Headed north out of Audley End (see first post of 1st June) and made it as far as the Crown House Hotel (http://www.crownhousehotel.com) at Great Chesterford before we paused for refreshment, in this case an improvised cream tea involving tea, scone, biscuits, the odd strawberry and quite a lot of cream. Not a bad effort considering that afternoon tea was not really one of their things and we were not really residents.
Onto the Gonville Place Hotel (http://www.gonvillehotel.co.uk/) at Cambridge, where we declined the dinner menu which came in a bit dear with main courses around £20 a go and other things proportionate, opting instead for the bar menu at around £10 a go, served in the same main restaurant as they were not busy. I had a beefburger which was subtantial but which was made from what Sainsbury's call heritage matured beef which I do not much like, being rather too gamey for me, but they get some credit for the good quality bun it came in. Chips odd but eatable. BH had a salmon salad which turned out to be a much better bet, with rather better salmon that one usually gets from said Sainsbury's. Wine by the glass satisfactory, if a touch dear.
Economy breakfast the following morning in a Burleigh Street café. Tea, juice, croissants & mini baguettes in a package deal price. Very good value but with rather odd ambience: very quiet and with a chap serving, probably the proprietor, rather dour for a café owner. Such people should be jolly not dour - a nicety which I appreciate, it not being one that I could keep up for any length of time. Much better suited to the back of house than to the front of house.
Entertained after breakfast by the mating of a couple of swans on the river, something I have not seen before. Looked a bit high risk for the female, with her neck and head stretched out in front, under water, and rather hard work for the male.
Continued the economy drive with a steak and kidney pudding meal deal for two from the Regent Street Wetherspoons, a place from the inside of which we continue to fail to make out the lines of the cinema it used to be. But meal deal entirely satisfactory, just the same as what we could have had back home at Epsom. Or even Kingston.
Tea in another café in Regent Street, with tea made with leaves rather than with a bag, the first time for some time. Plus a flapjack which I thought tasted OK but not quite like a flapjack. BH disagreed, claiming that I was getting confused with mealy munchies. A point with which I cannot presently deal as Professor Google does not appear to have heard of them, despite their having been made in this family, on and off, for forty years.
Then, in the evening, headed off to the Six Bells off Mill Road where we had had splendid sausage rolls in the past (sausage in a soft bread roll, not sausage meat in a puff pastry case), to find that these were a Mill Road Christmas Fayre special and we had to settle for ham sandwiches. But these were entirely satisfactory. I remember the beer as being good, but had to settle for low choice but decent wine.
Back to our hotel room to enjoy the large, high definition version of food advertisements from M&S. I did not care for them at all, with the food looking far too real, far too large and all in all far too much like something from a seething, tropical compost heap. Not at all appetising - so the advertising chaps have clearly got a little work to do to get the best out of this new technology.
The following morning decided that hotel breakfast was the thing after all. On a previous visit I had had a kipper, an entirely proper kipper complete with a head but grilled, which I find a bit strong these days. So I was impressed that they managed to cook one in water for me which was much better. Only marred by their melting butter all over the thing. And BH's poached eggs were marred by their having been cooked in vinegar flavoured water, a wheeze which means that you get a very neat ball of a poached egg, but a ball which smells and tastes of vinegar.
Two visits to the café in the Fitzwilliam Museum, first for tea and Bakewell Tart, second for tea and ham sandwich. Tart fine, ham would have been had they gone a bit easier on something called tarragon mayonnaise.
Onto Harriet's (http://harrietscafetearooms.co.uk/) for tea, where they excelled themselves by having genuine silver plate cake stands, surprisingly heavy considering their modest size. But being in cream avoidance mode, I settled for a couple of toasted tea cakes with my tea, decent but a little light on active ingredients (see the BBC cookery site for a full recipe), that is to say the spice. Ambience and service good.
Closed the proceedings for the day with another bar snack from our hotel, both opting for the tried and tested salmon salad. Entertained while we ate by an older medical type who had once rowed (didn't hear for whom) and who was entertaining two even older ladies on the other side of the rather naff plastic ivy, ivy which perhaps marked the demarcation line between us bar snackers and the full blown diners.
Closed the proceedings altogether with a second kipper the following morning, £4 supplement and all (this supplement being considerably more than what it would cost to buy one's own kipper, never mind what one was paying already). Cooked in water as per instructions but I forgot to ask them to lay off the butter. That will have to wait until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment