Scotts Sail Away #comesailaway

I don't even know where to begin with this post as it was such an exciting event, but I'm guessing it might be best to start at the beginning to let you know a little bit more about it. I received an invitation to a blogger event being held by Buzzworks Holdings. For those of you who don't know Buzzworks Holdings has an award winning portfolio of bars and restaurants mainly across Ayrshire but are now beginning to branch out across Scotland. I've visited most of their restaurants in Ayrshire, all with the exception of one, Scotts in Largs. This event was being held to showcase some of the favourite dishes from this seasons menu and what better way to do this than on a yacht no less. As well as being able to sample the food we were also provided with the opportunity to meet with some of the staff which allowed us to really get to know the 'ethos' of the Scotts brand. The event was also being held in association with Cloudy Bay wines.

So a group of us bloggers met at Scotts, Largs and were brought down to board the beautiful Lady Lexus. Upon arrival we were introduced to the representatives from Scotts, Peter Govan Buzzworks Scotts Operations Manager and Craig Hogarth Brand Executive Chef of Scotts and provided with a glass of Cloudy Bay Pelorus. We had to opportunity to hear a bit more about Scotts and the Buzzworks brand. Throughout the next few hours we were provided with an amazing array of food and wine. I'm not going to list out each dish as this post would go on forever if I did, however I've taken a picture of both the food & drinks menu - check them out below.

I will admit that I did not try every dish as I'm not the most adventurous when it comes to fish and there was so much food it was just not possible to sample it all. However, every dish was beautifully presented and I really enjoyed everything that I tasted. It has to be handed to Craig, how he was able to prepare this amazing food in such a small kitchen is beyond me. From the starters menu the crispy slow braised ox cheek was my favourite, it was so tasty, even before I had a taste of it the smell had me hooked. The platters were just outstanding in both value and taste. I couldn't even pick just one thing from the platters to say that I enjoyed the most, everything I had was just delicious.

After these courses we took a break and went up on deck to savour the sights. After a little bit of fresh air we had worked up a bit of an appetite to start the main course part of the tasting. I have three favourite dishes here ... the signature seafood platter, slow cooked beef ragu and roast pumpkin ravioli. The fish was so fresh and very morish. Both the pasta dishes were devine, so full of flavour and did not pale in comparison to the more exotic fish dishes.

Last but not least was the amazing dessert selection - I will admit that I didn't get to sample every dessert on the plate as I was completely full however I did have a spoon of a few of them and my favourite was the nutella tart - I had this dish at Scott's in Troon the previous week and was delighted to see it on the plate before me again.

Whilst I drink both red and white wine, red is by far my favourite and the one I would automatically go for. However, I had no problem sampling the white wine and really enjoyed it. The red was my favourite, this was the Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir - it was so easy to drink (way too easy for a Saturday afternoon).

I would like to thank all those involved in the Scotts Sail Away event, it was an amazing experience.

To keep up to date with all the places that I visit and to never miss a post follow me on my social media accounts:- Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

Disclaimer:- I was invited by Buzzworks Holdings to sample their new season menu however all views and opinions are my own.

Pre Theatre Menu - Alston Bar & Beef, Glasgow

Hello there!! It has been a quiet few months for the blog but life has been nothing but crazy (crazy in a good way thankfully). As life has been so busy I haven't really had much time to visit new places or even sit down to write up some blogs. However, when I received the invite to visit Alston Bar & Beef to try out their new pre theatre menu I cleared the decks and made myself available. I had previously visited Alston Bar & Beef and loved everything about it so I jumped at the opportunity to revisit it. Another reason to be excited was that I was going along with Claire from What Claire Baked and Emma & Mark from Foodie Explorers. I was so excited to catch up with them.

