Clark and Ravenscroft

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night,

It is D again. Sorry it has been a while but we are back with a lot to say so lets begin.

Since coming back, Norwich seems to have become a hive of independent food places and we have sampled a fair few.  The aim of this blog was to try and find a Pickles and Potter replacement.  Wholesome did this. It swiftly closed.  I am really hoping that we are not a curse as the place I am writing about today even surpasses Wholesome.  We  are in debate about if they are even better than Pickles and Potter and to be honest, we think they might have!

Clark and Ravenscroft

6 St. Gregorys Alley

Norwich

NR2 1ER

Monday to Friday 09:00 - 17:30

Saturday 09:00 - 17:00

www.clarkandravenscroft.com

Set in the Tombland area of Norwich just oFf St Benedicts Street is the lovely, small but perfectly formed Clark and Ravenscroft.  Walking in to the shop you will see the delicatessen part of the shop; on your left is shelves with dried pasta, sauces, a wonderful selection of drinks, grilled peppers, and an abundance of other wild and wonderful produce, and to your right is the counter, holding a selection of meats, olives, beautiful cakes, loaves of bread, ciabatta and other wheat based produce and a massive selection of gorgeous cheeses.  It has a homely feel with the friendliest staff who are kind, polite, friendly and know their menu and the food they provide very well.  

Through the back is a small section with three mismatched tables where you can sit in and eat.  There are menus on the tables and someone will come to you to take your order very quickly.  Now is where I have to admit something.  We have been to Clark and Ravenscroft three times so I am not just talking about one experience within this blog.  The first time the place was packed, which was annoying as we wanted to sit in and eat but it was a lovely day and there was a perfectly good wall just outside so we took our meal out there.  Eleanor ordered a Brie and Parma Ham sandwich on granary bread and I had a sweet chilli chicken ciabatta.  We also shared a brownie, as everywhere has to take the brownie test. Eleanor's brie and parma ham sandwich was MASSIVE to the point she could not finish it but I am very happy she didn't as it meant I got to finish it and we both agreed it was the best sandwich we had ever eaten.  The bread was full of flavour and was a great texture and really tasted home made, which it obviously was.  Knowing that the loaf was available to buy from the shop made it difficult to not go back and buy a loaf. My sandwich was going to be a tough one for Clark and Ravenscroft.  It was practically a copy of one of my favourite sandwiches from Pickles and Potter, but I was not disappointed.  The ciabatta was perfectly made, and the filling was stunning.  It was mouthwatering. I could not fault it.  The chicken was succulent, the sauce was the perfect balance of spice and sweet and everything else within it complimented it perfectly.  The only thing that could have made it better was to have it toasted.  The brownie...My god the brownie.  Pickles and Potter brownies are so good I was arranging for them to send me some via post I missed it that much, but Clark and Ravenscroft has it covered perfectly.  It is not quite as good, but was an amazing replacement for the P&P brownie.  It gets full marks from us both for that.   First time at Clark and Ravenscroft I can only describe as amazing.  We both left the wall outside very full and very happy.

Take two and we were both starving.  This time we were fortunate enough to get a table and the atmosphere in there is great.  Really relaxed, really friendly and really comfortable.  We were not feeling too adventurous so ordered the same meal again, our stomachs ruling our tastebuds. the only difference being...well...you know how I said the only way my sandwich could be improved was if it was toasted.  Well guess what?  I had mine toasted. It also came with a side salad which was lovely too.  Both sandwiches were better this time than the last time.  I am not sure if it was the atmosphere or if they were just made slightly better but this time was the time we both had to admit they were on a par with P&P.  Eleanor finished her sandwich this time, more because she refused to leave any because of how beautiful it tasted.  She was full to bursting after! We had a green tea and a diet coke and had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch.  I can not imagine how it could be better in fact. Cost about £10 too for two sandwiches and two drinks so it isn't going to hurt your bank account either! 

