restaurant – Lessons I learned after I turned 30

The Pig-in the Wall

Are there any places in the city you live you’ve been meaning to check out but never got around to it?

I do. I still haven’t made it to the Isle of Wight (Whaaat!) and I’ve never been to the other Cypriot restaurant in Southampton, George’s, -I know, shocking-, or Ennios or the Pig In the Wall.

Last Sunday I made it to one of them. The Pig In the Wall. I’ve always wanted to visit but I lived at the other end of town and it just never happened.

I’ve seen snaps before but it looks even prettier and cosier in real life.

The fireplace was on and we were sat in a cosy corner right next to it.

I didn’t notice that this was on the Wall and took me by surprise (it took me a day to realise that was actually the Pig in the Wall). Can I just say this was not my initial reaction but my friend wanted me to re-enact my original reaction. As you can probably tell my acting skills need some work.

I wasn’t too hungry, so I went for a light option, ricotta cheese with chives, walnuts and honey on sourdough bread and it was delicious.

It took me back to my childhood when this lady in a van would come around the neighbourhood every Saturday morning selling all sorts of homemade goodies including halloumi and the least known Cypriot cheese anari, which is very similar to ricotta, a fresh mild whey cheese that depending on what you are craving, you can have it savoury or sweet. It’s very underrated but one of the best types of cheese out there.

I now love this place so much, I can’t believe I hadn’t been before. The cosy vibes, the food, the service.

If you haven’t had the chance to go before, I definitely recommend it for a relaxed Sunday brunch.

Eleni

Glorious food, laughter and spontaneous singing

It was the night of the 10th of January. A mundane, ordinary day that ended with delectable food and plenty of laughter, celebrating friends’ birthdays.

I love going out with the Solent gang. You know that feeling, that you can be yourself and enjoy the evening without having to pretend? I always get it with these wonderful, fun, creative, loving people and I always look forward to our nights out.

The dining choice this time was Simon’s at Oxfords. I’ve been many a times in the past for drinks and the ever so fun Sunday jams nights, I used to love those, but never had dinner there before.

The food was just lovely. Beautifully, picture perfect presented which makes a difference for me and very flavoursome.

We went for their set menu and I opted for starter and main (cutting down on sugar is NOT easy).

Prawns is one of my favourite flavours so I had tempura prawns with a sprinkle of fresh lime served with sweet chilli sauce for a starter…

followed by roasted chicken breast served on a creamy potato mash and wild mushroom & smoked pancetta cream. De-li-cious.

The rest of the group had a mixture of starters/mains/desserts but everyone enjoyed their meal, especially Helen who claimed that was the ‘best pork’ she ever had!

The service was great and quick, and fun, especially the lady at the end who, because of our impromptu singing sang back to us when going around for everyone to pay.

We paid £24 for a two course meal which was worth it, in my opinion. My drink was a bit expensive (I paid £7 for a 175ml glass of wine) but I must admit the glass of Malbec I had was divine. I can’t believe I only discovered Malbec less than a year ago.

All in all a great experience (minus the paintings on the walls some of the people in the group did not like, Chris: ‘They are scary, they have no eyes!’ but I actually thought were quite unique!)

What a great first dinner out in 2019. Here’s to more to come!

Eleni

Laughs and waffles

Socialising over food is probably my favourite thing to do. If I could I’d do it all day, every day. No wonder is scientifically proven to have health benefits, physical and psychological.

It’s even better when I get to try a new place in town with one of my favourite friends, Lucy. Let me tell you a little bit about Lucy.

Lucy is sweet, caring, funny, we can talk about anything and she is always happy to try new places. We always run out of time every time we meet, because we lose track of it every single time.

Our schedules are already getting busier and we are not even in December yet but we finally made it, we always do. We always make time for the people we care about, it’s a universal human attribute I guess.

There’s a new-ish waffle restaurant in town, Pere Waffle that’s been on my list of new food places to try (still haven’t tried the new Lebanese one, Beity, where Kibbeh, the equivalent to Cypriot κουπες, ‘minced beef croquettes’, one of the my guilty pleasures I enjoy every time I go home features on the menu) and of course sweet Lucy loved the idea of giving it a go.

I love a waffle, but I never tend to finish it, last one I had was a couple of years ago at Sprinkles and it was too sweet, too big, too of everything.

I decided to go for a savoury, ‘papounet’ (stuffed) one, since I’ve never tried a savoury one before. No idea why. I’ve had savoury crepes and pancakes plenty of times before but never waffles. Bizarre.

