to be asked by the cathedral if they could some of my previous photos on their blog, always useful to know someone is reading something on here.
I didn’t go in again, but I’d recommend going in as it’s free of charge, and the guided tour is only £5 and that gives an extra depth to the history of the building.
The main square in Peterborough, with the sun still shining.
Back in the Travelodge at Peterborough and they kindly gave me a heap of milks and decaff coffees on request. Richard decided to come to Peterborough for the evening, reliving his nearly weekly trips to London last year to hear what gossip was going on about him, and we were both highly amused (admittedly one of us more than the other) when he found that in his room they hadn’t put any cups, coffees or teas, although they had remembered the kettle.
After Richard had arrived into Peterborough and had a good laugh about his room (and got replacement things at reception), we had a quick walk around the Cathedral.
When I visited Peterborough before a couple of years ago, my favourite bar was Stoneworks. The service here was excellent again, but I don’t like entirely their way of displaying beers, it’s not easy to read like that, but they also don’t mention what type of beer each one is. The staff member did offer recommendations, but it’d be much better to display whether it’s a sour, porter, IPA, or whatever.
Trying to unpick their menu, and they really should be on Untappd, meant I ended up with the Sup from Whiplash, which was fine, but I’d had it before, and I suspect there were better options on the menu. No doubt Nathan would have been able to tell me what every beer was, since he seems to have stored most of Untappd in his memory. The bar has quite a rustic design to it and it’s also one of those places which feels ideal for a relaxed Sunday afternoon, so I still like Stoneworks and would recommend it. And I also like the effort they’ve made in having branded glasses.
A perhaps slightly over-engineered sculpture which is meant to commemorate Henry Penn, a local man who cast bells in his foundry. There’s plenty more information about this man and his work at https://www.pennhenry.co.uk/. And I can’t really complain about this artwork, even though I just did, as it taught me something new and that can’t be a bad thing. By writing that, I more mean that artworks should educate or inspire in general, not be specifically designed to teach just me things. I have to clarify, as otherwise someone will email me.
Next was a repeat visit for me to Charters, which has a bar and restaurant on different floors.
I’m pleased to say that Richard didn’t get seasick, although I think the boat is pretty rigidly placed in the water and doesn’t much move at all.
As a comment more about my phone camera, I’m pleased that it doesn’t blur the light around bulbs and the image quality is much cleaner than my previous phone. Technology is moving on quickly and it’s hard to see how phone cameras will be able to improve in the future, although I’m sure that they will.
The boat sitting (I’m not very nautical, I don’t know the official term) happily in the River Nene.
I made a mistake here as I was excited to see a bar in Peterborough where I hadn’t been and listed its beer on Untappd. We decided to spend some time here after popping into the Wetherspoons next door where I could choose what beers I wanted from their Untappd listings. To cut a long story short, we entered Blind Tiger and they then told us that they were closing so couldn’t serve us. In fairness, they closed at their advertised time of 20:00, I just hadn’t guessed that they’d shut so early on a Sunday, which is my fault, not theirs. I was disappointed, I was already expecting to write in some detail (it’s relatively rare to find any venue in provincial towns that list their beers on Untappd, and rarer to find their logo on the window) about the bar, but, it wasn’t to be. It also meant that I didn’t go anywhere new during the evening, but there we go, this was near to being a venue that I would have perhaps returned to on many occasions.
It was too early to go back, so we went to the Ostrich Inn pub where the service was friendly and attentive. I’m puzzled by the placement of this board, as I couldn’t read it when we got to the pub because people were seated in front of it. It’s a nicely laid out board when visible though.
I won’t linger writing about the pub given I already have in the past, but I went for the Chop & Change from Vocation Brewery which was well kept. There’s an informal atmosphere to this pub and although its live music isn’t my thing, it’s clearly got a strong backing from the local community. Some interesting decor, history about the venue and a laid-back vibe, all rather lovely.
And photos of Peterborough whilst playing with my new phone, checking how they came out in the dark, and I thought the photos looked OK. Expect to see lots more photos in the near dark over the coming weeks until I get bored on testing the image quality.
And a final drink of the night in the College Arms, a JD Wetherspoon pub, where I went for a well-kept Benchmark from Bedlam Brewery, alongside a rather delicious pack of Mini Cheddars. It shows how decadent Richard is, not only did he order a jug of cocktail, but he also then complained when he didn’t get a glass. I think many of their customers would have happily drunk their cocktail either directly from the jug or by using the straw, but Richard was having none of it.
