Froggies at Timber Batts, Bodsham, Kent

My apologies for the long gap since my last blog entry, I hope it won't be this long until my next one!

Timber Batts is a lovely old country pub between Ashford and Canterbury on the road out of Wye.  It's tucked away in the tiny village of Bodsham (no, I'd never heard of it before either!) and it's well worth the effort of finding it for yourself.  There is plenty of seating inside at an eclectic mix of tables, but if the weather permits you might want to sit outside and enjoy the rural views from the quiet garden to the side of the pub.  Froggies is, as you might expect from the name, run by a French father and son who have done well to retain the traditional English pub feel while adding their own Gallic charm to the place.  There are a number of wine case lids from some of the grand estates decorating the beams, and every shelf and sill is covered in empty wine bottles that span generations and vineyards of the world, mostly having been drunk by the owner!

We stopped in for a quick lunch (and maybe a swift half!) on the way home and were genuinely delighted with the food.  Although the lunch menu is short, it is full of good options including a home made burger (more on that later), various baguettes and sandwiches, moule frites, or simply ham egg and chips.  Something for everyone then!

I was feeling pretty hungry, so I went for the homemade burger, which comes with french fries and a small green salad on the side.  It's a good job I was hungry, because there was plenty of it and it was delicious.  The difficulty with very thick burgers is cooking them right through without letting them dry out, something the chef managed very nicely indeed.  There was a generous side order of the thinnest fries, and the salad had a light drizzle of house dressing that just helped cut through the big flavours in the burger.  The ham and chips looked very good too, the ham was lightly smoked and thinly cut, while the baguettes were big enough to feed even the hungriest mouth.

One of my favourite things to finish a meal is a café gourmand, usually a shot of espresso with two or three mini deserts just intended to give you something sweet to finish your meal, so I was delighted to find it on the menu.  It came with a couple of home made macaroons and a glass of café liegeois (espresso coffee poured over coffee ice-cream and topped with whipped cream served in this case in a shot glass).  A close second choice for me was the trio of deserts, which included an apricot tatin, panna cotta,  and a raspberry melba.  The desert for people unable to decide what to have, but delicious none the less.

Easy to find?  No.
Worth the effort?  Certainly.
Worth the price?  Yes, I think so.

Should you find yourself in Canterbury...

There are lots of things to see and do in Canterbury. As well as the obvious touristy things like the Cathedral and Canterbury Tales display, there is a delightful walk around the top of the city walls, a city museum, the Rupert the Bear museum and a variety of boat and punt trips are available. Canterbury is also a really great place to go for a wander round the shops, with a quirky mixture of modern new malls and ancient, beamed buildings off narrow medieval alleys. There is no shortage of choice when it comes to food either, with the usual array of Ask, Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express and so on in prominent locations on the main street.

If you fancy something a little more....interesting, then take the time to find Tiny Tim's Tearoom just down from the Canterbury Tales Experience. It's worth the effort! With traditional favourites likes poached eggs on toast and Welsh rarebit on the menu alongside cream teas and more substantial meals, there really is something for everyone. The building itself is very old and full of character, with low beams and nooks and crannies on all floors. Ok, it's not cheap, but it is worth it. I recommend the Welsh rarebit topped with a poached egg. Delicious!

Having enjoyed a lovely light lunch in Tiny Tim's I suggest a stroll round the corner and down Hawk Street to the city museum. Having had your fill of local history, it is a very short walk down the alley along side the museum to Brown's Coffee House. Go, sit in a huge leather sofa, soak up the friendly atmosphere and enjoy one of the best cups of coffee you're ever likely to try. If you have any room after your lunch, try a slab of one of the delicious cakes on offer too, you won't be disappointed. Places like Brown's are hard to find with the prevalence of Starbucks and Costa etc, so it is refreshing to stumble across a genuine, friendly, high quality coffee house offering so much more than formula menus and bought in character.