I had the salmon, tzatziki and cream cheese one, the Atlantico, and it was delicious, much better than I expected. The waffle was light and soft, and the ingredients tasted fresh, the best sign of great food. Brownie points for the salad dressing. Most restaurants in the UK serve the salad plain, tasting of nothing, but a bit of vinaigrette makes a world of difference. And extra brownie points for the portion size. Not too small, not ridiculously large. Just perfect.

Lucy fancied something sweet so she went for Parisian, cheesecake in a waffle, heaven!

We enjoyed every bite whilst chatting about anything and everything, work, friendship, love life, fashion, our clumsiness, and we laughed, a lot.

I loved everything about Pere Waffle, cute, cosy space, friendly service and reasonable prices for such great food. I can’t wait to go again and try different fillings. And I can’t wait to see Lucy again!

Eleni

Falling in love with London again- Mamma Mia and apres theatre dinner

Saturday afternoon, 19th of May

We are sitting opposite a church, in the heart of London, enjoying the sunshine and chatting, just before we head to the theatre.

The bells have been ringing for about half an hour now (the Royal wedding you see) and it’s starting to get a bit annoying. I wonder when my brain will get used to it and it will all become another meaningless background noise.

But I don’t have to find out because it’s time to head to Novello Theatre.

When I was home in Cyprus a few weeks earlier, Artemis and I had the pleasant, but almost impossible task to choose what musical to watch when she’d visit. Where do you start from? And how do you decide?

We somehow managed to narrow them down to two or three and then Artemis suggested Mamma Mia since we both watched and enjoyed the film and knew most of the songs so we can hum along and who doesn’t love some Abba?

I love Mamma Mia for another reason my mind somehow buried under a pile of useless, unrelated memories, but as soon as we sat there it all came back to me. That’s the very first song Dan taught us at our then called Lunchtime Glee sessions and the song will always remind me of that.

What a brilliant choice. Beautiful singing, funny, feel-good and unexpected dancing and sing along in the end! I’d recommend it without any hesitation.

After the show it was time for dinner. I remembered the gorgeous dinner Shebz and I had at Palm Court Brasserie in Covent Garden about a year ago when we went to see Woman in Black (I now realise I never posted about it, it was on those dark days, my Dark Age, when I was slowly sinking into depression and I gave up writing for a while) and so it happens we passed by on our search for a restaurant.

Once again it did not disappoint. Delicious food, great wine, excellent, friendly service and reasonable prices (for their theatre menu at least).

Baked brie in fylo pastry and chicken liver pater

Wild mushroom risotto and beef bourguignon

The plan was to head back to hotel to rest and head out for another drink but by the time we went back it was already late and we had a busy day planned ahead (next post coming soon), so we chatted and laughed until we fell asleep…

Pizza and… thunderstorm

Thursday afternoon

Mama Donna left a gift for my birthday on my desk the day before, scrummy brownies from a London based business specialising in gourmet brownies (she knows me too well), Bad Brownie and I just came back from M&S to get more birthday treats.

Sophie came up to wish me happy birthday and try the finger-licking brownies and a couple of hours later we ended up at L’Osteria enjoying the Gnocchi, half Braccio di Ferro (spinach, egg, cheese and garlic) and half Vegetariana pizza (mozzarella, grilled vegetables, mushrooms and garlic) and a glass of Chianti.

She wanted to try the food there since I recommended it after the first ever time I visited about a month ago and she suggested going that night after work. Spontaneous invite, delicious food, chats and making new friends, some of my most favourite things in the whole wide world, I couldn’t possibly say no. It rained on our way there, just like last time…

Back to a month ago, my first time at L’Osteria (I’ve been meaning to post about it since but life got in the way)

Saturday afternoon, 21st of April

I just came home from lunch on the Ventura. I had a couple of glasses of wine and I feel so tired I can go to sleep and not get out of bed until tomorrow.

But I’m meeting a friend for dinner in about two hours. What should I do? I can cancel I guess. I don’t always stick to a plan. My plans change depending on what I really fancy doing at that moment in time. The perks of getting older, only do what you want and consciously choose to ignore social pressures…

After an excruciating half an hour of overthinking, desperately trying to figure out what I really wanted to do, God sometimes is agonisingly painful to be me, I decided I’d go for dinner. I’d like to see my friend and we were to try the pizza at L’Osteria, the pizza place at the Watermark my Italian friend Sofy recommended, ‘The closest to Italian pizza you can find in Southampton’ she said.

In the end I’m glad I went.

