Category: Mike

In defence of English fudge

I was mortified to read in Jackie’s recent post that she finds English fudge ‘ghastly.’ There’s a great variety of English fudges, but I’ll describe three here. First, my father’s home-made variety: a traditional Christmas treat and gift at home. This was always made in two varieties – chocolate,...

First Class Teas, first rate cakes

First Class Teas in Cambridge opened nearly a year ago, and is still a delight. On a Saturday morning trip there, a friend and I sampled both their teas and their cakes. I had the Javan Malabar, a deeply flavourful darkly coloured tea, which went rather well with the...

Salad with everything

I have a bit of a thing for salads. A well-prepared side-salad can, in my opinion, make a poor dish acceptable or totally ruin an otherwise great dish. It was, therefore, a great pleasure to have a dinner of sliced roast pork and salad with a friend recently. The...

A Plough’s lunch for a man?

A recent lab group trip took us to the Plough at Coton for lunch. A short trip out to this little village just outside Cambridge took us to the only pub in the village – now a swanky gastropub. The bar is well stocked, in terms of wine and...

Worth it’s weight in platinum and gin

I always used to like a pub called The Bun Shop in Cambridge (which has been mentioned here before) but I fear it’s gone downhill recently. The restaurant part has been expanded, and the music has become louder and less enjoyable. Despite that, a rather interesting drink appears on...

And this food is free, you say?

Whenever my department hosts a buffet, the same food always appears (and some would say it is exactly the same food as the previous buffet.) The sausage rolls are always undercooked, the goujons always contain an unidentifiable meat, and the wine is always Cuvée de Richard in red and...

If you can’t stand the heat… steer clear of my chilli sauce

The late summer weather was perfect for a house-warming barbecue in my new student house. Everyone brought food and drink, and I lit up the grill that sits just outside the kitchen. There were plenty of sausages, home-made kebabs, even steak. Upsettingly, an excess of near-totally-tasteless vegetarian burgers now...

Food from the Amazon

Dinner at a friend’s recently let to an exciting discovery. For the starter, my host presented an individual quiche tart, filled with Beenleigh Blue sheep’s cheese and French saucisson. The crumbly shortcrust pastry and light cheesy filling resulted in a rather pleasurable dining experience. Whilst investigating the origins of...

A Fyne set menu

An offer in the Daily Telegraph has helped to make Loch Fyne affordable on a student budget: before 7pm, two courses from the set menu and a glass of house wine costs a mere £11 per head. A small but reasonable choice, including non-fish and wholly vegetarian dishes, is...