Pint Shop is located right in the centre of Cambridge, but you could easily walk past and not notice it. That would be an error. It only opened late year, but it's been a great addition to the limited number of independent eating options in town. It's a slightly odd space with a pub/bar at the front, and a dining room at the back (and another upstairs too apparently). I went for a weekend lunch earlier in the year which was lovely (but unblogged), so it was an obvious choice for a midweek, day-off-work, late lunch. And by late lunch, I mean very late- I think we rocked up at around 3:45pm, so were the only people in the dining room, but service was still prompt and friendly.




Bread and a jug of water arrived unprompted, and an exceptionally helpful front of house person assisted me in choosing the nicest gin and tonic I have ever had (with City of London Dry Gin if you're interested). Wanting something lighter to eat, I chose a couple of starters and sides (to share), which all used simple ingredients done really well. A classic asparagus and poached egg dish was cooked perfectly and well seasoned. The crumbed hake was a bit like square fishfingers, but none the worse for that, and the grilled spring onions that came with it were deliciously tender and smoky. I love broccoli with anchovy, and would have been delighted with am extra pot of the dressing for dipping purposes. As I think the picture below captures, onion rings were ginormous but still light and crispy.


Having scoffed all of this, and with the MCP devouring a large baked bream, we were too full for pudding (a rarity). All of this food, along with a couple of alcoholic drinks came to around £55 (without service) which I think was excellent value for the quality of cooking. I've only been twice, but I already pretty much love Pint Shop. I would happily return just for a G&T, but some food would be even better.

Pint Shop
10 Peas Hill
Cambridge CB2 3PN

Just a quick post for now, alerting folk to the opening of a new cafe in Cambridge. It still doesn't seem like that long ago that I was enjoying Jo Kruczynska's food as one half of the Plate Lickers supperclub team. And now she has her own cafe!


Located on King's Street in the centre of Cambridge, I popped into the eponymous Afternoon Tease when it had only been open for a week or so. However, everything was already working like a well-honed machine, and I was soon ensconced by a table with a cup of tea and a chocolate brownie. The cafe isn't huge inside, but makes the most of the available space, and most importantly (on the basis of my first visit) serves excellent hot drinks and cakes. I am full of admiration for Ms Afternoon Tease herself, for getting this project off the ground so quickly, and hope to be back for another visit soon.

Afternoon Tease
13 King Street
Cambridge CB1 1LH

So I went out for a rather nice dinner the other week. The Three Horseshoes in Madingley is one of those restaurants that is based in a ye olde country pub but has quite a sophisticated, modern menu. I'd only heard of it quite recently, but (as per their website) it's been going for the past twenty years. And I'm rather glad I've finally caught up.

The building is chocolate box cute from the outside, but has a contemporary gastropub type feel inside with lots of bleached wood around the place. It was a bit smaller than expected when we arrived on a Friday evening, but was quite busy, and actually I think they had more tables available in their conservatory area. As it was the Male Companion Person's birthday, we were primed to launch into a three course meal.


I started off with a pasta dish of agnolotti stuffed with smoked aubergine, and tomato, basil and ricotta. I'm not sure I could  have picked the filling as aubergine, as it didn't have a particularly strong  flavour, but overall the pasta worked well with the rest of this delicate dish, which was light and summery. I nabbed a bit of the MCP's crab starter too, which was delicious. The combination of crab and hazelnuts is not one I've come across before (but might shortly be stealing).


We both went for fish for our main course. I had pan-fried monkfish and scallops with romesco sauce, which was fantastic. I don't think I've eaten monkfish before, but these dense little pieces of fish were excellently cooked with a bit of colour on the outside but still soft and tender within. I would pretty much have been happy to eat the fish and scallops on their own, but the romesco was a brilliant accompaniment. Again, I have a feeling that romesco sauce is something that I've heard of but not eaten before, but the soft, rich sauce worked really well with the fish and the red pepper was not at all overwhelming. The MCP chose the turbot, and this was also declared to be excellent.