Another one of my little complaints, this is the disgrace (I like using strong words to reinforce my anger, even though it makes me sound inarticulate and odd) of the former Ferry Boat Inn, a pub operated by Greene King until they closed it in 2010. After a series of business plans which fell through, it’s now going to be turned into flats for students. There are so many similar developments in the city that I’m not sure where all these students are coming from. Anyway, the development has stopped again now due to some odd financial arrangements, so the site remains in flux. What this site would have made is a excellent pub which could have been one of the best in the city, with a long heritage since around 1820. Who knew? Anyway, in around ten years there might be some cheap flats here overlooking the river which will probably fall down in around thirty years.
My friend James mentioned that there were free Whoppers being dished out around the country by Burger King. I didn’t want him to be lonely when he went to get one, so I accompanied him to the new Norwich branch. I know that since hitting 30 I’ve become old, but I’m sure that Whoppers were better back in the day…… It was quite fiddly to order them using the app, but there was such a queue that anyone could realistically just walk in and say they had ordered one.
Inspired by this food excitement, James and I went to Brewdog in the evening for all you can eat chicken wings. I mean, no-one can say that I’m not classy? Whoppers and chicken wings? Very decadent. I’ve worked my way around most Brewdogs in the country, and indeed many Wings Wednesdays, as although it’s not the best food that the chain does, it’s sort of affordable (for them anyway) and I know I’ll eat enough.
James can eat more than I can, he’s nearly to 40 than I am (in terms of chicken wings consumed, not age), but they’re delicious, although that sauce is a little vinegary so it soon becomes quite challenging to eat them. We managed to persist for a couple of hours though, with the service being a little sluggish at first although it then picked up and extra wings came flying our way (there’s a pun there) at some pace. They were generous in letting us have two blue cheese sauces, they really something to the chicken wings, mainly by hiding the vinegar taste which is in the sauce.
We then shuffled along the road to the Leopard, which I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions is one of the best pubs in Norwich (although the dog is I know annoying more than just a few customers now), with their selection of keg and cask beers. I went for the Have Your Cake and Eat It from Three Blind Mice which was pleasant enough, but it didn’t have enough dessert taste for me to really like it and I slightly regretted getting an entire pint of it. Interesting beer though and the staff here were as friendly as ever, it’s a very laid-back pub and the beer options are well balanced.
And in a switch of drinking partner from James (who needed to go home to get over excessive chicken wing consumption) to Nathan (who was propping up another bar in another part of the city), I popped to the White Lion before we accidentally both went to the King’s Head for goodness knows how long. We had to discuss the delights of Gorleston for the big day out that we were planning, although I expect we got distracted and talked about some other unimportant thing that had annoyed us both.
I’ve noted how food and drink obsessed this blog gets when I’m back in Norwich, but readers will just have to wade through this drivel….. At least the blog marches forwards several days at a time when I’m in the heart of Norfolk life, so there’s less to read.
I’ll immediately admit to some deceit and have used a photo from a different day, but this is the delight of Lucy’s Chips at Norwich Market. For the first time, no scraps were available today, but I’ve now decided these are the best sausage and chips available in Norwich, because they use a proper butcher’s sausage and they’re competitively priced. It’s no surprise that there’s nearly always quite a long queue wrapping around their market unit.
I did have some cheap tickets to fly to Montenegro, but for various reasons, I decided not to go. However, I still had my £5 fare from Norwich to London, so I thought I’d head to the city for one night rather than not use the rail ticket.
I wasn’t at all surprised or delighted to see that Greater Anglia have shoved another Stansted Express service on the route. Well, actually, I wasn’t entirely surprised at this bloody train being put into service. With no first or catering, neither of which impact on me, this isn’t an ideal train for many customers, nor is the entire lack of tables. I don’t know why people on the Stansted Express aren’t allowed tables, but I’ve questioned that before and Greater Anglia don’t know. I’m unsure why the rail company who spent hundreds of millions on these trains isn’t sure why they don’t have tables, perhaps someone forgot. The guard on board made an announcement apologising for the train, saying that several of the usual mainline trains were currently being repaired. I have no idea why such new trains need such maintenance, but there we go. The train was clean and tidy, getting quite busy when we neared London. I did have another passenger keep talking to me during the journey, but I tried to look as busy as possible, although that didn’t much help.
The tableless train arrived into London Liverpool Street on time at least.
