The Wheel, Queniborough

We are always eager to try new places to eat so on Saturday were excited to try a new place with our friends Mark and Sarah. It was Mark's birthday and we had all been eyeing up a curry for a good while so ended up at The Wheel in Queniborough near Leicester.
This is a traditional English Pub but with a twist in that it serves only Indian food in the evening.
It was very busy (it was Saturday after all), all tables were full but we received a warm welcome and started the evening with a gin and tonic!
The menu was a little difficult to navigate and there were so many things to choose from that we were a little confused between starters and main course.
Nonetheless we received complementary (obligatory I would say!) poppadoms and pickles while we decided what to have. We started with a sizzling platter of starters as well as a deep fried vegetable that was new to us (the name has escaped me!). These were nicely presented and tasted good although the vegetable dish was a little bland.
We followed with a lamb jalfrezi (this was totally scrummy), a tomato prawn dish and then a chicken tawa, both of which were nice. The chapatis were well cooked and overall we finished up feeling full, satisfied and not much food leftover (always a danger when your eyes are bigger that your belly!).
Mark had a good birthday we hope and was very pleased with his Sterck Hot Stripe Apron which will be a must for those summer barbecues that will no doubt commence when the first rays of sunshine appear!
Overall a pleasant evening had by all with my next curry planned at the Spice of India in Syston (who deliver to my village - how fantastic!)

Kitchen Gifts Now Available to Buy

Our first delivery has been received and photographed and is now available to buy online.

The initial range includes:

• Aprons 
• Oven Gloves 
• Aprons for Children
• Coordinating Accessories

We feel that the quality and generous cut of the products make this range stand out as great gifts for all the cooks in your life.  With Mother's day less than two weeks away, we are offering next day dispatch and free, first class delivery - an offer you'd be mad to miss!

Take a good look through the range and let us know what you think.

Kitchen Gift Stock Now In

We're excited this morning following the arrival of stock for the new Gifts section of the Dinner at Home website.

We'll be checking through the order to make sure that all of the aprons, oven gloves, and other coordinating items are there and then start taking photographs.

Check back soon to see the range of gifts that are available to buy.

Dinner At Home Gifts

We are very excited this week as we put the finshing touches to our soon to open on line shop "Dinner At Home Gifts"! I have always thought it would be great to be able to find great gifts, suitable for a wide spectrum of people for sale on a foodie website that recognises the kind of thing that foodie people might like as a gift.
We went to the Spring Fair at the NEC recently and sourced some very good quality, beautifully designed aprons, oven gloves, tea cosies and textile tableware which will shortly be available to buy at great prices.
The items come from India and are Fair Trade accredited. There are hot stripes, ginghams and traditional stripes and all would make perfect gifts for Mother's Day, birthdays and Christmas for wives, mums, daughters as well as husbands, dads and sons! The hot stripe half apron is perfect for the man of the house to perform his barbecue duties! Stylish , great quaslity and made to last.
Anyway - coming soon - Dinner At Home Gifts - keep a look out!

Pembrokeshire Pasty & Pie Company

We heard some exciting news this week with the launch at Penally Abbey of the Pembrokeshire Pasty and Pie Co. My cousin Ollie (Oliver Booth) and his old friend Dominic Spencer-Churchill have been sourcing great local ingredients from the Pembrokeshire area and have come up with some scrumpious flavours of pies and pasties which include the Tenby Treat (beef and stilton), the Friendly Dragon (I think my girls might have this one down as mine!!) which is chicken in a light curry sauce and the Caldey Island (fish in a creamy white sauce with leeks and tarragon). The Traditional Pembrokeshire Pasty sounds my favourite by far, consisting of Welsh lamb, red currant jelly, currants and mint but certainly different to the norm is the Preselli Mountain Breakfast consisting of bacon, sausage, egg, tomatoes and beans!

What is great about this venture is that Ollie has put a lot of research up front to source guaranteed local ingredients, all grown and reared in Pembrokeshire and of doutless excellent quality. They will be baked locally as well.

Following the launch party last week we can all look forward to the first shop opening in Tenby on 1st March (we were in Tenby this weekend and as of last night the sign writer was just putting the finishing touches to the Pembrokeshire Pie and Pasty sign above the shop in George Street!).

This will be followed by a flagship store in Cardiff later in the year and a roll out plan for many more over 5 years.

The motto "Farm Fresh, Farm Made, Farm Filled" says it all with every pie and pasty being its own Parcel of Pembrokeshire Magic.

I really wish Ollie well in this venture and can't wait to try them all - how perfect, en route to the Castle Beach in the summer to pick a couple of these up for lunchtime! That will save Jon having to "nip to the Hope and Anchor for sandwiches" hopefully!!

The Ocean Restaurant, Tenby

We've had a really nice weekend down in Tenby over half term - a journey from hell which took over 6 hours in the thick snow (!) but worth it as the weather in Pembrokeshire was glorious.

We had the obligatory fish and chips on Friday night from the Park Road Fish Bar - delicious as ever and then last night ventured to the Ocean Restaurant, overlooking the harbour and with a special offor of "half price food" as advertised in the Tenby Observer. This offer is until 7pm (I think) so we booked in for 6.15pm as the girls were with us.

The atmosphere was lovely - warm, cosy with friendly service. We'd had a larger than planned lunch do went straight for main course. Jon and I both ordered the Rib Eye Steak in a peppercorn sauce and the girls opted for a Tropicana Pizza and a mozarella garlic bread between them. We also ordered a bottle of Valpollicella at £15.95 which was average.

The steaks were delicious and cooked really well - the quality of the meat was very good - juicy and succulent. The sauce was a little non descript - not much flavour but didn't spoil the meal as the steak was so good. The accompanying veg were disappointing - it was served with a few chips, a grilled tomato and a few shallot rings which were OK but also came with veg (new potatoes, broccoli and carrots) which were clearly reheated from a previous sitting and a bit grey and uninviting.

That said, the pizza and garlic bread were very tasty and almost everything got eaten. The "offer" was honoured and our bill (including the wine) came to only £41 due to the half price food. I would certainly go again when the offer is on but not sure I would be happy with paying the real price of £18.95 for the rib eye steak.

The Mulberry, Saundersfoot

We were over in Saundersfoot yesterday visiting family and decided to revisit the Mulberry Restaurant for some lunch as we were all starving! I think the last time I was there was following a funeral when we hadn't eaten all day so ended up there for a steak. Not sure whether it was because we were starving that time but I remember it being an incedibly good rib eye steak!

Anyway, the menu is reasonably priced at around £7 - £8 a dish and they are good sized portions. The menu is fairly traditional with all the old favourites on but that is just what we were fancying!

Imogen ordered the luxury fish at £7.50 which was a good size and came with peas and carrots. It had great flavour and certainly tasted homemade. Jon ordered the beef burger and fries at £7.50 - a good size, cooked well (not overdone) and again very tasty with a good side of fries. I ordered the boiled ham with parsley sauce, mash and veg. Good slabs of ham, plenty of tasty sauce and nicely firm fresh veg. Very good. Scarlett wasn't very hungry so ordered the ham sandwich (£4.95) which was amazing value as it was thick slices of proper ham on thick hunks of white bread served with fries and coleslaw.

The service was prompt and friendly with a nice warm atmosphere generally and with a total bill of £38 including drinks I would thoroughly recommend it.