UK Trip Travel Food: Nottingham Food (Pieminster)

I took a trip to England in the summer of 2019. While staying in Newark-on-Trent on this trip, I took a train to Nottingham. I saw Robin Hood, then I ate.

This was a restaurant which I did not eat at, but was noteworthy. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem was built into the side of a cliff below Nottingham Castle and claims to be the oldest inn in England.

I had lunch at a restaurant called Pieminster. As the name states, this restaurant specialized in all sorts of pies.

There was some quirky decor in here, such as potato eyes in glass cases.

I had the Saag Pie-neer. This was an Indian inspired pie filled with paneer, peas, spinach, potatos, chilli, and mango. It was served over mashed potatoes. A side of mushy peas and gravy also came on the side. It was pretty good, and the Indian influence was a nice change from the other more traditional meat pies I had on this trip.

 

Thanksgiving at Perkins in Altamonte Springs, FL

 Wondering what a Thanksgiving meal looks like at a Perkins? I ended up at the Perkins in Altamonte Springs on Thanksgiving since they were one of the few places open. I was going to order breakfast since I did the meaty Thanksgiving thing already, but the talkative regulars at the next table had great things to say about the holiday meal on the menu. Taking the recommendation, this came with several slices of turkey, stuffing, green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

A slice of pie was also included. I had the lemon meringue.

Not the best Thanksgiving turkey ever, but the meal was totally passable for a late night breakfast chain.

Keys Bite in Key Largo, FL

I was in Key Largo on New Years Eve and it was decided that key lime pie should be eaten while there. Restaurant choices were thin since it was a holiday. Based on what was open, we ended up at a restaurant called Keys Bite. They had a diner-like menu, and luckily they did have the pie we were seeking.

The key lime pie was served with whipped cream and a lime slice. It was creamy and tart. Everything that I would have expected a slice of key lime pie to be in the Keys!

UK Food #5: Bath & Hampton Court (West Cornwall Pasty Co, Privy Kitchen, and Corelli Ice Cream)

This is the last of blog posts about my recent trip to the UK. On this post, we leave the big cities a bit and find some food. We will start out in Bath.

West Cornwall Pasty Co:

I took a bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath. While in Bath, I bought myself lunch at a restaurant called the West Cornwall Pasty Co. My only experience with Cornish Pasties in the past was at the Three Broomsticks at Islands of Adventure, which I wasn't too impressed with. I was excited to try a British food actually in England. Being that the sign said they were award winning made it even better!

The Cornish Pasties were folded over pies, similar to empanadas or calzones. They had a large selection of fillings available, but it was suggested I go with the Traditional Cornish Pasty, filled with beef and onions.

I liked it. It reminded me of a shepherd's pie without the potatoes on top.

I ordered the combo which was served with chips and mushy peas.

Hampton Court Palace Privy Kitchen:

On another day, I took a train to Hampton Court Palace. I ate lunch while there at a restaurant in the castle called Privy Kitchen. I ordered their pie of the day, which was Chicken, Leek, and Ham Hock. I figured out by this point in my trip that I really like these British pies. This was filled with lots of meat and vegetables, all floating around in a very tasty sauce. A mixed green salad was served on the side. Eating the pie in King Henry VIII's castle made it taste a little better as well...

Corelli Ice Cream: 

As I was walking to the train station from Hampton Court, I passed a small cart called Corelli Ice Cream. Sounded good to me...

I ordered Vanilla in a chocolate covered waffle cone, with flake. The ice cream was interesting. It was soft serve, but seemed to have a thicker consistency with a yellow tint compared to what we get in the US. The flake was a chocolate wafer that was placed in the cone and had the ice cream poured over it. I sat there on a bench overlooking the River Thames, ate my ice cream, and boarded my train...

UK Food #4: Edinburgh (Theatre Royal Pub, Fiddler's Arms, and YHA Edinburgh)

During my trip to the United Kingdom, I took a train to Scotland and stayed overnight in Edinburgh. My train arrived around noon. I found out I couldn't check into where I was staying until 2:00, so I decided to have lunch at the Theatre Royal Pub on the next block until I could drop off my bags.

Theatre Royal Pub:

As the name implies, they were next to Edinburgh's big theater. Unlike the pubs I visited in London where you ordered your food at the bar and then claimed a table, the Theatre Royal Pub was full service from start to finish. Just to confuse American tourists with variations of pub culture in different parts of the UK.

I ordered one of their daily specials, which was the Pork & Bacon Pie. I really liked pies like this after having a few of them in London so I couldn't resist ordering another. It was served over mashed potatoes in a gravy sauce.

This was the most boring of all the pies I tried in the UK. This was filled with not much else besides ground pork and bacon. It was almost a meatloaf wrapped in a pie crust. Still pretty tasty.

Fiddler's Arms:

I decided I needed to try haggis while in Scotland. This happened at another pub called Fiddler's Arms.

