New Mason's Arms, Oulton

As it was my sister’s birthday and as the whole family were on holiday / not at school / retired, we were taken out to the New Mason’s Arms pub today in Oulton. (With the exception of A, who is none of the above!).

This is a nice traditional pub that provides a good bar food menu. Mum and Dad had booked, so we arrived to a table set up with Christmas crackers and festive napkins. Some fabulous looking prawn cocktails kept whizzing past to other diners, but we decided to stick with a main course only. (I am in the habit of falling asleep if I eat too much at lunch).

I ordered lasagne which came with a side salad and chips. The lasagne was good, clearly home made with generous beef mince and a just-right cheesy sauce. The chips were the star of this meal, however. Chunky and home fried. Wonderful.

The rest of the family ordered a variety of traditional pub lunches. A hearty plateful was duly delivered and we were all very full by the end of it. R had treacle pudding with custard for pudding which again, was a generous portion.

The place was busy for Tuesday lunchtime in the suburbs, but as holiday season had started, it seemed that everyone was treating themselves to a hot pub lunch in a traditional and pleasant environment.

Roundhay Fox, Roundhay, Leeds

We visited the Roundhay Fox today for Sunday lunch. A sign greeted us at the bar to say they were low on choice of beer due to the weather. I am guessing they haven’t been able to take deliveries because they had run out of white Pinot Grigio too, so I ordered a rose and A had the only beer on offer – Tetleys.

We have had Sunday lunch here before, and it was very good. They have an extensive menu and the place is packed out. Lots of families seem to dine here – I am guessing following a brisk walk around the park. We missed out on the walk bit, however, dumped the car outside and went straight in.

For starters, we ordered tempura chicken with a sesame dip to share. It was great – a lovely crisp batter and the dip was just the right level of sweetness.

For main, we both had the Roast Beef. We had to wait a while for it, the service was rather slow, perhaps due to the number of diners. When it arrived, we were offered a range of sauces and A chose some horseradish. I just like it with gravy (and the Fox gravy is high quality!)

The roast potatoes and vegetables were great. The parsnips appeared to have been slightly battered and fried, also good if you are into parsnips (it’s the one vegetable I have never got on with). The Yorkshire pudding was ok. The beef, sadly, was tough and gristly – I left a fair bit of it. This is a real shame as the last time I had the Sunday roast it was great. Perhaps just an off day and a lack of deliveries affected the quality.

The total bill came to just over £30. Fair price for what we had.

The Roundhay Fox has a nice outdoor area, which is great in the summer. It is all currently covered in a thick layer of snow (like everything else in Leeds!) Today, they had a log fire burning in the pub, which is great with the current temperatures and I should imagine a welcoming sight for the hardy walkers of Roundhay Park.

Wagamama, Leeds

A big steaming plate of noodles is just what you need after a hard week’s work so last Friday night we paid a visit to Wagamama.

Who am I kidding? ..... A few glasses of Pinot Grigio are just what you need after a hard week’s work but supplementing that with some noodles is not a bad idea! We started the evening in the Radisson hotel bar, where I drank the place dry of Pinot. I only had one, it just happened to be the last glass in the last bottle. Ah well, we wouldn’t be staying long as we were meeting one of A’s work colleagues visiting from America to go somewhere else for a drink and possibly some food. And hotel bars are notoriously expensive.

As a Leeds food blogger of some months now, I rather embarrassed myself by drawing a blank when asked by our visitor where was good to eat. I seem to be doing this a lot recently which is strange as I have had some really good meals in Leeds city centre. My excuse is that I hadn’t really thought it through, having raced off to the supermarket after work and then raced into Leeds to get there for seven. Luckily, A suggested Wagamama, a great choice!

The restaurant is a series of long bench tables, so there is an air of community to the eating experience (or communism*, if you prefer). No meat and potatoes here, though. Instead, the menu is a selection of noodles, rice dishes, and those watery-soup noodle bowls (called Ramen, I believe). These never look that appealing to me so I ordered some chicken gyoza followed by Yaki Soba – chicken, prawns, some vegetables and thin noodles.



The chicken gyoza were lovely – steamed dumplings with a dipping sauce. Sadly I had already laid into them before remembering the photo....

Yaki Soba is a generous portion but is quite light and so easy to clear your plate. I added a little chilli oil, which is available on the table, just to spice things up a bit.



Another bonus is that Wagamama** has added Pinot to the wine list – I always had to have a Rose on previous visits which doesn’t quite float my boat.

I like the way the waiters take your order and write your dish numbers on your place mat. I like the way they bring the food out in any order without rigid rules about courses (a touch of anarchy*). I like the way you can hang your coats up in a line on the wall - a bit like being in primary school. I like the way you can eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. I also liked the food and the company.

*Please note references to political ideologies within this post are purely accidental – next time I may be reviewing a Liberal lunch, a Marxist breakfast or even a Tea Party.

