Restaurants

[Tom]

I went to Red Hot World buffet on Liverpool one and whilst the selection was great I left wishing I'd just gone to a dedicated Indian / Chinese / Italian and just had one good meal instead.

Then again I felt the same at La Salsa in Darwen and others rave about it.

[thenodrog]

The biggest issue to be honest is the temptation to over-eat, like one of the friends I went with did who then could only manage to drink tap water in the pub we went to afterwards. Eh Chris?!

Double Benedictine the best cure for that 'pogged' feeling. He'd have been back on the beer within 10 mins. Dunno how it works but it just does.

[Simon Says]

Deja vu by day in Kendal is absolutely brilliant and the Eagle and Child at Staveley - top. Or, even the Hawkshead brewery shop at STaveley which is now doing top tapas.

If you are around this area and like your beer, The Watermill Inn at Ings is a must.

Lovely cosy pub, fantastic ale selection, decent food and open all day.

[Tris]

If you are around this area and like your beer, The Watermill Inn at Ings is a must.

Lovely cosy pub, fantastic ale selection, decent food and open all day.

Very good shout - excellent pub.

If you're up at the north end of Lake Windermere then worth the few miles drive up to Little Langdale for The Three Shires Inn ... lovely setting and great pub. Took the parents there last Saturday for lunch, great all round.

[Tris]

Head O'The Marsh Farm

Superb meat. I can recommend it.

Great range of sausages too! Try as I might to like lincoln / apple / cumberland / spicy etc etc the traditional pork is the best.

Other side of town and the sausages in Mellor Post Office top the lot in these parts! Tasty and hardly any fat in the grill pan when they are cooked.

The sausages they sell at Head o'th Marsh actually come from Ye Olde Sausage Shop at Ossy Mills. Agree they are excellent, pork and leek one of the best and I also like the pork and stilton.

I've been a regular customer at Ye Olde Sausage Shop for a couple of years or more, but IMO there's now somewhere better in the new Blackburn Market.

Dales Butchers of Kirkby Lonsdale have a stall near the middle of the market hall, and everything I've tried from there has been top notch.

Personal favourite is their pork sausage with Mr Vikki's chilli jam ... taste sensation. The sort of thing you want to always have a stock of in the freezer ready for a sudden craving.

[Simon Says]

I've been a regular customer at Ye Olde Sausage Shop for a couple of years or more, but IMO there's now somewhere better in the new Blackburn Market.

Dales Butchers of Kirkby Lonsdale have a stall near the middle of the market hall, and everything I've tried from there has been top notch.

Personal favourite is their pork sausage with Mr Vikki's chilli jam ... taste sensation. The sort of thing you want to always have a stock of in the freezer ready for a sudden craving.

Pork and Black Pudding pie for me. Sensational!

[Paul]

Force of circumstances found us in a pub belonging to the Sizzling or Sizzlers chain - not sure which. A word of warning this was positively the worst pub food I've eaten. I'll never go in one of their pubs again. Truly awful.

[ABBEY]

We went to mitton hall on fri for a night do '! The sausage butts were amazing! The bogs were manky and the old bbe ones smelt better! Taxi back to rishton 8 quid! Bettys

[Tom]

I don't like the sound of ass chicken too much I must admit!

[3rdpillar]

Recent visits:

Naga ( Indian in Abby Village ).... would return for the excelent flavoured food and pleasent modern surroundings.

Oyster and Otter ( take away )... had to order in restaraunt, staff dozy, took ages, mixure of exellent and warmed up chips, fish nice. tarter sause, very nice.. NO SALT OR VINAGAR!!!!

[ultrablue]

I don't like the sound of ass chicken too much I must admit!

This is what they sell down my local takeaway

[rosie]

If you are around this area and like your beer, The Watermill Inn at Ings is a must.

Lovely cosy pub, fantastic ale selection, decent food and open all day.

You're so right - and all other comments re: Lakeland Gold etc. - bang on!

Gordon - the Castle Dairy no longer exists but there are still plenty of top places and new ones still appearing!

[berkshireblue]

Force of circumstances found us in a pub belonging to the Sizzling or Sizzlers chain - not sure which. A word of warning this was positively the worst pub food I've eaten. I'll never go in one of their pubs again. Truly awful.

sizzling Pubs, run by the large plc Mitchells and Butlers - crap

[OhmiBRFC]

Speaking of which, does anyone know the Olde English Kiosk in Sunnyhurst Woods? I went on a wedding do there a few weeks back. The food was dreadful (dry-ass chicken and frozen veg) although I don't know if that's just because it was a big do or if that's their usual standard.

But I need to add that the place and surroundings made it a top wedding venue!

This is where me and the wife got married.

We loved getting married there and couldn't recommend it enough to anyone. The hotpot in the evening was really good. Cannot remember too much about the buffet though in all fairness. The beef and onion butties made me laugh though as it was the smallest piece of onion I've ever seen on a sarnie.

[Hughesy]

This is where me and the wife got married.

Was this recent? Did you find yourselves on the live recording later that was shown to the wedding guests?

I went to one their, the recording caught some comical moments

[JC4LAB]

Anyone heard of Cool Runnings in Moss Side Manchester.. Best Carribean food in North West

[Tom]

Not quite a restaurant as such but we went to TGI Fridays at cheshire oaks today after a day at chester zoo. All four of us really enjoyed it, the boneless wings (made with franks red hot sauce of course) and the jack Daniels chicken strips were brilliant.

[OhmiBRFC]

Was this recent? Did you find yourselves on the live recording later that was shown to the wedding guests?

I went to one their, the recording caught some comical moments

June. There was no recordings there though.

[vintageadidas]

Went to East Z East last night in Preston.

Service was a little shoddy due to it being soooo busy but the food was very good!

[Sandiway Blue]

Not quite a restaurant as such but we went to TGI Fridays at cheshire oaks today after a day at chester zoo. All four of us really enjoyed it, the boneless wings (made with franks red hot sauce of course) and the jack Daniels chicken strips were brilliant.

Went to the one at the Trafford Centre last night,i`m not surprised you can`t see a menu before you sit down,a tenner for burger and fries is scandalous! 1st and last time for me although I was impressed with the excellent service.Not worth the money though IMO.

Edited September 11, 2011 by bacup blue

[thenodrog]

bacup you and Tom deserve all the clogged arteries and spongy brain cells that you get and which your actions are probably ensuring that your kids will get too!

Fast food chains are a menace. For about the 4th time in my life I ate in a Macdonalds. Took some of Mrs Drogs relation's 3 kids to the illuminations and for some fish and chips first. Turned out none of the ungrateful little blighters like fish and chips and they all declared an undying devotion to bloody Macdonalds. Obviously under orders and a stern look or two from er indoors I gave in rather then spoil their fun, bless em . Mighty hungry anyway and past caring so I ordered a Big Mac cheeseburger. If ever there was a contravention of the Trades Descriptions Act this is it. If that is Big I dread to think what they consider normal. When my box was handed to me I thought they'd forgotten to put anything in it! There must be sweet fa in em! Tasteless and bland are the adjectives that spring most readily to mind which does not involve the swear filter going into overdrive. The cheese tastes of nowt, the meat too, and the bun is just bloody awful. Best I can offer up is that the chips were good but whether thats a valid comment due to a direct comparison with the burger or just cos I was hungry I don't know and I'll be trying desperately hard for the rest of my days not to find out.

Oh and btw I now possess 3 unidentifyable and to the limit of my knowledge effin useless lumps of plastic (manufactured in the far east no doubt from this planets swiftly diminishing oil reserves) which came wrapped up with the kids meal and which they had predictably discarded on the floor of my car!

A responsible govt really should be taxing these shameful fast food operations right out of existence!

btw 2 what are the point of the illuminations nowadays? They must exhaust the combined output of a few dozen middle east oil fields every year and the kids in these digital days of HD TV and X boxes or whatever are by my recent experience singularly unimpressed by lots of twinkling bulbs and a lit up tram or two. The wonderment experienced by my generation and older has flown right out of the car window... or sunroof in this case.

