I hate the word Gourmet, perhaps as it reeks of pretensive and elitist... anyone who can taste the difference of crap from good food and has the money and wisdom to choose the better stuff read on
I am no food expert but here I shall collect some of my findings of stuff I find particularly delicious
It doesn't inherently have to be expensive, I like simple foods, not everything has to be aged 100 years to pass my palate.. id rather eat at Pizzahut than a authentic Italian Restaurant, I'm not a big fan of nouvelle cuisine where they server you tiny ass amounts of food in some kind of sadist fashion of making you want it more... pseudo expensive I call it, where people try to make stuff seem expensive by either covering it in fake gold or just giving you hardly any of it in order to make you feel posh because you are that superficial.
Anyway I could rant on forever, to the food and drink!!
I will be paying special attention to things local to me in and around Birmingham
Restaurants
Nandos
Killer food, simple food, healthy (relatively) and spicy is always good in my book
PizzaHut
Good pizzas but always leaves me feeling like a fat bastard, a good treat now and then but for gods sake don't go regularly and go at a time when the kids are not around
La Tasca
Great great food, the Tapas are wonderful not as good as Mechu but pretty close
Red Peppers
Random Tapas Place by Canal
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Mechu in Birmingham
Very nice classy place, good prices, amazing Tapas
Carrots, Swede, Peas, Onion, Chinese Cabbage, Lamb Kebabs, Tomatoe
Spicy Ham and Chinese Cabbage, Onions, Tomatoe, Spicyness! (Learning to use various Indian spices I have)
Chicken Pasta Bake, Oat Bran and Cheese Topping = Yum (Sauce was Tuna Napol...)
Tofu, Chinese Leaves/Cabbage, Onion/Peas/Pepper, Rice
Chicken cooked into Garlic Nandos
Tofu and Leaves cooked in Soy and Chinese Herbs and Vegetable Stock, they soak up the flavour very well.
Noodles
Tofu and Chinese Leaves/Cabbage
Cooked in Soy, Herbs and Sweet/Sour Sauce
Gloriousness is a Costco Tiramisu
Failed Cake, just tasted too damn sweet, though it is meant to look like that.. mostly
Inedible sausage of forever cooked, not my fault or doing!
Chinese Leaves simmered in soy sauce
Thick noodles + Chicken in garlic black bean thingy thing sauce :-p I forget
Trifle I decorated with a Cherry Brandy moat ;-P
Alexs new invention, the double wrap... tasty!
Enchiladas - Pain is Good BBQ Flavas - Peas - Cheese and Ham fried in tomato chutney stuffed inside the enchiladas - Sundried Tomatoes and Chilis - Diced Tomato - Onions - Peppers
Sweedish Meatballs - Pasta - SunDried Tomato - ChilliPepper - Peas - Grilled Cheese
Yes most if not all the food I eat looks pretty disturbing, messy, mushy... but I tell you what, It smells good and tastes great and is simple to make
:-)
Fried ham in spice, Juicy Green Jalepeno Peppers, Boiled Potato mixed with Pataks Rogan Josh sauce and Heinz Beans with melted cheese on top and grilled
Variation on the same:
Thicks Noodles + Meatballs
Meatballs and Pasta
Pasta Bake with Soup andCheese grilled
Thick Noodles + Sauce + ham + Rice
Thick Noodles and cooked ham+sauce
Thicks Noodles plus tomato sauce plus spicy meatballs
Chicken
Red Thai Curry with.. stuff!
Real Mince complete with far too much fatty oil, learned to drain it in future and dab with paper towels or just use fake/Quorn Mince to save arteries!
Chorizo Sausage or Lincolnshire Sausage cooked in Barbados Mustard Pepper Sauce, with Onion Gravy and bubble and squeak (Cabbage/Mash)
Some restaurants I have visited
Sticky Chicken - Thai - Red Orchid Canal side Mailbox Birmingham
Tapas at Mechu - Birminhgam, best Tapas ever
2nd Visit to Mechu:
La Tascas - Good Tapas! = Fat
Indian in Manchester by River - East East Restaurant
Thai Restaurant Mailbox Birmingham
Good very spicy indian food aimed at indian people - StarCity Birmingham
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Favorite Ingredients and Meals
Tesco - Sundried Tomatoes (they look disgusting but dice them up and they taste delicious, add a lovely tart and rich flavour to almost anything)
Tesco - Merchant Gourmet Roquito Hot Sweet Chilli Peppers (amazing juicy sweet spicy nom!)
