Cold, office, cold outside

Office heating is down. Its freezing in here. Scuttling around in the cold outside was not pleasant either. I tried Sainsbury’s for a large quantity of soup. The queue was about 60 strong and was abandoned. Over to Pret the next closest option. Soup in there seemed overpriced. Sacked off as well. Hunger was taking hold and I needed to be back at the office fast. Auto-piloted a posh cheddar baguette and salt and cider vinegar crisps. Picked up an apple too though that remains uneaten. Christmas holidays can’t come soon enough!

Doug the Devourer

 

Derbs Does the Triple

Tom Derbyshire joins the M&S Triple brigade below:

 

When seeing this review I could hardly contain my excitement that the myth & legend of the festive sandwich realm is back. 

 

Today sees the day where I sample this Christmas Feast, and a feast it is indeed! I too have taken the fully festive approach that Mr Timson has outlined by going for the full festive experience, sanger, crisps & drink.

 

Lochmuir™ Salmon Medley – A great lead in for the triple, moist and fresh thanks mainly to the cucumber which delivers a delightful amount of crunch. M&S have done well here, as the ‘fishyness’ of the sandwich has been kept to an acceptable tone considering that is it a double helping of salmon. The dill sauce is a great accompaniment and works well on the brown bread. Strong start.

 

Turkey Feast – A feast it is! A great helping of turkey, which is why I chose this particular one means that I am actually going to take a 5 min break after dispatching the middle one of the triple. The full chunks of turkey have to be applauded, cocooned with smoky bacon and stuffing it started well. An uneven spreading of cranberry was unfortunate in my sandwich as it did mean that there were some areas of dryness, however this shouldn’t be considered a complaint as such on the basis that it was only due to the volume of turkey crammed in (which really is a plus).

 

Brie and Grape – Firstly I love cheese and this sarnie has a good layer of brie so it was always going to be a happy ending. I am not sure it needed the cranberry chutney as well as the grape, purely on the basis that there was cranberry in the turkey feast but it went well over all. It turns out I am a fan of this triple sandwich business and will be looking out for more of the classic combinations in future, but I digress.

 

Overall 9/10, great work M&S!

 

On a side note, the port and stilton crisps were disappointing as not really tasting of either flavours.

Pulled Pork Nachos @ Burrito Cafe

Back from holidays, and lunch already arranged – popping out with colleague (and former TP resident) Fran.

We wandered the Caledonian Road, as I had a burrito joint in mind I wanted to try. Fran had been, and reported back it was decent – but not up to Luardo’s fare from Eat St/KERB.

We went anyway, and I opted for the nachos as opposed to a burrito. Pulled pork was my meat of choice, and I was impressed by the layering of ingredients – and the choice of either tomato or lime and coriander rice, as well as a orangey/yellow hot sauce.

I went with two cheese layers, jalapenos, no guac (it’s a quid extra and I wasn’t feeling extravagant), and lettuce with pico de gallo. 

I had to eat it with a fork, but it was tasty. At £5.50 – the same price as all the medium items on the menu, it’s a nice idea and everything is very fresh. 

One of the women serving offered me a loyalty card – which she then also registered online as my lunch was put together, entitling me to a free drink. Another nice touch, I had a Pepsi. 

I’ll be back here to ramp up the loyalty points – 8 more visits for a feebie.

HungryHungryHumpo

Quick Pret

Busy as a badger.

Popped out for a Pret.

Indian Summer Wrap.

Onion bhaji, cucumber, yoghurt, mango.

Tasty. 

Thai red curry crisps. Don’t massively like Thai Red Curry. These tasted like it.

Requested from a friend and gratefully received –

A surpise graze box – lemon oat bisucuits and floral honey. Good.

Some red liquorice, picked up on reducée at Selfridges, the last of the bag. 

HungryHungryHumpo

El Burrito

With Sebastian.

To talk about his brilliant book.

My usual, loaded high. 

Coke zero.

First burrito in ages, delicious.

