It was while we were watching a television programme called The Overlap on Tour when Mother Mash was featured that we decided that the next time we were in London we were going to go there.
So, true to our word, we visited Mother Mash in Carnaby to taste their pie and mash and, of course, their gravy!
Mother Mash – Carnaby (taken from their website)
We were shown to our table, (we had pre-booked as we had heard it got very busy) and presented with their menu. There were three steps to ordering your meal:
There were eight different types of mash…
CLASSIC – natural mash with milk and butter
CHEESY – natural mash with mature chedder
CHEESY MUSTARD – natural mash with mature cheddar and wholegrain mustard
CHAMP – traditional Irish mash with milk, butter, cheddar cheese and spring onions
HORSERADISH – natural mash with creamy horseradish
COLCANNON – traditional Irish mash with milk, butter, cabbage and onions
SWEET POTATO – natural sweet potato with carrot and a sprinkling of chilli
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK – traditional old English recipe, fried mash potatoes, cabbage, peas and onions
You had the choice of either sausages or a pie…
Sausages
CUMBERLAND – classic British pork with pepper
LINCOLNSHIRE – classic British pork with sage
LONDON SMOKEY – hickory wood smoked port
PORK AND CHILLI (Gluten Free) – Pork, chilli, cumin and smoked paprika
MOTHER PLUCKER – chicken with sundried tomato and pepper
VEGETABLE AND HERB (Vegan) – vegan sausage
Pies
STEAK AND BLACKHEART STOUR
CHICKEN, MUSHROOM AND BACON
TRADITIONAL MINCE BEEF
SPICED VEGETABLE AND CAMEMBERT
BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND SWEET POTATO (Vegetarian)
And the last decision you have to make…
TRADITIONAL – simple gravy using the juice from sausages and vegetables
ONION – caramelised red and white Spanish onions with vegetarian stock (vegetarian/gluten free)
FARMER’S – red wine, onion, smoked bacon and mushrooms
LIQUOR – traditional parsley sauce (vegetarian)
VEGGIE – seasonable vegetables, tomato puree and horseradish (vegan/vegetarian/gluten free).
So, I chose the cheesy mash, I had the special for the day which was steak and stilton and onion gravy and hubby had the bubble and squeak mash, traditional mince beef with the farmer’s gravy.
My pie and mash!
The steak and stilton pie was delicious, the cheese really came through and mixed with the steak was wonderful. The pastry was flaky, buttery and tasty. The gravy was on another level, it was flavourful and just the right amount of thickness. I love mashed potato and the cheesy mash was smooth and very moreish.
Hubby enjoyed his and washed down with a bottle of lager, he was a happy man.
Always a good sign – my clean plate!
There are also sides you can have – mushy peas, baked beans, buttered savoy cabbage to name a few. We decided to just have the pie and mash.
Their pudding menu had some sweet pies – apple pie, apple crumble and apple and blackberry pie together with sticky toffee pudding, chocolate brownie and ginger bread. But we were too full and with all of our willpower declined a pudding.
Thoughts…
We thought this was very good value for money, considering we were in the heart of London – we paid a total of £41 (with tip) and came out of the restaurant feeling full.
The waiting staff were very good, the food was served quickly and hot, but we didn’t feel rushed.
I would definitely recommend a visit to Mother Mash, they have two restaurants in London, one in Carnaby and one in Covent Garden and we will be visiting them again when we’re in London.
This restaurant has been on my husband’s bucket list for a very long time and so when we found ourselves in London for a day, we decided that it was time to visit The Cinnamon Club.
The Cinnamon Club
Set in the historic Grade II listed former Westminster Library, The Cinnamon Club is an institution in the world of Indian fine dining. The original modern Indian restaurant in London, The Cinnamon Club has a long history of serving innovative and creative Indian cuisine in a magnificently majestic setting.
Chef Vivek Singh and his team of chefs have developed a stunning new menu that combines The Cinnamon Club’s signatures with new dishes and celebratory platters.
The Cinnamon Club website
Cinnamon Club
On arrival we were both impressed by the décor and the attentiveness of the staff. We chose to have the set menu which was £38 and it offered a good range of different ingredients.
We decided to have distilled water as we had to drive back home afterwards and didn’t want to have any alcohol.
I chose the Tandoori free range chicken chops with peri-peri- spices and passion fruit raita and hubby chose smoked venison and prune kebab, date chutney with chana masala hummus.
Before we were served the Starters, we were presented with an appetizer which was very tasty. (Sorry, I can’t remember the exact ingredients!)
Appetizer
Tandoori ChickenSmoked Venison
For our mains, I had Keema Methi Gosht – lamb and mince curry with fresh fenugreek and pilau rice. Hubby had Red spiced roast haddock, dried shrimp chutney, Bengali lentil and coconut dal.
