Buxton Tap House

Buxton Tap House
George St

Buxton SK17 6AT

Let's be honest, I am so behind that it no longer makes sense to try and do posts in order. So here's something from last Friday, when we were on our way to G&H's wedding in Manchester. Since we were driving, we decided to spend a night in Buxton so that we wouldn't have to get up quite as early on Saturday to make it to the party. Buxton is small - with a great park, opera house, and other villagey charms. For the size of the place, there are an awful lot of drinking spots - but we settled on the Buxton Tap House due to their large selection of beers that they produce themselves. For those of you curious about the beers, follow A on Untapped - I'm just going to cover the food. We had the night's special of smoked salmon (smoked on site, which you could certainly taste!), along with a couple of "sliders" which were more like full sized sandwiches - stuffed to the brim with pulled pork, bacon, sausage and cheese. That was actually overkill - I picked out the bacon and sausage and had that with the top half of the roll, then got through the generous and tender pile of pulled pork. We also had the mac and cheese, which I would skip - it's not bad but it's not worth the calories either. Not a bad option for some dinner with your interesting beers - wish we had more time to explore Buxton properly but oh well.

Colcannon Soup

I've probably already made this soup three or four times since discovering it. It's full of flavor from all the leeks and chicken broth, and feels healthy because of the kale and the cabbage, but not too healthy - the richness of potatoes and cream and butter still make it a really enjoyable soup. Proportions are a bit different from the original since I tend to use entire packages of things and this is based on the usual sizes I can get from my grocery shops.

Colcannon Soup

Based on this recipe from Simply Recipes
Serves 8

Ingredients

75g butter
600g sliced leeks
1/2 head sliced and chopped white cabbage (approx 500g)
200g sliced and chopped kale or cavolo nero
6 medium peeled and diced white potatoes
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
170ml double cream
4 green onions, thinly sliced

Method

1. Melt butter in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot on medium heat. Add the sliced leeks, cabbage, and kale, toss to coat with the butter. Lower the heat to low, cover and gently cook until the greens are wilted, about 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Add the diced potatoes to the pot, along with the chicken stock, bay leaves, and salt. Increase heat to bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are softened and falling apart, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Swirl in the white pepper, double cream, and sliced green onions. Taste and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Balthazar's Keuken

Elandsgracht 108

1016 VA 

Amsterdam, Netherlands

PaulyG was clever enough to make a late dinner reservation here - they only do a prix fixe menu which is nice in terms of making it quite easy to order. Service is amiable but slooooow - we were even given a free first round of cocktails as a sort of apology for the time it took for us to get anyone's attention. Much like the previous night's dinner, the starters were a selection of small dishes with no choice (though since PattyG is allergic to fish they did make him a couple of small non-fish bites as a replacement). The bacon was especially nice, as were the mussels. The olives, for some unknown reason, were drenched in cumin which was way too strong for any of us to eat. There were two options for mains - steak or fish. I went for steak again (not entirely sure why as I love fish) - it was very good but PaulyG's fish choice looked better. And then I'm sure they must have brought us dessert but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was and I didn't manage to remember to take a picture either, so sorry. 

Van Kerkwijk

Nes 41

1012 KC 

Amsterdam, Netherlands

In case you couldn't tell from the name, this place is in Amsterdam. It is frickin' awesome (except for the no reservations thing). The starters are a mix of lots of different little things - you don't pick, they just come like that, and then the waiter comes by and tells you what they have on offer at the moment for mains, and you choose one of the four or five options (PaulyG and I went for steak, PattyG had some crazy good Indonesian chicken I think) and wine is ordered and everything is just warm and convivial and great, and then you get two or three options for dessert, which is also fabulous, and then you stumble out into the street, full and merry and you meet your Dutch friend's friend who comes screeching up on her bike, tries to park it but instead ends up shoving it over while shouting "I'm so drunk!" and then you get invited to an electro techno DJ party that everyone you are with says HELL NO to and then you go home for a sleep.

Red Dog Saloon

37 Hoxton Square

London 

N1 6NN

I had another one of my massive cravings for buffalo wings and happened to be walking past Red Dog Saloon (or at least their little fast food takeaway joint next door) - and then I found myself going inside. So - in my hunt for delicious buffalo wings around town, I have so far approved of the ones at Meat Liquor and at Duke's Brew and Cue. This is another one to add to the list - these were the biggest wings, and very nicely fried so that they stayed crisp even after a drenching in authentic buffalo sauce. I would have liked some celery sticks on the side, but all I got was blue cheese sauce which I still haven't discovered a taste for. But at least I now have three places I can go to get a fix.

Beer & Buns

3 Appold Street

London 

EC2A 2AF

PattyG and I found out that this little pop up bar above K10 in Liverpool Street has pinball machines, and that on Monday night they are free. So the first Monday we were free, we got ourselves in there to play pinball to our heart's content (with a bit of free foosball thrown in as well). There are only two pinball machines, but that was completely fine as there were only two of us. Interestingly, most of the other people at the bar seemed interested only in the food, which meant we had very little competition for the machines. But this is a food blog - so I should mention that the fried chicken wing were crisp and meaty (though a little sweet for my liking) and the buns are soft, pillowy and tasty - I'm not sure I'd go there again without the pinball attraction, but it was certainly a fun night out. Oh, and they have my favorite draft beer (Asahi).

Hoi Polloi

100 Shoreditch High St 

London 

E1 6JQ

Hoi Polloi is in the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch - I meant to see if I wrote about this the first time around (my birthday last year) but I am too lazy and this meal was amazing enough to write about it again anyway. This time it was A's birthday and he was excited to come back - we had some fabulous cocktails to start, along with a few oysters, and then jumped into giant main courses. My duck breast with a pearl barley risotto was so full of duck flavors - I think every bit of the risotto tasted of duck as well, I almost risked licking the plate clean. A went with a special - the enormous rib eye you see above, which was superbly cooked and juicy as hell. He just about got through it though it was not looking possible for a little while - I had to help him out (poor me). I still love the ambiance of this place - perfect for a slightly special occasion. It may become our go-to celebration spot.