Well, we came across this place by accident but wow what a find!! I will most certainly be visiting this place every time I’m on my holidays although I have also seen they do mail order which is really quite dangerous for the waist line!
On my first visit I went for the kinder happy hippo cookie and wow – it was actually amazing!
I may have gone back in the same weeks holiday to try out the Biscoffi version too…
9.5/10
Whilst enjoying a day trip at Centre Parks, Eveledon the whole family had a meal at Bella Italia. There were 10 of us in total including children but there were no issues getting us booked in (this was booked in advance which is essential as all restaurants get very busy).
We arrived on time and were taken straight to our table where we got given menus – yes I had already spent some time looking at what i was going to have…. BUT there were different things on the menu to what I saw online which changed my mind!
I ended up going for the Beef and red wine tortellini, something I wouldn’t normally have which was really tasty although I did have slight food envy when I saw some of the other dishes coming out. There was so much I could have had to be honest. It’s a good place to go when there are a few of you as the menu is large enough for everyone to find something they like and the kids had a menu to chose from and seemed to enjoy everything they had too.
The service was good, and yes I did have a dessert but no i didn’t get a photo because I forgot and went straight in! But it was the chocolate brownie and was really tasty!
I would probably give this an 8/10 but would be happy to go back and try out some more of the menu!!
Well you can’t beat a Nando’s can you – chicken and chips, how can you go wrong?! Us catch up girls picked it out of the hat this month and none of us were disappointed. Yep, I still checked the menu out before I went which is a ritual of mine but I honestly couldn’t pick between a few options.
The first thing to mention is that although there is plenty of parking there is a time limit of 3 hours which has caught me out before, this is far too short for a catch up and I think this should really be extended to at least 4 hours. The last thing you want to have to do is keep an eye on the time when you are having a meal.
There was also a wait for a table which wasn’t a problem as I was there early and it wasn’t too long a wait but to add this on top of the parking time it did feel a bit restrictive.
After quite a bit of deliberating, I went for the chicken butterfly which is basically two chicken breasts joined by crispy flame-grilled skin and had sides of peri salted chips and a side salad, medium spice. My friends went for the half a chicken (classic) and the Fino Pitta (which looked delicious).
I pushed the boat out and tried the garlic peri peri sauce on the side which was nice but probably just on my heat level so didn’t have too much! The atmosphere was good, busy but not too loud and we sat in a nice position without too many people walking past, we even used the app to order our food which was a great touch and made things really easy for us.
Yes, I also had a dessert – we all did!
Solid 9/10 – point deducted due to the parking timeframe.
The Lock Tea Room is one of the Tiptree Tea Rooms located off the sea wall at Heybridge Basin. There is a large car park a few minutes walk away and the tea room has some outside seating which is dog friendly.
We had booked a lunch time afternoon tea inside the tea room which was busy but not too busy, we were seated straight away and got a menu to pick what sandwiches we wanted.
For the afternoon tea we could pick whatever sandwich we wanted including any of the toasted sandwiches which I thought was really good because you then get to make sure you get a sandwich you like. The only down side is that you don’t get to have a selection to taste although if we had thought this through properly we could have chosen a different sandwich each and shared.
I went for the mozzarella tomato and basil toasted sandwich which was very tasty and I would have again. There was a fruit scone each which came with cream and of course a little pot of Tiptree jam and a selection of cakes. As I am not a big tea drinker I opted for a hot chocolate instead which was great as this came at no extra cost and a refill would have been provided had I wanted one!
I really enjoyed this afternoon tea, so many positives with the choosing of your own sandwich, the hot chocolate and nice ambience of the tea room. This is a solid 8/10 on the score card, with the only negatives being that only 1 of each cake was provided (we just cut them in half so we got a taste each) and the scone wasn’t warm (personal choice).
We did spot on the menu that there was a savoury afternoon tea so we will definitely be back to test this out!
Scorecard: 8/10
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Having had an afternoon tea here not too long ago I was excited to come back for dinner. I had researched the menu (As I do) and had noticed that some items are quite pricey, however there was also a lot of meals I liked that were a good price.
