We were on an overnight stay in Arran as I wanted to get out and about to see more of Scotland and to get some exercise at the same time. We stayed in the Douglas Hotel and on the first night ate in the Douglas Bistro, which was lovely - you can see my review of it by clicking here. So on Sunday after a 10km walk through Glen Cloy we were back in Arran and were looking for something to eat before we started the next leg of our trip to Lamlash. We spotted the Fiddlers' Music Bar & Restaurant and had a quick look at the menu - it seemed to cater for everyone so we decided to give it a go.
Food
As I said, there is a very extensive day menu - you can get anything from salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza and mains. They also have daily specials. I decided to go for the salad special of halloumi, prosciutto and Mr EmmaEats went for the tuna mayo and red onion open sandwich and spicy chips (he claimed they were for us to 'share'). When our food came out a salad with prawns was placed in front of me. I think the waiter saw my quizzical look and before he had taken his hand off the plate he took it back saying that's not what I ordered. He went into the kitchen and came back to say that the salad I had ordered was actually the day before's special, it hadn't been updated for today but not to worry they would put it together for me. While I was waiting and Mr EE was digging into his food he told me to eat some of his spicy chips. I must say these chips were so tasty. My salad came out very quickly, I went looking for the halloumi as it wasn't noticeable and it turned out that there was none on my plate. I decided that I just wanted to eat and I didn't want to have to wait again so I didn't say anything. However, the waiter came over to see if everything was ok with the dish, so I told him there was no halloumi, he apologised and returned very quickly with the halloumi. I hear you ask after all that, was it worth it? and I can happily say that yes it was worth it. It was very tasty. Mr EE was satisfied with his open sandwich which came out on fresh bloomer bread. Food rating:- 3.5/5.
Service
The service was good, staff were very friendly and very apologetic with the mishap over my salad. Again I suppose the mishap did have an impact on the service though but they did deal with it very well. Service rating:- 4/5.
Atmosphere
There is a very casual and relaxed atmosphere here. The restaurant and the bar are in the one area, but as we visited during the day there was no one really drinking in the bar. I'm not sure if I like the way the two areas are so close but it was a lovely welcoming place - even for those who were sweaty and in walking gear. Atmosphere rating:- 4/5.
Price
The price of the food here was very reasonable. We had two lunches, two coffee's and a diet coke and the total was £26.95. Price rating:- 4/5.
Last Words
Fiddlers' was a lovely stop off whilst on our travels around Arran. There is certainly a variety of food on the menu which should cater for all tastes. I didn't feel out of place in there in my hiking gear either. Total Rating 15.5 out of 20.
Date Visited:- Sunday, 8 May 2016
Restaurant Details:-
Fiddlers' Music Bar & Restaurant,
Shore Road,
Brodick,
Isle of Arran,
KA27 8AJ
Website:- Fiddlers' Website
Telephone:- 01770 302579
Thanks a mil for reading.
Emma Mai xx
I've been at Mr EmmaEats for a while now to go exploring this beautiful country that we live in, so we decided to pack our bags and head to the Isle of Arran for a night. I've been dying to get out and about to do some walking/hiking so what better destination than Arran for this. We were staying in The Douglas Hotel and our package included dinner so we ate in the Douglas Bistro. I had dinner booked for 7.30pm but as our ferry was running late I rang the hotel to change the booking until 8pm. We arrived into the hotel at 7.55pm and were told by Kate that she knew our ferry wouldn't be in until this time so she had changed our reservation to 8.15pm to give us time to go up to our room and freshen up. Talk about customer service - major thumbs up to Kate and the Douglas hotel for this. Anyway once we had checked in we headed down to the Douglas Bistro and were greeted by friendly staff and brought to our table. We were seated at the back of the beautifully decorated restaurant, however, the next time I'm there (and yes there will certainly be a next time) I will book a table by the window - the views are spectacular from the hotel.
Food
The Bistro has a lovely menu and a great specials menu, both Mr EE and I were struggling to pick a dish as we liked so many of them. For starters we went for one of the specials, the warm salad of peppered goats cheese, beetroot & black olive tapenade. For mains I went for a special again, the slow braised balsamic & garlic lamb shank, mashed potato, carrots & savoy cabbage. Mr EE went for the grilled Scottish marinated & skewered chateaubriand espetada, house style fries & adjika sauce. Shortly after we placed our order the waitress came back to advise that they had no goats cheese specials left - my heart sank - so we had to pick again. This time we both went for the roast pumpkin salad, baby spinach, feta, sun dried tomatoes, red onion, pine kernels & curry vinaigrette. As I said, I was a little disappointed that they didn't have any goats cheese but, the pumpkin salad certainly made up for it. It was delicious and so tasty. It was really full of flavour and everything worked so well together.