HungryHungryHumpo

Shared Lunch

We had a training day and as such emloyed the much eulogised sharing lunch. A fantastic way to eat many differen things with everyone going to impress with their offering meaning everythign tasted great. My plate included:

Butternut squash,s pinach and feta salad

Greek salad

Waitrose sourdough

Various cheeses

Homemade hummous

Crisps (including salt and vinegar pasta swirls!)

Carr’s cheese melts

Oatcakes

A hard boiled Quail’s egg

Sundried toamto bread

A granola slice

Strawberrrys

Epic.

Doug the Devourer

 

Sometimes I feel like I’m in Barcelona

So, Barcelona.

A lovely day at the W Hotel beach, with obscene volumes of cocktails and sangria.

Food was taken in the form of funny little tins of cubed cheese in oil and anchovies in the same, with plain, high-end olive oil crisps – I constructed a sort of sandwich featuring the above. 

Later we had a meal out at Shoko restaurant, with even more copious cocktails. Some sushi appetiser followed by prawn and avocado tower with rare steak & mash for mains. 

Then onto CDLC, this time for many a bombjeager – required both for the digestive properties of the J and the awakening abilities of the RB before onto Opium nightclub and four bottles of Grey Goose. Absolute carnage.

Senor Humpo 

 

Denied!

DENIED!!!  Today’s lunch had been building in anticipation for some time. My trips down to Liverpool Street Station via Broadgate Circle had alerted me to Jun Tanaka and Mark Jankel’s much touted Street Kitchen http://streetkitchen.co.uk/ food bus. Housed in an Airstream bus, just like the highly successful Pitt Cue Co under the Hungerford Bridge they serve “gourmet food for Londoners to eat on the go”. I had my eye on the vegetarian option of slow poached eggs with fresh broad beans, warm crushed potatoes, pickled red onions, mixed leaf salad, Old Winchester cheese and rosemary breadcrumbs. Sounds delicious and as I arrived the lengthy queue did not put me off. A quick look at the menu board just to see if there was any variation on today’s menu (don’t think there ever is much change incidentally) revealed that they were SOLD OUT!! Disaster. A long awaited lunch outing was crushed in an instant.

Instead I wandered back to the office and stopped in to Silvio’s for a toasted applewood cheddar, tomato and olive Panini, Sour cream and garlic Tyrell’s and a small bottle orange juice. Frustrated, but eager to return next week. Watch this space…

Doug the Devourer

Denied!

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DENIED!!!  Today’s lunch had been building in anticipation for some time. My trips down to Liverpool Street Station via Broadgate Circle had alerted me to Jun Tanaka and Mark Jankel’s much touted Street Kitchen http://streetkitchen.co.uk/ food bus. Housed in an Airstream bus, just like the highly successful Pitt Cue Co under the Hungerford Bridge they serve “gourmet food for Londoners to eat on the go”. I had my eye on the vegetarian option of slow poached eggs with fresh broad beans, warm crushed potatoes, pickled red onions, mixed leaf salad, Old Winchester cheese and rosemary breadcrumbs. Sounds delicious and as I arrived the lengthy queue did not put me off. A quick look at the menu board just to see if there was any variation on today’s menu (don’t think there ever is much change incidentally) revealed that they were SOLD OUT!! Disaster. A long awaited lunch outing was crushed in an instant.

Instead I wandered back to the office and stopped in to Silvio’s for a toasted applewood cheddar, tomato and olive Panini, Sour cream and garlic Tyrell’s and a small bottle orange juice. Frustrated, but eager to return next week. Watch this space…

Doug the Devourer

Regents Picnic

An absolute bounty today in Regents Park. Provided by Eugenie, laden with 3+ carrier bags of bounty following an indulgent email thread about cheese. 

Thus a Finest Gouda, Manchego and Gruyere were the first three things on the hit list, with hummous, taramasalata, a range of breads (I had a soft, dark brown bap with seeds on the top) and two cold meats – proscuitto and aged spanish serano. Tasty, all.

A small bottle of Champagne, some mango ‘fingers’, sweet long red peppers and some untouched mixed seedless grapes, which came back to the office with me.

A very rich but prime chocolate pot completed a marvellous spread, with additional ‘Natural Sweet Company’ snakes for afternoon sugar bingeing.

Marvellous, really.    

HungryHungryHumpo