Monthly Archives: October 2021

The Vintage Birdcage. 22/09/ 2021

October 26, 2021UncategorizedBill H

Stanshawes Ct Dr, Yate, Bristol BS37 4DZ

As it was my Birthday, the Georgia suggested we meet up and go for brunch. She wanted to take Blakey to the park to feed the Ducks so the Vintage Birdcage was the obvious choice as it’s right next to the Duck Pond. But it’s very popular and we might not get a table. She did phone and try to book but got no response, so we decided to take a chance and go anyway.

It’s a bit hidden away so you need to know where it is but the secret is well out of the bag now.

The girls have been here several times before.

They like the Afternoon Tea and often take Jackies Mum for Mother’s Day or as a Birthday treat though you have to book months in advance. Especially if it’s Mothers day or getting near Christmas.

Who ever decided to open a Cake shop here couldn’t have dreamt it would be so popular but it is and I understand why.

The actual building is a bit nondescript. A few stone building randomly set around a very small walled courtyard have been turned into a beautiful little environment with the clever use of a few fairy lights and a bit of rustic D. I. Y.

There are now cute little tables under a rain proof roof but it still feels like your sat outside. There is some indoor seating, some in a fairly featureless space by the counter but there are other Nooks and Crannies, where small tables for 2/4 people are cosily tucked away.

It had the feeling of a Den in the woods, or a Man Cave ( but a bit more feminine). A sort of Wendy house with an unlimited supplies of fairy Cake.

It’s very popular with mums who can do exactly what we did. Take the kids to the Park then stop for Coffee and Cake.

We were fortunate enough to be offered a table suitable for three adults with space for a high chair though we had to leave the push chair outside.

It was a bit cramped on our table and we were a bit too cosy with the people on the next table for my liking but that’s the nature of this place, it is a bit compact.

It seems the drinks cabinet had sprung a leak so the staff ( all young people) were distracted a tad by trying to stop the puddle of water spreading across the floor where people were sat eating .

We had to ask for menu’s and then ask again if anyone would take our order or did we have to order at the counter ?

The server took our order and soon returned with the drinks which she placed right in front of Blake who seized his opportunity and made a grab for the cup of scalding hot coffee.

Luckily Mum was too quick for him on this occasion.

The food came and it was really good. I had intended to have some thing light but when I saw the Breakfast I couldn’t resist.

It was so nicely cooked and presented. The Bacon was cooked perfectly, sausages were tasty without having to chew on lumps of locally sourced Wilder-Beast. Two nice clean fresh eggs, real mushrooms cooked perfectly, vine tomatoes (look good but I’m not really bothered about tomatoes with my fat boys) and a ‘pot’ of beans. Toast was served on a separate plate with two tubs of real butter which I really like.

It lacked a slice of really nice Black Pudding but I suspect the young Mums who frequent this place aren’t that keen on cooked pigs blood?

Jaki went for the small breakfast which was perfect whilst Georgia chose Smashed Avocado on Sour Dough toast with extra Bacon.

Avocado on Sourdough plus bacon. £6.95 + £2.

Blake had a Toasted Tea Cake which he seemed to enjoy but he has recently decided that one bite of anything is sufficient, the rest can go on the floor.

I had a really nice Birthday Breakfast surrounded by family with good food in a nice place on a lovely sunny Autumn day.

The venue is interesting, but suffers a bit from being cramped. The staff were enthusiastic if a little distracted. Food was good but it comes at a bit of a premium. A great place to take an elderly Aunt or your Sister?

Well worth a visit especially if you really like Cake!

THE HIDE OUT LOUNGE. 13TH OCTOBER 2021.

October 23, 2021Breakfast, Cafes, eating out in Bristol, foodLeyhill, The Hide outBill H

Unit 4,

Tortworth Business Park,

W-U-E, Glos,

GL12 8HQ

info@thehideoutlounge.com

Not to be confused with The Hideaway in Stoke Bishop.

Those of you who follow regularly know the routine.

We four old folks meet up every now and again for breakfast, some one gets to chose the venue but they have to pay, so if you chose some where posh, it costs you!

This time it was Steve’s turn and he chose the Hide out.

His son had told him about it so he decided it was a good opportunity to try it out.

Its a bit farther afield than usual but as it was Steve’s Idea he offered to drive.

This used to be part of Leyhill Prison but I suspect has been sold off as a way of raising money.

When I started life as a Student Nurse at Brentry Hospital the Deputy Chief Male Nurse (Basher Williams, so named because he didn’t use medication to subdue troubled patients) gave us an introductory lecture which included these famous lines.