So if you have read my previous post about Alston Bar and Beef you will know that I loved everything about it, from the minute I walked in to when I was leaving, you can read the post by clicking here. I felt like I was gaining access to the restaurant by crossing through Platform 9 & 3/4s (if you haven't been living under a stone for that last decade or so you will know what I'm talking about). Another thing I love about the entrance is that once you have gone down the stairs the first thing you are greeted with is the kitchen - I do love an open kitchen. I love the vibe of the restaurant, it is cool and quirky and just such a lovely place to sit back and relax.

So as I said we were there to sample the new pre theatre menu, this is served Monday - Thursday 12pm - 6.30pm and Saturday between 12pm - 4pm. The price of this menu is really good, you can get 1 course for £10, 2 courses for £13 and 3 courses for £16. There is a good selection of dishes for each course which will cater to everyones taste.

To start the night off I went for a lovely gin cocktail - the cocktail menu was so extensive that I just asked our very friendly waitress to recommend one for me - after a few questions I decided on the Raspberry Royale Cocktail ... this was delicious and went down way too easily. So onto the main event, the food....

For starters I went for the crispy goats cheese with pickled beets, heritage tomatoes & salsa verde. I will admit I'm a sucker for goats cheese and beetroot so I'm generally easily pleased with this dish. This dish was so tasty and everything was really full of flavour, I would definitely have it again (and again). For my main I decided to try something else other than steak - I've been here before for steak and loved it but I find I'm increasingly getting messages from people saying that they are meat eaters but their friends/mother/cousin etc are vegetarian and is there anywhere that can cater for everyone. So this time I decided to see if Alston was tasty for non meat eaters also and I went for the grilled vegetable linguine with black olive & tomato sauce w/garlic oil. I really enjoyed this dish, again it was really fresh and tasty. I would advise that it is a huge portion (but don't fear I managed to eat it ALL).

So as if all the food wasn't enough, I had dessert - I had to have it, for research purposes obviously. So I went for the chocolate, almond & sea salt brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. This was another great dish, it was so tasty and that little pot of chocolate .... omg it was just yum.

To help wash down the meal I had some red wine, a lovely Argentinian Malbec. The service here was really good .... stop rolling your eyes .... I can hear you say 'of course it was good because they knew they had a table of bloggers' so just check my previous review where I said service was great .... and Alston Bar & Beef didn't know I was visiting that time.

So all in all I loved my meal here, the pre theatre is certainly amazing value and you should definitely check it out.

To keep up to date with all my adventures and to never miss a post follow me on my social media accounts:- Twitter, Instagram & Facebook.

Date Visited: Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Restaurant Details:-
Alston Bar & Beef,
Central Station,
79 Gordon Street,
Glasgow,
G1 3SQ.

Website: click here
Telephone: 0141 221 7627

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

Disclaimer: As I was invited to review the new pre theatre menu I did not pay for my meal. However, all opinions expressed are my own and based on my experience on the night.

Another disclaimer: my photos are shocking 😂😂 the lovely romantic lighting in Alston is a food bloggers worst nightmare but I did my best.

EmmaEats on Tour: Dundee Part 3

So hopefully you have read the first and second part of my trip to Dundee. The first part of the blog told you about about my lunch at Jute Cafe Bar and my stay in the Malmaison and can be viewed here. The second part was all about my amazing dinner at Bridgeview Station which can be viewed here and this part tells you all about my lovely lunch at Castlehill. I was only in Dundee for a little over 24 hours so I didn't manage to get to a lot of restaurants but I did my best. It is somewhere that I definitely want to go back to.

I woke up with a bit of quandary on Saturday morning - brunch is my favourite meal of the week, I just love the whole concept of a long lazy brunch, however there were so many restaurants that I wanted to try out and none of them were doing brunch so I had to suck it up and miss my Saturday brunch. Don’t feel too sorry for me though … I managed to have a lovely lunch at Castlehill. So after I checked out of the Malmaison Dundee I didn't feel like I was ready for a full lunch so I decided to do some more wandering around Dundee before going for food. It was a lovely dry morning so it was great just to stroll around and take in all the sights and atmosphere. 

