Nawaab Khan, Oakwood

After driving back from the Wirral and a few drinks in Stew & Oyster, the last thing we wanted to do on Sunday night was cook.  Luckily for us, next door to Stew & Oyster is Nawaab Khan, self proclaimed "probably the best curry in Yorkshire".  Now, I'm not really in a position to judge whether that statement is accurate - I've eaten a lot of good (and some rubbish) curries whilst living in Leeds.  However, I will say that I did like this one. 

We opted for takeaway treats (Joe finally getting his way after what feels like months of asking), although on Sundays they do a "mega Asian buffet" for £10.95 per person.

Nawaab Khan is a family run restaurant serving Pakistani and Indian dishes.  We were relatively restrained in our ordering and could have gone for a lot more.  What I did note is that the menu doesn't give much of a spice indication - its fairly clear what is mild from the ingredients list, but what is spicy is less clear. 

We went for poppadoms and a pickle tray as a little starter and the pickles were great.  There was a lovely little coriander pickle which I haven't tried before, and was really tasty.  The others, although more standard, were also very good.

Poppadoms and pickles

For mains we went for Punjabi chicken, which is a Rajastani dish made with green chillies, cloves, cumin, black pepper and coriander, and was full of flavour and not too hot despite all the chillies. We also had lamb madras, which had sweet lamb in a lovely warming sauce full of flavour.  Both served up with pilau rice and a plain naan, it was a lovely dinner.  I was stuffed to the rafters but it was well worth it!  They are definitely giving the other Indian restaurants in the area a run for their money.

Punjabi chicken (left) and Lamb Madras (right)

Saturday - Part Two - Antep 7.5/10

The Saturday night Rees family outing was to Antep BBQ, a Turkish restaurant in Hoylake.  This is a restaurant that Stephie and Shereef have been to countless times and have always been very complimentary, so we thought we should give it a try.

I will preface this post by warning you that, as Antep BBQ does not currently have a website, I cannot guarantee the names of the dishes we had!  This is going to be more description than anything else so apologies!

This is a cute little family-run outfit, unassuming but very friendly and convivial.  While we were there on Saturday most of the tables were full, with new people arriving all evening.  They have a relaxed approach to dining, chatting with the customers and making everyone feel very welcome. 

Mum Rees and Brother Dave

Me and Stephie (looking surprisingly chipper for our night out on the Friday!)

Joe (less chipper!)

For starters we decided to try a range.  My favourite thing about restaurants like this is that the starters are particularly disposed to sharing, with little dips and hands-on tasters to get your taste buds going.  I am more than happy to admit that I have never been to Turkey, so I cannot comment on the authenticity of any of the food, but suffice to say it was all rather good.  We opted for the humous (more!  It's a good thing I like chickpeas), the roasted aubergine dip, a gorgeous blended tomato and chilli salad, pan fried liver, chicken wings and feta parcels.  The bread was something more akin to a foccacia than a flat bread, but was really tasty and topped with herbs.  My particular favourite was the tomato and chilli salad which was rich and spicy, but the roasted aubergine also deserves a recommendation.  I didn't get to the chicken wings, but the feta in filo was very good, and the liver an interesting option.

Antep BBQ - contact info

Bread and olives

Pan fried liver

Feta parcels

Chicken wings

The tomato and chilli salad

Humous

Roasted aubergine

The mains are divided into stews and grilled meats.  Although we were recommended the lamb chops, these will have to wait until next time.  Joe plumped for grilled spicy chilli chicken thighs with rice and salad, which were tender and juicy with a lovely rub.  Stephie, Sue and I all had a variation on the stew theme - Stephie had the vegetarian while I went for chicken and Sue had lamb.  Out of the lamb and chicken I think the chicken won out - lots of meat, roasted Mediterranean vegetables and a beautifully spiced sauce.  Stephie's veggie option subbed the chicken for feta and okra and also looked great.  The lamb just could have benefited from a touch more lamb (!).

They all came with a beautiful salad, a mixture of raw and lightly pickled treats in a delicious dressing, which was a great balance to the rich stew.

The grill, which looks out onto the restaurant and gives some great theatre.