It was very busy. I’ve unsuccessfully attempted to make a booking the day before, but it was impossible as you’d expect on a Saturday night and the restaurant was fully booked until 9:30pm, but the lovely manager on the phone suggested I’ll have better luck just showing up.

We did just show up but there was going to be a 25min wait unless we sat outside. It wasn’t that cold so we decided to have our pizza al fresco.

As there was a large selection of pizzas I couldn’t possibly decide, I thought I’d go for two different halves and after a long deliberation I went for the Capricciosa (ham, mushrooms, artichokes and olives) and the Il Vecchietto (mozarella, egg, pancetta, onions, rosemary and piccante). My friend went for the Hawaiian and not sure what the other half was, I was so surprised he willingly decided to have pineapple on a pizza I can’t recall what he said after ‘half Haiwaiian’…

Since I’ve started the day with a couple of glasses of red I decided to stick to it so I asked my lovely waitress to pick a glass of red for me and she went for Chianti, now one of my favourite red wines. I’d never tried it before but it was smooth, and extremely easy to drink.

After about an hour or so enjoying our HUGE pizzas, wine and plenty of laughs, it started to rain… followed by thunder… and lightning. We moved to a table further in so we don’t get wet and we spent most of the evening watching the thunderstorm. Scary but fascinating.

That’s how I imagined the end of the world would be. Thunders, lightning followed by flying prawns, unicorns and other random objects, like a scene off The Good Place… (sometimes it’s really fun to be me)…

L’Osteria is now one of the very few chains I love. Delicious food and wine, great selection, super friendly staff and reasonable prices.

I have to visit L’Osteria again to try their pasta this time! I can’t promise you any out of the ordinary weather related spectacles, but the Italian language lessons on speakers in the toilet are amusing AND educating (did you know that in Italy they only drink Cappuccino until noon and Espresso in the afternoon?) and the pizza will not disappoint.

Namaste

Eleni

First day of holiday- deliciosa cena a la Regata

2:30pm. I’m sitting on my bed listening to Oldies songs, daydreaming. Don’t Stop Believing just came on, reminding me of all the laughs we had learning to sing it at the Staff Choir with Dan years ago, it goes on and on and on and on…

Tomorrow this time I’ll be arriving in Bordeaux. The excitement will probably keep me awake most of the night but all worth it and my week off work wouldn’t have kicked off better.

Day one started with a lazy morning, delicious dinner at La Regata, and drinks with great company.

I was meeting a friend for dinner and I really fancied Spanish Tapas. My Spanish friend Santi as a fellow Mediterranean food lover recommended La Regata down at Town Quay, ‘If you want authentic Spanish food, that’s the place to go’.

I’m now in love with this place. Colourful, traditional and warm decor, the friendliest, most attentive service probably in Southampton, the waiters came over to check on us a couple of times as well as the manager, the lady at the reception even remembered my name (it’s all about the personal touch) and the food was delicious!

I struggle with choice, so deciding which tapas to have was not an easy task. But my food partner for the night and one of the lovely waitresses made it very easy.

We went for six tapas: Queso de Cabra (Grilled goats cheese on toast, topped with caramelized onions and balsamic dressing), Pollo al Chorizo (Chicken cooked with chorizo in a light tomato sauce), Cerdo Crujiente ( Slices of grilled crackling pork belly, served with a spiced apple sauce), Arroz Espanola (Saffron rice with meat and seafood), Gambas Regata (King prawns cooked with chorizo in garlic oil) and Albondigas (Beef meatballs in a tomato sauce).

And I tried their Sangria (my beer lover friend had a classic San Miguel, I think, don’t take my word for it).

All the tapas, not surprisingly were delicious. Flavoursome with just plenty of herbs and spices, as it should be, freshly prepared and very filling. And my sangria was just perfect.

We struggled to finish them, but that’s maybe because we both chatted too much.

I can’t believe I’d never been to La Regata before until yesterday. I genuinely can’t wait to visit again and try more of their scrumptious dishes. Needless to say, I’d definitely recommend it. Local, independent, authentic Spanish restaurant, friendly service and great atmosphere.

Now time to pack for my French mini adventure!

Namaste

Eleni

Pie’m every woman…

Happy International Women’s Day! Shout out to all the incredible ladies out there.

But I hope one day we are treated as equals and we don’t need to celebrate International Women’s day. We can instead celebrate Incredible Human Beings day. A day to recognise and show our love to amazing every day human beings, every day heroes who make our lives better sometimes just by being there.

Like Chris and Helen, two of my favourite humans.

