Category: Reviews

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Show me the coffee!

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Coffee is a pretty vital part of many peoples lives but to me, I’ve never really been in to hot drinks. Fizzy drinks, squash, juice – I’d live off them, cold good hot bad. The occasional hot chocolate if I was really cold but I would never touch coffee with a barge pole. I’m not even sure how or when it changed exactly. I think it was last summer having sweet iced drinks from Costa and having a shot in them and it just developed from there.

Since then I’ve had nothing but caramel lattes as I like the sweetness and how mellow and easy it is to drink. It’s been nice actually feeling like a grown up finally and being able to have a coffee when asked rather than saying ‘no I’m fine’ or ‘can I have a Diet Coke’ and feeling like a child in the company of adults.

It just feels more sociable and it’s so nice to be able to enjoy the many coffee shops that are prevalent everywhere. Norwich is my local city, I work there, I shop there so it’s still a bit of a novelty to now be able to enjoy going into proper independent coffee shops and have a grown up drink. the big chain stores are all very well, they are quick, easy and convenient but there is something different about going into a small independent and supporting local.

Norwich, or rather the people of Norwich are lucky to have some great choices like Strangers, Artel, Alchemista and the newest one I visited yesterday is Fika.

Fika is located on Wensum Street which is not far down from The Maids Head Hotel and it’s run by Mark and only opened a week or so ago but we popped in yesterday and Jason had his normal Americano which he devoured and I had my latte which was so smooth! I am weaning myself off caramel shots, I only ever have them at home or if I go to Costa. I don’t think proper coffee drinkers would dream of putting a shot of anything in their coffee other than – another shot of coffee!

My tastes are definitely developing, even this morning instead of having my normal instant coffee I have done myself a filter coffee with a blend from Strangers and I’m really enjoying it. I can’t see me getting to a stage where I’m drinking black Americanos but you never know.

Along with our delicious Fika coffee we each had a vegan chocolate knot pastry which are freshly made each day and were rather delicious. It’s a small coffee shop but it oozes style, there are quirks and colour and character in addition to just being a great place to sit and have a chat or get your coffee to go.

You’re never far from a coffee shop these days but it does make a difference if you can get to an independent. Retail in any form is tough these days, I should know, I manage a furniture showroom so every customer counts. Supporting what is on your high street counts. If big chains feel the pinch just imagine how hard it is for smaller stores to compete and survive. It take guts to set up a new business these days so I urge you, wherever possible, to support your shops. We need the help and if you’re going to get a great cup of coffee and help a small business in the process – well surely that’s a no brainier.

Blog, featured, life, Norfolk, Norwich, Out and about, Reviews, Reviews

The Cosy Club

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Last. night I visited The Cosy Club in Norwich for the second time and had great night. It’s quite new to Norwich and is just up the street from The Ivy on London Street in the old Nat West Bank which closed back in 2017. Cosy Club is part of a chain with 20 restaurants across the country with this one being the latest. It’s a listed building and when you go inside you can see why. It’s stunning setting with loads of the traditional bank character still there (you can fo downstairs and see the vaults), lots of Art Deco aspects but has been designed to be a bit of everything. there are vintage touches and the whole place screams opulence with more chandeliers than you can shake a stick at.

I’d say it’s a bit more affordable than The Ivy and you don’t feel like you have to be too dressed up to go in there so if The Ivy intimidates you, The Cosy Club would be perfect.

The menu is really good, all normal food like steaks, curry, burgers etc. Last night I had The Major General Burger which was delicious.- first time I’ve had a burger with Mac and cheese in it – omg a revelation! I tucked into so quickly I had Eno photo to show you, you’ll just have to take my word for it lol. Food is served all day so you can go in from 9am for brekkie all the way through to 10pm for dinner. I must recommend the drinks menu – I love a tipple!! Cocktails galore and last night as I was driving I chose from the mocktail menu and chose the Blood Orange Mojito which was amazing.

  • Blood Orange Mojito Mocktail
  • Blow a Raspberry at Collin Cocktail

Dessert I chose the mini cinnamon donuts which came with chocolate and toffee sauce and were naughty but oh my god nice.

I would 100% recommend giving The Cosy Club a visit for any occasion, pop in for coffee or get a table booked for a special occasion. I will definitely be going back.

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The Ivy

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Last week Splendid_chap and I visited the newly opened Ivy Norwich.

There was quite a lot of pre opening hype and then all the cool Norwich bloggers were invited for the pre opening ( I’m not a cool Norwich blogger by the way ) I’m one of the uncool ones feeling jealous of the cool ones gettting a free invite and a free meal.

I booked online and chose an early afternoon reservation as it just suited our plans for the day, hubby had a lunchtime hair appointment so we had a very late lunch and a very early dinner.

We were welcomed at the door and seated upstairs and like all the photos we’ve all seen in Instagram, it has been beautifully decorated. There are references to Norwich within the decor such as the Castle, the Cathedral and yellow canaries to represent the football team. It’s a nice touch that it’s not just a generic decor scheme.

Our waiter Lee was fantastic and really looked after us with a great sense of humour and professionalism.

The menu is pretty big. I, as always, have my priorities straight and concentrated on the cocktail menu first and chose a rhubarb and raspberry crumble cocktail which was huge and delicious!