“You will never be out of work because they will never be able to close these Hospitals.”

Well, look how wrong he was. All the Hospital have been closed now and the land sold off for housing. Hortham, Brentry, Farleigh, Stoke Park, Barrow, Star Cross, the list goes on. What happened to all those patients, some of whom couldn’t even feed or dress themselves?

I went out for coffee this week with some old colleagues from my nursing days and we were talking about Brentry Hospital.

When we first started nursing they still had ‘The Bear Pit’ a circular hole in the ground, too deep for anyone to climb out and patients were sent out there for exercise, rain or shine whilst the staff made the beds and did all the domestic chores. It was of it’s time and probably not good practice even then but I’m not sure ‘care in the community’ was any better.

We met an ex-patient in the Crow Inn on Boxing day some years ago and he said.

“Its terrible Boss. We didn’t even get a Christmas Dinner”.

When we got to the Hide out I was very impressed with its appearance.

There was ample parking outside with a large covered area that would be ideal in the summer but was still usable on a dry winter day.

We were met at the door and shown to a large round table with a bright decorative mosaic patter. In fact the whole place looked bright and modern, clean and spacious, though I’m not sure the military rifles hung on the wall were appropriate decorations for a family Cafe?

The menu looked very good and it would appeal to my Girls as well as the Fat boys with options such as Eggs Benedict at £7 or American Pancakes at £7.50.

We of course stuck to a far more traditional option, the full breakfast at £10.50 which included:

1 x strip of Bacon (only one)? 2 x Cumberland sausages, which were very meaty and the boys loved them but my Girls would turn their noses up at these , in fact anything with lumps in is a ‘no no’.

They much prefer breadcrumbs.

2 x free range eggs and a slice of black pudding which I found a bit dry and tasteless. Potato and Mushroom saute, sadly two of my chums complained that the Potato wasn’t cooked and was hard. Tomato, Sour Dough Toast (not a fan but there are options) and Beans in a small dish.

This was a good breakfast though the presentation left a bit to be desired. Why not have a bigger plate and lay things out nicely instead of piling it up in a heap?

I hate having the Toast on the same plate as the breakfast. How do you spread the butter if you dont have a separate plate?

Steve chose the smaller option at £7.50 with a poached egg. All very arty?

Drinks were fine and service was efficient, The seating was comfortable and relaxed. We were able to sit there for a while and chat, without feeling pressured to vacate the table. In fact we went for another round of Drinks. sadly there was nowhere to put the debris which had to be left on the table.

By the time we had finished the place had filled up considerably and I noticed there were several groups of ladies meting for brunch which means, I hope, they felt comfortable in this environment. Interestingly they offer Afternoon Tea on some dates and this is some thing the Girls love. They take Jakis Mum and stuff themselves to bursting with Cucumber sandwiches and Cake.

In summary, a good venue, good food but at the top end of a breakfast budget.

NB: I have recently discovered Anchor by Spotify which converts my Blog to a Podcast which is quite exciting. However, the voice is American and it is very literal. So where I wrote MOT its reads it out as ‘mot’ (as in Mott the Hoople). It also pronounces Jaki as Yaki . But it’s a bit of fun and it delays the onset of Dementia. I have to convert each Blog so it may take me a while to get this up and running but its the future!Who would have thought Little Billy Hendy from Four Acres Rd Withywood would be making a Podcast.

Caddies. Sunday 10th October 2021

October 13, 2021Breakfast, Cafes, Eating outCaddies, Pembrokeshire, Sunday BrunchBill H

We were staying with friends in Pembrokeshire and they are both ‘Foodies’ and followers of my blog so they were keen to show us the local eating places especially the Breakfast venues and being a Sunday morning, what better activity than to go out for Brunch.

They chose Caddies, Mayfield, Haverford West a Cafe with a Golf Range to the rear.

It seems this place is a local institution as it was bursting with customers most tucking in to the Full Breakfast though there were other options available.

There were family groups including what looked like a birthday breakfast for a ‘little princess’ dressed in a pink Fairy costume (or perhaps it was a Bridesmaids dress) either way it was very Disney and including a diamond studded Tiara. So over dressed!

Other customers weren’t quite so well attired.

A lone Biker, the size of a small Bryn was in traditional leather and denim. With his forked ginger beard and mullet with shaved sides, he looked capable of devouring several large breakfast’s.

“The Albatross”

4 sausages, 4 bacon, 3 hash brans, 2 fried eggs, 2 fried bread, 2 black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and toast. (It doesn’t say on the menu just how much toast is provide)?