Star - Jalapeno Peppers - Juicy Spiceyness Lovely!!
Nandos - Hot Peri-Peri Sauce, lovely flavour, real taste, and good on spice/hotness too, comes in different strengths too along with a variety of flavours.
Chorizo Sausage, why buy normal sausages when you can have chorizo, spicy and rich flavored and no less healthy than normal sausages I believe.
I just recently bought some Chorizo & Pork sausages and the are fantastic. Too Strong to eat on there own you'll really want to put it with something else like Patas Bravas or what I had it with Bubble and Squeek
:-D
or just onion gravy and mashed potato or something. Such basic and simple food but it tastes really good. Slightly worrying how much fat /oil drips out of these things though, the Pork+Chorizo are not as bad as the full on chorizo and I think they taste better too.
or just onion gravy and mashed potato or something. Such basic and simple food but it tastes really good. Slightly worrying how much fat /oil drips out of these things though, the Pork+Chorizo are not as bad as the full on chorizo and I think they taste better too.Thick Chinese Noodles
These are fantastic if you can find them, I get them from a chinese super market Sing Fat
They cook reeealy quick and go well with so many things.
Morrisons - Quorn - Mince - 1.99
Quorn Mince, looks pretty weird but tastes great and is essential if you like mince/meatballs etc as the real beef stuff is horrendously unhealthy you can just see it dripping with oil and fat
Quorn Italian Style Meat Balls - Very very nice
Quorn Chicken Style Pieces - need a fair bit of oil to soften them, doesn't taste much like chicken at all
Quorn - Peppered Steaks
Frozen rice and Frozen Diced Onions are a must if you do a lot of stir fry. It makes cooking effortlessly fast and simple.
Morrisions Own - Frozen Vegetable Rice (Mushrooms Peas Rice) - £1.29 - BUY
Baps Buns
Sainsburys - Frozen Diced Onions - 500g - 69p - BUY
Sliced Water Chesnuts
Great with noodles, they add a lovely lil crunch to what might ordinarily be a rather mushy blend of noodles. And they don't have much flavor really, try them!
Chilli Bean Sauce, this stuff is epicaly good, goes nice with:
Laksa Paste
Red Thai Curry Paste, I like to stir fry meat in it such as ham, gives the meat a brilliant spicy tang.
My catalog of foods for personal use
I've Been rather busy buying food lately. I decided I needed to add more diversity to my diet, removing the over abundance and reliance on cheese I currently have in my meal choices. And focus on healthy eating.
Stir Frying sauces and vegetables basically. I bought so much stuff in the past few days I've had to catalog it with photos so I know what I've got and where I got it from for how much £
It's a been a great success so far, I've found some great stuff, and even went to a wholesale/open to public Chinese Supermarket where I had a bit of a culture shock looking at some of the strange eclectic foods they had on sale.
I've gone for spicy food over herby,sweet & sour, creamy style. 1 because I hate herby creamy foods and 2 because they are drastically high in salt, sugar and fat. Spice is good.
These are Dated as 2005 so they show last on the blog as they are incredibly uninteresting and for personal use
:-P
Sainsburys Own - Mexican Style Chicken Breast Slices - 130g - £2.16 - BUY
Somerfield - Fresh Chicken Breast Fillets - 500g - £3.50
Tesco - Quickcook British Turkey Breast Steaks (Fresh)
Morrisons - GradeA Chicken Breast Fillets - 700g - £3.39 - BUY
Sainsburys Own - 20 Chicken Breast Satay - £2.00
Morrisons - Dream deli - Lean Honey Cured Ham - 320g - £1.97
Tesco Ham, nice taste raw, big sugary and fattening in stats though
Sainsburies - DeliCo Honey Cured Lean Ham - Quite nice, sweet
Morrisons - Lean Cured Ham
Nice, bit meaty taste though, stink to high heaven
Tesco Barbecue Lamb Minted Kebabs
Tesco - Barbecue Lamb Quarter Pounders with mint
Tesco - Barbecue Rosemary and Mint Lamb Meatball Kebabs
Tesco - Lamb Burgers with Moroccan influence spices and fresh coriander
Tesco - Aishas Peri-Peri Chicken Burgers
Cocstco - Taste Original - 25 Chicken Satay - 500g
Meh, rubbery yakitori (from chicken thigh)
Sainsburys Own - 8 Chicken Yakitori - 90p
Sainsburys - Quorn - Fajita Strips - 140g - £2.19
Morrisons - Quorn Chicken Pieces - £1.99
Sainsburys Own - Fresh Mushroom Stir Fry Vegetables - £1 - BUY
Morrisons Own - Fresh Stir Fry vegetables - 500g - £1.39
Morrisions Own - Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables - £1.19
Sainsburys Own - Beansprouts - 65p
Morrisons - Amoy - Chinese Style Stir Fry vegetables - £1.39
SingFat - Pickled Shallots - 45p
SingFat - Red Chillies - £1.15
SingFat - Silk Road - WaterChesnuts - 60p
SomerField - WaterChesnuts
Morrisons Own - Fresh Egg Noodles - 300g - 79p - BUY
SingFat - Yu-Mein Oil Noodle - £1.20
SingFat - Noodles - Green Bean? - 45p
SingFat - Egg Noodles - 70p
SingFat - Fresh Oriental Style Noodles - 70p?
