Lunch at Silver Spoons, Troon, Ayrshire

I had lived in Troon for nearly 9 months before I visited this little gem of a place. I had been told so many times that I should go to Silver Spoons but I just never got around to going. So I finally made it … I walked into this amazing little restaurant and it was liked I stepped back in time - but stepped back in time in a good way. I want my dining room to look like the Silver Spoons, it is just so pretty. The place wasn’t full but there was a really good crowd in there which created a lovely atmosphere. I was greeted by the very friendly Eileen who showed me to my table. I must admit, I was completely in my element at this stage, the place is just so cute. So Eileen gave me the lunch menu and advised me of all the special’s they had that day. 

Food

There is an extensive lunch menu here, you can get anything from a sandwich, soup, baked potato or cake to name but a few things. I decided to go for the baked potato and beans, I really wanted cake but I was trying to be good (again). Whilst I was waiting on my food I walked around and had a look at all the amazing cakes, they looked delicious and I was surprised by how many gluten free cakes they did. So my baked potato arrived out and looked amazing and it was a huge portion. I think I’ve said before in another blog that when I order a baked potato in a cafe I normally never eat the skin as some times I question whether the skin has been cleaned (to my standard) - however, even though the potato was covered in beans I could clearly see that it was lovely and clean. So I was able to eat everything on my plate and it was all lovely. There was also a side portion of coleslaw and I said for research purposes I would just have a taste of it, however, it was so delicious I ended up eating it all. As there was a beautiful cup and saucer on the table I had to have tea to drink out of the china cup. Food rating: 4/5

Service

Service was great here, it was very prompt and really friendly. I had a lovely chat with Eileen who seemed to have plenty of time for all of the customers. Service rating:- 5/5.

Atmosphere

This place is lovely, I love everything about it. It is so warm, welcoming and charming. There was a nice buzz about the place with loads of people coming and going. As well as doing a good trade within the restaurant they seem to do a good takeaway service as well, so there was a constant buzz about the place. Atmosphere rating: 4/5.

Price

For my baked potato and pot of tea the total price was £7.10. For the quantity and quality of the food I think that this is really good value. For lunch I thought the portion was huge, mind you I still managed to make my way through it all. I do hate waste (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Price rating:- 5/5.

Last Words

Just in case you haven’t realised at this stage … I love this place. I think it is a great find and I can’t believe it took me so long to make my way here. I will definitely be back and I think it will now be my go to place in Troon for a late breakfast or lunch (or cake). The next time my mum is over to visit I’m going to have to bring her here, I know she will love it too. Oh and I will have to bring my aunt here too, she is all about her china cups. Total rating: 18 out of 20. 

Date Visited: Thursday, 8 December 2016

Restaurant Details: 

20 Portland Street,

Troon,

Ayrshire,

KA10 6AE.

Telephone: 01292 314631

Facebook: click HERE

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Bloggers Night at Crossing The Rubicon, West End, Glasgow

If you love indian food and beer, this is the place for you. I was pretty excited when I received the invite to attend a bloggers night at Crossing the Rubicon #BloggingTheRubicon. In case you haven't heard of it, Crossing the Rubicon is all about indian tapas and craft beer. It's in the West End of Glasgow and opened in the latter part of 2016. On entering the interior is very cool and quirky, with a lovely bar area at one side and restaurant seating at the other side. However for me the coolness started well before I even arrived at the restaurant. When I walked out of Kelvinbridge Subway I saw this great sign ... 

Anyway, back to the main event, what can you expect ... as I said above it's Indian tapas and you can get a variety of different dishes from pakora; naan; vegan, vegetarian & meat curries and a range of sides. I'm not really a beer person but Crossing the Rubicon have loads of different beer options available and I've been told from a reliable source that the beer is pretty damn good. 

Given that it was a bloggers night we had the opportunity to sample a lot of different dishes and to be honest by the time dessert came out I could only taste a tiny bit of it as I was so full. So first up were the poppodams & pickles - these were pretty tasty but to be honest I was a bit too busy catching up on the news from other bloggers at my table to take decent photos of them. 

Next up was the veg haggis pakora and the onion pakora - I will admit these were probably my least favourite of the night and I don't think I'd order them myself. But don't fret, from here the dishes only got better and better. Next up was the chicken pakora and the black pudding pakora - both of these were delicious and we even struggled to figure out which one we preferred. 

Up next was just a tray of deliciousness - daily raita, chana chat, dhal makani, rice & hot buttered chapattis. Each of these were delicious but my favourite was the dhal makani - I do love lentils in general though so I'm probably completely biased here. In my complete naivety I thought this was it - I thought we had sampled all the dishes that we were going to. Boy was I wrong ... that was only the start. 

So next we moved onto an array of different curries:- roast carrot and sweat potato korma; tarka dhal; gobi khali mirch; crispy tofu mutter; tandoori butter chicken and venison madras. It was very difficult to pick my favourite of these so my top three were sweat potato korma, tarka dhal & the gobi khali mirch. I think the sweat potato korma might just edge out as the winner though. The flavour in all these dishes were great. I will admit though I didn't like the tofu dish, now I detest tofu at the best of times but as all the other dishes were amazing I decided to give it a try but I just didn't like it, I don't think there is any restaurant that could make tofu taste nice for me. 