Moving onto puddings, I plumped for the crack pie (presumably a tribute to the version created by the Momofuku Milk Bar in New York, which can also be added to the unexpectedly long list of things I've heard of but not tried). This was basically a variation on a treacle tart, and so was very sweet but also very moreish. I had intended to just nibble a bit of it but ended up scoffing the whole thing, with the creme fraiche helping to cut through the sweetness (a little). The blueberries were pretty superfluous though; they were perfectly nice but if there was one thing this dish didn't need it was more sweetness.


The MCP had the blackcurrant jelly with madeleines and cream, which all looked rather pretty on the plate. I didn't get to try any, but the verdict was that the jelly was very intense but the combination of all the elements together produced a well-balanced dessert.

So overall, a very nice meal indeed. Service was generally also good, apart from a couple of mildly frustrating blips (no one asked if we'd like to order drinks while we looked at the menu leading to a slightly parched state, and conspicuous card waving failed to attract attention when trying to pay the bill- I eventually got up and paid at the bar), but nothing terminal, and the actual bringing of food and drink when required was efficient and friendly. For the standard of food it offers, I'd also say that The Three Horseshoes is very reasonably priced, and our three course dinner with a couple of glasses of wine, worked out somewhere in the region of £50 per head.

The Three Horseshoes is only a short drive from Cambridge, and can easily be combined with cooing over quaint cottages in Madingley village. I really liked its smart, un-fussy but interesting food, and the casual atmosphere, and if the meal we had is anything to go by, it's certainly worth the effort to get there.


The Three Horseshoes
High Street
Madingley
Cambridge CB23 8AB

Things seem to have gone a little quiet on the blogging front here. To be honest, the unexpectedly hot weather over the summer means that I've mainly been sticking to dinners that require minimal cooking, tending to avoid the kitchen unless essential, and eating ice cream at every opportunity.


But the nice weather has also resulted in a couple of visits to the rather lovely Gogmag Hills cafe a.k.a. the Canteen, and I realised that I have not written about it here before.The site consists of a butchers, farm shop, and excellent dedicated cheese shop, as well as the cafe. And with excellent timing, there is also an extended outside seating area too. So it feels a bit like being out in the country, despite only being five minutes from the Addenbrooke's mega-biomedical campus. The cafe does a range of savoury stuff for lunch, including some fab looking scotch eggs and sausage rolls for meat-eaters, and loads of cakes, scones and traybakes.


On my recent visits I sampled a fantastic lemon victoria sponge cake that was light, moist, and lemony without being lip-puckeringly so. And a cheese scone with butter made for an excellent lunch. Service at the cafe is always cheery, even when they are busy, and as a notorious tray-wobbler I really value the fact that they bring your order to your table (even if you're sat quite far away outside). As an extra bonus, there is at least one very friendly, non-barky farm dog who politely brings you a ball to throw for her.

To be honest, there's very little not to like about this place and you could easily spend a couple of hours sitting outside admiring the view (and eating cake). I plan to return again while the sun lasts, and probably even if it doesn't.


Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop and Cafe
Heath Farm, Shelford Bottom
Cambridge CB22 3AD

You might think it's unusual for me to be quite excited about the opening of somewhere that specialises in Argentinian steak. But as a non-meat eater I've realised that places like that often have an excellent range of side dishes that I am more than happy to tuck into (see Byron Burger, which appears to be coming to Cambridge soon- woo!). Anyway, when I was invited along to try out CAU, which has recently opened in the centre of town, I thought it was worth giving a go.

CAU is situated in part of the old Barclays bank site on Benet Street, and has a modern funky design. It's not in the main part of the old bank though, so it looks like we're going to have to wait a while longer to see what's become of those amazing ceilings. Anyway, this (currently) mini-chain sells itself on its range of meat, but in fact has quite a wide-ranging and eclectic menu. We kicked off with starters of salt and pepper squid and some vaguely Asian steamed mussels, which were both excellent. The squid (though a rather small portion) was light and crispy, and the mussels were perfectly cooked in their coconut broth.


I tried the aubergine lasagne for my main course, while the Male Companion Person went for the lomito medallions (I don't really know what that means but it was basically some pieces of steak). My veggie dish was aubergine parmigiana by another name, and very good it was too; densely packed with soft aubergine and enough cheese to add a bit of richness and crunch on top.


