I don’t know how, but when I was living up in Ayrshire last year I totally neglected to post on my favourite UK fish and chip shop, the Wee Hurrie in Troon.
On our recent visit to H’s mum T, this was the first place we headed after our train reached Ayr, and I realised I had to rectify this terrible error. So with the year-old pics I had ready and waiting, let me try to make amends.
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.
I am a great believer in research. Why waste time eating something disappointing when a little research can minimise the risk of traumatising your tastebuds?
Of course happening across good places is wonderful. There is always a little risk involved, but if you rely on your instincts, things usually turn out okay.
Over a year ago, I posted about an awesome fro-yo place in Hong Kong: Orangi-Yo. Here you could serve yourself from a choice of fro-yo flavours and then sprinkle with as many toppings as you liked.
H loved the place, and since then, we’ve occasionally reminisced about it, wishing there was somewhere similar in the UK.
The other week, we decided to pop up on the train to Clapham Junction to have a mooch around. Imagine my delight when, undertaking some pre-trip research, I came across a website for a 3-shop chain of self-serve fro-yo places in London!
I was recently fortunate enough to spend a week in Cornwall. My Mum tells me we went there occasionally when I was a little kid, but I don’t remember it. She also tells me that one morning I cycled round the garden on my tricycle picking up crusts left out for the birds and eating them.
Don’t worry, I wasn’t undernourished. Probably just fancied a quick snack on the go…
Anyway before H and I went, I had naturally done some food research and generated a list of ice-cream producers whose wares I wanted to try.
In the end we only managed a few (unfriendly weather conditions in the latter part of the week led to us bunkering down somewhat), but they were all good so I wanted to share them with you.