Edited September 12, 2011 by thenodrog

[Ozz]

Don't get me started on MacDonalds. Oh you have. Well I may as well continue then.

McDonalds as a corporation is superb. I have no idea how much money they make but I can guess it is a very very profitable set up. I had the misfortune to be in the branch on Middlebrook the other month , as my Mrs thinks it a treat to take our kids there. My lad is not even three yet but he recognises the big M sign a mile away and he immediatley chirps up with "Donalds!". Not even three and they have got him hooked.

A "Happy Meal" costs £2.00, and in it are a small packet of "fries", a "burger", a drink , usually a "shake", but the most important thing is the crappy toy they give them. Themed on a recent Disney movie more often than not, the really young ones see the association between the funny movie they may have watched and going for a new Disney based toy from McDs. The first thing George does when he gets in there is play with the toy! (Showing good taste really).

He rarely eats any of the grub they slop out, maybe drinks most of his milkshake though. But by the time they can make their own decisons on where to go for a meal out, they are so hooked on the sugary drinks, the fatty over salted foods they automatically default to Mac bleeding Donalds.

Anyway I was sat in there waiting whilst the kids were eating, and looking around you could see the whole place is totally geared up to releive the public off as much cash in as short a space of time as as is possible, whilst in return the customer gets a plastic tray full of absolute crap, full of additives, sugars, salts and massive saturated fats and food crammed with calories. Not got enough spare change to buy all you want? No problem-each till has a Switch machine,lready and primed to drain your bank balance, whilst all around you there are primary coloured menus urging you to Max the meal or add a drink etc.

I absolutely hate MacDonalds for what it is doing to the worlds childrens health, but you have to admire the sheer brass necked balls of them in the way they corner the weak and vulnerable and enslave them to this cash for sludge relationship.

Got me thinking though, why cannot a company exist whose products are super healthy, sustainable, whos packing won't litter every street in the UK-with the same aggressive marketing tactics that McDs use-come along and transform the way the vast majority now eat ? Would solve a lot of health issues for sure.

Edited September 12, 2011 by ozziejones

[3rdpillar]

Oyster and Otter for sit down Sunday Lunch.

Food quality excellent, portions small. Staff need to stop look bored and hanging around and chatting loudly when there a few customers. The Guest beer was undrinkable, the Wainwright was very cloudy, so one is looking after the beer. Considering there were only 3 tables active, we waited 40 mins for our mains.

Yes the food tastes good and is presented well and for this it deserves to be patronised as a local business. But I would avoid busy periods and drink bottled beer larger or cider.

[Tom]

I know its crap really but I still enjoy a McDonalds breakfast if I'm honest.

[colin]

Ossie, Thenodrog

You may be interested in a book “Mindless Eating” by Brian Wansink. It's all about how the food industry brain-washes us all, not just children, into buying their products and going back to them again and again. McDonalds has it all wrapped up with its "Happy Meal" brand and Ronald McDonald (who, quite frankly I find disturbing,) but children don't.

The food industry is a multi billion pound industry and it suits its profits to have the lot of us to consume salty, fatty & sugar-laden. Brian Wansink makes the point that only 3,000 years ago we were just hunter-gatherers. For the previous 300,000 years we were just hard-wired to grab our calories and nourishment where ever we could. A couple of hundred years of "civilisation" has not yet overturned that primative urge in many people. We are still, deep down, up for the next calorie hit.

So the food manufacturers play on this, just watch the next advert for a food or a supermarket advert that appeals to either children or their parents.

If you want to get kids off commercial burgers then just mention that the product may well include (& I'm being delicate here to protect the site owners) cows anus; lower intestine where faeces are gathered; a cow's udders; or a bull's penis.

I hope this is useful

Addition

Sorry, If anyone doesn't know I'm a vegearian and have been for a long time

Edited September 12, 2011 by colin