Exeter Food Festival 2014 April 25th

This morning I visited the Exeter Food Festival.  It's on from today until Sun 27 April 2014.
As ever, the food theatre was packed - standing room only, and that was at the top of a flight of stairs - Michael Caines was appearing - so I had to leave and made the most of the 'quieter' marquees.

There were plenty of familiar faces and products, plus some new items that I haven't tried before.  It was a great opportunity to see all the local produce and try some free samples.   The marquees were huge and there were a lot of exhibitors and the great weather (not wet, not too hot) meant there were a lot of visitors, but not too many.

I enjoyed my chat about Cornish pasties with Chunk of Devon.  Are Devon or Cornish ones better?  I prefer chunks of meat (not mince)....and so do Chunk!

I also chatted to Jennie from Taste Buds magazine - a great source of local foodie info (and I write for it too) and I bumped into Anna Turns, a fellow food writer.

Look at the size of these Rolo cookies from Get Cupcaked....you have to look at the penny for comparison.  My children will love these this evening.  The Get Cupcaked cupcakes looked amazing and for me the 'Best in Show'.

The Frandie Macarons looked and tasted amazing:

 A great array of pies from a North Devon company...

 I was unable to chat to the Camper Coffee guys as the queue was always like this...
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The festival programme:

I have never been to the evening do, but that should be fun.  I think there is entertainment on the Fri and Sat nights.  Parking was not a problem - there are road signs advising use of the Park and Ride - but we parked in the centre of Exeter.

Bristol Trip

We stayed at the Bristol Hotel which was good.  A little bit impersonal, but we knew that's what we were getting.

A good price via one of the price comparison websites too.  We didn't have the hotel breakfast as it wasn't included and the rumour was that the Crepe and Coffee Cabin just down the road in Prince Street did excellent coffees with great 'latte art'.  It's tiny in there, but there's no arguing with the quality of the service or the quality of the coffee.

We munched for lunch at Friska - this is the ground floor of the great record (and books, T shirts, posters etc) shop, Rise on Queen's Rd.  This was exceptionally good.  I can highly recommend it - good value, home cooked and damn tasty.  And then we got to spend a fortune upstairs on CDs, books and presents!

Bagel and Beans - Great Budget Food in Central Amsterdam

I'm just back from a gloriously sunny and wine-sodden five days in Holland staying with our dear friends A, D and A.

We needed a bite to eat away from the touristy centre of Amsterdam where we'd enjoyed a visual feast of Vermeers and Franz Hals at the rijksmuseum, where incidentally, The Milkmaid was my favourite picture:

..... and we happened upon Bagels and Beans.  This is a small chain of Dutch cafes specialising in breakfasts and lunches.  We heartily enjoyed the 'Everything' juice that included pineapple, orange, strawberry and apple:

The bagels were fresh, packed full of fairly healthy ingredients with some good combos, and not just the average 'cheese and ham' that features heavily on Dutch menus.  I chose the smoked chicken, avocado, pesto and pinenut, with plenty of greenery too (particularly enjoyed the large helping of killer cucumbers):

The free pot of coffee bean shaped and flavoured chocolate beans were a great added bonus - they were on every table.

The juice was 3 Euros -  a tad high, but considering that's the same price as a Coke in a European pavement cafe, not too bad.  The bagel was 6 Euros which I thought was fair enough.  The waiter was so friendly and disarmingly asked me if I was 'well-known in Holland.'  I think he was asking whether I knew Holland well.  Free chocolate, smiley waiters, good food and free postcards from a stand for the children to take as souvenirs - a great respite from a frenetic European city centre and great for people on a budget.

Exeter Cafe Review: SW Food Bloggers at Boston Tea Party

We had a get together of some South West UK food bloggers at the Boston Tea Party cafe in Exeter at the weekend.  It was the first time in the cafe for Choclette (choclogblog), Liz (feastsandfestivals) and Matthew (matthewsfoodblog), but I think they were impressed by the place - for its sheer size and great place for meeting up with people.

