Sushi Express Restaurant Review

I was flicking through the Sheffield magazine 'Toast' and at the back was a voucher for two free salmon nigiri at the new Japanese restaurant - Sushi Express. I love sushi, and free stuff, so now all I had to do was find this place and claim my free food! This was harder than I expected and the little map on the coupon wasn't much help but after nearly 30 minutes of searching I finally found it just down the round from DQ. The first thing I saw when I entered was shelves containing strange Japanese snacks such as squid flavoured peanuts and various pocky. Staff wearing too-big shirts covered in seashells greet me, and take me past the colourful snacks into the dining area. I was pleased to see full colour photos of each dish on the menu - A bad sign in western style restaurants but good in places such as this. I chose my favourite - Unagi Maki, some miso soup, tofu skin and my free roast salmon nigiri. The miso soup wasn't hot which is a shame as it was pretty chilly outside but the hot green tea was, thankfully. The sushi arrived shortly after and was well presented. The salmon was singed and very delicate. It was drizzled with a sweet yellow sauce. The Unagi (eel) was great! Fresh with crunchy strips of cucumber. I was surprised by the tofu skin. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a sort of tofu skin pocket with rice inside. The skin itself was quite sweet and dough-nutty. I ate the rice separately, dipping it in the wasabi. Only suddenly I realize I was a bit over enthusiastic with the wasabi and I felt the burn all the way up into my brain it was very intense! I finished my last salmon nigiri by dropping the rice from under it. Still clutching the salmon with my chopsticks I watched as the rice bounced off my table and onto the floor. I turned around and the waitress was looking at me with the sort of polite smile that said "relax I have seen this many times before". I was rather embarrassed none the less. I then ordered a Dragon roll. I was unsure about it but it did have a chef recommends star next to it so I decided to try something new. Turns out to be a prawn maki with added tiny fish roe and a juicy tempura prawn that's shaped so it looks like a dragon - Very cute! The prawns were slightly warm, whether that is a good thing or not I do not know. The bill comes to £13. I like this place and I'll definitely go back when I'm in the mood for a sushi lunch. Food - 7/10 Value - 7/10 Service - 10/10 I will be doing marks out of 10 for places now! If I remember that is.. Thanks for reading!

Cocoa and Teabox

I'm a huge fan of chocolate so you can imagine my delight when my good friend Rosie asked if I'd like to come with her to interview the lovely ladies at cocoa! Plus I was in need of some good chocolate and cocoa is definitely my favourite chocolate shop in Sheffield. Some of you will remember me blogging about it a while back.

Rosie also mentioned another company - Teabox who make, you guessed it...tea! Tea is another of my favourite things so this day was turning out to be quite a treat and I was eagerly anticipating meeting the people behind both businesses.

Unfortunately for me on Sunday morning I had a bit of a hangover but that didn't stop us from walking (in the rain, I might add) the half hour walk up to hunters bar to meet the family behind Teabox.

We arrived at the house and Kirsty greeted us and invited us into her lovely home. We went through to the kitchen and I noticed her shelves were stacked with foil fresh pouches of tea. On the table were some blueberry muffins which she had baked herself.

She offered us some tea and, after discovering I had a hangover, recommended her 'Tummy Rub' blend of various things including liquorice, chamomile and fennel. After mixing it and letting it steep for the required time she poured us a cup and also one of the fresh muffins!

We asked various questions and all agreed there should be more places that supply good, proper tea. The tea looks incredible, most of them including tiny flowers and the Earl Grey spiked with bright blue petals.

She even gave us a couple of pouches of tea for us to take home with us! I have to say I will be ordering more of the 'Tummy Rub' definitely as it soothed my hangover and perked me up ready for out next visit which was just down the road!

Even the outside of cocoa is enticing and that's before you enter to smell the gorgeous sweet chocolate inside! We greet Kate and Anne and they kindly offer us some more tea and show us to their wonderful little tea room at the back of the shop. We sit down and they then offer us some chocolate...me and Rosie exchange glances with a huge grin on our faces and say "yes please!"

We are then presented with six praline chocolates and six fruity chocolates! These are seriously good.