After the lovely starter we were expecting great things from our main course and once again they didn't disappoint. Our dishes were really tasty, my lamb was melt in your mouth stuff, the gravy was so tasty I nearly wanted to drink it off the plate and the mash was done to perfection, lovely and creamy. Mr EE loved his skewer, he said the meat was great. He was really looking forward to the adjika sauce because he loves hot & spicy stuff but he did say that it wasn't really that hot (the picture of the skewer is terrible, and doesn't do it any justice). I asked to taste a bit of the sauce on a chip, the sauce was also cold - I think it would have complemented the dish better if it was hot. But all in all we really enjoyed our food. We decided not to have dessert as after all we were away to do healthy things like hiking so having a big dessert just didn't fit in with the weekends plan.
Food rating:- 4/5.
Service
The service at the Bistro was great (and as I said above it was great from the minute we stepped inside the door of the hotel). The waitresses were very friendly and were on hand when needed. I know I mentioned this in the food paragraph above but I was disappointed that they did not have the goats cheese special left. I know this is more food related but I still think it has something to do with service. I know we were eating late and not many people came in after us but it was still on the menu. It may not have bothered me as much if we were advised when given the specials menu that there was none left. Service rating:- 4/5.
Atmosphere
The restaurant was very busy and once the big table next to us with a group of men sitting at it were finished you could actually hear yourself think. In general I did enjoy the vibe of the place, however initially I did feel like I was shouting at Mr EE (not because he was annoying me, just to be heard). Atmosphere rating:- 4/5.
Price
Because dinner was included in the room rate I forgot to take the receipt with me - but if I remember correctly it was in and around £78. This included a bottle of wine and two americano's. I thought it was very reasonably priced for the quality of the food and service. Price rating:- 5/5.
Last Words
This is certainly a great place to eat, the food and service are great. We went into the bar afterwards for some live music (you can also get food in the bar if you didn't fancy the formal setting of the restaurant). It is conveniently located to the ferry and all public transport links around the island. It is definitely worth a visit. In general our stay at the Douglas Hotel was great. Total rating:- 17 out of 20.
Date Visited:- Saturday, 7 May 2016
Restaurant Details:-
The Douglas Bistro,
The Douglas Hotel,
Isle of Arran,
KA27 8AW
Website: The Douglas Bistro
Telephone: 01770 302 968
Thanks a mil for reading.
Emma Mai xx
I had a lovely lazy Friday planned, I was just back after another few days at home in Ireland, the weather had been horrendous the day before and I thought to myself I might just have a quiet day at home. However, when I woke up it was a bright beautiful day so I decided that I should get out and make the most of it. I had been dying to try out the Good Food Glasgow Street Food. So I headed off in the direction of Merchant City to find myself some street food, I walked down to Brunswick Street and couldn't see any trucks - I thought to myself that I must have the wrong street so I walked around some more and I couldn't see any trucks. So I decided to consult google, only to find out that the Street Food is located in an area called Broomielaw on a Friday. At this stage I was starving, I think I may have been more hangry than anything and when I looked up from my phone the Wilson Street Panty was right in front of me .... I think it was fate, it was meant to be.
As I arrived just before the lunch rush I had the choice of tables, once seated I was given the menu's and my drinks order was taken. A glass of water was also placed on my table (I don't think I even had to ask for it).
Food
I decided to go for the avocado, smoked salt and lemon toast with two poached eggs. I asked for my poached eggs to be cooked firm. My food came out and it was beautifully presented. The avocado was so soft and so easy to spread on my toast. In general I love salt (probably too much) and I must say the smoked salt on the avocado really finished off the dish for me. My eggs were cooked to perfection. It was a really satisfying dish. Food rating:- 4.5/5.
Service
The service was exceptional here, staff were very attentive but not in your face. But what won it over for me was the fact that they kept my glass of water topped up all the time - I did not have to ask for a glass of water nor did I have to ask for it to be topped up. If you have read the 'about me' section of my website you will know that this is a huge issue for me! Service rating 5/5.
Atmosphere
The Wilson Street Panty is a lovely crisp and clean restaurant. I love the look of the place. On this visit I sat in towards the back of the restaurant just so I could see the workings of the restaurant but I would certainly love to sit in the window seats and watch the world go by the next time I'm there. The tables are quite close together and I must admit I half expected to knock something over as I was getting to my seat. The only negative for me, and one that the restaurant can't control, was the chatter from the table beside me - I have a feeling they wanted the world and its mother to know all about their exciting lives. Another point that is not necessarily a negative, but it is certainly not putting the best foot forward, is the crumbled menu - you might have noticed it in the photo above. It just looks so out of place in the clean, crisp atmosphere of restaurant. Atmosphere rating:- 4/5.