The downstairs looks like this - rather small and always hectic, but in a buzzy way:

And everyone gets a BIG surprise when they get up to the top of the staircase (tray, teapot, cake all in one piece - phew).  The upstairs room is vast and has a huge array of mismatched furniture, some enormous long refectory tables, sofas, original artwork on the walls and posters advertising everything cultural that's on in the Exeter area.

I suspect that some of the student frequentees actually live here.  They know which seats have access to the sockets for when their laptop batteries fade. They can make that drink and muffin last for many an hour.  I have on occasion spent a lovely afternoon here with a cuppa, a piece of rhubarb and custard cake and a favourite novel.  Simple decadence.

OK, so that's the ambience sorted.  They have loads of types of tea on offer - all served as leaves in clever tea pots with built-in strainers.  The cakes are great - my faves are the Portuguese custard tarts pictured above, but also good are the Devon apple cake, chocolate brownie, chocolate fridge cake - a fellow blogger reported that the coffee and walnut cake was average rather than mind-blowing.

Thanks to Choclette and Liz for coming up from Cornwall to have coffee and cake with Matthew and myself - really enjoyed having an inspiring chat about food and our blogs.

New Teignmouth Cafe - twentysix

We mourned the loss of the Michaelmas Goose cafe in Teignmouth - we loved the Goose's relaxed, bustling vibe with super-cheery waitresses and a couple of sofas and magazines - you felt you could go there on your own and just chill and eat cake.  It closed down in the summer and we now have twentysix in its place.  I am a little cynical about calling a place by a word-number - it's not too snappy and people don't automatically know what you're talking about.  As this is owned and run by a really good chef, Denise Tarriela, I would have preferred it to be called something more personal and showing its high quality home-cooking credentials.  It's also hard to find on the internet - this is their website, but I had to go via Tripadvisor to find it.

That is all the negative stuff I have to say!  
What a lovely place and what attention to detail.  My tea (pear and caramel tea - sounds weird but tasted delicious) arrived with an egg timer and a request to let it brew for three minutes.  I love that kind of gimmick.  The two of us ordered 'Croques' - his was pear and blue cheese on granary bread and mine was brie, crispy bacon with fig relish on white topped with aged Gruyere.  Both were £6.95 which sounds a little high for a sandwich (especially in Teignmouth), but they were full of excellent quality ingredients and presented well with a delicious green salad dressed with lemon oil, proper crisps and aioli.  I enjoyed every mouthful and can highly recommend a visit.  


I gawped at the cakes but didn't have time for one - they are all homemade and look quite incredible - definitely posh restaurant standard and a little bit different: New York baked cheesecake, a beautiful iced blueberry cake and Valrhona chocolate brownies plus the amazing pear, pistachio and creme anglaise cake - I want one of those!

They are open 9-5:30 every day, plus they serve evening meals as special bookable events at weekends - the cafe is holding New Orleans Cuisine and Jazz evenings this weekend )19-21 Nov with delicious items such as Drunken Prawns with Cajun Butter Sauce, Blackened Fillet of Marlin and Chocolate Pecan Pie.  There is also a Thanksgiving meal on 25 Nov, a Local Game evening on 27th Nov and Christmas events too.

Michaelmas Goose Cafe, Teignmouth - friendliest cafe in Devon?

Popped in for coffee and chinwag with lovely L at The Michaelmas Goose Cafe‎. The waitresses here always seem happy to see customers and are so friendly, it's just an all round feel good experience.

There are two weeny seats outside in the sea air (and sunshine today) and plenty more inside.  They support local food suppliers, brew Fairtrade coffee, use Riverford Organic milk and make all their cakes themselves.  I can recommend the squidgy raspberry and apricot cake (served warm) and their divine chocolate brownie.  Seriously dark, chocolatey and with no nuts (bonus).

And I went for a brief stroll along the seafront afterwards.

NB it's a sunny day and look how empty the beach is!

The Michaelmas Goose, 26 Regent Street, Teignmouth TQ14 8SJ 01626 879 000