They tell us about way back when they first bought the shop and also their trip to Granada to a see chocolate being made. Their stories were helped with the addition of photo albums and it was all very fascinating to hear.

After a relaxing hour or so I buy a few things - A couple of chocolate bars and a cute tea strainer for my new tea and then we head on our way back home.

The Orchid Thai Restaurant Review

Browsing the Internet a month ago, I came across an offer on groupon that I couldn't resist - "A Christmas journey" for two people at the orchid Thai restaurant. My mouth watered as I read the menu and after seeing that it was just £21.50 instead of the original £53.60, I bought my voucher straight away. Last night, me and a friend braved the horrible, slushy snow and rain in search of this place. We eventually found it, I was pleased once I realized its whereabouts as I had walked past many times, and always wanted to visit. We step inside to see elegant, expensive decor, which surrounds a huge fish tank, which houses several large fish. The waiter shows us to our table and hands us the Christmas journey menu. We are about to tell him what we would like when he informs us that we will be getting everything on the menu! This makes our choice a little easier. We help ourselves to the prawn and crab crackers. I say we, but I have only a small nibble of a crab cracker, as I'm not keen on them. Our starters arrive almost immediately. The food looks stunning. Well presented and with the addition of some beautifully sliced carrot in the shape of a butterfly and a flower - Very impressive. I enjoy every piece of the starter especially the ribs with meat that fell effortlessly off the bone. Our empty plates are taken and no more than five minutes later our mains start to arrive. The "tradition beef slice" is served in a little pot over a candle and is thin, silky, melt in the mouth beef with a lovely peanut flavour and crunchy green beans. The rice is fine as are the accompanying vegetables. Salmon and aubergine is a combination I've never seen before but it works and is tasty. The chicken has a moreish crunchy coating and a delicate sauce which is unlike the typical Chinese chicken and cashew nut I have tried and has a lighter, more delicate flavour. My curiosities about the traditional Thai dessert are certainly not answered when it arrives. I fish about in the bowl with my spoon and find slices of banana, which I realise after placing in my mouth that they are very hot! The sauce us light,sweet and coco-nutty and the toasted sesame seeds give a lovely crunchy texture and depth of flavour to the whole thing. Overall I'm pretty happy - not only did I get a bargain but I got to sample great food that's a bit different from the standard Chinese meal out, and in lovely sophisticated surroundings!

Yama Sushi Review

I'd heard great things about Yama on London Road and, after craving sushi for quite a while now, me and a friend decided to go along for supper.

It's very small, seating maybe twelve people, with low lights and elegant decor - my ideal kind of place to eat.

The waitress smiled when we arrived and let us choose where to sit. We decided to sit by the window. She handed us our menu and we ordered green tea that was served in a big pot with beautiful navy ceramic beakers to drink from.

The menu has a wide choice of sushi as well as a few noodle, soup and rice dishes - as well as tempura.

We opted for Unagi maki, a crab California roll, prawn and vegetable tempura, and some tofu miso gaku off the specials board.





We didn't have to wait long before our food arrived. It was beautifully presented on the black plates. The grilled eel maki (Unagi) was delicious: crispy eel, crunchy strips of cucumber and perfectly made sticky rice which complimented the oily fish very nicely. The finishing flavour being of the nutty black and white sesame seeds that the sushi has been rolled in.

The crab maki was very good and I loved the flying-fish roe: popping it between my front teeth, as I often do with the seeds in wholegrain mustard.

The tempura was just perfect. The accompanying dipping sauce was sweet and tangy with a hint of miso.

Our waitress brought us the tofu, and told us it was a new dish so any feedback would be appreciated. I was expecting a miso soup with tofu, but it consisted of two squares of fried tofu on sticks with a sweet miso paste spread on top. I loved it, and my friend (who isn't a fan of tofu) also enjoyed it.

I finished off with a bowl of miso soup, which had no faults whatsoever and was a perfect end to the meal.

Overall, I love this place. The food is so fresh, clean and light, and so well-made that I went back again the next night on my own. It will definitely not be my last visit. In fact, I'd go as far as to say this is my new favourite restaurant!

Keep up the good work, Yama!