Today, we finally made it to lunch. I’ve recently discovered this little Pie and Comic book shop on Carlton place, Piecaramba and naturally, I wanted to give it a go. The pictures on their webpage and Tripadvisor looked incredible, I love pies, I love comics (Batman!), I love anything local, independent, different and creative and Helen and Chris were as equally excited for pies as I was.

We didn’t know when we arranged this a week ago that this week is actually British Pie Week. What are the chances!

On our way there, Chris came up with some of the best/worst pie puns one could make up, one of which I chose as a title to sum up today. Thank you Chris!

Enjoy:

‘Oh pie there’ (Oh hi there) when we walked in

‘Pie’m every woman’ (I’m every woman) to the music

‘Jesus pie-st’ (I don’t know why but the waiter said Jesus Christ)

As soon as we sat down the lovely waiter/manager came over talk to us how it worked since we’ve never been before.

There were so many options to choose from, including Vegetarian and Vegan I struggled to pick just one, although Helen and I came up with new pies to recommend to the chef, a breakfast option (bacon, baked beans, cheese, and scrambled eggs on the side?) and maybe one for cheese lovers (I’m not going to even attempt to list all the delicious cheese combinations one can have).

After much deliberation and changing my mind three times I went for the El Bandito (Free Range British Chicken with Spanish Chorizo and tomatoes), Helen had the Piecaramba (Chillie beef burrito pie finished off with melted double Gloucester) and Chris had the Pieoneer (traditional mince beef and onion pie in red wine gravy).

It was delicious! Fresh ingredients, cooked to perfection, flavoursome. I almost finished it, I rarely manage to finish a pie but it was so tasty I couldn’t resist.

Thank you to the lovely waiter/manager for his recommendations and for being so patient when I could not decide what pie to have or what to drink.

I loved everything about PieCaramba. Small, cosy space with colourful, rustic and modern decor, awesome music (tune after tune, shout out to the playlist creator), scrummy, homemade pies, reasonable prices (I paid £6.75 for the pie and my delicious Passionfruit ice tea) and super friendly staff.

Needless to say, I’m definitely going back to try Chick Norris next, the waiter’s favourite and browse their comic books selection.

I love this place already. It’s amazing to have a different, out of the norm option and another great local, independent shop.

Great job guys!

Thank you to Helen and Chris for all the laughs. Always a pleasure. I guess without realising we celebrated the first ever Incredible Human Beings day.

I can’t wait for our next outing!

Namaste

Eleni

Soleto’s 5* dinner and Miss Saigon 5* show

Wednesday, last day of February…

After an interesting but challenging, busy day running around for most of it, I could not wait for my dinner and theatre evening.

I’ve been daydreaming for that first sip of wine for days… I’ve been looking forward to seeing Miss Saigon since we booked our tickets a month ago… I’ve been drooling thinking of the Ravioli from the first moment I saw that Insta Story weeks ago…

It’s all about the little things, I lost count how many times I’ve been told by friends, colleagues, even people I recently met that they love how I enjoy life and make the most of it. It’s true. And I looked forward to this evening more than words can describe.

First stop Soleto, a little Italian just opposite the Mayflower. I’ve never heard of this restaurant until a couple of weeks ago. During one of my long sessions on Instagram exploring, I came across this snap on the Southampton location Insta story of the most gorgeous looking ravioli I’ve ever seen. That’s one of the ways I discover all the little gems I often blog about. I googled the place, as one does and it had great reviews on TripAdvisor.

The gang trusts my instinct when it comes to food and they were all up for trying Soleto before the theatre. I’ve made a reservation a couple of days ago and the lovely manager on the phone after hearing my name asked where I was from as my name sounded Greek. I told her I was Greek Cypriot and she had a giggle before telling me that her husband, George/Yiorgos was Greek and he is the cook, he would be the one preparing our meals. It made my day. It reminded me of my dad, cooking delicious fish every night… I almost knew the food would be amazing.

And it was one of the best three course meals I had in a while. Everyone else agreed.

For a starter we shared the Baked Camembert with Garlic and Rosemary which came with Toasted Ciabatta and Chilli and Onion Chutney. Heavenly runny Camembert, with just the right amount of garlic and herbs, warm, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, homemade ciabatta and delicious, spicy chutney. We loved it so much we ordered a second.

I usually struggle to choose a main, but this time I knew from the moment I’ve seen it on that story that I had to try the Wild Mushroom Ravioli. Oh my lord. Perfectly cooked ravioli beautifully laid in a creamy Leek and Pine nut Sauce, with of course grated Parmesan on top.