I knew exactly what I was going to order when I walked in. I had the Traditional Scottish Haggis, Neeps, & Tatties. The menu described this as haggis, mashed potatoes and turnips, drizzled in a homemade whisky cream sauce. My expectations weren't high for ordering offal meats in a bar, but what I was served far exceeded those expectations. The whole dish was constructed as a circular tower. There was a bottom layer of potatoes, topped with turnips, with the haggis above that, and then finally a sprinkling of greens at the top of the tower of food. The entire thing was drenched in the sauce which pooled at the bottom of the plate. Not only did it look good, but it was delicious too!

I did find it humorous how my server came over after I finished eating everything and started telling me what haggis is made from. Hurray for scaring the tourists with organ meats!


YHA Edinburgh:

I had breakfast at the hostel I was staying at the next morning. Unlike the other hostels I stayed at in the UK, this one was serving a hot breakfast. It came with a poached egg, beans, sausage, haggis, black pudding, a potato cake, roasted tomato, and a type of puffy bread. Plain haggis was interesting, reminding me of scrapple from the Pennsylvania area of the US. Of the plain meats, I did enjoy the black pudding. Blood sausage is always tasty!

I also bought a bottle of Irn Bru. I was told this was the national drink of Scotland and had to try it while I was there. It was soda...

Boston Desserts (Omni Parker House Hotel and Modern Pastry)

During my adventures in exploring Boston, I had desserts on a couple occasions. This blog post chronicles these desserts...

Omni Parker House's Boston Cream Pie:

I took a guided tour along parts of the Freedom Trail. One of the stops on the tour was the Omni Parker House Hotel. Our tour guide spouted out all kinds of interesting facts about this historic hotel, ranging from the presidents and celebrities who have stayed here to the hotel's ghost stories. The one fact that made my food blogger radar perk up was that the dessert known as a Boston Cream Pie was invented in one of the hotel's restaurants.

I decided I needed to try a Boston Cream Pie from the place it was created. I later returned to the hotel and found out their coffee/gift shop sold the pies without having to go into the pricy Parker's Restaurant. The price almost scared me away. Eight dollars and change for a small dessert that was three inches in diameter. Still, I had walked across town to try the pie, so I splurged.

I think I may have had Boston Cream Pies and Boston Cream Doughnuts mixed up in my head. I was expecting much more cream in here. Instead, the pie consisted of two layers of cake with a thin layer of cream sandwiched in between. It was topped with chocolate icing. After the initial surprise that this was more of a cake than a cream filled pie, I enjoyed the dessert. The cake was moist. The small layer of cream provided a little change in flavor to mix things up. Although it was tasty, the Boston Cream Pie definitely wasn't worth the price and I wouldn't spend that money again. Still, I can say I've tried the original Boston Cream Pie!


 

Modern Pastry:

During the same tour where I found out about the Boston Cream Pies, the guide also recommended checking out Little Italy. I took up that advise and found myself getting dessert at a bakery called Modern Pastry. For a place with modern in the name, they had a very retro neon sign.

The place was filled with cases and cases of delicious looking pastries, cakes, cookies, pies, and other sweets.

I had a sfogliatelle. This flaky lobster tail-like pastry was filled with a delicious cheesy filling. I ate the sfogliatelle in a nearby park where a flock of sparrows really enjoyed eating all the crumbs that fell from the flaky crust...

The Tuck Shop in Chelsea, NY

While in NY, I was looking for a late breakfast and ended up at the Chelsea Market. I had been here before and tried The Lobster Place. On this visit, I quickly forgot breakfast foods and decided to try an Australian meat pie from a place called The Tuck Shop.

I guess what I ordered was more Australian fusion. I had the Thai Curry Chicken pie. It was filled with chicken, kafir lime leaves, galangal, coconut milk, thai basil and chilis. The crust was nice and flaky, similar to a typical pot pie. The fillings were creamy and tasty, although the chilis were very intense. I normally have a high tolerance for spicy foods, but I was tearing up every time I bit into a piece of pepper. Interesting how I ordered something denoted as spicy at a Thai restaurant the night before and there was hardly any spice, but this Australian-Thai pie with no warning about the heat was one of the spiciest foods I've eaten in recent memory. I really have no clue if pot pies like this are really a prevalent food in Australia, but I'm assuming this is more Australian than Outback Steakhouse is Australian...

Cookes of Dublin in Downtown Disney

It has been a while since theme park food has been featured on this blog. That's too bad since theme park food can be surprisingly good, especially at Disney. The last time I had Disney food was for the pre-opening of Star Tours back in June where we were treated to an ice cream buffet. The last time I ate in an actual restaurant at Disney was for the media opening of the AMC Dine-In Theaters in May. Seeing the pictures that were popping up all over the internet of delicious looking foods from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival (which I did not attend - too expensive), I figured it was about time to go on another Disney food adventure. The Festival of Masters was going on at Downtown Disney so we ventured out to view some artwork and eat lunch. The mentioned lunch happened at Cookes of Dublin.