The meat was described as "pretty tasty" by the MCP, who is not known for being effusive.  A side order of chips, which were akin to slimline roast potatoes, were also rather good. We finished things off with some churros for me, and a cornflake ice cream sundae for the MCP. Despite the churros being dusted in quite a lot of sugar, the dark chocolate sauce meant that overall they weren't too sweet. I can't comment much on the sundae, as I only got to try a bit before it rapidly disappeared.

So overall I quite liked CAU. Between us, we sampled a range of seafood, meat and veggie dishes which were all very acceptable, and the service was efficient and friendly without being intrusive. Our bill for three courses each, and a couple glasses of wine, would have been somewhere around the £60 mark, so not excessive. CAU is not destination dining, (and isn't claiming to be), but it's somewhere I'd be happy to go back to for a casual lunch. And having a souce of churros in Cambridge can only be a good thing.

CAU 
15 Benet Street
Cambridge CB2 3QN

Thanks to the nice people at CAU and their PR person for providing me and the Male Companion Person with our dinner for free and gratis.

I was really looking forward to visiting Ichiro the other week. I'd heard some good things about this restaurant serving both Japanese and Malaysian food, so was happy to schlep through the cold and rain to get to their recently opened site opposite the neon delights of the 'Leisure Park'.


We were given a warm welcome as we walked into the near empty restaurant, and I was therefore quite prepared to overlook the fact the tablecloth had some random staining on it, and our green tea arriving in a stripey Whittards teapot. The male companion person and I weren't sure whether to stick to the Malaysian or Japanese dishes, but eventually plumped for the latter apart from a starter of roti canai with chicken curry. The roti (or paratha as I would call them) were very good, light and flaky with a slight chew. I tasted a bit of the curry gravy, despite the risk of meat contamination, but was quite disappointed with its slightly acrid taste of insufficiently cooked ground spices.


I've never had takoyaki before, so thought I'd give them a try too. These balls of batter with an octopus filling were pretty tasty. I've nothing to compare them too, but I liked the mild taste of seafood surrounded by a crisp coating.


So a decent enough start before moving onto a bento box each for our main course. I had a mixed tempura bento, and though the prawns and vegetables were relatively oil-free, the batter was quite thick and not the light and airy coating I'd been hoping for. Also in the box were some pieces of omelette, a sort of mashed potato salad, a pineapple and cucumber salad, with quite a lot of rice. And a side of miso soup. Everything was perfectly acceptable, just not particularly remarkable or exciting.


It was at this point that things took a bit of a downturn. I would have considered some mochi for dessert or another drink, but unfortunately the two front of house staff were too busy cooing at each other to notice that we'd finished with our bento boxes. After about 20 minutes of sitting in a still near empty restaurant, hoping someone might take away the dishes, or ask if we wanted anything else, we gave up and the MCP went up to the counter to ask for the bill. This was an unexpectedly irritating end to the evening. So overall, Ichiro didn't turn out to be anything terribly special, and my initially high hopes were dashed. To be fair it wasn't a massively expensive dinner either, and our meal (with non-alcoholic drinks, and including service) came to around £45.

On the basis of their parathas, perhaps their Malaysian dishes are more enjoyable. And I would be prepared to go back to try some of these out. But probably not right away.


Ichiro
8 Homerton Street
Cambridge CB2 8NX

The University Centre in Cambridge is a slightly odd combo of canteen, social club, and sports facility for University staff, alumni and graduate students. It may also embody the epitome of 'town and gown' as if you're not part of the University you would probably never even know that this 1960's monolith is at the bottom of Mill Lane. But due to my family's tenuous connections, the University Centre dinning hall was the first place I experienced the wonders of proper chips (we were an oven chip household) and profiteroles with chocolate sauce. Halcyon days indeed. Anyway, all this means that I have a real soft spot for the Centre, and have been meaning to try their more formal restaurant (which is open to the general public) for absolutely ages. So as the Male Companion Person had a birthday recently I decided to book a table.

Things started quite well, as we were shown to a table by the window with nice views over the river. But to be fair there wasn't much competition for this prime spot, as there was only one other table occupied of the twenty or so available. I initially remained confident that some other diners would appear, but sadly they didn't, so by halfway though our meal we were the only two people there. Ummm, *awkward*. Once we'd got used to the situation and stopped whispering, it wasn't actually too bad and we got on with eating rather than looking around hopefully for other customers.