I really did enjoy that sandwich, so much so that I am annoyed I haven't got one while I write this. Oh, I also grabbed a rocky road slice when leaving which was very moreish.  I really didn't need it though as I was stuffed but I could not resist. There was also a man in their who was ordering olives with the excitement of a drug addict close to getting their fix.  I do not think that man could have survived the day without more olives.  I am determined to try them next time.

There is an old saying the the third time is the charm and this is no exception.  Eleanor again ordered a brie and parma ham sandwich on granary but with the addition of onion chutney, which is her chutney of choice at the moment.  I decided to change what I wanted completely and ordered a 'Suzy" chicken and chorizo wrap with guacamole and roasted red peppers.  I was excited as this sounded really up my street.  After the super friendly lady took our order I was thinking that I really did not fancy guacamole.  I have to admit I got lucky when she came back and said they had none made.  We deliberated over what could replace it and came to the decision that a garlic mayo would be nice.  It was a brainwave on her part as the mayo made the wrap for me.  Everything else was delicious but the mayo pushed it above anything I had had before.  Suzy, who won a recipe competition, is on to a winner, but needs to make that change.  I loved it.  

Eleanor practically died of taste excitement over her sandwich and will openly admit it is the best thing she has ever had between two slices of bread, and when the bread is that good it makes a huge difference.  We both can not recommend that sandwich more if you love brie and parma ham.  You will not be disappointed. 

With this, Eleanor had a cold green tea with honey from the fridge and I had a diet coke, which is quickly drank and then got a mulberry and blueberry juice which was amazing.  Eleanor loved her green tea with honey too. 

So that is three visits to Clark and Ravenscroft.  It will in no way be our last.  They offer a massive selection of fresh pizza, sandwiches, soups and salads as well as offering a great selection of produce at the front of the store.  Everything is really fresh, or of a very high quality if it is jarred.  The staff are friendly, and you are never waiting too long for food which when it arrives is to die for.  The menu gives you a great selection which I doubt anyone can look through and not find something that will make their tastebuds tingle.  My only small negative is the small amount of seating available, but it is a tiny issue to be honest.  Norwich has again given us a gem and I am starting to worry that people will think we only write about great places, but we have been very fortunate that everywhere we have been so far has been great.  Clark and Ravenscroft are by far the cream of the crop so instead of reading this, go there and get a beautiful lunch for a great price.  We are considering asking them about wedding catering too.  Yes thats right, Eleanor thinks they are good enough to do our wedding.  Not for a while admittedly.  But anyway, what are you waiting for?  Support your local food providers.  Go on...

Clark and Ravenscroft

6 St. Gregorys Alley

Norwich

NR2 1ER

Monday to Friday 09:00 - 17:30

Saturday 09:00 - 17:00

www.clarkandravenscroft.com

D and Ele

xxx

Wholesome

Afternoon,

D here.  Eleanor and I have been out on our adventures again yesterday and found another little gem to tell you all about.

Since finding TALC we have been eager to find more places of this standard.  I have to admit I miss a Nandos still but when we fancy a coffee we are actually getting excited at the thought of finding a nice little place that make beautiful things.  We decided to go out for food yesterday (Saturday 4th February 2012) earlier in the week and I decided to use the internet to try and find somewhere nice to go.  We were happy when we found Pinocchios, a little Mediterranean restaurant on St. Benedict's Street in Norwich. Their menu looked delightful and it was the sort of food we love.  After walking around Norwich shopping, we decided that we were not really hungry enough to go for a proper meal out and that we would not have enjoyed Pinocchios as much as it would have deserved so we have made a note of it and will visit at some point in the year.  On my internet search, I also found Wholesome, which is a smaller establishment which we decided would better suit our appetites.