We also ordered an extra side of stir-fried greens with garlic and chilli, for an extra charge of £7.00. My curry was very spicy, but I reasoned that you wouldn’t want to go to a high class restaurant and eat bland food. The meat was tender and just fell apart and the pilau rice was light and tasted flavourful and as you can see, I cleared my plate. Hubby cleared his too, even though his nose ran a little bit due to the spiciness, once he got used to it, he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Dessert was an experience to remember: our local Indian isn’t known for its desserts, but at The Cinnamon Club, it was another story….
Tasting plate of assorted desserts
We paid a supplement of £5 per person and boy, was it worth it. My hubby loves his desserts, I’m not such a big fan, but the chocolate mousse with the bird nest on top was amazing! There wasn’t one that we didn’t like and we polished them off between us.
An Americano coffee to finish and we received the bill which was £101, very reasonable for a restaurant in the heart of London which included an appetizer, starters, main course and dessert!
Thoughts
We had a wonderful time and even when the restaurant was busy, the waiting staff still came and filled up our glasses with water, they were all very friendly and polite.
The food was deliciously spiced with layers of texture and flavouring.
The experience met with hubby’s expectations and it is definitely somewhere we will be visiting again.
The tables for two are pretty close together and a couple sat on the table next to us while we were waiting for our dessert, we instantly started talking to each other and it was great to have a chat and find out about each other. We discovered that both myself and the lady both had had bowel cancer, so it was nice to share that experience with her.
From the moment we walked into the restaurant, to when we left, we were made to feel very special – nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff (not that we made any demands, but there was a particularly testing table that arrived as we were about to leave.) I loved the décor, it was just to my taste and we were sat at the window!
We did wonder who St. Petroc was, so we went to good old Google and found this: “St. Petroc, also known as Petrock, was a British prince and Christian saint. He was renowned for his goodness to both men and animals and he founded monasteries at Padstow and Bodmin. Although he had been brought up as a prince and trained to rule over people, he had a call to lead a holy life.”
We chose to have the Set Lunch at a cost of £26 each, with additional sides of Savoy Cabbage with bacon and chives and Tenderstem Broccoli with salsa verde.
We both decided on the same courses, Tomato Soup with Basil for starters, 4oz Steak Frites with thin cut chips and rocket salad for Mains and Sticky Toffee Pudding with Cornish clotted cream for dessert. I forgot to take a picture of the starter, but it was just soup!
The whole meal was absolutely delicious, hubby particularly loved the Tenderstem Broccoli and we ate everything, nothing was left to waste. The soup was very tasty, the steak just melted in your mouth, the chips were crispy with a light potato filling and the dessert was heavenly, not too rich, not too heavy and topped off perfectly with the clotted cream.
And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, a special Happy Birthday plate was presented to the table!
The whole meal, including drinks, cost us £90 . I always say that I don’t mind paying that extra if the meal is worth it and boy was this meal worth it!
I am off work at the moment as I am recovering from bowel cancer and my husband booked two weeks off as our son was getting married and he wanted some time off around that. I received an email from Parkdean Resorts saying we could book a four day holiday for £89. I was a bit sceptical but it was true, so we booked to go from Monday to Thursday at St. Minver Holiday Park, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 6RR.
Day One
The journey from Southampton to Wadebridge is roughly four hours, so we booked to stop off at The Jamaica Inn for lunch. This was a bit of a bucket list item for both of us, as every time we drove to Cornwall we threatened to go there, but never actually got there, but because it was my birthday, we decided to go for it.
Picture from Jamaica Inn website
We stopped off at The Jamaican Inn, luckily we had booked as it was very busy.
Our onward journey took us another 45 minutes where we found St. Minver Holiday Park quite easily and after booking in at Reception we found our caravan.
We booked a four berth caravan and when we entered we were pleasantly surprised by it. Sure, it wasn’t the biggest caravan we’d stayed in but it was only for the two of us and we wouldn’t be spending that much time in there, we were more concerned with the facilities the park had to offer and the location of it.
Living roomKitchen area
On looking at the map of the site and the entertainment programme it looked like there was a lot going on. We saw that there was an entertainment hub which housed the pub, showbar, restaurant, arcade and soft play area and the list of activities for the children was quite extensive, including an indoor heated swimming pool, plus bingo, karaoke and even a tribute band for the adults. I was quite impressed that you could order food from your table via their App and even have food delivered to your accommodation.
After unpacking, we decided to visit a beach called Polzeath Beach which is popular with surfers and we could see why when we arrived, the waves were awesome! We took a walk around the town centre, purchased an ice cream and took a wander down on the beach. There were lots of surfing classes and we spent a while watching the surfers ride the waves and some quite spectacular wipe-outs.
