Circa 1924, Exeter: Restaurant Review

Circa 1924 is in Exeter and is directly behind Boots near John Lewis.

We went there on a Thursday evening and it was fabulous!  We parked right outside and had a non-alcoholic cocktail and a beer (Bath Gem) in the very comfortable bar.  The barman obviously knows his stuff.  My non-alcoholic cocktail was delicious and mango-flavoured - I think I necked it within a few minutes rather than sipped it daintily! The waiting staff were all very welcoming, friendly and cheerful.

We browsed the menu whilst drinking our aperitifs in the comfy bar area.

We were taken upstairs to eat the food.  Downstairs the bar area seemed 'new shabby' (if you know what I mean) whereas the upstairs was more inviting: dark and gleaming.  I did wonder why there was a single standard lamp at the far end of the room.

For starters, I had the crab bisque and my husband had the scallop ceviche.  Both were very good but my bisque was tasty, creamy and very good.  The ceviche was fresh tasting and tangy but my bisque was better!(You can see it in the distance in the photo below.)

There were a few other tables seated and enjoying their meals.  We found it the right level of busy-ness.  Not so quiet that you felt like a fool eating there; not so busy that the next table can eavesdrop on your conversation.

Moving on to the main courses, I had the Duck with Pak Choi and Macaroni Cheese (as it was such an unusual combination and I had never even heard of it) and my husband had the Rib-eye
Steak with Bearnaise sauce and triple cooked chips.  He thought the steak was cooked to perfection I was disappointed that the duck didn't have crispy skin - the skin was on the breast and was soggy.  I felt that the sauce was very sweet.  The macaroni cheese (served alongside in a separate dish) was amazing and I loved that.  You can get it as a side order too.

We did have desserts - my 'Lemon tart' was OK but I felt I could have made it myself.  My husband's Chilli Chocolate Torte with homemade Ice Cream - which he felt was very nice - the chilli wasn't overpowering and the tangy citrus sauce stopped it from being cloying. This photo shows the chocolate dessert.

I think this place would be good for a 'date', great for couples and a really good place for groups.   If you chose well (e.g. the crab bisque, the steak, the macaroni cheese) you were rewarded with fabulous food.  My husband also thought that the waitress who served our food was really good

Penge Punch, First of the Month

It's true: I rarely leave Devon and Cornwall.  But for the hottest day of the year, with everyone heading for a bonus day on the beach, I ended up travelling to South London. Craziness.  What a good time I had .  A superb party held to celebrate my dear friends, J and L's 40ths.  J had invented two new cocktails, Penge Punch (in honour of the venue) which was lethal - a stronger version of Long Island Iced Tea (including laminated instruction sheets for novices on how to concoct the tipple - he is so anal organised).

There was also a totally delicious Southern Sangria (Spanish red, lemonade, a healthy dash of fresh lemon and lime juice and tons of ice and fruit).

Needless to say, a good time was had by all.  Hawaiian shirts, fairy lights, paper flowers, cocktail dresses, posh kebab canapes.  I spent a manic hour in the kitchen assisting these two strapping lads and generally dropping things on the floor.

A really great idea.  Wraps containing pre-bbqed meat, veges and condiments had been prepped the day before and our job was to bake them for 15 minutes and then slice them into 2cm slices and serve on trays as kebab canapes.  They were hungrily snapped up.

Later we moved on to genuine live opera singing (M and L were astonishing), a put-together-at-last-minute-band and then dancing, Shisha pipes with apple tobacco and fire baskets in the garden.

And after just a couple of hours sleep (there were about eight kids in the house) we were up and at 'em again.  I'd bought long some fab bacon from Borough Market (my first time at BM - WOW, what a change from Devon farmers' markets) from Sillfield Farm and we cooked up bagels,bacon and more pitchers of Southern Sangria in the sun.  

Finished off with some perfect hangover food made by the resident starlet, H, chocolate dipped peppermint creams.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Penge Punch Yeehah

Like a cross between long island iced tea and mojito.  Kicks a fair punch

Quanitity makes a large pitcher

300 ml  cointreau

300ml vodka, 
300ml tequila
300ml dark rum and 
300ml white rum

125ml sugar syrup infused with mint

1 litre of Coca Cola

125ml freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice

Loads of ice

TASTE AND ADJUST TIL YUMMY!