Wholesome

1 Swan Lane

Norwich

Norfolk

NR2 1HZ

www.wholesome.org.uk

"Merry Christmas!" was the call from the man behind the counter, "Well that's what it feels like out there!" I had to agree it was freezing outside.  At this point in time, Norfolk is covered in a good three or four inches of snow and yesterday, when we visited Wholesome, it was cold enough to create it! After being told that he would be with us in a second he walked out from behind the counter to give the people sat behind us their order, not cake, not a pastry, no drinks, but two small hot water bottles.  This is a complimentary service for all in this freezing cold weather which made everyone feel at home.  If you know me at all, you will know I have a mild phobia of hot water bottles. If you don't know me, then I'm sorry, I'm weird. It's just the way they feel freaks me out but everyone else in the place was over the moon with this idea.

Wholesome is a grocers. If you go onto their website they give you a long list of the local produce they stock which includes meats, drinks and preserves but they are also a cafe offering a lovely menu of sandwiches, salads, pastries, cakes and hot and cold drinks with space both upstairs and downstairs to sit.  The decor was lovely, had a very home made, rustic and quintessentially Norfolk feel to it with mismatched chairs, china,  and decoration on the walls.  The second I walked in I have to admit I felt very much at home. 

So to the food on offer.  There is a great selection of beautiful looking salads of many shapes and colours, meats from different parts of different animals, and a great selection of cakes.  I chose to have a hot Norfolk Pasty and a mocha and the better half chose to have a slice of millionaire's shortbread and a flat white.  The selection of hot drinks on offer excited Ele as they serve "Pukka" tea which is a brand Ele has become obsessed with recently.  So after placing our order, which took us a long time through everything looking amazing, we headed upstairs, which felt like sitting in someone's dining room. This is where my only negative comes in and to be honest, it is so small I don't think it really matters.  The upstairs, which is a great size only has four tables in it.  These tables sit between four and ten but there were no tables for two, which saw Ele and I sitting at a table that would sit about ten as the parties of four or less had taken the smaller tables.  I would not have minded at all if others were to have sat at the same table as us, which is why I say this is a very minor thing, but some people would not have done so, being too shy. As I said, such a small thing and I am being majorly picky.

Our food was then brought to us very quickly and handed to us by the waitress who was really friendly.  As she was handing me my pasty she told me that in the small dish was a gooseberry chutney which they added to try if I fancied it.  

I find this bit difficult.  It is hard to be wordy and exact when all I could think when I was eating and drinking was that this is perfect. The pasty was lovely and, as a person who has never been to Cornwall, was the best pasty I have ever had (and Ele wanted to steal the Royal Wedding plate it came on!)  Everything about it was beautifully made and the flavour was so full with the pastry being light.  I could not recommend the pasty enough. I wanted to look around the room and offer a bite of it to people that had not eaten it just to show them how good it was.  Now I think you can see that I loved that pasty, but there was something that made it even better.  Gooseberry chutney is, without a doubt, the best thing to have with that pasty.  I loved every bite and had to stop myself from going downstairs and ordering another. I will also be going back to Wholesome to see if they do jars of that chutney.  I need it in my life.  To top it all off, the mocha I had was amazing.  Rich and bitter coffee with richer chocolate. Can not ask for better than this.  

My first mouthful of pasty went in and in my excitedness I turned to Ele with that look of "OH MY GOD" across my face.  I almost laughed to see the exact look I was giving staring back at me followed by Ele saying "I've eaten a lot of Millionaire's shortbread in my time but this is the best I have ever tasted."  She saved me some begrudgingly and I have to admit, I am not a fan of this sort of cake but this was mouth-wateringly beautiful.

Sitting near the stairs meant that the waitress would have to walk past us to get to her customer and every time she walked past I was staring mouth opened at the tray of treats she was bringing up the stairs.  The sandwiches looked amazing, and from looking at the sandwich board each sandwich was one that I wanted to try.  They were made in beautiful looking bread with a georgous looking side salad.  I really wanted to order one for after my pasty but thought I better not.