Joe's Turkish lager, Efes

The salad

The lamb stew

The veggie

Joe's chicken thighs

I'll be honest, after such a glutinous day I was absolutely stuffed.  Most of the chicken stew came home with us, along with the lamb and vegetables stew (only to be scoffed by Dave after he came in from the pub!).  We couldn't face desserts, but did enjoy the marshmallow treats we were given.

All in, it was a lovely meal at a delightful restaurant.  Next time I wouldn't choose so many starters, or I'd just go for the starters and skip the mains.  Either way, I had a great time and will be going back.

marshmallow treats

Me and the owner.  Aww

Friday night in

So what I didn't say in Thursday's post is that as well as consuming rather a lot of cheese, I was also on the vino!  First proper time this year, so by the time Friday rolled around the last thing I wanted to do was go out.

Joe, who thinks out of the box more than me, persuaded me that the perfect Friday night dinner would be take away, and pointed me in the direction of The Red Sea Restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant/takeaway on Roundhay Road. 

I checked online and it seemed to have some pretty good reviews, so we gave it a shot.  The menu isn't huge, and if ordering online, the menu on the website does not exactly match that on the ordering site.  Not to worry though, there is plenty on there anyway.

We started with Mossaghat Bethenjan,which is fried aubergine with onions, peppers, chickpeas, parsley and mixed spices.  It was nicely flavoured with cumin and cinnamon and came with a huge naan bread.  It may also have converted Joe into an aubergine fan which is excellent from my point of view!

This was followed by Chicken Mousahab, boneless chicken marinaded in lemon, garlic and olive oil and served with fries and salad, and Sweet Lamb and Sultana Tagine with rice.  The lamb tagine (admittedly Moroccan) was an absolute treat - succulent lamb on the bone with a well spiced sauce full of cinnamon, cloves, cumin, honey and mango.  We also liked the chicken, but it wasn't nearly as interesting as everything else and was slightly overdone.  The chips weren't great either.

A word of warning to anyone thinking of ordering from there - we chose an extra naan (not really thinking we were getting one with the starter) and they were both huge (but very good).  The online ordering menu also doesn't specify the lamb came with rice, so we ordered another one of those.  There was definitely no need - the rice is enough to feed four and we had tons!

All in, I would go back there, but I'd probably stick to the slow cooked dishes as the lamb definitely outshone the chicken.

Mossaghat Bethenjan

Two HUGE naans

Some sort of chilli sauce/dressing

The fries - next time I wouldn't bother

Rice one - massive!

Sweet Lamb and Sultana Tagine

North Wales part 1 - Review; The White Eagle, Rhoscolyn

A couple of months ago Manc Mike mentioned that his family had a place in North Wales that they were interested in letting it out. Never one to pass up an opportunity, I offered our services to stay for a weekend and we agreed on a date in October. It is in Rhoscolyn, North Wales and sounded just up our street with peace and quiet, quality walking/ running, water features and a local pub serving good food - more on all of this later.

So after a lovely breakfast at The Spotty Blue Teapot in Hoylake we started the 2 hourr drive to Rhoscolyn with a plan to stop on the way in Conwy on recommendation from Mum.

My breakfast plate accompanied by a flat white

 It took about an hour to get to Conwy, and we were pleased we decided to stop. There isn't a huge amount to see, but what there is is lovely! The best thing was the Conwy Castle and walking all the way around the town on the castle walls.

Joe on the pier in the harbour

Jo on the wall, with a brilliant view

 As we strolled the cobbled streets I was delighted that we stumbled on a butchers with the accolade of the 2011 North Wales Champion in the Pork Pie Category. Unfortunately it was probably the worst pork pie I have had on the Pork Pie quest - it tasted just like one that you would buy in a supermarket and was the total opposite of what I want in a Pork Pie - bland and tasteless meat (although the pastry was quite good).

The award - no idea how they got it!

 We then continued our journey to Rhoscolyn and the below is what we found on arrival. There will be more pictures on the next post, but we were both really really impressed! The house is the very last one down a narrow dirt track and is surrounded by grass, cliffs, the beach and sea - awesome!