Parking is opposite the restaurant and there’s plenty of spaces so didn’t have any issues getting parked, we had a table booked which meant we were straight in and shown to our table although I don’t think we would have had any issues getting in without booking but you can’t always tell. The menus were already on our table waiting for us with a specials option and also the wine menu. The only thing missing was a non wine drinks menu – as we were driving we wanted soft drinks and had to have a bit of a guess about what they would have.
There were a few meals that I quite fancied trying but ended up opting for the Mozzarella tartlet with sun-blushed tomato and pesto served with mixed leaf salad and seasoned fries. It was something I wouldn’t have at home and it left other meals for me to try out another time! We were given sufficient time to browse the menu (I already knew what I wanted ha ha!) and we had enough time for a little chat and catch up before our meals came out.
All of our meals looked tasty and I couldn’t wait to dig in and try my tartlet out. I was really impressed it was really nice and the portion sizes were also really good. I pretty much ate all of mine as it tasted so good and to be honest I didn’t really need a dessert after this but having already looked at the menu I knew there were a couple of options I would like to try! When everyone else went for a dessert there was no way I was missing out!!
I could not resist the double chocolate brownie with caramel sauce, white chocolate chunk ice cream and salted caramel marshmallow and I am so glad I went for it as it was one of the best brownies I have had!
The atmosphere was really nice, lots of great options on the menu and easy to get to so I will most definitely be coming back here again to taste some more of the menu. The lunch time menu also has plenty to offer so would also like to try this out at some point. It’s a solid 9/10 for me!
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I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the afternoon tea, having had a breakfast here not long ago and being a little underwhelmed I just wasn’t sure. On top of that we had booked it in for 11am so this wasn’t exactly an afternoon but to tell you a little secret I prefer to have an afternoon tea around this time as firstly its cake time and secondly it ticks the lunch box.
The Garden centre here is lovely and I had a mooch about before everyone else arrived and managed to spend some money so I think its worth making time for a look around. There is also a food court which is well worth a visit. The restaurant area was nice, it was quite big actually with plenty of tables – we had to pre book the afternoon tea which is always good cos you know then that you won’t have any trouble getting in.
We let them know we were here by going up to the counter and they let us know which table we were at and asked what drinks we would like so 2 teas and a coffee didn’t take long to come out. Before long the food also arrived and I was impressed!!
So, we had chosen the sweet afternoon tea but they do also offer a savoury afternoon tea here which is definitely on our list to give a go! On our plates we each had 3 sliced french baguette’s topped with cheese & chutney, pesto chicken and prawns, quiche, a large scone with Tiptree jam and cream and a selection of cakes (chocolate coconut, lemon and carrot) alongside some fresh berries.
It was presented really well and I liked the fact the sandwiches were a bit different and also included a slice of quiche which is not something you would normally get, although our preference would have been to have this warmed. The scone was huge, very tasty although it would have been nicer served warm and it was a little dry.
I think we made a lot of people in the restaurant jealous of our choice as we had a lot of looks and a few comments around how nice it looked! It was lovely, good selection of sandwiches done a little differently with a lot of topping and flavour, great option of cakes all tasting great and the size of the scone certainly made me smile.
As this was a garden centre restaurant I do feel that often makes the area feel a little canteeny and you lose that cafe, tea room feel – it would perhaps have been nice to have a corner or area separated from the main restaurant for afternoon teas where the tables and area could be decorated slightly differently. The cost of the afternoon tea was £19.99 each which is a reasonable and competitive price.
I would give this a 6.5/10.
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This was our first outing in quite some time but I’d seen the A board out the front of The Blue Anchor advertising the afternoon tea’s as I’ve driven past and had fancied giving it a go.
I’d not been inside the restaurant for a really long time and was pleasantly surprised when I walked in as it was welcoming, relatively busy and we had a nice table by the window. We’d booked this a few weeks ago and having already paid the £5 each deposit the price was set at £17.50 which I thought was a good price.
The table layout was really nicely done and I liked the fact that a menu was placed on our plates so we knew what would be coming out. Although the choice of tea was limited in comparison to some of the other places we’ve been to, the classic English breakfast tea and coffee was enough for us.
I had arrived early and was shown to my seat and offered a drink. I took my tea straight away and soon after the others arrived they were also offered their drinks and our afternoon tea was prepared. It didn’t take long at all for the tea to come to our table (good job as I was starving).