As it had been a long day, we drove back to the caravan and as we were both still full from the lunch at Jamaica Inn, we had a cup of tea and went to sleep….
Day Two
Today we had decided to go and visit Padstow which is one of my favourite places in Cornwall, my very favourite being St. Ives. But, instead of driving to Padstow we were going to park at Rock, which was only a couple of miles away and then catch the ferry across the bay to Padstow. This was a good decision as the car park in Padstow is way up on a hill and whilst this is fine in the morning walking down, it’s very tiring after a long day and having to walk up this steep hill, plus after chemotherapy and bowel surgery, I’m still not up to full strength so I’m not sure I would have even made it!
We arrived and parked up and went for a walk along the sea front to take a little look at the place where the celebrities live, people like Gordon Ramsay and Dawn French. We spotted Paul Ainsworth’s restaurant, The Mariners on the sea front and it did look fabulous, somewhere we’d love to go for a special occasion.
We walked back as we could see the ferry was approaching Rock Beach. The ferry only took card payments and it cost £3.00 – Adult Single, £1.50 – Child Single and £3.00 – Bike.
The ferry dropped us off at the harbour and after checking what time the last ferry back to Rock was, we went off to explore.
Padstow is a fishing port and is situated on the west bank of the River Camel. There is a lot of shops to visit, we particularly like the glass art that you can get from Cornwall, plenty of tea rooms, restaurants and of course, pasties. After a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, we took a stroll round and sat on a bench on the harbour just people watching and enjoying the view.
After a delicious meal at Rick Stein’s, we had another wander and stumbled across a craft fayre and never one to walk past one of this, we went in. There were lots of stalls to have a look around and I bought a ceramic heart necklace which was very pretty.
We then caught the ferry back to Rock, thankful that we didn’t have to go up that steep hill back to the carpark and drove back to the caravan site.
We were going to go to the Entertainment Hub but we were very tired and so we just chilled in front of the television watching The Great British Bake Off, munched on a few pork pies that we had brought with us and then departed to the bedroom and I haven’t slept that well for a very long time…
Day Three
On our journey down to St. Minver Caravan Park, we saw a sign for Pencarrow House, it wasn’t a National Trust house but privately owned, so we made a mental note to visit it if we had time over the next couple of days. Well, day three afforded us this chance and so we headed over to it early morning to book a house tour.
Pencarrow HouseLanhydrock House
It’s a standing joke between us that wherever we go somebody always knows hubby and today was no exception. As we walked into the shop a voice said, “Hello Phil, what are you doing here?” The lady who worked behind the counter used to work in one of the buildings he runs as the Catering Manager!
A walk around the gardens and a guided tour of the house and we were on our way to Lanhydrock house, but not before have a bite to eat at a pub we passed along the way.
We had downloaded a free National Trust pass so we used this to gain entry to Lanhydrock House, which was just as well as it was quite expensive at £20 each.
After a look around the House, we would have loved to had spent more time there but we had a meal booked at Bodmin Jail before we went on our ghost walk, we had to move on.
The rain was coming down which added to the eerie feeling about the jail. We arrived fully expecting a meal but was told that even though we booked it online for a time of 16:45, they weren’t open at that time for meals but did open at 17:00 for a set menu. On looking at this menu it was £50 per head, so we decided against it and found a lovely little pub down the road and had a bowl of tomato soup each!
Back to the jail for 18:30 and we booked in for our ghost walk.
The walk around the jail was very interesting, we were told about the different ghosts that haunted the jail, facts about some of the inmates and we got to look inside the jails, which was a bit creepy.
The person who led the tour was very knowledgeable and we were surprised to find out it was his first tour he had ever done, so well done to that man!
It was at Bodmin Jail where the episode of Most Haunted was filmed and Derek Ocorah (a medium) was set up by Ciaran O’Keefe (sceptic) to expose him as a fraud….
After the tour we headed back to the caravan site where we went to the entertainment centre and feasted on a £12.49 pizza and a couple of drinks.
We took a picture of the different menus:
After feeling full after eating the pizza we did a quick tour of the amusement arcade where we won a couple of small teddies and then we headed back to the caravan for our final night before we packed to go home.
Amusement Arcade
Day Four
Phil got up early to go to a bakery we had seen at Rock the day before to buy some pasties and scones for when we got home. Phil is very partial to a cream tea and we hadn’t had time to fit one in this trip, so we bought one to take home with us.
We didn’t stop on the journey home, mainly because we sailed past the services we were going to stop at, so it was nice to have a ready-made tea when we did get back.
My view
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at St. Minver Holiday Park, so much so that we’ve booked five days next year this time staying in a lodge so that our families can come and stay if they want to.
Our lodge for next year
We found the park to be central for where we wanted to visit and there was plenty to do, from playing bingo, karaoke, swimming to walking through the woods.