**Wagamama has a motto: “positive eating + positive living”. I can just imagine a load of marketing apprentice-types sitting around a boardroom table brainstorming this wonder of a catchphrase. What I want to know is, what is negative eating? On second thoughts, probably best not to think about that!

The Deer Park, Roundhay

A gets sent to America now and then to work. In fact, this seems to be happening more and more frequently. He returns home with jet lag, 200 Superkings for my good self and some strange American sweets. This time it was Skittles –Tropical Flavour, which apparently they don’t do over here.

Anyway, it was Sunday morning. A got up at half two in the morning and was snoozing on the sofa when I surfaced around eight. So I waited, watched the X factor on Sky Plus from the night before, and waited some more. Finally, a few loud coughs awaken the slumbering A, and I mention that a) I’m starving and b) it might be nice to go out for Sunday lunch.

So that’s how we ended up at the Deer Park in Roundhay. I had heard that they were doing it up and that it was now a restaurant, so we thought we would give it a try.

On arrival, we were quickly seated. The place is done out with a definite “Deer Park” theme, in that there are some rustic tables and some of the chairs are decked out with animal fur-type rugs. Very modern and airy decor.



The menu is extensive and includes a wide variety of dishes. A Sunday lunch menu was also provided, along with a specials menu. A lot of deliberation went into our order, as there was so much choice.

In the end, A ordered the roast beef Sunday lunch. The waiter asked him how he would like it. Apparently, you can order it rare, and they will cut slices from nearer the centre of the joint. If you want well done, you will have some of the outer slices. It is quite unusual to be asked how you want your beef for Sunday lunch so we were quite impressed by that. A ordered rare.



I decided on beer-battered fish and chips which were served with a lovely pea puree. A generous portion of fish was clearly freshly cooked, with an excellent crispy batter.



The Deer Park used to be a pub, from what I understand, but is now much more of a restaurant. I asked the waiter if people could come in just for a drink and it seems that the entrance area is set up for that purpose with lounge chairs. Outside there are chairs and tables set up for alfresco drinking, which I am sure will be busy during the summer. I do hope that the Deer Park is welcoming to drinkers as well as diners in the future. Apart from the Streets of Leeds, the area seems a bit bereft of pubs.

Veritas Ale and Wine Bar, Leeds

Veritas is behind the Town Hall and after reading about it on The Good Stuff blog, I decided to give it a whirl for lunch. Entering the front door, you are immediately faced with a deli-style counter, where a lot of the meats, cheese and quiche are available to peruse. It looked very tempting and ended up forming the basis of our lunch.

We ordered a bottle of pinot grigio blush, after which I noticed they do prosecco by the glass. I like a glass of fizz so will make sure I order one next time. The Pinot was lovely, however, and was the perfect light lunchtime wine.

For starter I had fried wild mushrooms on garlic toast. I love this dish and often order a version of it for first course. Veritas do it very well, a nice mix of a variety of mushrooms, rather than your bog-standard supermarket variety. Psycho Psu had the carrot and coriander soup.

There are a variety of main courses on the menu and a list of sandwiches. Veritas also do a range of sharing plates – Charcuterie platter, Yorkshire mixed platter and others. If you prefer, you can choose your own from the deli counter and you are charged per item. We chose the latter option and wandered over to the counter to take a look. The woman there was very knowledgeable about the food, explaining what everything was and where it came from. We picked salmon quiche, smoked salmon, parma ham, goat’s cheese, pate and pickle. The plate is then made up and brought to the table with fresh bread.



This was a great grazing opportunity. Sometimes you don’t want a full-on meal at lunchtime, and the sharing platter fits the bill perfectly.



For pudding, we ordered a lemon and lime mousse/parfait. I can’t actually remember the name of it but it had a dense mousse-like consistency, a bit like crème brule, but not!

Veritas do breakfasts and afternoon tea. They also have an “After Eight” menu which are sharing platters for drinkers to nibble on after 8pm. I like the idea of having food to pick at when out drinking for the evening. It seems much more civilised than my pub-going days of scampi fries and pork scratchings. But then I also think that the pub was more civilised when you could enjoy a Berkeley superking with a drink (sigh).

Pentre Mawr Country House, North Wales

A weekend camping in Wales in October is not appealing to me. In principle, I like the idea of being around nature, cooking beans on a gas stove and eating them from plastic plates. But as soon as someone reminds me of the toilet situation, it all falls apart right there. Images of the last episode of The Inbetweeners and “digging a trench” flash through my mind and that’s the end of that.

“Glamping”, however, I can cope with. We booked a weekend at Pentre Mawr Country House, not to stay in their lovely guest rooms but in the luxury tents in the grounds. These are large canvas structures, with bedroom, living area and bathroom (all plumbing provided). They also contain TV, DVD, heating, lighting and a hot tub on the patio outside. This is camping I can live with.