Sainsburys Own - Sweet Chilli - 89p
Sainsburys Own - Sweet & Sour - 89p
Sainsburys Own - Black Bean - 89p - BUY
Sainsburys Own - Chinese Stir Fry Sauce - 89p - BUY
Sainsburys - Amoy - Roasted Peanut Satay - £1.18
Sainsburys - Amoy - Rich Hoi Sin & Red Onion - £1.18
Sainsburys Own - Green Thai Stir Fry Sauce - 89p
Sainsburys - Blue Dragon - Hoi Sin & Garlic - BUY
Sainsburys - Sharwoods - Thai Green Curry Paste - 89p
Sainsburys - Discovery - Mexican Fajita Spice Mix - 79p
SingFat - Asian Home Gourmet - Thai Red Curry Kaang Daeng - 95p
SingFat - Asian Home Gourmet - Indonesian Satay - 95p
SingFat - Asian Home Gourmet - Green Curry Kaang Kiew Wan - 95p
SingFat - Asian Home Gourmet - Peanut Sauce Mix - 95p
SingFat - Lee Kum Kee - Guilin Chilli Sauce
SingFat - Chilli Bean Sauce - BUY
SingFat - Amoy - Black Bean & Garlic Sauce - £1.65
SingFat - Yeos - Nasi Goreng Paste - £1.05 - BUY
SingFat - Yeos - Laksa Paste - £1.05
SingFat - Hoisin Sauce - £1.60
Sainsburys - Sharwoods - Oyster Sauce - £1.85
Morrisons - Spicy Tomato Szechuan
Morrisons - Sweet & Sour
Morrisons - Kung Po
Somerfield - Amoy - Thai Creamy Coconut - 92p
Sainsburys Own - Red Thai Curry Paste - £1.59 (doesn't taste anything like thai, no coconut taste or anything (I think maybe you are meant to add the coconut) but.. it is really good, nice to fry ham in, gives the meat a brilliant spicy tang)
Sainsburys - Shotz - Cajun 39p
Sainsburys - Shotz - Barbecue - 10p
SingFat - Chilli Oil - £1.05
Lotus - Thai Red Curry Paste
Blue Dragon - Thai Red Curry Paste
Nandos - Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil peri-peri marinade
SingFat - Maxchup - Teriyaki Cooking Sauce - £1.25
Morrisions - Encona - Pepper Sauce - £1.29
SingFat - Amoy - Chilli Sauce - 95p
SingFat - Yeos - Pure Sesame Oil - £2.15
Amoy - Soy Sauce Chilli
Gourmet - Hot Chilli Spice blend - £2.19
Discovery - Salsa
Discovery - Salsa
Branston - Relish
Pataks - Balti
Pataks - Rogan Josh (lovely!)
Discovery - Jalapenos
Tesco - Sundried Tomatoes
Tesco - Peri Peri Tomatoe Ketchup
Tesco - Tabasco
Tesco - Peppadew (didn't like, too thin and too sweet)
Tesco - Peppadew (didn't like, too thin and too sweet)
Tesco - Merchant Gourmet Roquito Hot Sweet Chilli Peppers (amazing!)