The first thing we noticed was that it was decorated with Halloween decorations, they had a backdrop of a haunted house where you could have a picture taken.
We sat down at our reserved table (I would recommend booking ahead as it was very busy) and I ordered the Chef’s Steak & Jamaica Inn Pie which was served with creamy mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and gravy: Price £16.95
Hubby ordered the Jamaican Inn Burger with 6oz beef burger topped with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon, tomato, gherkin and salad in a toasted brioche bun served with skin-on fries: Price £15.95
Both meals tasted delicious, just what we needed, a hearty meal after three hours of sitting in a car in traffic! As I said before, it was busy, but the meals didn’t take very long to reach our table and we were far too full to order dessert.
We then headed towards the museum which focused on the author, Daphne Du Maurier and of course, pirates, smuggling and ghosts.
The cost to enter the museum was £3.95 for adults and £2.95 for children and OAPs.
Daphne Du Maurier
Well known for her novel, The Jamaica Inn which was a tale about Mary, an orphan, who lives with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn, who was the Landlord of the Jamaica Inn and her uncle’s involvement in smuggling along the Cornish coast. One of her other well known novels is Rebecca which was a very successful film. There is a room created at Jamaica Inn which is full of memorabilia including her writing desk on top of which is a packed of the Du Maurier cigarettes named after her father.
Smuggling Museum
The Museum purports to house one of the finest collections of smuggling artefacts in the country. Custom taxes were first introduced in the 13th century but there was little enforcement of this until the 18th century when taxes were raised to fund foreign wars. Goods could be purchased much cheaper abroad and so smuggling became rife. Tea was six times more expensive in England than Europe. Other goods such as silks, tobacco and branding were also smuggled into Cornwall.
Paranormal Activity
The presence of paranormal activity here is one of the reasons we wanted to visit, we do like a good ghost story and if there’s any chance of an investigation we’re there. But unfortunately we didn’t have time to attend an investigation this trip, but it’s something we would like to do in the future! You can book a stay in one of their haunted rooms which includes a two course dinner and is £85 per person.
Most Haunted did an investigation here and said it was one of the spookiest they have ever recorded. Below is the programme they recorded….
After a look around the gift shop, I wanted to buy a Jamaican Inn t-shirt but unfortunately they had run out of stock, we then went to the farm shop and then we left the Jamaica Inn.
As were were holidaying nearby, staying in a shepherd’s hut, we wanted to try this restaurant as it had been recommended to us and also we knew of Bryn from the Great British Menu….
About the chef:
Bryn Williams originally came from Denbigh, Wales. He was the head chef of Odette’s Restaurant in Primrose Hill, London. In 2006 he shot to fame when, as a sous chef, he beat established chefs to cook the fish course for the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations on the television programme, Great British Menu. He opened Porth Eirias in June 2015 in Colwyn Bay.
Ambience and Service
Walking into the restaurant, it feels very modern industrial, with the steel accessories and complimented with the display of flowers on the back wall. The waiting staff were very attentive, even when the restaurant was busier a little later on. I noted one particular table which you could tell were going to be a little challenging and watched as the waiter patiently took their orders and answered the many questions asked about the dishes in a professional and knowledgeable manner.
The Menu
Starter
Ham hock terrine, apricot, sourdough
Mussels, white wine, garlic, shallots, cream
I had the ham hock terrine and hubby had the mussels. The terrine was very tasty and the apricot was the perfect accompaniment. Hubby enjoyed his mussels, especially the sauce, although two didn’t have any in them, but that’s the luck of the draw!
Main Course
Daily catch fish fingers, fries, crushed peas & tartar sauce
I am not a huge fish lover, so I opted for the fish fingers. The crushed peas were actually the best I have tasted, they were really sweet. The fish fingers were delicious and very filling, so I could only manage three out of the four. Hubby loves fish and he said that the haddock was perfectly cooked. He thought the whole dish was exceptional.
Dessert
Pudding was a unaminous choice by both of us, it had to be Baked Alaska. This was probably one of the best puddings I have had in a very long time, my all time favourite being a souffle I had at a Marco Pierre White restaurant. The ice cream was just the right amount of melted and the meringue was chewy and gorgeous.
Overall Impression
I really enjoyed eating in this restaurant, there was an easy atmosphere with no pretentiousness at all. The food was excellent and with our meal, including drinks, totaling £72, it was very good value as well. The views were spectacular, overlooking the Irish Sea and Colwyn Bay. This is somewhere that I would definitely go to again!
The restaurant is situated on the beach front.
A journey through the meaning of life and anything else that grabs my attention!
Making My Home A Haven is important to me. Sharing homemaking skills. Recipes and food. Bible Studies. This is a treasure chest of goodies. So take a seat. Have a glass of tea and enjoy. You will learn all about who I am and Our Neck Of The Woods.
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