Dhanistas

After receiving lots of positive recommendations for Dhanista's, I decided it was about time for me to try this new(ish) Sri Lankan restaurant for myself. I also happened to stumble across a voucher online for £30 worth of food for two, for only £10! Very lucky indeed.

After some gentle coaxing to get my boyfriend to go, and avoiding the temptation from the aromas wafting out of the profusion of other restaurants on London Road, I arrived.

On entering I was rather surprised to see how bright it was: it was nearly 7pm and yet it looked like lunch time. Some curtains and candles might be a good idea so as to create a better evening atmosphere.

The staff were very welcoming and friendly. I could smell the aroma of various spices and garlic floating through the kitchen into the restaurant. Looking at the menu I remember feeling a rare excitement, mostly arising from the fact that there were so many dishes that I had never heard of, let alone tasted, before.

We chose masala squid and a mushroom dish to start, followed by aubergine curry, butter chicken, egg kotthu and pilau rice.


Our food arrived shortly after, and I dug past the unwanted raw onions to some very tender and tasty squid. I've never had squid 'Indian-style' before, but this definitely won't be the last time! However, I do feel it could have benefited from a dipping sauce of some sort.

The mushrooms were gorgeously rich and had been coated in  batter, fried  and served with a spicy tomato sauce.

I had been slightly worried, when ordering, about the portions being too big and daunting, but I needn't have worried as they were spot on. The mains arrived and, with them, mouth-watering smells.

Two whole baby aubergines and a rich coconut and lime leaf sauce made up my brinjal curry. It tasted as good as it smelt. The occasional surprise crunch of a whole fennel, cumin or coriander seed filled my whole mouth with the perfumes. An explosion of taste. The texture of the aubergine was spot on: charred on the outside with a silky interior.

The pilau was perfectly cooked and fluffy with various  colours and spices. The egg kotthu (basically a chopped up paratha mixed with chopped egg and spring onions) is pure comfort food. It brings back childhood memories of my mums last-minute meals of fried egg on paratha - delicious!

The whole thing comes to just over £30 and unfortunately they don't accept my discount code as I'd not printed off the voucher and attempted to show them the e-mail on my phone. Oops, silly me. But, I suppose that this gives me another excuse to come down again another time!

I'm happy Sheffield has a new Sri Lankan restaurant to join East and West. I find that most other Indian restaurants simply do not compare, with their oil-laden dishes that taste exactly the same as one another. Give me more fresh and simple flavours from South India any day.

My trip to Dhanistas has sparked in me fresh anticipation for my holiday to India, thats for sure!



Food 9/10
Service 8/10
Value 9/10

Revolution De Cuba!

It was Easter Sunday and very, very warm.
I decided to take my friend Robinn to Revolution de Cuba - one of my favourite bars in town.

Once inside the spacious and light interior, with its low ceiling fans we knew we had made the right decision.

One of the things I love about this place is the fact that once inside, you feel a million miles away from Sheffield...don't get me wrong I love Sheffield! Sometimes you just need to take a break though. this place with its funky artwork and live Cuban band makes a refreshing change from other drinking establishments in Sheffield.

I start off with my favourite cocktail - a strawberry daiquiri. This is dangerously good. Imagine a slush puppy, but made with fresh strawberries, ice and lots of rum! Perfect on a hot day like this.

The menu has various salads, burritos, tapas etc and we decide to go for their "3 small plates for £12" deal.
I order some nachos with three bean chilli and Robinn goes for chorizo and patatas bravas. We also get some mojito battered prawns to share.

The food arrives quickly and it looks well presented. I taste a prawn first and am pleasantly surprised to find it has been de-veined. The batter is crisp and has a hint of rosemary which oddly enough, works.
Even the accompanying salad garnish is well thought out, with fresh coriander and edamame beans.

The patatas bravas is perfectly seasoned and fluffy inside.
The nachos are bigger than i was expecting and are accompanied by guacamole, salsa and sour cream.
I love the chilli and there is just the right amount of topping. Not too much so that you pick up one chip and all the others are  attached by a huge lump of solidified melted cheese. Just enough.
My only complaint here would be that the salsa is too sweet.

The waitress is very friendly and attentive and after ordering a mojito that was too bitter, she took it away and got us another freshly made and much tastier one.

I'll definitely be back for more delicious food and cocktails!

Food 8/10
Service 9/10
Value 9/10

Made by Jonty Review

Yesterdays weather was truly stunning!
I celebrated my day off with a trip to hunters bar.

First stop was a haircut and manicure up on Greystones road,
the second stop was the Greedy Greek where I popped in for some delicious Strofilia and the third stop was Made by Jonty.

There's a nice chilled out atmosphere to the place and the two girls who served me were bubbly and friendly. I like the exposed brick walls and tasty looking cakes on display.
There is a large blackboard menu and an "all day breakfast" paper menu which includes the usual breakfast items as well as some very tasty sounding Eggs Benedict and Florentines.
However I am not really in a breakfast mood so go for the cauliflower cheese burger off the board and a hot chocolate to drink.
I sit upstairs and look out of the window at the nearby school with all the happy children finishing their day...yes it was a very late lunch!