 

So after all that someone mentioned dessert - there was no way I was going to be able to eat a dessert but out came this amazing chocolate pot that I just had to try (for research purposes obvs). In fairness though I only took a spoonful and it was epic. It was a vegan chocolate dessert with an orange flavour and a hint of chilli. It was delicious and such a perfect way to end the night - my only regret - I wish I was able to eat more of it. Clearly I will have to go back to try it out. 

I really enjoyed my night here and the food was great! It's a real chilled place with great service. It is definitely worth a visit. Whilst I'm not vegetarian or vegan it isn't unusual for me to order from these menus and I have to say there is a huge selection of delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes here (thankfully they all don't contain tofu). 

A big thank you to all at Crossing the Rubicon for having us. I had a great night. And if you want to know what it's like to sit at a table with a group of bloggers .... this is how good the conversation can be 😂😂😂

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Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

Getting the train to Craiglang for a night at Still Game

I love it when I open my email to find an invitation to an exciting event ... so in early January I got a lovely surprise when I received an email from Scotrail inviting me to go to see Still Game in the SSE Hydro ... the only catch was that I was to take the train!!! That wasn't a problem for me as I'm regularly on the train between Troon and the city however it was going to be the first time that I was getting the train from the city out to SSE Hydro. That wasn't the only first for me on the night in question ... it was my first time going to see a gig there. I must also admit I have had limited exposure to Still Game. When I moved to Scotland a little under 2 years ago I had never heard of it ... Mr EmmaEats would have often made reference to it but I was never inclined to find out more about it. Well that was until it was back on the box and then I finally understood what he had been going on about. 

So off we set on the Scotrail 4.53pm train from Troon to Glasgow Central. We arrived into Central Station on time at 5.41pm and found our platform easily enough. There was a train to Exhibition Centre (that's the stop you get off at for the SSE Hydro) at 5.52pm so we didn't have to wait too long. The journey was so quick it only took us about 4mins. Once we arrived at the station it was only an 8 min walk to the SSE Hydro. The SSE Hydro was clearly signed posted so it was very easy to find our way. Getting out to the SSE Hydro by train was so much easier that I thought it would be. It's a great option without the hassle of trying to find a parking space and you have the added benefit of being able to have a drink.

Once we arrived at the SSE Hydro we went up to the Hydro Club where we were treated to dinner before the show. There were plenty of options on the menu and they even had a specials sections which was themed for Still Game. Both Mr EE and I went for the pakora to start, this was off the specials menu. For mains I picked off the normal menu and had the salt baked lamb shank and Mr EE had the tandoori chicken burger from the specials menu. Our food was fine, I don't think there was anything special or outstanding about it, but it was fine and we both cleared our plates. The pakora was presented nicely but I just felt it was a bit stodgy. When my main was put in front of me I thought it looked really dry but it actually wasn't as dry as it looked. As it was close to the start of the show we decided not to have dessert. However we told that we could order it now and they would have it ready for us during the interval.  We decided not to go for it though, January's healthy buzz is still in full flight.

After the meal we then went and took our seats for the main event. I really enjoyed Still Game, I thought it was absolutely hilarious. We were laughing non stop. The stage and the props were just great. The SSE Hydro is an amazing place for an event. It is huge - I never imagined that it would be able to take so many people. The seats were really comfy too. I felt that I had a decent amount of leg room. I know I'm not the tallest person but sometimes at concerts etc I find that my knee are rubbing off the seat in front of me. Well this was not the case here.

So that was it, the gig was over and it was time to head back home. We took a short stroll back to Exhibition Centre. Obviously we were walking back with a huge crowd of people. We arrived at the station at 10.40pm to join a huge queue outside the station (much to my dismay as it was freezing and the thoughts of having to stand in a queue was not my idea of fun). I was beginning to think that getting the train might not have been the best idea. However I was completely wrong - within 7 minutes we were on the platform waiting on the train to arrive. We only had to wait 5 minutes for the train and a short 4 minutes after getting on the train we were in Central Station. We had another seamless changeover in Central Station to get our train to Troon. I have to hand it to Scotrail's staff at the Exhibition Centre - they certainly had everything under control. They were continuously telling the crowds what to do and where to go, so no one was left guessing. I was so surprised at how quickly the queue moved. It was really well organised and everything ran so efficiently. 

We really enjoyed our night and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Scotrail and the SSE Hydro for an amazing evening. It is so easy to get from the city out to the SSE Hydro by train, likewise getting there from Troon was so easy. The next time I'm going to a gig in the SSE Hydro I will certainly be taking the train. Whilst the meal may not have been my favourite it certainly was so much handier to eat at the SSE Hydro.

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Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx

Disclaimer:- the train tickets, meal and tickets to Still Game were provided to me by Scotrail & SSE Hydro. However, I would like to state that this post is an unbiased and independent review of my experience on the night.