Instead of going to a salad bar, I got muddled up and went to Goose Island, what I consider to be the best bar in London, which I might have mentioned a few times before. This is the IWD2022, a dank and hazy DNEIPA which was fruity, refreshing and beautifully decadent. Brewed on the premises and it’s always a delight to visit this marvellous location.
This is Worship Street where a girder bridge is still in place with trains underneath the road sweeping into London Liverpool Street station. I mention this as I have managed to walk by this many times and not notice it was there. Behind me in the photo there was not that long ago a series of railway tracks going into Broad Street railway station, which was one of the countless casualties of the post-war under-funding and poor management of the network. Even Beeching didn’t want it demolished, but British Railways demolished the station and flogged the land off anyway. Today, they’ve have to build Crossrail underneath the new developments, so Broad Street has come back in some form at least.
Clicking on the image makes it larger, and I was standing where it says Worship Street Junction on the left-hand side map. Look at all the railway!
I had decided to walk to Oxford Street, which is about an hour’s walk from Goose Island, since it was a pleasant day and I’m always keen on urban walking. This is Farringdon’s new Crossrail station, although this central section of the Elizabeth Line hadn’t opened when I was in the city, I was one week to early for that. I’ve pinched Crossrail’s press release below for information about this station:
“Farringdon station will be one of the busiest in the UK, connecting with Thameslink and the London Underground to provide links with outer London, the home counties, the City, Canary Wharf and three of London’s five airports. The goldsmiths, watchmakers, ironmongers and blacksmiths of Farringdon, Clerkenwell and Smithfields and the Brutalist architecture of the nearby Barbican Centre provide the context for the design of the new Farringdon station. Two new ticket halls are connected by underground mined platforms. The western end located on the corner of Farringdon Road and Cowcross Street will provide access to and from the Thameslink ticket hall.
The eastern end is bound by Charterhouse Street, Lindsey Street and Long Lane. This major transport interchange site has had to fit within a complex infrastructure network up to 25 metres below ground. The engineering and design challenges here have driven tailored design solutions such as lifts that move on a slope rather than the standard vertical movement. In the eastern ticket hall, the design references the Barbican centre and the design of heavy metal sliding-screen gates has been derived from a barcode for ‘Farringdon’. In the western ticket hall influence is drawn from the nearby diamond and jewellery quarter. A material palette comprising champagne coloured stainless steel cladding and etched glass panels unify design at both ticket halls.”
I’m a big advocate for Crossrail, this will make connections across London much quicker. Even though I try and walk across London as much as I can, this does make things easier and the excellent accessibility for those with disabilities is a real positive as well.
The once bustling site of Smithfields market, which is still there in part, but most of the site is moving location. Much of this will be the Museum of London in a few years, they’re moving from their current location.
I thought I’d have a quick mid-walk rest and charge my devices up, this is the Sir John Oldcastle pub in Farringdon, operated by JD Wetherspoons. I didn’t have any issues here, friendly staff, well-kept and keenly priced beer with the pub being clean and organised. And there were plenty of power outlets as well.
I had a look at some of the pub’s reviews, and it’s towards the higher end of ratings for the chain, with this one being helpful to me.
“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead. They could do with a manger that will let a group of friends meet up and not kick them out before most of them have finished their first drink.”
I can imagine what “have a laugh and giggle” means in terms of the disruption to others, so this reassures me about the pub’s management.
Or a 1/5 review as:
“We bought a cake from outside to share as it was my friend birthday”
and they were annoyed the pub wouldn’t let them.
And a 1/5 review:
“I came with a coffe cup, ok, I agree it’s not permitted, just left it on the table”
They came with their own coffee cup for the unlimited refills?
Anyway, I digress.
I was fascinated by this missing building and I’m still none the wiser. It’s been like that for at least two decades and there was once a building there, so quite what happened to it, I have no idea. And I’ve never said that this blog actually answers questions and problems….
Tzatziki Sour from Orbit Beers, which my friend Nathan has mentioned more times than I’ve mentioned crisps in my life, but it’s a very good beer.
And the This is Not a Soft Drink from Pressure Drop Brewing from Tottenham, who have a taproom that I want to visit. They occasionally have some beers in Goose Island, I had the Escape Pod Cherry Edition last year from the brewery, one of the most decadent and rich imperial stouts that I’ve had. This was a juicy raspberry and yuzu sour, refreshing although lacking a little something. And, no, I don’t really know what an yuzu tastes like, I think it’s lemony.
Downstairs in Craft Beer Co in what I considered was a suitably artistic photo.