Ideal Home Christmas Show taste tests

Dee and I went up to Earls Court to have a mooch round the Ideal Home Christmas Show last weekend.  The show itself was split fairly evenly into demonstrations, sales booths and show areas.  Needless to say we tried just about everything anyone offered us, and in the process discovered a few little gems!

The highlights for me were -

A coffee / chocolate bar called "Coffeelate" which is a lovely crumbly mixture of real coffee and darkish chocolate.  Deeply satisfying on a number of levels.  The stand selling it was generous with their samples and was only selling this one product.  It was nice to be able to meet the man behind the idea too, he is rightfully very proud of it.

A bit of a left-field choice, but next in line for a re-positioning in the market place (following the huge success Magners have had in marketing the cider and ice idea) is Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry.  They were there in force, with cute little stands like gardens complete with astro-turf and garden furniture.  The generous samples they were handing out were shot glasses of sherry with a slice of orange and a chunk of ice.  Not much of a departure from the traditional glass of sherry, perhaps, but then neither was adding ice to cider!  It certainly made it a much more appealing drink, and if you've got a bottle tucked away at the back of your drinks cupboard I'd recommend trying it that way.

Debbie & Andrew's sausages were handing out chunks of their fantastic sausages, sizzling away on a row of George Foreman grills on their little stand.  We know their products of old and always look out for them at shows as there are often deals to be had.  The traditional Lincolnshire pork sausages, pork and apple, and Toulouse varieties are our favourites.  They are meaty and low in fat (for a sausage!) and taste just as good cold the next day.

My personal favourite was a great drink called "Fireball".  I went to visit their stand to try the bourbon (which was very good!) but then the guy asked if I like cinnamon.  As some of you may already know, I'd eat a toadstool if it had enough cinnamon on it, so I jumped in.  He poured me the smallest thimble full of whisky I've ever seen, but that turned out to be enough.  It is well named indeed!  A blend of cinnamon and Canadian whisky, the feeling of warmth that spreads out as it sinks down has to be experienced to be believed.  It's fairly strong, at 33% it's not full strength but you'd never know it.  The highlight, though, was trying it again but mixed with apple juice....like a good apple pie in a glass!  What a stunning drink, delicious!

Amongst the better food stands was a butcher who had brought a griddle plate and was selling steak sandwiches the like of which you've never seen as well as joints, steaks, various cuts of fantastic looking meat.  Not what I expected to see at an Ideal Home Show, but he clearly knew his stuff.

There were a vast number of stands selling flavoured vodka of one type or another, toffee or fruit flavours, but they were all missing something.  An original idea perhaps?

The champagne and oyster bar next to the fashion catwalk was fun too, with a choice of oysters with tabasco, lemon, salt & pepper or au natural and a selection of champagnes.  Dee had a glass of Laurent Perrier Premier Cru, while I went a little up-market and opted for the Grand Cru to see if we could honestly tell the difference.  Well, we certainly could!  The Premier Cru was very good indeed, light and refreshing, but the Grand Cru was as smooth as silk and absolutely delicious.

All in all it was a good show, lots of new products being showcased and plenty to look at, try on, taste or just stand and watch.  Worth the trip up to London, without a doubt.

Loch Fyne update

Just a quick update to my earlier review of the Bluewater restaurant....it is absolutely unforgivable to put a slice of mouldy lemon on a seafood platter.  It wasn't just a bit manky, it was actually white with green patches.  On a slightly less foul note, it is also ridiculous to provide three slices of bread with a sharing platter for two people.  And while I'm being critical, my monkfish and chirizo risotto was so salty I couldn't taste the fish at all.  I suspect it will be a while before I come back for another visit.

The café right outside Loch Fyne didn't cover itself with glory either!  After a few hours of shopping we stopped for coffee there because the cakes looked lovely, but after several minutes of standing aimlessly at the counter, and then several more sitting at a table after being directed there by a waitress, we gave up waiting to order and went upstairs to Costa Coffee instead.  I'm glad to say that Costa did us proud.