A late post about China

A few months ago I visited my good friend Si in China and had an amazing time. There was so much weird and wonderful things for a foodie to eat and see. From noodles being prepared fresh in front of you on a small street in shanghai to encountering some of the more unusual (foul) smelling food such as stinky tofu and durian.

I ate huge amounts of delicious food for so little money. You can go out with two friends and order plenty of food and beer and pay around £8 altogether. I only cooked one meal whilst I was there and ate out for the rest of it.



Some more weird things I saw included a newsagents type shop where on the counter where all the gum was, was a clear bag with water and boiled eggs! I found that hilarious and bizarre. Also a lot of the shops have pet cats, in restaurants, greengrocers or even clothes shops there would be a tiny little cat usually sleeping in a corner somewhere.


I saw lots of unusual flavour combinations such as tea boiled eggs, "refreshing" kiwi crisps and so many different flavours of pocky I wanted to try them all. I tried my first dragon fruit for about 30p as well as wax berries.

I saw the famous century egg and pig snout or duck beak, boiled and on a stick and also the equally revolting balut and also fish being decapitated so its sold fresh, the separated head still gaping for air.


One restaurant in Hangzhou had the funniest menu I've ever seen including one dish called 'print hot spice plant belly movie' and another 'sauce explodes the pig does'.
The food I ate the most whilst I was there was silky braised aubergines they were just amazing I've tried to get them back in England but they are not the same.


The street food in amazing all over China. You can get tiny sticks of barbecued lamb and fish for 10p. For breakfast once we went to a lady who made incredible pancakes, she'd clearly been doing it for years.


Another delicious food over there is at KFC oddly enough. They have these Portuguese egg custards which are seriously one of the nicest desserts I've ever had. Its probably for the best that they don't sell them over here...


I went on a 24 hour long train ride with bunk beds and people eating weird vacuum packed chicken leg and boiled eggs and noodle cups. The toilets smelt so bad I ate and drank minimum so I wouldn't have to use them. It was worth it to see the terracotta warriors in Xi'an though.


My last night was spent dining out in one of Shanghai's more expensive restaurants which was still cheap by England's standards followed by a walk by the river and then the best cocktails I've ever had in an expensive bar with the most incredible view of the shanghai skyline.

Dartmouth Food Festival

Last weekend was the Dartmouth food festival!
I was lucky enough to visit the picturesque town thanks to my good friend Jonathan whose cousin and her husband own a b&b there and were lovely enough to let me stay!

I had a great time and ate many delicious things including the best brownies I've ever had which were lovely and gooey with cranberries and pecans...yum!
I also had my first oyster which was wonderful and saw some great chefs doing live demonstrations and got lots of free tasters.

The food markets were fun to walk around and south Devon chilli farm had a stall and being a fan of theirs already, I bought some spiced chocolate and a bottle of sweet chilli sauce.
I also tried raclette for the first time and it was cheese heaven, seriously incredible! Even the preparation was an experience to watch as the chef grilled the top of the cheese til golden and bubbling then scraped off a load onto some new potatoes and garnished with baby gherkins and pickled onions...delish.

On the Sunday we went crabbing! That was a whole new experience for me, basically you get a tiny string bag which you place bacon in then that's attached to a line which you throw over the side of the bank into the river below and wait for a bit before pulling up your line and see if any crabs are attached. It was so much fun! You count up your crabs at the end and then put them back in the sea. We caught 19 in total!

Dartmouth is a beautiful place. Everyone knows everyone and you can't stand outside a pub without seeing another one. There is lovely little shops and galleries, great live music and even a castle! Amazing!

Free Fruit!

This month I have been taking advantage of all the wonderful fruits nature has to offer...and best of all they are free! I've braved brambles for fresh juicy blackberries all for the price of a few scratches. I've picked the tastiest plums from my grans back garden as well as lots of delicious apples and pears. I even took a few photos for you lovely people.

(seen outside a neighbours house - free cooking apples!)

If you are interested in picking free fruit of your own and learning more then go here to read about Abundance.

"Abundance is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit like apples, pear and plums. Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked either because people don’t notice them, may not be physically able to harvest them or there are just too many fruits at one time. Abundance is a team of volunteers who have been helping harvest city fruit and redistributing the surplus to the community on a non-profit basis - to community cafes, nurseries, Surestarts and individuals."