Sainsburys - Levi Roots Caribbean Curry
Baconnaise (Lite)
Vegetable Stock Cube
Reggae Reggae - Love Apple Tomato Ketchup
M&S - Honey Mustard Marinade & Sauce
Mrs H.S.Balls Chilli Chutney - very very nice, quite quite spicy
HP - Seriously hot red chilli and honey sauce
HP - Hot Smokey chilli sauce
Trees Can't Dance - African hot sauce
Trees Can't Dance - Smokey Chipotle Sauce
Branston - Tomatoe, Curry Spices and Hot Peri-Peri Relish
Curry Sauce Concentrate
Belazu - Smoked Chilli Jelly
Sainsburrys - Harissa Paste
Tobasco
Nandos - Hot Peri Peri Sauce
Nandos - Extra Hot Peri Peri Sauce
Nandos - Extra Extra Hot Peri Peri Sauce
Nandos - Bushveld Braai Peri-Peri from Sainsburys
Nandos - Chakalaka Peri-Peri from Sainsburys
Nandos - Garlic Peri-Peri Sauce
Nandos - Lime and Coriander Peri-Peri Marinade
Nandos - Peri-Peri Chip Sprinkle (Very Salty)
Nandos - Hot Peri-Peri Seasoning Rub (Yum!)
Afrikana Peri-Peri Hot Sauce (vile)
Jamaicas Pride Hot Pepper Sauce
Frostbite Hot Sauce
Barbados - Windmill - Hot Pepper Sauce
Mad Dog 357 Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
CaJohns - Fatalii Fire Hot Sauce
Elyucateco Chile Habanero Hot Sauce Green and Red
Cholula Hot Sauce
Cholula Hot Sauce - Chili Garlic
Cholula Hot Sauce- Chipotle
Pain is good - Jamaican Style
Pain is good - Louisiana Style
Nitro Naga Jolokia Chilli Jam
Baron Blazing Hot Sauce
Jamaicas Pride Hot Pepper Sauce
Afrikana Peri-Peri Hot Sauce (I think It's horrid)
Balsamic Glaze Cherry
Fisst - Concentrated Garlic Puree
Link: www.cherrytreepreserves.com
Farmers Pickle
Sainsburrys - Piri Piri Rub
Sainsburrys - Tikka Masala Curry Kit
Sainsburrys - Jalfrezi Curry Kit
Sainsburrys - Rogan Josh Curry Kit
Sainsburrys - Schwartz - Tikka Masala
Sainsburrys - Schwartz - Mexican Chilli Chicken
Sainsburrys - Schwartz - Spicy Meatballs
Schwartz - Perfect Shake - Thai 7 Spice
Go-Tan Sambal Manis
East End:
Paprika
Balti Masala
Tandoori Masala
Chilli Powder (Extra Hot)
Tumeric Powder
Madras Curry Powder (Mild)
Madras Curry Powder (Hot)
Ground Cumin (Ground Jeerz)
Garam Masala (Mixed Spice Powder)
Fiddes Payne - Madras Curry Powder
Tesco - Chinese Style Seasoning
Tesco - Mexican Style Seasoning
Tesco - Shana - Madras Curry Sauce (very hot)
Chinese Leaves - Leaf Lettuce - Chinese Cabbage
Swede (Swedish Turnip)
Star - Jalapeno Peppers
Balsamic Vinegar
Yeo Valley Organic Natural Probiotic Yogurt
Tesco - Cottage Cheese (Fat Free)
Alpro Soya Milk - Organic
Mornflake Oatbran
Heinz Soup - 65p (Morrisions Soup Offer 2 for 1?)
Morrisons - Heinz - Hot Balls - £1.09
Morrisons - Branston - Soya Beans - 69p
SingFat - Aroy-D - Coconut Milk - 85p
Somerfield - Coconut Milk -
Morrisons - Barbecue Beans - 59p
Heinz - Spicy Meatballs With Beanz
Heinz - Spaghetti
Heinz - Hoops and Hotdogs
Heinz - Spaghetti Plus Sausages
Cooks&CO Red Peppers stuffed with Feta Cheese
Morrisons - The Best - Lincolnshire Sausages
Sainsburys Own - Meatball Pasta Bake - £5
Sainsburys Own - Chicken Chow Mein - £3.09
Sainsburys Own - Sweet & Sour Chicken - £3.39
Sainsburys - Blue Dragon - Teriyaki - 54p
Sainsburys Own - Fresh Egg Noodles - 96p - BUY
Sainsburys - Frozen White Rice (separate little packets) - £1.25 - BUY
Sainsburys - Sharwoods - Egg Noodles - £1.09
Costco cake = best
Baileys Extra Thick Cream - so yum
Tesco - Sweet & Flaky Custard Slices... nom!
Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica Raisons and Rum Dark Chocolate