The Riverside Restaurant does a fixed price menu for either two or three courses, with a brief choice of fish, meat and vegetarian options in a vaguely modern British/European style. Once we'd ordered, they brought out a pre-starter of a smoked haddock risotto arancini-style ball. This was a very promising start to dinner, as the rice was soft and well seasoned and the fish not too strong.


My starter of grey mullet with crab, watercress, samphire with ratta potatoes (which I initially thought were Jerusalem artichokes) was also great- lots of fresh flavours with the fish perfectly cooked with a crispy skin.


The MCP went for a pork and scallop combo, which was also declared to be excellent in terms of both flavour and texture.



Main courses were more fish for me (sea bass with fennel, grapefruit and brown shrimp) and turbot with peas and ham hock for the MCP. The fish was again excellently cooked, and I liked the contrast with the bits of citrus. I wasn't too sure about the very dark hue of the shrimps, but even with this slightly chewy garnish, it was a very pleasant plate of food.  And the MCP seemed perfectly satisfied, if not overcome with excitement, with his turbot too. The one odd note with the main course was the arrival of a small dish of boiled vegetables with some little roasted potatoes, which looked liked it could have come from the canteen upstairs. The carrots and broccoli were not dressed or seasoned, and it was a bit surprising to see them appear with plates of food that were otherwise presented in quite a modern style. I guess some people might want some extra vegetables, and I liked the the fact that there was no supplement for them. But it would seem sensible to serve nicely prepared veg or none at all, rather than a somewhat insipid compromise.



Anyway, onto desserts. This is where things became seriously disappointing for me. After a brief flashback to the early 90's caused by the rosette of cream and half strawberry garnish, I tried something that may have been impersonating a piece of chocolate cheesecake. It was hard to tell, as everything above the sugary base tasted of nothing and had the texture of blancmange. The little cup contained a cardamom (and possibly white chocolate) mousse type thing. I love cardamom, but this was ridiculously strongly flavoured and also far too sweet for me. The lemon syllabub style pudding, topped with a small meringue, was probably the nicest thing on the plate but was still ridiculously sweet. The MCP had a honey panacotta, which he thought was perfectly acceptable. I was irritated by the garnishes and randomly executed chocolate graffiti though.

This was a bit of a sad end to things (at least for me), as up until the puddings the food had been pretty good. But by this point we were getting aware of being the only table again, and so left pretty promptly. I think overall the Riverside Restaurant does have many things going in its favour- I like it's hidden location and the views over the river make it a good spot for people watching (before sunset); it wins on the value for money front with a set price of just under £30 for three courses; and they were good on some details like seating us so that we both had a view out of the window. I'm sure they would have liked some more customers too, so I'm not going to criticise them on that front. But perhaps turning up the background tinkly music a little would have lifted the deadened atmosphere a bit (and drowned out the sound of the catering manager putting in the turnip order). I did like most of the savoury food too, with dishes both well cooked and flavoured. So I probably would be happy to go back to the Riverside at some point (once they've changed their menu), but perhaps not on a weekday. And I would skip dessert.

Our secret location turned out to be a church, so I had the unique experience of dining below stained glass and next to some pews. After a welcome drink, we started off with some hummous and an aubergine dip with a hefty garlic kick. This was followed by a chilled, green gazpacho which included some sort of pesto element that made it rich but still refreshing.


Next up was my (vegetarian) main course of courgette and feta fritters, with green beans (dressed with hazelnuts and orange), and cous cous. I've tried to make courgette fritters before, but ended up with some bland discs of stodge. These fritters were delicious though, and I think the generous use of feta was probably why.


A mint tea and orange blossom sorbet followed, though this was probably my least favourite part of the meal. It was a bit sweet for my taste, but I generally don't get on well with seriously icy things anyway due to my teeth being quite feeble and sensitive. Pudding arrived soon afterwards, Baked peaches were stuffed with a sweet nut mix, reminiscent of those hot, sugared nuts (ahem) that you sometimes find people selling in little cones, and were served with a piece of almond and polenta cake. And though we were all rather full by this point I cleaned my plate, which I believe made me the 'winner' of pudding amongst my friends, (I can get quite competitive when it comes to puddings).


