Hello my lovely Delicate Diners – and a very Happy Easter to you! What a miserable day it is; typical Bank Holiday style, tipping it down with rain outside, and not a Bond film to be found on the TV inside. So what better to do than share some of my brilliant Easter weekend experiences in Norfolk. I suggest you pull up a glass of something, sit back, and enjoy this foodie blog celebrating fabulous foodie Norfolk. My weekend began a day early as I had a friend up from London for a visit. I had returned from Switzerland the…
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Continue ReadingI know that this particular blog – celebrating my Foodie Top Ten of 2017 – may seem a bit late. But with Dry January, Vegan January, Blue Monday, Have No Fun in January and all the other negative aspersions associated with this month, there didn’t seem much point in whetting your appetites for some of the most fantastic foodie offerings that there are in Norfolk. Yes, I do agree that we should all drink less and have more meat-free days but the total ‘new year, new me – in with the blender, out with the slow cooker’ – drives me…
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Continue ReadingThe beginning of 2018 welcomed the Artisan Pastry Chef to the heart of Norwich with open arms. From Portugal, Joaquim Teles and his wife, Ana, have become familiar faces across Norfolk and Suffolk the past year. With approaching 30 years of experience behind him, Joaquim and Ana moved to the UK in 2015 and chose Norfolk as the best place to combine his brilliant patissier skills with the amazing produce that this region is so well known for. The result – the Artisan Pastry Chef, who has been seen at markets and pop ups across Norfolk and Suffolk ever since.…
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Continue ReadingWhat a year it has been here in Norfolk! I never tire of celebrating the great produce that comes from this much-loved part of the world, and we are so lucky to have so many dedicated producers and chefs within it, who all help put Norfolk on the map. Indeed, a highlight for me this year has to be when a friend from another part of the UK referred to Norfolk as the ‘food capital of the UK’. I can only agree. So, as we come to the end of 2017, it is time for reflection on the 12 months…
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Continue ReadingHappy Christmas – belatedly! I hope that you all had a wonderful time with friends and family, and that the table was laden with beautiful produce from across Norfolk. I will be brief, today. Nobody has time or inclination to read a long missive, but I do have a big problem with Christmas, and it needs to be shared. In one word… Leftovers. From Christmas Day night, foodie social media sites and magazines were posting ‘how to use your Christmas leftovers’. I don’t know about anyone else, but most of us have a turkey that is much bigger than a…
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Continue ReadingA new gastropub, the Last Pub Standing, officially opens its doors to the general public next Monday, 20 November. Named to reflect the fact that it’s the last of 58 pubs still standing on King Street, the Last Pub Standing encapsulates the fascinating history and stories that have emanated from this part of the city over the centuries. Built during the 17th century on a site that was originally part of a Greyfriars priory, the premises became a pub in 1877. Owner and general manager Darren Fennah has spent the last five months renovating the Grade II listed building, restoring…
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Continue ReadingI never understand how time can race past so quickly. It only seems like yesterday when I wrote my blog on the Loddon Swan; it is now over a month later and while much wonderful food has passed my lips, not a word or a syllable has been written here about it. For that, I apologise. However, while I have been busy travelling and working over the past few weeks, Norfolk has been on my mind. To be more explicit, Norfolk’s incredible food and its drink, all of which combines to make up the heart of this wonderful region. There are…
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Continue ReadingIt all began with a bowl of soup. A consommé, to be precise. And when I say, it all began, I don’t just mean that it was the start of the meal. More, it was the start of being impressed, at the fact a local ‘pub’ in south Norfolk could serve a consommé that truly was up there with the best of them. I was in love. The venue was The Swan at Loddon, as featured in my March blog, and I think that you can tell I was more than happy with my dining experience there for Mothering Sunday lunch. Come…
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Continue ReadingNorfolk Wine School launches WSET specialist wine training courses Norfolk Wine School, which launched last September, is delighted to announce that it is now offering the globally-recognised WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) specialist wine education courses. With the Winbirri Estate Bacchus from Norfolk recently winning an international award at the 2017 Decanter World Wine Awards, Norfolk has been rightly thrust into the wine industry’s headlines. With the public’s increasing thirst for information about wine, Norfolk Wine School’s WSET courses are ideally placed to help hotels, bars and restaurants meet this need. All Norfolk Wine School WSET courses will be taught by Chief Wine Tutor, Jeremy Dunn DipWSET.…
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Continue ReadingIn spring, you cannot have failed to notice that Norfolk’s fields were gold. Driving through the beautiful countryside found in this wonderful part of the world, at every turn, you can see field after field of golden flowers, gently swaying on the breeze. It is these flowers that produce one of our native oils – rapeseed oil. As someone who is a big fan of using local produce wherever possible, what can be better than rapeseed oil? Grown here in Norfolk, harvested and pressed here, it is straight from field to shelf with none of the miles. Compared to olive…