Soon enough my hot chocolate arrives and is hot, milky and chocolaty. Just what you'd expect from a good hot chocolate!

Not long after the waitress brings up my burger. "Tell me what you think because I might have it for my lunch on Saturday!", she tells me.

The bread is nice but slightly disappointing as it didn't seem to be home made. The burger itself is great but could benefit from more cheese. Yet it makes a nice alternative to your traditional burger.

The accompanying sweetcorn relish is sweet and tangy with a bit of heat from the whole mustard seeds. The flavours work together with the rich cauliflower cheese well.

I'm stuffed so don't go for a dessert today but will be back if I'm ever in the area for more summer food or if I fancy a tasty  breakfast.


The whole bill came to just over £9.

Food 7/10
Service 9/10
Value 7/10


...Oh and my fourth and final stop was at Nonnas Cucina where I purchased a slice of coffee and white chocolate tart for later. It was gorgeously decadent!

Spring Vegetable And Goats Cheese Filo Parcels With A Caramelized Apple Compote Recipe

I tried a similar version of this last week whilst I was in Morocco, at the Earth Cafe.

The apple and goats cheese work very nicely together and when I made this at work it sold out pretty fast! Enjoy!

This is a rough-ish  recipe as however many parcels it will make will depend on the sheets of filo you get in your pack / don't rip etc.

I used roasted butternut squash, courgettes, red onion, red pepper and blanched kale as my vegetables but you could use pretty much any!

Ingredients:
Pack Filo Pastry
Vegetables (see above)
Goats Cheese
Apples
Oil (for brushing)

Method:
Pretty straightforward really!
Preheat gas to 200 degrees C.



       Compote

• Peel and small rough chop the apples removing all the pips.
• Cook on the stove in a pan with a little water and sugar.
• It will stick slightly, let it do so as this adds colour and flavour!

       Parcels

• Roast your veggies or steam them, pan fry them, boil them it really is up to you, this is a very versatile recipe. Make sure to leave them with a bit of crunch.
• Gently seperate your filo. Each parcel needs 2 sheets. lay these on top of each other. (Tip - with filo, a slightly damp tea towel, laid over the remaining filo, whilst you begin working on a parcel, helps it to not dry out!)
• Layer your vegetables and finish off with a gooey slice of goats cheese.
• Brush the sides with oil and fold them over like you are wrapping a present - bringing them over together neatly on top.
• Garnish with remaining pepper and bake for 10-15 minutes
• Serve with the apple compote! 

Sorry I have no finished picture of the parcels but they did sell out before I had the chance to photograph any!

 

Wasabisabi's 7th Birthday Party!

Last night I attended Wasabisabi's 7th birthday party, and what a great night it was!



I saw many familiar faces, and lots of new ones including Claire from the blog “Love to live to eat”.
It's always nice to meet fellow bloggers.

The place quickly filled up and I handed in my token for a free glass of wine which they filled nearly to the brim of a huge glass!

The décor of Wasabisabi is very typical of a sushi restaurant. It has a small water-lilly stream and waterfall in the corner, and nets with an abundance of paper fish dangling above our heads. This is topped off with a huge wooden boat, of which they also have smaller replicas on which they serve the sushi.
The dining area in Wasabisabi consists of a seating area down a couple of steps and a teppanyaki area up another few steps.

After another glass of wine I realised I needed to eat something soon as it was going straight to my head! Talk about cheap date!




I didn't have to worry about not getting enough food at all as the treats kept on coming and the next was huge tempura prawns that were spot on perfection.

I wandered up to the teppanyaki area and was told they would be starting in 10 minutes so I found a great spot and watched as the chefs did there stuff. They were very impressive with their juggling and knife skills. The prawns were the nicest prawns I have ever eaten in my life! I want to know what was in those metal canisters he was juggling about so much.




Next they cooked chicken and beef, and to be honest I was full - so I moved on to chat with some more people before leaving. I was shown a few tricks by my magician friend Ben who was there as well.

All in all it was a fantastic party! There was a really nice mix of people there which created a great atmosphere. Happy birthday Wasabisabi!

Cake 'R' Us Chinese Bakery

My favourite cake shop!

I love this place. It makes me feel happy and excited from the moment I step through the door! This is partly due to all the colourful cakes and decorations. I also love admiring all the interesting flavour combinations such as pineapple and red bean, roast pork or salted egg puff.

I have tried the roast pork bun before, and it was an interesting mix of sweet and salty which I can't say I'm too keen on myself, but hey they have plenty of other cakes for me to choose from, so that’s why its still number one!

I love the tiramisu, black forest, chocolate truffle, egg tart and fried dough stick.
They are also incredibly light and fluffy too.

I'm off to a cheese fondue party tonight and bought some cakes specially for the occasion.
I got two tiramisus, a black forest slice and a mango cake...yum yum!

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!