Overall, this was a great meal which I thoroughly enjoyed. Supperclubs are obviously very different from conventional restaurants. There are no extensive menus with a range of choices, no surprises about the cost (there was a suggested donation of £30 per person), and no pressure to vacate your table. What you do get is the chance to meet some interesting people in an unusual venue, with some tasty food. I went with friends, but we also had plenty of other interesting folk at our table with lots of general chat, so I would have been quite happy to have gone on my own too. The Plate Lickers girls are obviously enthusiastic cooks, who have invested a lot more than many regular restaurateurs in this venture, as as well as cooking, they are also serving, and (presumably) doing the washing up afterwards too.So props to Jo and Ivana for hosting a fab evening, and here's to many more!

This is a quick post on one of the places in Cambridge that I probably take for granted. I do like a trip to the cinema, and really appreciate having somewhere like the Arts Picturehouse that shows independent and foreign language films. And somewhere to have a nice coffee and maybe a snack too, is a bonus. Unfortunately a lot of people share this view of the Arts Picturehouse Bar, as bagging a table or a sofa in the evenings, or other peak film viewing times, can be challenging.

But if you time it right you can lounge around in some classic art deco surroundings and peer down from above on hoards of unknowing Cambridge shoppers. There are usually a couple of different types of cake available on the bar, and on my last visit I had a very nice slice of a chocolate and pistachio one. They also serve plenty of savoury stuff, although the crepes that used to be a mainstay of their menu sadly seem to have vanished.

My milky latte arrived with a bit of art on top, but if you are in need of something stronger then the bar is fully licensed (and you can take your drinks into the cinema too). And so in conclusion, the Arts Picturehouse Bar has squishy sofas, hot drinks, cake, and free WiFi - I heartily recommend it.

It would probably be an understatement to say that I have been known to enjoy a slice or two of cake in my time. So when The Secluded Tea Party supremo Miss Sue Flay announced that she was organising a cake crawl in Cambridge, I grabbed a friend and signed up. The plan was to visit five venues for an assortment of cakes over the afternoon, and finish with some dessert-based cocktails.

We kicked off in the Library Room at the Hotel du Vin with an impressive tea selection, some perfect red velvet cupcakes, and slices of fruit cake. As if this wasn't enough, we were also provided with a chocolate brownie each to take away (which on later consumption turned out to be fantastic). It was at this early stage that Miss Flay's provision of bags to pack up extra cake looked like a really good idea.

A brief walk later and we arrived at the recently re-opened Fitzbillies for one of their famed Chelsea buns (and more tea).


It was absolutely packed on a Saturday afternoon, so I really appreciated being whisked through to our special chef's table in the kitchen.

More tea and a Chelsea bun later, it was off to Benet's for a palate cleanser a.k.a. an ice cream. There was quite a big selection, and apparently they are all made on site too.



My large scoop of wild cherry ice cream was lovely, and because it wasn't too sweet it was actually quite refreshing. And then it was onwards to the market, to the Caribbean food stall.




After some al fresco chatting and a piece of carrot cake later, we headed off towards Bill's Cafe.

Here as a minor deviation from cake, we had scones with jam and cream (and tea).

The scones were nice and light, and despite me repeatedly saying that I was full I still managed to consume a significant amount of the generous portion. And so as the sun set we staggered away to our final venue, the private members 12a Club.


Our desserts here were in liquid form, which I was quite glad about as I was near my cake saturation point. However I had no problem with sipping on my non-alcoholic tiramisu cocktail, which had the perfect balance of chocolate and coffee flavours without being sugary.

And so ended a very filling afternoon, which was also a lot of fun. I really enjoyed visiting some new tea and cake destinations such as Hotel du Vin. I will certainly be back there if only for that chocolate brownie. And maybe a cupcake. Umm, and some tea. It was also fantastic to smugly stroll past the queues to our own table, as well as chat to some cake makers and other enthusiasts. And you know you've had a good day when you waddle home with a bag of cake, feeling a little more rounded than you were before, and in need of a lie down.

Props to Miss Flay for organising it all too.