Shark found on Brighton beach!

On 7th January 2012:

 

Oscar was enjoying a night time walkie on the beach. We were learning to trust him and letting him  off the lead  when no dogs are around. We soon realised that whenever we stop walking, he would stop and look round to double check on us! 

Though soon enough he started running away from us and we thought he's seen another dog. But he just sat in a distance, in his guarding position that he always do with his treats. And this was what he found:

"Good boy Oscar!"

I think Oscar was disappointed that we didn't bring his trophy home so that he can hide under our bed and for it to go all rotten...

Brighthelmstone

Brighthelmstone

I foud these a while ago in the Bellis gallery in Brighton. They are by Harriet Butler. 

I loved all of them and couldn't choose which one to bring home...

Birdcage Jazz

The Royal Pavillion of Brighton

Backstage at the Theatre Royal Brighton

It's been a busy week/month for Brighton and what a big party weeked. The 2011 Food & Drinks festival with live food shows, wine, champagne & tea tastings, cheese bowling, chilli eating and our very own Oktober fest is on-going until 4 October. It was also the Heritage Open Days this weekend with historical architectures opening to the public, providing free tours and walks around these heritage buildings in locations nationwide. 

The Theatre Royal in Brighton reveals its secrets to the public as part of the Heritage Open Days. I was lucky enough to not have to work that day and got a ticket to this free tour. Jade who works at the theatre  gave us a very informative tour packed with interesting history of Brighton, the theatre and stories of its owners, workers (fishermen), actors & actresses and the audiences...I don't think this is a running tour, hopefully after seeing Friday's big demand they will do this more regularly - should increase ticket sales for the shows too.

Scratched

My first SLR was a Pentax P30 (35mm film), it was "lended" to me by a very generous colleague two years ago and it's still sitting proudly in my cupboard. I have since bought a digital SLR but I still prefer shotting in film - you never know what you'll get until the films are developed. When I took this photo, it was my second roll of film, aperture, exposure, shutter speeds...blah blah meant nothing to me, after I pressed the shutter and attempted to wind up the film, it was a bit jammed so I thought the whole roll was ruined but all the photos turned out fine. Of course what I did was half winded the film up and then scratched it....

 

Are you dog friendly?

We have been looking after Oscar (the family dog, a tiny Jack Russell) on and off for the last couple of years. Normally we leave him at home when we need to do some shopping, as it's sad to have him tied up all alone outside windging. So when I took him to Wickes yesterday it felt like a mission. There wasn't any signs outside saying dogs aren't allowed (do "dogs are allowed" signs exist anyway?), but still I was whispering to him when we were in. I think he got the idea and was on his best behaviour. Even the cashier guy seemed to be impress with my ability to get Oscar to sit and wait while rummaging through my purse. The Chinese foods shop and my local pharmaist however weren't so fond of Oscar, but that's another post.

Other than shops, another big problem is of course finding dog friendly pubs and restaurants. We have yet to find a restuarant but here are the pubs we tried and liked:
1. The Lion and Lobster (near the seafront) with two beer gardens, three (or is it four? five?) floors of bars and mixed sunday roast (must add them to my list of best sunday roasts in Brighton).
2. The shakespeares head  (7 dials) and their self claimed best bloody mary in Brighton.
3. Park View (Preston Park) with a big terrace seating area
4. The Farm (Tavern) (Hove) they even have a log fire in the winter
5. The windmill with its cool art work and I just realised that they have a facebook page.
6. The Hampton (Arms) with a beer garden and sunday roast (photos)

(Of course most venues on the seafront let you sit outside with doggies but you'll have to brave either the wind or the tourists).

Just saw that the latest Edible (issue 4) magazine has a page on dog friendly pubs & restaurants. We should be able to venture out to just the above then, the search for Oscar's favourite venue continues, watch this space.

Luxury cream tea for two

I am a Devonian, I spread on the cream (clotted cream is essential!) first then the red jam. Apparently this allows the cream to soak into the half scone. Aren't we a clever bunch.
(In case you were wondering, the Cornish style is to spread the jam first then cream. At this point, Dan saids "Just turn the scone upside down then...")