Once I had worked up a bit of an appetite I decided to head towards the restaurant, I hadn't booked Castlehill so I was a little concerned that I wouldn't get in but thankfully they were able to take me. The restaurant is really pretty, everything is lovely and fresh. I was seated down the back of the restaurant and given the menu's. I could choose from either the tasting menu or the general lunch menu. 

As I wasn't overly hungry I decided to order off the lunch menu. The lunch menu caters to everyone's taste with meat, fish and vegetable offerings. I didn't have any starter and went straight to my main course of roasted beetroot - fig, goats curd & truffle honey. I am a big fan of beetroot and goats curd at the best of times but oh my god this dish was sensational. It was just an explosion of flavours. It was also such a pretty dish. Everything about it was just prefect and it was the right size. It thankfully even left me with a bit of room to have a dessert (yes I know in the previous paragraph I was just saying that I wasn't overly hungry). 

There are three desserts on the menu and to be honest I liked the look of them all so I asked the waitress for her recommendation and then it was settled, I was having the Chocolate - coffee, rapessed & jelly dessert. This was again a great dish - everything worked really well together. However, I must admit I found the texture of the jelly a little funny - but I am odd with textures (I can't eat mushrooms because of the way they feel). To finish my meal I had a lovely coffee. 

The food, service and atmosphere here is great. The staff were so friendly and helpful and nothing was any trouble for them. I definitely want to come back here for dinner the next time I find myself up this way. 

So once again with a full belly I took another stroll around Dundee before starting the trek back to Troon on the train. I really enjoyed my trip to Dundee and having the opportunity to sample the food offerings was great. It would appear that Dundee has a great food scene - one that is growing and being recognised as a place to visit for food.

Don't forget to check out parts 1 & 2.

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

To keep up to date with all my foodie adventures and to never miss a new post follow me on my social media accounts by clicking on the following links:- Twitter, Instagram & Facebook.

To find out more about Castlehill visit there restaurant by clicking here

Date visited: Saturday, 18 March 2017

EmmaEats on Tour: Dundee Part 2

So hopefully you have read the first part of my post on my recent trip to Dundee which tells you about about my lunch at Jute Cafe Bar and my stay in the Malmaison, you can see that by clicking here. This part is all about my amazing dinner at Bridgeview Station and the final part tells you all about my lovely lunch at Castlehill, which can be viewed by clicking here. I was only in Dundee for a little over 24 hours so I didn't manage to get to a lot of restaurants but I did my best. It is somewhere that I definitely want to go back to.

So for dinner I had decided to go to Bridgeview Station - this is a restaurant I had come across previously and loved the look of the menu so I knew when I finally got around to going to Dundee it was were I was going to have my dinner. The chef there is Rory Lovie - you may have caught him at one of his pop ups in Glasgow. As I’ve said in part one already - it was a miserable day so I was delighted when I arrived into the warm and welcoming Bridgeview Station and was shown to my table by the window. 

Photo Credit: Bridgeview Station

Whilst I was sitting there all I could think of was that on a summers day the view must be amazing here … but on the night I was there it was so dark and yes, miserable, I couldn’t see a thing. I was given three menu’s - the March menu, the classic menu and the all important drinks menu. There is loads to choose from on these menus with each dish sounding amazing - but I finally made my decision and went for the almond milk pannacotta, broccoli, toasted almonds for starter, poached blairgowrie chicken, wild leeks & garlic, mushrooms, chicken consommé with a side of greens for mains and dark chocolate bavarois, sea buckthorn sorbet and crystallised chocolate. Each dish was just delicious.

Photo Credit: Bridgeview Station

Photo Credit: Bridgeview Station

My starter was so tasty - everything worked really well together. I loved the broccoli aspect of the dish - it was so full of flavour - I will admit I nearly licked my bowl clean it was that good. 

For mains my chicken was just cooked to perfection - I had my doubts about the chicken consommé when I ordered the dish but again the taste from this was just great. 