But he didn’t.

In fact I was fascinated to watch him eat as he was so delicate, he ate his food so deliberately. Never judge a book by its cover and never judge a biker by his likeness to the Hairy Bikers!

We had a table reserved which was a good thing as the staff were obviously over stretched.

When we sat at the table i had a sudden attack of paralysis, I was unable to lift my arms and i quickly did the FAST Test. It became obvious that I wasn’t having a Stroke but my arms had welded to the table. The surface was so sticky the place mats were impossible to remove and the sauce bottles were held in place with Super glue.

There was a lot of noise primarily amplified by the construction of the building which gave everything a tinny sound.

The menu looked good and I was excited to see it was also very cheap with the small breakfast The Birdie (all Golf themed) at £5, the medium (The Eagle) at £6.95 and the monster (Albatross) at £9.95.

All included Tea or Coffee which saves at least a quid a meal.

We had to go up to the counter to order and there was a queue. The lady taking the orders behind some sort of screen made from sticky back plastic and some Corn Flake packets was also making and serving the teas and coffees.

This was clearly a bad business decision as it took far too long, she was prone to making mistakes (one of our drinks had to go back) and it was a Health and safety disaster waiting to happen.

However, we eventually gave our order and paid. It was then a case of waiting though we did have our drinks to keep us going and we could watch the punters trying to hit their golf balls out side of the window.

Sadly they didn’t have a dedicated receptacle on the table so the litter from our drinks had no home and inevitably ended up glued to the table.

When the food came it looked good though they had fallen into the trap of piling everything on the same plate which isn’t ideal. Luckily the toast had been seated the other side of the plate from the baked beans so didn’t get soggy but the egg was buried. I did eat my two 1/4 slices of Fried Bread which i dont usually do and I really enjoyed it though the calorie count will be colossal.

In summary this was a good place for breakfast as long as you dont want a long leisurely brunch with ‘good conversation’. It was almost impossible to hear anything for the back ground noise.

But it was comfortable and relatively cheap.

Service was ‘Ok’ but the staff were clearly rushed and they had little time to engage with customers.

There were some customers who were hung over after an all night session and chose Caddies as the perfect spot to soak up the alcohol and detox.

Oh how I wish It was still me.

DEL’s Cafe. Yate 29th Sept 2021

October 4, 2021UncategorizedBill H

Our Fat Boys Breakfast group is now 4 with the introduction of Andy Morris as a new ( probationary) member. There are certain rituals he will be forced to go through before he can become a full member and I’m not allowed to describe these activities to the casual reader but it does include eating a Full English in just your under pants.

So as Andy was the new boy he got to chose he venue and unfortunately , it was his turn to pay.

There was some discussion on our What’s App group about options and at one stage or another we considered several different venues.

One of the key factors was the lack of available Diesel and as Steve was the only one with a full tank, he became our designated driver.

In the end we decided to try DEL’s Cafe in Yate.

This is a place I’ve driven past a million times and never thought to go in, which was a shame because it was excellent.

Parking is a bit of an issue as there is no dedicated parking outside, though if your lucky you might be able to squeeze onto the pavement at the front but there is a reasonable sized car park at Longs Drive, just by the traffic lights.

So we parked there and made the short walk back.

I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and fresh it was inside. Quite modern and spacious. The tables and chairs looked a bit industrial but I found them quite comfortable to sit at.

There were three different sized breakfast options so we decided to go for the biggest one whilst Steve who has a smaller appetite went for the smaller one.

The menu is on the wall behind the counter and offers all the usual options at very reasonable prices.

However, in the confusion 4 medium (£6) breakfast were ordered without any one of us realising we had actually made that decision?

There was a choice of Bread and butter, toast or fried bread. And Tea and Coffee is included so at this price this is a steal.

When it arrived it was nicely cooked, nicely presented and served by friendly staff.

Two tasty sausages, two fried eggs just this side of over done, two rashers of Bacon a portion of beans and a portion of runny tinned tomatoes. Sadly the Toast was served on the plate and it was starting to get soggy.

I could have lived without the tomato, I’m not sure that ever brings anything other than colour to a breakfast and there were standard items missing. No Black pudding, no Mushrooms, Hash browns but all of these were included in the big breakfast for an extra £1.

I ordered extra Bread and butter to soak up all the juice from the beans and Tomato.

We stayed and had another round of Drinks before it was time to leave.

During our stay there was a constant stream of customers, mainly working guys who made short work of the big breakfast and some even had chips with it.

In summary a great find.