The other day we found this lovely little cafe just opposite the big Tesco in Hove. Mind you, its windows are quite dark and hard to look inside, if you are focused on the big supermarket its easy to miss the cafe. Now everyone knows that its a silly thing to do, going to a supermarket on an empty stomach. So I salute the cafe owners for picking the best location for their cakes heaven. There were easily ten different cakes to choose from (around £3 a piece) and many more cup cakes lying about. We saw a tag on top of the scones saying "Cream tea for two with a pot of tea £4.50". When the waitress came back with four warm scones, a honey pot of homemade strawberry jam, a generous cup of clotted cream and a pot of English tea, we thought "Bargain!" but of course, it turned out that the price was per head.

Another "feature" is their collection of vintage cups, saucers butter knifes with fainted yellow colour handles.


Location: Church Road, Opposite the big Tesco in Hove.

The best Nasi Lemak in Brighton

There seems to be an unlimited supply of takeaway restaurants, new menus are dropped into our post box every day. I always write little comments on takeaway menus, its an efficient way to remember the good ones. Last week, the new kid in the box was a self claimed authentic Indonesian restaurant Warung Tujuh. Now this is very exciting as there's no other Indonesian restaurants in Brighton. Studying the menu, you'll find that they actually do a mixture of Indonesian, Malaysian and Balinese cuisine.

They don't currently do home deliveries. So we made a trip to the centrally located newly refurbished venue. The first thing we noticed is their shiny clean cutleries, "its a good sign." Dan was impressed. The drinks menu though could be improved by adding some authentic teas, coffee and fresh coconut juice(?)..etc.

The Nasi Lemak (£10.95) caught my eyes. (Its regarded as the national heritage of Malaysia so if you haven't tried it, should definitely give it a go.) The last time I had it was 2yrs ago in Sydney China town at a Malaysian restaurant that does all sorts of roti canai! The verdict? The little salted fishes and peanuts were impressive, the satay sauce was just what it should be. But the salad has been westernised, it would be better with some leafy greens. The rendang daging was a bit tough. Its a good effort overall.

The other main dish we ordered was the Ikan Bumbu Bali (£8.95). It is a Balinese pan fried Sea Bream with a red hot sauce. Personally I'm not a big fan of slapping sauces on fishes. The taste of a fresh fish is so divine no other sauces should be required to disguise it! Anyway, the verdict? The Sea Bream was really fresh and nicely cooked (not over cooked making the meat tough). The sauce tasted homely with lemon grass and ginger. The dish tasted better than it looked!

Dan's wine suggestions for this style of cuisine: A Pinot Gris or a Sylvaner from the producer Hugel. The wines from Alsace are fresh, floral and complement the spices and herbs typical of these dishes. 

The restaurant have a 20% off promotion on at the moment. No home delivery yet though.

Address: Warung Tujuh, 7 Pool Valley, Brighton, BN1 1NJ

Best Sunday Roasts in Brighton

When I came to Brighton 5 years ago, I heard that there are 360+ pubs in the city. Being foodies, we started a regime of trying out Sunday roasts around town.
Our favourite was The Park View on Preston Drove, its a lovely building with board games and a stone throw away from Preston Park, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon. The food was superb, especially when Fruli beer was available on the tap (Belgian strawberry beer). 
Another favourite used to be Fiddlers Elbow on Boyce's Street (before they changed the chef). They used to serve all the trimmings and the exotic veggies (e.g. butternut squash, beetroot, fennel...etc) inside a super-size Yorkshire pudding. Even their Veggie roast was fantastically different, I had a lovely mushroom monster there once. We've never been back so maybe next time we should revisit this one.
The Eagle on Gloucester Road was another good pub, their gravy is gorgeous plus the Nemo and Dori in the fish tank are cute!
On Easter Sunday, we went to the revamped Hampton Arms on Upper North street. They've moved the main entrance to the side instead to keep out the chills which would be great when the "summer" is over (very soon). The food was still good quality but the beef was very under cooked on that day. While usually this is preferred, they gave us big generous slices of meat so it was a bit too pink and bloody. But at least the portion was good and the veggie roast was great. So we won't write it off just yet. 

This week, after reading some reviews we picked the Shakespeare's head on Chatham place. The beef was yummy pink and when it comes with creamy cauliflower, it really can't get any better! I spotted a sign behind the bar "Virgin Mary - the best in town?", later on saw two chaps holding theirs complete with a celery stick and lemon. A revisit for the best Virgin Mary is a must I think ;-)