I could not decide what to have for pudding, I love a chocolate tart but the lovely manager recommended the Creme Brulee. It was the perfect pudding to finish off this incredible meal. Light and fluffy, not overly sweet.

All the dishes were beautifully presented which makes a difference. If it looks good, it rarely doesn’t taste good!

I’m not a big wine drinker but Dave’s recommendation of red hit the spot. Light, smokey, smooth, it was the perfect choice for our meal, especially on a bitterly cold, winter night.

And for all of that we only paid £35 each, tips included! I’d definitely pay more.

After dinner, warmed up, happy with full belly, we headed to the theatre to see Miss Saigon.

I do not want to reveal much in case you are about to go and see it but it was hands down one of the best shows I’ve seen at the Mayflower.

Incredible props and sets and beautiful, colourful, authentic costumes, for a moment you forget you are in Southampton and you are transferred to 1970’s Vietnam.

The music was amazing, well done to the brilliant orchestra and the maestro co-ordinating the musicians and the outstanding cast singing.

The whole cast was stunning, especially Kim and the Engineer, but everyone was incredible.

I cried in the end not just because of the tragic ending (as one would expect of an Opera adaptation) but because of the beauty of it all, the set, the music, the acting.

Some of my friends and colleagues I’ve talked to afterwards didn’t think it was that brilliant, as they compared it to the London production they’ve seen years ago but as a first-timer I absolutely loved it.

Needless to say I’d recommend it, it’s worth every single penny. And if you decide to go, pop to Soleto for dinner first. I’m going back at the first opportunity to taste more of their dishes.

Delicious food, great company and an amazing show, definitely a night to remember.

Thank you to Solent Staff Scene for the tickets and to the Mayflower for bringing such a great production to Southampton.

Namaste

Eleni

Lakaz Maman Thursday

Happy Friday!

I can’t remember the last time I was off work on a Friday. I’m currently sitting on my sofa, with a hot cup of delicious coffee next to me, listening to music and writing. I wish I could do this every Friday…

Last night I went for dinner with some of the lovely ladies I met about a month ago at the Women Who Do Breakfast and Networking event. I was tired and drained and I thought of taking a rain check but I’m glad I didn’t!

We went to Lakaz Maman, the Mauritian restaurant on Bedford Place. I’ve been there a couple of times before last night, with friends and colleagues and it never disappoints.

I love Lakaz Maman. The homely vibes you get as soon as you go in, even the name gives out a homely, nostalgic feeling, ‘Mum’s House’, the delicious Mauritian street food, the friendly staff, the owner, Shelina, who is often there with her newborn, so sweet and smiling, happy to chat to everyone.

The food was amazing as always as well as the company. I love meeting new people, finding out about them and is even more incredible when you get along from the first minute and end up laughing throughout the whole evening!

We opted for starters to share and we tried the Maman Sheila’s Samosas and Aubergine Baijas. Needless to say they were delicious!

I didn’t know what to have for main so I did one of may favourite things to do on a restaurant, go for the waiter’s favourite dish, the Octopus House Cari.

I love Octopus but I was surprised when I discovered years ago when I first moved in the UK, that is not that common here. Back home, my favourite chef, my dad, Chef Costis, used to make us Octopus casseroles and grilled Octopus featured regularly on our family weekend feasts.

If not cooked properly, Octopus can be chewy and overpoweringly salty but the House Cari at Lakaz Maman reminded me of my dad’s casserole. Soft, sweet, spicy. I could have this for dinner every night!

By this point I didn’t think I could eat anything else but I could not not check the dessert menu. And the girls, like me have a sweet tooth and love puddings, so it would have been rude not to.

I went for Puddine Coco, as Deindre and I had a giggle about the cute name. It was made of a coconutty sweet, fluffly cream sprinkled with coconut flakes, accompanied by tropical culis and fresh fruits. I definitely recommend it!!!

Whilst we were enjoying this amazing food and uplifting music playing in the background, we chatted about yoga (I don’t think there is anyone I haven’t told about Adriene Mishler), roller skating, food of course, always a favourite topic, Christmas, life in our home countries and other random things that just came up. There were no awkward silences or uncomfortable conversations.

Of course I can’t recommend Lakaz Maman enough. Delicious food, great service, friendly staff, local, independent in the heart of Southampton.

What an great evening. Thank you Maria for organising this and Damaris and Charlie for a great night, with great food, great conversations and lots of laughter.I can’t wait for next time!

Namaste

Eleni