Finally my dessert was, can you guess, delicious. Everything on the plate was just so full of flavour and tasted amazing. 

This is a gem of a place with really good food at really good prices, you can get two courses for £18 or 3 for £23 pounds - for the quality of the food this is an amazing price.

As it was dark and wet (yes I had to mentioned it again) when I arrived i didn’t get any nice photos of the restaurant itself - however I managed to get some directly from the restaurant just so you could see how pretty the place is.

Photo Credit: Bridgeview Station

The food, service and atmosphere here are great, I really loved everything about it and I will definitely visit again. 

So after all that delicious food I headed back to the hotel and straight to my room. I had hoped to maybe sample a cocktail or two but I was just way too full, so I just had a early night instead. 

Don't forget to check out parts 2 & 3.

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

To keep up to date with all my foodie adventures and to never miss a new post follow me on my social media accounts by clicking on the following links:- Twitter, Instagram & Facebook.

To check out Bridgeview Station's website click here

Date visited: Friday, 17 March 2017

EmmaEats on Tour: Dundee Part 1

Ever since I went traveling to Australia when I was in my early 20’s I have endeavoured to see as much of the country that I live in. So last year I crossed a few spots in Scotland off my list and hope to do the same this year and Dundee was my first port of call. One of the main reasons that Dundee was no 1 this year was that I had come across some restaurants that I wanted to visit. There seemed to be such a thriving food scene there that I wanted to go and try it out myself. The food scene in Dundee seemed to have a lot of high end offerings which just intrigued me. I have decided this split my trip to Dundee into three parts, this is the first part and you read the second part here and third part here. 

The first part of the blog tells you about about my lunch at Jute Cafe Bar and my stay in the Malmaison. The next part is all about my amazing dinner at Bridgeview Station and the final part tells you all about my lovely lunch at Castlehill. I was only in Dundee for a little over 24 hours so I didn't manage to get to a lot of restaurants but I did my best. It is somewhere that I definitely want to go back to. 

So I booked the train and my hotel - I decided to stay in the Malmaison Dundee for two reasons, firstly because it looked nice and secondly it was fairly central. I arrived into Dundee at lunch time and headed straight to Jute Cafe Bar in the Dundee Contemporary Building. I actually really loved this place and it reminded me of an independent cinema in Dublin that I used to go to. I really felt comfortable here - it’s hard to explain but it felt like I was home. The menu looked great and there was a lot of choice on it - I just decided to go for a sandwich as I had dinner plans for the evening - so I went for the brie, sun blushed tomato and avocado ciabatta with crispy red onions - this came with the option of soup or fries - and clearly because I was on my holidays I went for the fries 😎 I also had a glass of bubbles with my lunch. I enjoyed my lunch but I felt that the ciabatta itself was lacking something - I feel the sandwich would have tasted better if the ciabatta had been properly toasted. To honest though, I generally don’t eat bread so maybe that’s just what ciabatta tastes like. 

After my lunch I took a stroll around Dundee - it was a miserable day so I just ended up going to the shopping centre …. the rain is my excuse for buying new clothes 😂. I then checked into the hotel in time to get ready for dinner. The hotel looked as good as it did in the photo’s. Check in was seamless. My room was small but really nicely decorated and the bed was so comfy. I had two issues with the room though - the first being that the floor boards creaked every time I walked on them - even though there was carpet down - I know I’ve eaten a lot lately but I don’t think that should make the situation worse. The other complaint was that my room overlooked a really busy street and it was very noisy during the day but in fairness it didn’t really affect my sleep.

Don't forget to check out parts 2 & 3 to see what else I got up to in Dundee.

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

To keep up to date with all my foodie adventures and to never miss a new post follow me on my social media accounts by clicking on the following links:- Twitter, Instagram & Facebook.

For Jute Cafe Bar's website click here

For Malmaison Dundee's website click here

Date visited: Friday, 17 March 2017