The house we stayed in in Rhoscolyn

After a couple of hours exploring, Frenchie Dog Eyes and Sam arrived, and it was great to see them both. We have been on weekends away with them a few times now, and we always have fun and there is never any drama!.....at 7.30pm I strapped on my head-torch and led the way as we all walked along the beach to the White Eagle pub which we had heard really good things about - over to Jo for the words here. 

One of my favourite things is finding a brilliant pub/restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  The White Eagle is in Rhoscolyn, which honestly looks like it has a maximum of 50 houses and is just down the road from Trearrdur Bay.  During the week, it opens at 6pm and serves food until 9pm, along with a range of ales and vino.

Joe and Frenchie Dog Eyes got stuck into the ale, trying brews from Llandudno, Conwy and Chester while Sam and I stuck to the rose (in a bag!)  The food on the menu is more restaurant than traditional pub, with a number of specials on offer. 

Ale from Chester

Rose in an ice bag

Drinks sorted, there were a lot of tasty sounding food on the menu.  Joe and Frenchie plumped for a warm cheese and chive scone with ham hock and leek and cheese sauce.  Although they said it was nice, the fact that it was an actual scone slightly threw them (I think they were expecting something along the lines of a potato scone perhaps...).  I had the prawn cocktail and Sam went for the coarse country pork liver pate.  Mine was lovely, and Sam's was a proper home made terrine.  A good start.

The ham hock scone - definitely a scone!!

Sam's coarse pork liver terrine, which came with gherkins which were amazing!

My prawn cocktail - a nostalgic moment

For mains, Joe and Frenchie decided to match again!  They went for a barnsley lamb chop with pearl barley risotto with chorizo (we were told it was called a barnsley chop because the meat is shaped like a B, but the more likely story is that it originates in Barnsley!).  This tasted absolutely amazing - really tender and rich, almost like a good steak, and the pearl barley risotto was a very nice surprise.  Sam opted for fish and chips, which was also really good, and I had the slow cooked belly pork with stir fried vegetables, which was also very good.  The belly pork was perfectly cooked, and went really well with a savoury soy based sauce.

The Barnsley chop

Fish & chips

Pork belly cooked in soy with stir fried vegetables.  My only slight critcism was that there was too much liquid, which was more like a broth than a sauce.  It was still good though.

Frenchie Doy Eyes enjoying his ale and lamb

Quaffing Joe

A good espresso - another sign of a good pub

And would you believe the boys even made room for dessert?  Eyes definitely bigger than their bellies, Joe went for chocolate bread and butter pudding with chocolate sauce, while Frenchie had raspberry ripple icecream in a brandy snap basket.  Admittedly, they were both really good desserts and between the four of us we did finish them both...chubby kids.

Chocolate bread and butter pudding

Raspberry ripple icecream in a brandy snap basket

The White Eagle pub - if you're ever in the area, seek it out!

And all the info you need...

Oh, and as they were not full enough after all the ale and food, Joe and Frenchie then returned to the house to finish Frenchie's Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which he has been savouring for a year now.  Boys will be boys...

Johnnie Walker's blue label, based on the original 1867 blend

Food Treats by Joe - Sunday Night Moroccan Lamb

Throughout our relationship, Joe and I have had a debate over the traditional Sunday lunch.  It's not something I was brought up with, so I'm not a fan of the Sunday roast, but I think I might have been depriving Joe!  To get round this, Joe's cunning plan is to do it himself - cue Joe making Sunday dinner!

That said, Joe's roast wasn't all that traditional.  He made a slow cooked moroccan spiced leg of lamb with rosemary, garlic, tomato, cumin and other spices, accompanied by a chickpea mash, peas, and a tomato jus.  The leg of lamb came from Malcolm Michaels butchers who are in the Kirkgate market, and was very good.  We were a little sceptical about a chickpea mash, but it was really tasty and much lighter than normal mash.  Overall it was a big win, and probably the start of a competition between Joe and I for who can cook the best dinners on a Sunday!

Our lunch - some filthy French pate brought back from Paris

The spiced leg of lamb - after 7 hours in the crock pot

The carved product - melt in your mouth!

Slow cooked lamb, chickpea mash, peas and jus - apologies for the wonky picture!