Dec 4

Dec 4 It's Beginning To Look ..

Advent, Anne-Marie Minhall, Christmas, Lunch, Restaurant Reviews

.. A Bit Like Christmas.

It's my favourite time of year. I love the lights, the weather (mainly) the shorter days & the planning of fayre for the table.

A good time to catch up with friends & family, too.

You have to be careful though. Well, I do, anyway. The diary seems to fill up quicker than Tiny Tim on the Christmas turkey.

My first festive feast of December has taken place & it was at a branch of: https://www.millerandcarter.co.uk/christmas#/

It was the idea of the friend who was keen for us to sample some traditional fayre for our annual get together this year.

M&C provided good choices, too .. including a glass of Prosecco, it was just over £35.00 each.

To begin, we both opted for this ..

PRAWN & CRAB COCKTAIL - Samphire, avocado, baby gem lettuce, zesty pink grapefruit, classic Bloody Mary sauce.

Only the glass & the lemon wedge were missing, I struggled to find much crab but it was very tasty.

For the main, the chum decided to go down the steak route ..

30 DAY AGED RUMP - which came with parsley butter, balsamic beef tomato, onion loaf, ("Tasty" said the pal) plus fries.

I stuck to the festive feel, choosing the nation's favourite bird ..

HAND-CARVED TURKEY - served with lemon & thyme stuffing wrapped in bacon, roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts, honey-roasted parsnips & (as an ordered extra) pigs in blankets - here's where Robert faints at the mere mention of them.

Both plates cleared, (mine not entirely, that's a given), a bottle of a very decent Pinot Noir, a break & then the option of either a pudding or a Christmas cocktail. Among the choices were a Chocolate Orange-tini .. Nice idea. We were both drawn by dessert, however.

These hit our table ..

MIXED FRUIT & KUMQUAT CHRISTMAS PUDDING - which came with warm brandy sauce.

POPCORN PROFITEROLE SUNDAE - layers of profiteroles with popcorn, Belgian chocolate coating, vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate cookie & a dark chocolate & pumpkin seed shard.

For a chain restaurant, the food was very enjoyable, generous portions, too. Friendly service as well.

Neither of us really cared much for seeing how many calories were in every dish on the menu. I understand it now has to be the way of things thanks to legislation. How though, if at all, this will change the nation's diet and menu choices I have little idea. We were going to eat what we fancied regardless.

Did we go over our recommended daily calorie intake?

Yep.

Will we offset the over indulgence?

Yep.

Oh, post-lunch we headed to one of our favourite locals to watch Argentina v Australia, (we're both big footy fans). There was a cheeky glass &, dear reader, two packets of Salt & Vinegar crisps.

I know .. but it's nearly Christmas isn't it.

AMM