Travel Tuesday- The Coast

On our annual adventure we popped into Cowes for the afternoon, there are so many cute boutique clothing and gift shops that we could've spent several hours looking around, but shops close about 5.00pm. So after wandering down to the seafront and parade we headed to a trendy restaurant and bar called The Coast. Several of my clients recommended we go there for breakfast, lunch, or a coffee, but as it was nearing dinner we decided to try out their casual dinner menu. 

The relaxed atmosphere, great wine list, and tasty menu made for a lovely evening. The staff were very attentive and friendly not only to us, but to everyone who entered and the place was soon buzzing and full of locals and passers by. Speaking to the manager at The Stag, a local to Cowes he said the place is busy all day everyday & they've recently extended into the neighbouring premises to accommodate the traffic! 

Local dog walkers stopping by for a glass of wine along their evening stroll. 

We had a deliciously light prosecco to accompany our meal to toast to a lovely girly day out. For our starter we had bruschetta topped with goats cheese, artichokes and carmelised onions and garnished with a rocket and pine nut salad. Delicious! 

For our main meal we shared a Quattro Formaggio thin crust pizza and had a side of green salad each, which was topped with spring onions, cucumber and green olives. We were offered three flavours of oil to drizzle on our pizza- plain olive oil, garlic oil and chilli oil. The garlic oil was my favourite, but both flavoured oils added a punch of flavour to the four cheese topping. 

We can see why this place is busy every day because the welcoming atmosphere, mouth-watering menu and relaxing setting makes you want to go back again and again! BVF give this place 4/4 diamonds. 

Travel Tuesday- The Stonhouse

Last night was my Dad's final night with us before heading back to Canada, so we had a meal out in London. 

If you're visiting London and staying in the Clapham Common area there are lots of restaurants at your fingertips. We chose The Stonhouse because it had good reviews on Urban Spoon (80% positive rating) It serves British food and is located just off the main high street down a quaint English road. It had a pub style interior so it is a bit noisy, but has a relaxed atmosphere. 

www.urbanspoon.com 

Delicious starters! Beetroot and goats cheese salad topped with pine nuts- say no more, yum! The mezze platter had a unique blend of the traditional Mediterranean ingredients- humous, olives, feta, and grilled vegetables, but they added piquillo peppers and a lentil croquette- delish! 

The main courses we chose (from top left clockwise) were scallops, seafood pesto tagliatelle, fish pie, and parma ham wrapped guinea fowl breast. (Visit their website for full menu information. www.thestonhouse.co.uk/menus/dinner/)

The scallops were aweful- not cooked well and the beetroot velouté was more like a soup- note to self only order scallops when they're locally sourced! The seafood pasta was delicious, stonhouse do smoked fish well! The fish pie was tasty and full of chunky bits of fish, but someone overdosed on the tarragon! Guinea fowl was the dish that got the highest marks- fantastic flavour combination and well executed!  

When we were asked how we enjoyed the mains I politely commented that the scallops weren't enjoyable....the customer service from the waitress was fantastic! She came back and said the scallops would be removed from our bill and that we could have two puddings complimentary- totally unexpected, but appreciated!! 

None of us had room for a pudding, but as we were being treated we thought we'd try the banoffee pie and the hazelnut and caramel cheesecake. The cheesecake was overly sweet and tasted packaged and not freshly made, but the banoffee pie was as the name says banana-tastic and tasted as it looks! 

With the mixed review on food, but great customer service I would rate this restaurant 💎💎(2/3)