Cookes of Dublin is the fast food Irish restaurant attached to Raglin Road in Downtown Disney. They have foods you would expect like fish and chips, but I was intrigued by their pies. I've actually though of eating here a few times in the past to try their pies and they always end up being sold out. It must have been my lucky day on this visit, because they had plenty to choose from. I went with the Fisherman's Pie, filled with mashed potatoes, carrots, shrimp, salmon, and scallops in a doughy pie shell. I wasn't exactly sure what would be inside the pie when I ordered, but the variety and size of the seafood was a nice surprise. The swirly mashed potatoes on top were a nice touch as well. I suppose this was sort of like a seafood version shepard's pie...

Fried Shrimp were also ordered at the table. These were exactly what they were described as, battered shrimp deep fried and served over fries. My pie was definitely the winner by far...

Cookes of Dublin is definitely worthy of another visit to try more of their pies. Expect to pay Disney prices, but they are cheaper than Raglin Road next door (which I really want to return to one day). Best of all, they satisfied my craving for theme park food for the moment...

Doris' Italian Market & Bakery in Boca Raton, FL

Doris' Italian Market & Bakery is a small chain of stores in South Florida. I was recently brought their store in Boca Raton and have since returned a few more times! The store was small, but they had some really interesting foods. Where else can you buy a whole goat head in the meat department? On all my visits, I passed on the exotic meats and went for the bakery. This was a bakery that you don't generally find in Florida. Italian bakeries like this are all over in the New York area, but I've yet to find something like this in the Orlando area...

I've been to Doris' for their bakery a few times now. On one visit I had this canolli. Canollis are good...

Another time, I had this sfogliatelle. How can you go wrong with flaky dough filled with cheese and covered with powdered sugar?

I sampled their Chocolate Mousse Pie on a third visit. This was a towering chocolate pie, filled with mousse and whipped cream, then covered in a hard layer of chocolate. Very tasty...


I'm hoping that one day Doris' Italian Market will expand from South Florida into the Orlando area. I'll definitely visit if they do!

Greek Village in Lake Mary, FL

I had dinner at the Greek Village Restaurant in Lake Mary and decided to go with the Spanakopita Dinner. The meal was started with a dinner sized Greek salad. Before I could finish the salad, the waitress came out with main course. This spanakopita was really tasty. The flaky filo dough was stuffed with spinach, onions, feta, and I'm sure some other ingredients that added to the taste. I'd get it again!

Lazy Moon Pizza

I've always heard good things about Lazy Moon Pizza in Orlando near UCF, so I went to give them a try. When I first walked in, I was kind of surprized how crowded Lazy Moon was on a weeknight. There wasn't a seat in the place, but I was I luckily already had plans to get my slice to-go. There were some issues with the girl behind the counter not understanding what I meant by ordering a "slice of plain." It seemed common sense to me in a restaurant that almost only serves pizza. Once my order was placed, I took a seat at the counter and watched the pizzas being made while I waited for my food. Lazy Moon was making the biggest pizzas I have ever seen, probably at least a meter in diameter. Lazy Moon was using an interesting cooking technique as well. The dough was tossed and covered with sauce, then put in the oven. After being half baked, the pie was removed and placed on a rack of cheeseless pizzas. From here, pies/slices were taken as needed, covered with cheese and toppings, and put in the oven again. I've never seen pizzas made like this, but soon my slice came out and I focused on my food.

For a judge of the scale of how huge this slice is, that paper plate is the standard 12 inch diameter plate. I've had whole pies smaller than this one slice! Probably due to the way the pizza was cooked, the cheese on my slice didn't seem to be melted enough. You could still see the individual shreds of cheese which kind of gave it a frozen pizza look. After seeing the cheese like this, I wasn't expecting much, but it actually tasted pretty good. The crust was nice and thin, I liked the sauce, and there was definitely the factor of getting plenty of food for your money. My only issue really was with the cheese, and it was a pretty big issue for me. The pizza lost a lot of points in my book for having barely melted cheese, but apparently this is the way Lazy Moon makes their pizza. Judging by the crowds they had, it didn't bother many other people either.

Weekend Trip: Mitchell's Restaurant

I ate at Mitchell's Restaurant in Oceanside, NY. It was another Greek diner, so I decided to go with some more Greek food and ordered the Spanakopita. The meal started with a side Greek Salad. No grape leaves or anchovies, but it was good. It had an interesting dressing, possibly tomato based.

The Spanakopita came out on a huge bed of rice. There was probably at least a pound of rice on the plate. I don't see how anyone could ever finish all of the rice. The spinach pie came in three sections and was pretty tasty. A little salty, but was good otherwise.

A word of warning about this diner learned the hard way by someone else dining with me. Don't get the traditional Greek salad. It's nothing like what most people would expect from a normal Greek salad, and is a big disappointment. It was basically iceberg lettuce smothered in dressing, with scallions on top.