The Whippet Bench at Centre Point which was designed as a seat, although this is rather more style over substance. It was created for the London Festival of Architecture and its relevance here is the architects of the public space wanted people to think about how dogs live in the moment.
The flags at Oxford Street, and also on Regent Street, have been controversial because some people have compared them to Nuremberg and the Nazi Party. Having been in Nuremberg a couple of weeks ago, it’s hard not to note the similarities and I assume this was considered, but at some point perhaps countries have to move on from what happened 80 years ago with a entirely different flag. Given they’re only there to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which absolutely has to be marked in many different ways, it is perhaps going too far to say that they’re offensive. But I won’t go down the rabbit-hole of politics beyond that.
Thanks to TheFork, who I still refuse to praise for their anti single diner policy, who funded this thanks to their numerous offers. I’d add I might not praise them, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to enthusiastically join in with their deals. Anyway, this is the Hard Rock cafe on Oxford Street, which I’ve written about numerous times, mainly because of previous generosity from TheFork. Service here is nearly always impeccable, and it was thus once again. Although I’d note that they have an odd way of sitting diners next to each other rather than putting spaces between them, which isn’t an ideal situation. I was left with the neighbouring table asking me to explain the British currency, or more specifically, what the coins meant. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone disappointed that the 2p isn’t £2 as they had a lot of them and were about to pay for their coffee with them.
The “One Night in Bangkok Spicy Shrimp” weren’t cheap at £14.75 (thank goodness this wasn’t my money) but this sort of dish is often exciting in the United States in terms of the flavours. It was satisfactory here, but the outside was more hard than crispy.
I had a little dilemma here of trying to unstick the sticky sauce from the camera whilst smoke was sizzling from the chicken fajitas, so the photography is bloody dreadful. I’ve got a new camera now though, perhaps the imagery will improve…. Anyway, this was suitably delicious as ever, although four wraps isn’t enough to fit that much food in. Despite now being aged over 14 years old, I still get excited seeing food sizzling as it’s brought to the table. I should probably get out more to be honest.
As part of the decor, clothing worn by Phil Collins in 1982. I can imagine a political restaurant, perhaps with a suit worn by Jacob Rees-Mogg in 1987 being on the wall. On second thoughts, maybe not.
I thought I’d walk through Hyde Park to get to Hyde Park Corner underground, walking past the remnants of the Marble Arch Mound or whatever it was called. This is a cycle and pedestrian lane, although it wasn’t entirely clear to me (or anyone else actually) which was which.
A simple, albeit long, journey on the Piccadilly Line to Hounslow West. It’s possible to do the journey to Heathrow by Crossrail now, but it’s much more expensive than using the Underground, something that they’re not making at all clear.
And safely at the Ibis Heathrow with the two drinks proffered to me. I was only at Heathrow as this is where the cheapest hotel in London was, it was nothing to do with the flight I had originally intended to get, which was at Gatwick. It was good to be back in London, this is becoming increasingly rare given how much the hotels are now costing in the city.
Expect a flurry of blog posts this week, as I bring everything back up-to-date…. After my successful weekend in Wales zip-lining and paddle boarding with my friend Liam, I need to rush forwards to get that inspirational content on-line. And I don’t care if others don’t think it’s inspirational, I do and I’ll get it written as soon as possible.
After a quiet day, Saturday was the evening of the Hike Norfolk meal out, and we were delighted to see Gordon appear, he’s someone more often seen at socials than walking, but men of money are often like that. Gem is a Turkish restaurant in Norwich which is located opposite the railway station and in the former building operated by Prezzo. It’s an odd building to be used as a restaurant, with a minimal reception and waiting area, alongside poor acoustics and difficult areas for staff to see. However, the new operators have built themselves a formidable reputation and their reviews are good, with friends having gone telling me that the food is excellent. Although the emphasis of the restaurant is on Turkish food, there’s also some Greek and Kurdish options to add to the mix. As an aside, they opened I recall just before the first lockdown, so it must have been a challenging couple of years for them having to work through the enforced opening and closures.
In terms of the ambience, it’s loud, but that is apparently a common situation here. By the staff’s admission, there were a very loud table, although they only admitted that after the group had gone, but it did mean that the restaurant had quite a vibrant feel to it during the evening. For some people that sounds marvellous, although I rarely like vibrant venues, I like peace and calm.
