Tell me about the last time you ate out - what did you have?

[meltedmarsbars]

Was it nice? Why did you choose it? (the venue and the food)

Could you recreate it at home?

Would you?

Deep fried camembert with fig preserve and salad.

It was delicious.

Restaurant chosen by boss (proximity to place of meeting)

No - no deep fat fryer but I do a similar thing baking the cheese in the oven.

melted- a regular side is just a regular-sized (as opposed to a large-sized) portion of a side order- in our case coleslaw and fries.

Chiquitos
Enchiladas
No I bloody well wouldn't it was ming. I would certaionly attempt to make enchiladas at home, but mine would, one hopes, not manage to be completely devoid of taste and yet taste disgusting at the same time.

Before that it was a thai duck curry at a Thai restuarant which was lovely and I would attempt at home but probably using chicken for convenience.

Ham egg and chips! In our defence, we were out on the Broads in a boat, stopped at a lovely riverside pub, and the ham was lovely thick on-the-bone slices, mmm loads of mustard and it went down a treat with a pint.

met Belgo for lunch last week in Leuven and had some lovely lamb chops with green beans and chips (and mayo). Yum.

local indian - shared three rounds of starters with dp...
veg pakora
prawn puree (yummmy)
aloo chaat (yum)
paneer pakora
chilli bites

and carrot halva to finish....
and,no I wouldn't try any of this at home because they do it so much better.....

salmon and brie fishcakes with rhubarb creme brulee at pub for FIL birthday.

not bad

poss could do at home but not sure

Chinese Buffett in Preston on Saturday night for DS 10th birthday. That would have been fine but we had been at Cadbury world all day so I was sick on Dairy Milk and chocolate elves. I haven't been out of the gym since!!!

La Tasca - loads of diffent Tapas.

Really Really nice and I'd love to recreate at home sadly I don't have the know how.

Although I did make Nigellas meatballs last night which IMHO were as good as meatballs there.

Prawn udon soup at a noodle bar. I'd have it again in a heartbeat. I could recreate it at home if I had a really good Japanese grocery around here, which I don't.

Furball - I have a great tapas cookery book by someone called Fiona Dunlop see on Amazon here. The fried aubergine and cheese is a particular favourite. And I am the worst cook that I know

Last time we ate out was about a month ago at the Beadnell Towers Hotel in Northumberland - had the most amazing cod in a Northumbrian nettle cheese sauce and home-made banoffee pie - we were on holiday with the grandparents, so had babysitters!

Everyone's making me feel so hungry I have just eaten an Aero (my excuse is that I am 26 weeks pregnant and have already been up for 3 hours with the DSs, so that IS like elevenses for a normal person, isn't it?)

Wow, nettle sauce!! I did once make nettle soup with the dc's to prove it was possible. It wasn't psrticularly nice.

And no, and Aero is not a well-balanced elevenses meal!!

particularly?

Can't even remember the last time I ate out.

Oh yes I can. Was wedding anniversary last year at a posh hotel. Had some pasta stuff but DH and I had had so much wine we couldn't eat it and DS3 was concieved instead.

LadyOfTheFLowers, thats a good one! Better not go there too often!

A Chinese restaurant in China Town Manchester when we there a few weeks ago.

I think I had mixed veg and tofu in black bean sauce.

MeltedMarsBars - That's what DH said too!

A lovely Japanese restaurant.

I had sushi with hot sake (The saki was very bad - the sushi was very good)

Beef in wasabi and mushroom pepper sauce
Udon Noodles
Seafood on a hotplate thing
Teriyaki chicken

Mango sorbet
Coffee
Amaretto

and I popped a button.

I had Goat's cheese starter on a bed of cooked spinach which was lush and easy to recreate at home.

For mains I had salmon on a bed of baby spinach with a caper butter. This was also lovely and easy to make at home.

For budding I had hazelnut and chocolate torte. Yes I could make this at home.

The venue was a village pub with awards for it's food.

And I've just watched MasterChef with the kids and even they (after roast pork and crackling) were saying it was making them hungry!

Afternoon tea at Betty's in York. Truly sublime, worth every £££££

Tell me more Morris! What did you get? How much did it cost? Did you have to book in advance?

And Rubyruby never told us what she ate for lunch the other day ...

Ok!

Betty's in York is insanely busy all year round. I don't know if they take bookings - suspect not - so you have to queue up. It wasn't too bad when we were there, we were only queuing for about 10 mins, and they give you the menu so you're all ready to order when you sit down.

You can order any tea/ cake/ snack combo that you like, or you can have the afternoon tea, which costs £16 per person (I think) and consists of:

4 small sandwiches each (ie one round, but you can mix and match fillings)

One fruit scone with clotted cream and jam each.

Three little cakes each. When we were there these were a tiny fruit tart, a lemon macaroon and a square chocolatey cake that I had to donate to DP as I had hit the wall by then.

Pot of tea of your choice and pot of hot water to refresh it.

This is all served on a traditional cake rack thingy, and every single bite of what we had was utterly gorgeous. Even the sandwiches (I had egg ones and ham ones) were somehow nicer than any sandwiches I'd ever tasted before!

It did cost a lot but it really fills you up so there's no need for an evening meal later. Also the atmosphere is so lovely, looking out onto the square, and the service was excellent too.

You wouldn't go every day but for a treat, well it was the nicest I've ever had. They have one in Harrogate too, which I assume offers the same prices, food and service.