Evening meal was taken in the House itself. Sitting in the drawing room with a pre-dinner drink and menus, we were made so welcome by the hosts that it felt like we were friends of theirs from over the valley who had just popped in for drinks after a day shooting pheasant in the grounds. Sadly, this is clearly untrue as we had driven two hours from Leeds and braved the horrendous M62 so were ready for a nice drink and dinner.

The drawing room.....



Dinner was taken in a number of different rooms. Before our starters, an amuse-bouche was served. This was lentil soup served in a small coffee cup. Lentils can be rather bland but this had a delicate spicy flavour.



For starter, we both ordered smoked haddock in a wine and cream sauce, which was excellent. Lots of bread was provided for mopping up the sauce.



A sorbet was served between starter and main to "cleanse the palate". I am never sure about serving something sweet at this point in the meal, even though it tasted great.

I had to order Welsh rack of lamb for main course. There were fields full of sheep all over the place on the drive through Wales so I felt I had to give it a go. It was fantastic, and a really generous portion. It was served with a potato gratin and vegetables.



We were stuffed after two courses, so asked if we could have our pudding “to go”. The owner gave us a tray of our choice of pudding to carry down to the tent and we ate it later. Bread and butter pudding was probably the best I have ever tasted.

After pudding, cheese and coffee is served back in the drawing room, but we missed this on the first night. Our second night, though, we managed to eat all three courses and stayed for cheese. We were joined by one of the owners’ dogs and one of the cats (they have three of each and two horses). The dinner on the second night was equally good.

The service is excellent and the owners clearly have long experience of running a hotel. There are loads of little touches which make the place so brilliant. Polo mints are left in the hall for guests to feed to their horse in the next field. The three dogs love a bit of football on the lawn. Bucks fizz is served at breakfast. Afternoon tea is served when you arrive to check in. A golf buggy is used to take you to your tent if you have a lot of luggage.

We were very lucky to stumble across a food festival in Conwy when we went to visit the castle. Loads of Welsh produce, a beer tent, a champagne and oyster bar – I was in my element. We bought and ate some pies on the sea front. I do love a pie.

Ego, Leeds

The regular school friends’ lunch kicked off again at All Bar One last weekend. This seems to be becoming a habit but they do a lovely reasonable prosecco and the seats outside are perfect for an alfresco drink. It was surprisingly sunny for the first weekend in October, so the mood was good.

The number of e mails that go back and forth when planning these get-togethers are enough to fill anyone’s inbox. One of sad things we do is list agenda items – there are loads of things to catch up on between school friends’ lunches. This time I went one step further and actually wrote them out. No one can say I am not prepared. But the problem is, I usually get home after our get-togethers and think “Oh I forgot to ask about....” or “We never discussed.....”. It may be old age setting in (one of our number is forty in December) but I like to make sure we have covered everything. So the first half hour consisted of “working through the list”. Some co-lunchers commented that they felt it was “like being at work” but I drew the line at typing up the minutes.

Anyway, agenda items covered, we moved on to Ego. This is a Mediterranean restaurant that is part of a chain, and we arrived to find only a couple of tables taken (it is open all day). We were promptly seated and menus provided.



We ordered a bottle of pinot, which was pleasant and good value. For starter, Sarah T and I shared an Italian plate – prosciutto, salami, baked mushrooms, Sicilian arancini and parmesan. I love these Italian sharing platters, but I always feel you need bread with them, which has to be ordered separately. The same thing happened at Jamie’s Italian. I must remember to order the bread in future.

H had the mussels, which came in a big earthenware bowl. I tried one. It was nice.



For main course, I had moussaka. I developed a bit of a taste for this during our first trip to Greece in the summer, and have made it a few times myself. It arrived in the oven dish it was cooked in, so was sizzling away. The lamb mince had lots of flavour with plenty of aubergine in the layers. The strange thing was that the waiter managed to remove Sarah T’s wine glass* just before the main course arrived, even though we had ordered another bottle. She had to ask for a replacement after a bit of a wait, so had no wine with most of her main course.

The moussaka.....



We were asked if we would like desserts so we said we would take a look at the menu. These were quickly provided and we were left to peruse the options. Some time passed. And passed. Then the bill arrived. No pudding order taken. Strange. So we decided not to bother, paid up and left.

It all sounds rather Nancy Drew “The mystery of the disappearing wine glass” or “The mysterious case of the missing dessert order”.

Anyway, case unsolved, we sloped off to The Blackhouse over the road for wine (and the cheese plate in my case – I love a bit of cheese with wine). Again, a lovely outdoor area with patio heaters, although H was worried about her hair setting on fire and my cheeks became rather rosy (nothing to do with the copious amount of wine I had drunk).



The food is good in Ego. A great menu with lots of choice – you can go Italian for starter, Greek for main and French for pudding. A real eclectic mix. The service is rather strange though. Case closed.

*There is an important take-home message here – don’t take a wine glass off a woman pushing forty. The consequences could be very unpleasant.