The food menu has loads of choice, almost too much choice but I opted for smoked salmon and crab to start as I thought it would be quite light and it was. Absolutely delicious, plenty of salmon, some yummy crab and rye bread on the side, just what I fancied and made a reallly lovely starter.

I follwed this up with The Ivy Shepherd’s Pie as I wanted something warming after a cold starter. It was so rich and umptious with a little gravy boat on the side and a healthy portion of French beans and peas. It was sublime. You know when you get a meal and every single mouthful gets you making yummy noises – this was one of those meals.

I couldn’t manage a dessert so had a coffee but couldn’t resist a taste of hubby’s cappuccino cake with milk foam which was unbelievably rich but still light at the same time. He’s lucky I didn’t demolish it for him, it was so good.

I really can’t fault the experience that we had at The Ivy, I know others that have not been impressed and I know others that have been back a few times already. My personal experience was it is a beautiful restaurant and the food, staff and service were without fault. It wasn’t cheap, but I didn’t expect it to be. We did have a 3 course meal with a cocktail so I was almost surprised the bill was not higher.

This is a great place for a special occasion meal but you can just go in for a coffee or breakfast and lunch. If you’re thinking of going, go, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Norwich just got that little bit better.

featured, life, Out and about, Reviews, Reviews

Goodies Food Hall

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Splendid_chap and I had Thursday off together this week, I managed to have a lie in which always makes me very happy and it was a nice, leisurely start to the day. We were heading into Norwich at lunchtime as we were meeting up with his parents for lunch but as we’d had no brekkie, we decided to head out mid morning and visit  Goodies Food Hall in Pulham and get ourselves a coffee and possibly a snack to keep us going until lunch.

We’ve been here a few times after having it recommended to us by my folks and this week a friend had told us they served the best coffee he’d had anywhere so we thought, well why not go back. We’ve never been in the cafe before so it seemed ideal to go in and grab a cup of char to start the day off. I hasn’t realised the cafe was so big and that they serve more than just tea and cakes. There’s quite a menu and it all sounded delicious.

My eyes zoomed in the cheese scones pretty quickly and Splendid_chap had a sausage roll and a fruit scone. Along with a latte for me and an Americano for him, we took a seat and tucked in and it was possibly the best cheese scone I’ve ever had!! I’d definitely go back there again for a proper lunch because there is a lovely selection and you can tell it’s all freshly prepared. I have to say some of the cakes were huge, the Bakewell slice looked amazing but could have fed an army.

 

The shop itself is fantastic, such a vast selection of produce from pickles and jams to meat and fish to chinaware and kitchen accessories.

There is great selection of drinks if your alcohol minded like myself so I must admit the selection of gins caught my attention pretty quickly especially as they all local ones and I’m a firm believer that if you can support local, then you should.

My rather lovely husband treated me to a Black Shuck gift box which was a bottle of the gin along with a huge glass which I’m looking forward to filling later this evening! I haven’t yet tried the Norfolk Gin but I’m in love with the packaging.

The butchery section is to die for, so much choice. A tray of Chinese spare ribs caught my eye but I had to resist, I need to be losing weight not putting more on. There is also some lovely fresh produce in the grocery secrion as you walk in which just makes you realise how well you can eat if you can buy this sort of quality product rather than plastic packaged stuff that the supermarkets are full of.

I’d definitely recommend visiting the cafe or if you need gift ideas for someone then Goodies can put a hamper together for you. It’s a little gem of a place and it serves a damn fine cup of coffee.

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Fur and Feather

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So today is Norfolk day and happens to be our day off which is handy although the heatwave is still in full swing  and is getting a bit beyond everyone’s comfort level now. I love sun, I love good weather but when it hits 30 degrees and beyond and your air con in the car doesn’t work – the novelty starts to wear thin.

Being that it is Norfolk Day we had to head upwards a bit as we needed to pop into Norwich anyway so we carried onto to Woodbastwick which is near Wroxham and went to the Fur and Feather for a nice cooling drink.

We’ve been here a few times before for family meals but never really just stopped off just the two of us for a drink. It has a really good sized beer garden and it’s a beautiful looking pub as you can see.

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Norfolk Day was getting in full swing here too as Archers Butchers had set up and burgers and sausages were starting to sizzle plus this is a Woodfordes Brewery so always a good pint to be had here.

Given the heat we just went for a lime and soda each as you need something cold and refreshing in this weather but it was so lovely to sit in the beer garden and we chose a table right near one of the county hares from GoGo Hares . His name is Hareatio Nelson and he’s the first county hare I’ve seen so far and very nice he was too.

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The pub has a lovely Woodfordes shop behind it with loads of lovely goodies to tempt you into purchasing. I’m not really a beer drinker so I always make a beeline for the gin section and the Black Shuck gin range. There’s no bad gin in my opinion.

SplendidChap met up with his friend Adam who works there a small a graphic designer and who came up with the fantastic new Nelson logo for the company which was pretty cool to see his work on all the products.

It’s a really lovely place to visit either for a quick lunch if that’s all you have time for but more for a chilled out long lunch or a great catch up with friends over an evening meal. It’s not a place you feel rushed or want to be rushed away from so if you have a special occasion coming up, or like ,e, you don’t need an excuse for a great meal, then I’d recommend visiting the Fur And Feather, Woodbastwick.