The service was on-point and timely, with the team members being conversational, friendly and knowledgeable. Susanna and I would have gone for the set menus, but the entire table needs to order from those and so we thought that’d potentially come back another day for those. In terms of beer selection, that’s poor, but not perhaps unexpected, but the prices for them were off the scale and were more expensive than some central London venues. The restaurant also does the thing that CAMRA disapprove of and charge far proportionally more for a half than a pint. Anyway, that’s a comment that is a little unfair as they don’t portray themselves as a bar or beer restaurant, so I can’t much say it’s a negative about the venue. Although, I decided to just order tap water.
The service time was reasonable given how busy the venue was, but the restaurant was hot and they could perhaps do with some air conditioning here. I liked the engagement from the team members as well, they were trying their best to build up a rapport with customers, it’s clear customer service is important to them. I can’t say that we had any problems during the service, but I imagine that they would have been resolved politely and efficiently if we had.
I went for the main of chicken shish, large pieces of chicken which were cooked over a hot charcoal grill and so were tender on the inside and had a firm exterior. The rice was well cooked and the salad seemed fresh, with everything tasting of a good quality. I did have a coffee after the meal, which took far too long to arrive, although they did apologise on three occasions about that (they were pro-active apologies, I didn’t make three complaints).
As a venue, I thought that it was professionally run, it can’t be easy getting this volume of food out in a busy restaurant on a Saturday evening. They were fully booked which shows just how popular the restaurant has become, with nearly no negative on-line reviews. Reading through those reviews, there were a couple of annoyed people that they couldn’t change the items in the set menus, but it is clearly stated that this is the restaurant’s policy and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to have that policy. The pricing at the restaurant is a little towards the higher end of the scale, but they have the customer service and food quality to back that up. A vibrant venue on a Saturday night isn’t really something they can do a great deal about (other than by becoming unpopular), but it was particularly noisy which wasn’t entirely ideal. But, all still recommended.
Anyway, I’m of course not one to break any confidences about the Hike Norfolk meal discussion, other than to mention Gordon running off to hide in the toilet to avoid a situation, but I couldn’t possibly write any more than that and I’m sure it’ll be mentioned again at the Christmas meal.
Here’s a way of getting through the days quite quickly on this blog, stay in Norwich and don’t quite do anything of much interest. But it seems only right to comments on Simon’s visit to Norwich (this is the Simon of 100 fame), to reward me for my completing the LDWA 100 in 2021. Did I mention that I walked 100 miles in May 2021?
I forgot to take many photos other than of beer on this evening, but that’s the handy thing about Untappd (note my 2,000 badges that I achieved yesterday…..), I rarely forget photos of beer. On which subject, this was my favourite beer in the Artichoke where we started proceedings, the DIPA#2 from the GlassHouse Beer Co from Birmingham. This is the third beer that I’ve had from this brewery over the years, and they’ve all been delightful.
Then a quick visit to the Leopard, definitely one of the best pubs in the city, for the Knickerbocker pale ale, with flavours of strawberry, raspberry and cherry ice cream. Now, that’s an innovative beer, certainly a challenge for those drinkers (who I won’t name) who don’t like beer with flavour or taste. It wasn’t quite as rich as I would have liked, but still an enjoyable beer.
Then to the Plasterers, with this being the rich and decadent Imperial Stout Muda, from Puhaste Brewery in Estonia. And the Wotsits complemented it beautifully. I think Simon was by this point suitably impressed with the pubs available in the north part of Norwich City Centre.
The King’s Head was calling for the last pub of the night. I went for Mini Cheddars with the Nightlight Mild from Elmtree Beers, which was not perhaps particularly notable, but it was well-kept.
Emma, eager to hear from the gossip about Bev in Barcelona, as we all walked the Boudicca Way a few years ago, although Emma has perhaps sensibly retired from walking now. Simon couldn’t quite manage an entire night of drinking, but as he admitted, he’s from the north, and I didn’t say anything when he walked back to this hotel after a couple of hours. However, lovely to be back in Norwich, a reminder of just how many decent pubs we have in the city, as well as to see some people that I haven’t seen for some time.
That was certainly one of the quickest blog posts that I’ve written in recent weeks as well, there’s a lot to be said for staying in Norwich every now and then to catch up.
I had been getting a little behind with my blog, but I’m pleased to report for purists who dislike gaps that I’m able to catch up in one go by a few days as I was in Norwich for most of the week and have little of interest to report. That means, nothing for me to write about from the Monday to Thursday, other than my trekking up Gas Hill (Mountain) to go and vote.