Great selection of sandwiches, favourite for me was the egg mayonnaise – I just don’t think you can go wrong with a decent egg sandwich! The homemade sausage roll was delicious and the scone was served warm 👌🏼.
I love a decent cake and these cakes were decent 🤤 we had four little squares each, the lemon and particularly the double chocolate brownie stood out for me – mmm mmmmm 😋 it scores an 8.5/10
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First things first, never go to M&S food store whilst you are hungry! Went in for something for dinner on a Saturday night and came away with a weeks worth of food.
Having spotted a selection of slow cooked meats, we couldn’t resist giving the Lamb Shanks a go and with only a couple left on the shelf we thought it must be a good one. We picked up some mash and veg to have with it. I have to say, it was a winner and we thoroughly enjoyed it! Was nice to have something different on a Sunday afternoon and was very easy to cook, literally just popped it in the oven and added some gravy towards the end of the cooking time.
We agreed on a solid 8.5/10 for this meal and I am looking forward to trying out more from this range!
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A little trip down memory lane by going to the High Street in Maldon, many of the shops and restaurants have changed and it’s not even been that long since I last went there. For anyone who’s not been to Maldon before, it’s a lovely little town and the high street is worth a visit, plenty of cafe’s and restaurants to go into so you won’t go hungry or thirsty. If it’s a sunny day you should pop to the promenade park!
With so many places to choose from it actually wasn’t easy to decide where to go and some were already full up at 11am which helped narrow it down. Sophie’s Kitchen is located on the corner of Wantz Road and High Street, some tables are against the window for those people watchers out there!
There was plenty on the menu, I am pretty sure everyone would be able find something they fancied. The breakfast is served until 12:30 which I think is really good as many other places stop serving breaky a lot earlier. I knew I wanted something like a toastie so the Brie, Bacon and Cranberry panini hit the spot nicely. The large chunk of brie was just what I was after and the hot chocolate was spot on! The Brie and tomato sandwich also looked delicious and I would happily come back here again to test some more of the menu out, maybe next time i will have room to try out one of the cakes too!!
Obviously I was thoroughly looking forward to seeing my catch up buddies – we meet up every 2 to 3 months for some dinner and have resorted to pulling a place out of a hat as we find it so hard to choose where to go! This time, Banquet was pulled out and I think I was looking forward to the Chinese almost as much as the catch up itself!
I quite honestly could not remember when I had last had a Chinese although I do remember that I was a bit let down by it. I had heard great things about Banquet so was very much looking forward to trying it for myself. I had tried to look at the menu online beforehand, as I always like to do, but it wasn’t that easy to follow so I was hoping for the best when we got there!
The table was booked for 7:15 and we were seated straight away, the restaurant had a really nice feel about it and I was having a good look at everyone else’s food around us – it all looked so good!! After quite some thinking, we decided to have 3 starters to share and then picked 2 dishes each. We all had different tastes when it came to food so thought it best to just have our own when it came to the main meals.
Starters were, Ribs in a lovely sauce (spicy but not too spicy), satay chicken skewers and my favourite vegetable spring rolls. We were not disappointed and all thoroughly enjoyed each dish! I would normally add a photo here but as we ate it as soon as it came out, I forgot to take a pic – must try harder next time!!
As soon as these were finished the old plates were taken away and our main meals arrived – portion sizes were great! My god, the food was good and it was worth waiting this long for a Chinese to have a decent one! I went for the vegetable chow mein (always a must have for me when having Chinese) and beef with cashew nuts. I loved both dishes!! We enjoyed our meals very much, and I shared a little dessert of raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake which was equally as tasty and although it looked rather small when it first came out it was just enough to satisfy our sweet tooth.
I was pleased with the food, the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant but I was very disappointed the place was only open until 9:30 which meant at around 9 pm we felt like we were starting to be rushed. The staff very much wanted us finished, paid up and out by 9:30 which did let the place down for me. We would have quite happily had another drink and stayed catching up for another half an hour or so and to be pretty much asked to pay up and leave it did make me feel quite let down. Its a lesson learnt to either go somewhere else after work if you want a real catch up, or if you really do want a decent Chinese you need to get there earlier!
Foodies 