What's on the menu?

What's on the menu?

Monday 29 October 2018

Visiting the Orangery at St Elphin's Park

Derbyshire Food at it's Finest on the Edge of the Peak District


Having cycled up and down the A6 between Matlock and Darley Dale many times over the years I've witnessed the development of Audley St Elphin's Park. A former Grammar School that's been transformed into a very impressive looking retirement village. The development looks fantastic, the kind of place I'd consider living myself even as a 35 year old.


When you think of a retirement village you wouldn't think that there would be a fantastic restaurant and leisure facilities open to the general public unless you really were in the know and that's where in some ways our visit falls in. We were invited to sample the menu and take in the impressive surroundings to make up our own mind and were very impressed.

The team pride themselves on offering a very seasonal menu with high standards of presentation and service. We were also rather impressed by the pricing with main courses priced around what you'd expect locally for pub food making this a very viable option if you're not looking to overindulge your wallet

The Orangery Bar and Restaurant at St Elphin's Park near Matlock


We opted to try the Orangery's Tasting Menu which is £40 each. Certainly not the realm of a light lunch however if you're looking for an alternative for Date Night or a celebration it would work very well indeed. On the night we attended there were couples dining and a large group celebrating a 90th birthday party had not long left- the settings actually worked well for both situations.

The Orangery's Homemade Soda Bread with Truffle Butter

Tuesday 8 May 2018

Carly Visits Chef Karl Tylers Pop Up Supper Club



Around the World with Chef Karl Tyler

Whilst it would be great for us to attend every invite we receive it's not always possible. Sometimes on those occasions the invites we get are too good to miss so when we received an offer to visit the first of Chef Karl Tyler's Pop Up Supper Club's in Nottingham-we offered the opportunity to close friend Carly to visit in our absence. 

Carly's no amateur when it comes to food and has helped on pieces for the blog before. Her partner is a Chef at one of Nottingham's best known restaurants and she's very much a foodie at heart and willing to travel the length of the country for good food. 

Part of the dining room within Cobden Chambers

Chef Karl's pop up supper club was held at Cobden Chambers, off Pelham Street in the Lace Market. Its a large modern loft style building which was beautifully and elegantly dressed for the evening,

Saturday 10 February 2018

Taste Testing Las Iguanas New Menu

With so many choices of different restaurants across Nottingham we're pretty sure your taste buds could travel around the world in a lot less than 80 days in the city although Latin American options are relatively sparse in comparison to the cuisines from the rest of the world. 

Last week we visited Las Iguanas Nottingham to sample some of their new menu. Aside from a visit last year to celebrate National Vegan Day it's somewhere that's never really been on our radar however it's very rare that we turn down an opportunity for a blog review so a big thank you to Las Iguanas and Gemini PR for the invite.

Las Iguanas pride themselves in offering the flavours of South America so expect  plenty of variety on the menus. They also offer all of their cocktails as 2 for the price of 1 however there's disappointingly no option to mix and match in that offer so you have to choose something you really really like the sound of instead of taking a chance on something you're not sure of. We'd have liked to have seen the option for different cocktails to allow you to try multiple off the menu to see what's right for you for future.

We opted for a Huana Party (£9.75 on 2for1) and Espresso Martini (£10.75 on 2for1)

Fancy a Huana Party?

The Huana Party came in a standard hi-ball glass and looked a little disappointing compared to those others were receiving in some pretty fancy glasses around us. The menu said it contained Beefeater Gin, Huana Guanabana Rum Liquor, Funkin Passionfuit, Bottlegreen Elderflower and Apple though all we really got was the passionfruit flavour. Adding in the elderflower was drowned out by the overpowering passionfruit mix.

Friday 5 January 2018

Jemma visits Kayal Indian restaurant


Jemma visits Kayal Indian restaurant


Kayal Nottingham


I’ve been eyeing this place up for a little while but never seem to have the chance to go and try. So when over the Christmas period I had a girly meet up with one of my closest friends for gossip and to give each other Christmas gifts it seemed the perfect opportunity. My friend Carly had never eaten here and we both love a good curry.


Poori Bread is a little different to Naan

The atmosphere in the restaurant was rather relaxed considering it was well into the festive period and we found a nice table and were given plenty of time  to decide what wanted to order. There were so many interesting sounding dishes that it took us quite some time to make a decision. 


We both decided on Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum and the Kayal Fish Curry with Poori fried flat bread. No Naan bread in sight on the menu at Kayal however plenty of other interesting options

Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum

The Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum- We really didn’t know what to expect but this came as two dishes. One with the curry and another with dumplings in a mild flavoursome white sauce which could be put into the curry to tone down the heat . The curry itself was between a mild and medium head- delicate in taste with very tender chicken pieces. The dumplings were fluffy as you would expect but the texture added a uniqueness to the curry. The dumplings meant that you wouldn't really need the standard side of rice with the dish and this worked well

The Kayal Fish Curry 

Kayal Fish Curry had a little more to it looking like a masala but had slightly more heat than Ammachi Pidiyum Kozhiyum.  This suited the fish rather well, it  was firm but not overcooked.  Carly would have this curry again hands down.  The sauce was a perfect consistency for the Poori bread to mop up.


We enjoyed both curries but my next visit will be sampling different curries and there is a sampler set menu option where you get bits of this and that to taste.