Kyloe: Food that is ridiculously good looking.

For a leisurely ladies lunch today Miss K suggested Kyloe, I had been there before for dinner and it took almost no convincing for me to agree to go again. Miss K, Miss L and I met out the front and headed in.

They have a lunch special of 2 courses for £10, which is incredible value!

We arrived without a reservation at 1, and were shown to a table.

The decor is just as warm and welcoming as I remember and the views are even prettier in the daytime.

We studied the Two for Ten menu but were all tempted back to the a la carte , for big manly steaks.

As lunching ladies do, we chatted and chatted, and I must give full compliments to the very patient waitress for kindly waiting for us as we took our time to make our drink and lunch choices.

Cranberry Juice with fresh lime... it was a booze-free lunch today

Eventually, I decided on the Oysters, au naturalle, K went for the Duck Rilettes and L the Ceviche of Sea Bream.

The oysters were super fresh, and were... pretty big, kinda. Oh I've been far to spoilt with oysters in my life, I won't lie, if they are any smaller than a man-sized thumb I get a little disappointed. The flavour however was lovely. Served with half a lemon and red wine shallot vinegar. I tried some of the vinegar but it wasn't to my liking so I stuck to my usual, cracked black pepper and lemon juice.

L said her cerviche (marinated fish) salad was very refreshing, and K offered me some of her duck rillette, which is kind of like a more-textured pate... a little... and we both found it very delicious. The wait staff were more than happy to bring more toasted bread to finish it off.

Our very meaty steak lunch: For me 45day aged Rump 400gm (all steaks came with standard sides of roasted tomatoes and leaf salad) done rare with bearnaise sauce, skirley mash and onion rings. The girls also had steaks, K done 'very blue' and L medium rare; sauces of peppercorn and bearnaise respectively, with shoestring fries for both and creamed spinach for K.

We all ordered the beef dripping chips. I especially was looking forward to giving them another try, but we were informed they were all out. This was very disappointing for all of us.

 What a stunning plate. These colours are fantastic. I think the meat was a perfect size (for me) the salad and tomatoes were a nice albeit different side. But I don't think there was anywhere near enough sauce for the £2 price tag. I guesstimate there was around 50mL of sauce in total. Fortunately, my mash was very creamy, so I didn't miss the lashings of sauce I'm used to- too much.

 For me, this is a perfect rare. As I have learned more about the preparing and cooking of steak I have lost all of my preconceptions regarding 'puddles of blood' on the plate, I now know that with a good resting all of those juices stay in the meat which makes for a juicer piece of meat.

There were 3 big chunks of in-edible fat in my steak. I never know how to feel about this. I know the benefits that fat offers a cut of meat, but I suppose it all ends in... 'but I want to eat ALL of it'.

 These little devils were the star of the show.  More like a crispy donut than an onion ring, the batter was so very light, with a shattering crunch which almost lead me to squeal with excitement. Definately made up for the lack of dripping chips.

I really do like this restaurant. I think the service is spot on, the atmosphere is the perfect balance of comfortable steak house and top class restaurant, I would feel as comfortable in ripped jeans and sneakers as I would a formal gown. The food on both occasions had been pure class.

 I must say, I am really happy that I've found a place so close to home that just makes me feel so confident of a great steak, a great meal, really an occasion- not just a feed.

Three Dinners in One

Saturday night: Barbeque Pork Ribs and Salad.

As I have chosen the 'quiet life' (for the moment anyway), the highlight of any particular night is dinner (and Come Dine With Me, reading Game Of Thrones et al). I had my Sainsburys delivery due for Sunday, but had to pop out to get something yum for Saturday Night In.

As I waited for the ready made ribs to cook in the oven I prepared my starter: the very retro, prawn cocktail. I LOVE prawn cocktails! I get quite narky when I see celebrity chefs bemused at people presenting prawn cocktails as a starter. Yes, it's simple, yes it's easy, but it WORKS!

My cocktail or Marie Rose sauce, I have been making since I can remember: full egg mayo, tomato sauce, Tobasco, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Today I also added spring onions and flat leaf parsley for a bit of extra zing.

The prawns were pre-packaged from the supermarket freezer. But as I have found (and mentioned before) I'm yet to find a good prawn over here- these ones actually turned out not too bad. I was surprised that on the packaging they didn't mention the country of origin, and I looked really hard.

I plated the prawns on a bed of mixed leaves and topped with the Marie Rose.

The very simple, but ridiculously tasty main of barbeque pork ribs and pre-made Italian salad, was exactly that: put the salad on my plate, took the ribs out of the oven and put them all on the plate.

Ready made ribs are fantastic, always so moist and tender. I just love them. The ready made Italian salad, well, it was about as Italian as nachos, or sashimi. Mixed greens, cherry tomato and red peppers, no dressing included. Fortunately I had some broccolini and snap peas,and dressed it with extra virgin, balsamic and lemon juice.


Sunday Night: Steak!

The Sainsburys delivery was due for between 7pm and 8pm, and I was starving by 5 but didn't want to ruin my appetite.

Unfortunately for me, Mr Sainsburys driver couldn't find my street, and didn't get to mine till right on 8pm... I was famished. Luckily steak only takes a few minutes to cook.

Tonight: rump, crushed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, and a white wine and cream sauce with mushroom and diced celery.

I hate that there are brown bits on the broccoli, I cut them off before eating.

The steak was beaaauuuttiiffuuuuullll! The potatoes which were 'Sainsburys Roasting Potatoes' were so fluffy, like really fluffy. When I need to eat fast, I cube the tatties to maybe 1-1.5cm squared, they only take about 5-7 minutes to boil, once I drain them I throw them back into the pan on the hob and evaporate any remaining moisture, and get some nice crumbly edges and brown crunchy bits.

The sauce was diced celery and mushroom sauteed, then 50/50 cream and philly cream cheese finished with flat leaf parsley.


Monday: Char-Griddled Veg with Guacamole and Thai Curry Pumpkin Mash.

If you've had a read through my blog you'll notice that as much as I love meat, and I LOVE meat, I am not adverse to a bit of veg, actually my veg cravings can come on quite hard and fast. Tonight I had one of these pangs for veg.

 I cut courgette (zuccini), red pepper (capsicum), celery, mushroom, and placed them on a really hot, oiled griddle pan and allowed them to char slightly.

The guacamole was avocado, diced tomato (runny, seedy bits removed), spring onion, Tabasco, lemon-salt and about a teaspoon of philly, mashed together and seasoned with pepper.

I had some 2cm cubes of squash (pumpkin) boiling away, and when they were done, I drained, added a teaspoon of thai green curry paste, a big blob of butter and mashed.

Then arranged all on the plate with flat leaf parsley.

The vegetables were so lovely and sweet, and with every mouthful you could combine different flavours the peppers with the squash was divine.

The squash mash would make an incredible dip to serve with crackers.

I just can't get over the stuning colours in the veg. Veggie dishes make me really happy.