I find it strange that Vietnamese food is not more prevalent in the UK. I suppose it isn’t strange, as it doesn’t have the same history with the UK as some cuisines do, or isn’t as visited a destination, but the food itself has the right combination of freshness, sparkling flavours and exotic appeal to prove popular with this country’s jaded palettes.
I am assuming our palettes are jaded because in the average supermarket one can find 6 different flavours of hummus.
Anyway, The Hanoi Bike Shop recently popped up in Ruthven Lane in the West End of Glasgow. The family members we were visiting were all in favour of going, so we popped in for lunch one day.
Every now and again I like to daydream about having my own little cake shop. I’d mostly just be baking. And eating. And I probably wouldn’t have any customers, but I’d have an array of cakes to choose from.
If my fantasy ever became reality, I wouldn’t want it to be all that different from the Daisy Cupcake Cafe (15 High Street, Ayr).
I miss brunch. Farnborough, where I currently live, is not a brunch hotspot. There are plenty of places to get a fry-up, but for snooty gourmands like myself, there is a distinct lack of free-range meaty goodness, artisan bread products and things smothered in Hollandaise. (Yes, I am as pretentious as I sound…)
We went out for brunch on a Sunday morning in Bristol, and after our first destination turned out to be closed, our friend led us to the nearby Primrose Cafe (1 Clifton Arcade, Clifton, Bristol).
Visiting a friend in Bristol recently, I meandered past a cupcake shop en route to lunch (Lilly and Boo’s Cupcakery, corner of Cotham Hill and Whiteladies Road), and immediately stopped and pressed my face up against the window. Rows of gorgeous cakes winked back at me, definitely insisting that my visit would not be complete without a cake stop.
An hour or so later I was in possession of a Velvet Elvis, for the princely sum of £2.20. The guy behind the counter was wonderfully friendly, and my cake was carefully packaged into a little plastic case shaped to protect its dome of icing.