Price
For my avocado, eggs and toast and two pots of tea I paid £11, which I thought was very reasonable for the quality of the food and service. Price rating:- 4.5/5.
Last Words
This place is great and I'm not only saying that because they have the whole water thing under control here, I loved the food, atmosphere and service. It was a great unexpected find today but I'm delighted that I found it. I will certainly be back. Total Rating 18 out of 20.
Date visited: 29 April 2016
Restaurant Details:-
Wilson Street Panty,
6 Wilson Street,
Glasgow,
G1 1SS
Website:- None
Telephone: 0141 552 0606
Thanks a mil for reading.
Emma Mai xx
I opened my mail one day to find a lovely invitation from Bell & Felix, Shawlands asking me to go and try out their new dinner menu - this was my first official invite as a blogger (I was a little amazed that I had even registered with a restaurant as a blogger) and so I was super excited about it (mind you I did get to attend another event before I went to Bell & Felix). Bell & Felix is one of those places that was on my must visit list so I was delighted with the invite. I had spent a few days back home in Ireland and came back to a cold, wet, wintry April day - I believe there was even snow before I got back. I pulled out my winter coat and headed off to Bell & Felix looking for some warmth and comfort - and that's certainly what I got.
We arrived and were given a very friendly welcome and were taken to our seats. We were given the menu and our drinks order was taken. You can see from the photo above that there are plenty of options on the menu and there are also a number of daily specials.
Food
There was a lot of time spent figuring out what we would have. For starters I went for the Bell & Felix pulled brisket chilli nachos with sour cream and salsa. Mr EmmaEats went for chicken satay skewers, peanut sauce, warm noodle salad with pickled chilli. Both the dishes were lovely, I really thought that the chicken satay was beautifully presented. The nachos were lovely and very indulgent, whereas Mr EE said his satay was lovely and light, he is still going on about how amazing his dish was.
For mains I had debated over getting the sweet potato and chickpea tagine or one of the specials, pork loin with black pudding mash and a cabbage, bacon and mustard cream sauce. As I was tossing this about in my head, Richard (the bell in Bell & Felix) said if it was him, he would go for the special as I could come back and have the tagine anytime. So it was decided, I went for the pork loin. Mr EE went for the breaded haddock goujons with pea puree, lemon mayo and french fries. Both our main courses were delicious, everything on my plate worked so well together and the black pudding mash was awesome. My only complaint was that it came out on a cold plate, but that didn't affect my dinner in anyway. Mr EE's haddock was great, that had been my first option but he got in there before me. The fish was perfectly done (and I think I will definitely have it when I'm back).
So next up was dessert, Mr EE decided he was going to be good and just have a coffee but I felt if I didn't have a dessert I'd only be half doing my job (well that's what I told myself), so I went for the salted caramel chocolate brownie and white chocolate ice cream. The chocolate brownie was amazing - the brownie itself was lovely but it was the salted caramel that did it for me. With every bite I would get a hit of the salted caramel and it was just delicious.
Food rating:- 4.5/5.
Service
The service was great, very attentive but not in your face. When I was being indecivise about which main to go for Richard was very helpful but not in a pushy or forceful way. Service rating:- 5/5.
Atmosphere
Whilst I would say that Bell & Felix is a warm, welcoming and friendly place, there is just something that I'm not sure about and I can't put my finger on it. It wasn't overly busy so maybe that was it, maybe it was lacking a bit of buzz! I love the back wall with Bell & Felix written on it, but I didn't take a picture as there were customers sitting underneath it! Atmosphere rating:- 4/5.
Price
So for this post I'm not going to rate the price given that I was invited to sample the food but it would appear that you certainly get great value for money and not only great value but good quality food too.
Last Words
I really like this place, it is such a great spot for dinner. I will definitely be back. There is something very homely and comforting about the food. Before I left I got talking to Richard and we had a lovely chat about Bell & Felix. I wish him and his team the very best with their new summer dinner menu. I haven't been here for brunch yet but I believe they do a great brunch and its so good you may even have to queue for it. Total rating:- 18 out of 20. (I converted the 13.5 out of 15 into a figure out of 20 so it would be in line with all my over reviews).
Bell & Felix are also taking part in the Southside Fringe Festival and are holding events on a number of nights, check out the poster below for what is going on.
Date Visited: 28 April 2016
Restaurant Details:-
Bell & Felix,
248 Kilmarnock Road,
Glasgow,
G43 1TT.
Website:- None
Telephone:- 0141 649 1684
Thanks a mil for reading.
Emma Mai xx