This idea came about through us missing a little deli in Leeds called Pickles and Potter in the hope we would find somewhere local that would be close to the standard set by them.  We both left Wholesome saying that in February, early February, we have succeeded.  Whoesome not only matches Pickles and Potter, but in some ways, could even be better.  Need to visit a few more times before I make this bold claim though! 

So if you are in Norwich, please visit.  A place like this is far too good for you not to. I think the main problem will be to not go every time we are there! 

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Wholesome

1 Swan Lane

Norwich

Norfolk

NR2 1HZ

www.wholesome.org.uk

Love D and Ele xxx

Hello!

Hello all, how are you?  Good? Good.

I am D.  I am sitting next to Eleanor at the moment.  It is the first of January 2012 and on September the 25th we both decided to try and eat and drink chain free.  Now as much as we would both like this to be all food, that just isn't really possible in our situation.  We do, however, eat and drink out a lot.  This came around as we have just moved back to Norfolk from four years at University in Leeds.  For three years while in Leeds, we ate in places we knew well and were familiar to us, the main two being Bagel Nash and Nando's.  Now don't get me wrong, I love them both, but I could go into Bagel Nash and ask for "the usual" and would get it (a mexican chicken  bagel, no avocado, on a cheese and jalepeno bagel) and Nando's was a pretty regular place for us, and if not for that, a texas barbecue double decadance with extra garlic and herb (it's really superb) sauce was a common Domino's Pizza order.  In our final year we decided to go into Pickles & Potter and I have to admit I have never eaten food like it in my life.  They served hot lunches, cake, a veggie option and the most amazing sandwiches we have both ever tasted.  My sandwich of choice was a piri piri chicken sandwich in focaccia bread, and Eleanor's choice was rare beef, brie and onion marmalade in wholemeal bread.  I have to admit, my descriptions of these sandwiches do it very little justice.  They were the most amazing mouthfuls of food I have ever tasted.  I never had a bad meal in that place.  It was tiny, and packed nine times out of ten, but everything tastes SO amazing.  The sandwiches came with a fork full of grated carrot.  I am not a fan of raw carrot but when it is grated, and dressed with what we guessed to be poppy seeds, lemon and maybe an oil, probably extra virgin, it was unbelievable.  They also did amazing salads that were vibrant and a pleasure to the eye that danced on my tastebuds.  The cake they had...well...the cake.  There were two for me.  Coffee and Pecan cake, which was slightly dry, but in an amazing way.  I could literally eat a whole cake's worth, as in a massive cake.  But the second was the chocolate brownie.  Since being small, and baking with mum to now and baking because I fancy cake, the best part of chocolate brownie was the crispy bits, then licking the uncooked batter from the bowl.  Somehow P&P managed to do just that in one cake.  It got so bad that when I went back up to Leeds recently to hand some work in I only just resisted the urge to go in and buy a lot of it to bring home.  My one regret with Pickles and Potter is not finding them sooner, as I am sure they would have taken over from the few chains we used to frequent.

So I am sure you are wondering how finding this place has made us give up chain food and drink establishments for a year.  Well I found myself in Norwich the other day walking past a lot of really lovely looking cafes and restaurants and found myself saying "That looks nice," and walking to Costa and buying a drink.  There is a heck of a lot of small independent little places that I am sure are as amazing and Pickles and Potter (although they will be hard pushed!).

So that's the plan.  Discover local gems, eat independent food, and see how we get on.  I will now make a list of places that I want to try and blog about.

The Bicycle Shop, Norwich - I met a friend there for a drink and the food looked lovely.
The Quayside Plaza, Great Yarmouth - My mother and I have been in looking at their handmade goods, and their cafe looked great.

And to be honest that is where I struggle.  There's a restaurant or two that I would love to try, some that I see and forget, and some, like Jimmy's Farm, which we just have not got around to eating at yet.

I am looking forward to it though.  It will be nice.  Have to admit, not even a day in and I miss Domino's Pizza already...sigh.

Right-o.  That'll do.  Will write again when I go somewhere new.

D