Ndudu tales: June 2018

Hello again 👋🏾

I hope your weekend has been good so far? Mine has been interesting, though filled with both wonderful and not so wonderful news, I can be utterly thankful 😁

Today’s post is proudly brought to you by unintended destinations. We ended up here because we got our original destination wrong to begin with, by omitting one of its key words. To be honest, we had no idea there were two similarly named places differentiated by one key word... lol... having been thrown off course and still not knowing so, we had a pleasant walk on a sunny day in a meadow by the Avon and discovered the Bathampton Mill. ☺️💓

If there’s anything I’d repeat about unknowingly getting lost that day, it would be this.

Location & Opening Hours

Bath, a place that captivated me by its preserved history, its light-coloured stone-cut picturesque buildings and its pleasant countryside scenes, was definitely a place I enjoyed seeing. Bathampton Mill is further out of town towards the countryside and would take about an hour to walk from to the Roman Baths. I’ve shared the Google Map link below:

The Bathampton Mill

Mill Lane, Bathampton, Bath BA2 6TS

01225 469758

https://goo.gl/maps/9pue3vb6FQw

As usual, the Google link would also give details of their opening hours. It’d be great to check this before planning a meal there. I also included their website below, which would definitely become handy especially if you plan a visit there. I’ll speak more to that in a bit.

https://www.thebathamptonmill.co.uk/#

Set by a riverside, it kinda gives you the reason why it’s called the Bathampton Mill. As we approached I thought I would look up its history but soon forgot about that as we enjoyed our meal. It’s funny how I’m only remembering this now... lol... I’d probably Google it soon... lol

Ambience & Service

It’s definitely a cosy and welcoming place. With options to eat outdoors or indoors, I’m glad we chose to eat indoors. And that wasn’t because I needed a break from the sun, but because I got to see some of the different parts of the indoor space. Almost every section was partly secluded from another. You recognise it’s rather spacious and could easily pack a fair few. However, with some sections in different corners or on different sub levels of the same floor, you could easily enjoy a more private meal in the midst of many. Pretty interesting...

The furniture definitely mimicked something outside the 21st century, with different kinds of seating to choose from... from simple wooden chairs with soft seating around a large farm-like table to huge armchairs around small round Jane-Austen-drawing-room-like tables... lol... The waiters were friendly and honest and the overall service was decent.

I tend to love a personal mess up when I eat in a new place. It gives me a realistic blunder to write about so you can be wary of it yourself... lol. So what did we do wrong?

When we got to the Bathampton Mill, we went inside and noticed a queue that led to the counter and a sign that referred to joining it, so we did so. Whilst in the queue, we noticed the book online sign, so we went to the website I shared earlier and then made a reservation. We remained in the queue and waited our turn; thankfully it was long enough to while away the 5mins or so till our reserved time... lol...

At the counter, we placed our order for food and drinks. Luckily, we had asked for a menu whilst in the queue. And somewhere in that conversation with the lady who was attending to us she said, ‘oh, since you had booked, you could have requested a waiter show you your table instead of joining the queue.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m not sure if I laughed out of relief or embarrassment but it surely was a good laugh.

So the moral of our Bathampton Mill blunder is: make a reservation online, preferably before you get there. Spot a waiter and let them know you’ve booked online. you for a few details and then seat you - no queues... lol. We realised the queuare normally for those that didn’t want to book, especially those coming in for only a drink.

They also tend to have different promo periods for different times, say afternoon weekday lunch or couple, group packages. Their website proved useful for confirming what offer is on for when.

Taste & Texture

So what did we order that day? Let me share snippets of the menu:

I had and loved the Lobster and Devon Crab Fishcakes. If comfort food means anything to you... warm filling food that is perfect for a cold day, makes you smile and goes down smoothly and softly whilst slightly heating up your insides as you swallow... then the Lobster and Devon Crab fishcakes could be a dish of lovely value. Though it was a pleasantly warm day, I had whipped up an appetite from our 20min walk to the Bathampton Mill from where we parked and comfort food could not be any more real to me. Filling, satisfying, delicious! Mehn, did I enjoy every bite!

Mine was almost smooth within, you could taste the carbs, which I feel was potato, but also lightly taste the lobster and the crabs. I honestly was expecting a heavier “crabby lobstery” flavour and probably a “crunchy-ish” texture. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this dish... I loved every bit and left no survivors in my plate 🤣🤣🤣. The asparagus was cooked enough to remain rather crunchy and the pea and truffle oil did a great job on complementing it all. A lovely meal it was for me.

I tasted a small piece of the Homemade British Beef Burger. I found that I could taste the actual beef and not think it was under spiced either, it was also grainy enough for me to know I wasn’t eating a beef patte as some burgers can be 😛. The chips were alright too, crispy at the edges, and not ridiculously salty. I loved the taste I had been permitted to have 😅😂🤣🤣. Though I personally can’t say much about the entire dish, I can confidently say the picky eater I went with loved it. And since this person did, I can vouch for it any day. I would also recommend it for those who aren’t too adventurous, just by matching the profile of my fellow diner, who, of course, is barely adventurous with food. 😈

And when I thought I had been treated to the core, this lovely Crumble came along...

I feel flooding this space with three shots is enough to describe this beautiful delight! But I’ll still try and put down a few words. The combination of sweet, sour, creamy, and crunchy met and had a prettying party in this dish. If you love any of these attributes and you love warm custard especially over freshly baked goodies, you would definitely love this. The Brawy and Apple Shortbread Crumble was more than just icing on the cake with our visit to the Bathampton Mill, it was something I’d have done myself a huge disservice if it were never ordered. Since I’m very excited about this dessert, I’ll end my few words... lol... on it right here... lollllllll...

Cost

This is becoming my favourite section of my eat out reviews. Mainly because I’m recently finding value for money in places I visit. So for these three and two half pint soft drinks that we ordered, our total bill without any discounts came to £33.40. For me, it’s a fair price for the quality of service, deliciously textured and flavoured food and the full bellies we walked away with.

My only word of caution is, tax is calculated after your bill is computed so do be wary of that when ordering your meals. A dish that cost £10 on the menu would actually be more than that since it’s not tax inclusive.

My advice, for a decent meal for 2 and probably a shared dessert, do budget about £40 today to be in a safe space. And if you happen to visit later, up your budget a bit so no future price increases catch you unawares 😱😅

So that’s a wrap from us on my experience with the lovely Bathampton Mill. Do remember to let us know what your experience there was or is. And till we meet again, don’t don’t don’t forget to have lovely foodie experiences 💓💗💝

Thank you for reading today’s post. If you enjoyed or learnt something new, please remember to comment, like and/or share with others. We love to have you here.

Warm regards,

The Ndudu Tales Team

Hello everyone 👋🏾

I am more than pleased to meet you here at Ndudu Tales today. I trust you are well and are savouring your recent foodie moments.

Speaking of savouring, some good friends and I organised a barbecue recently, and aside exciting our palletes with well marinated meats and enjoying our time together, one of our sauces was particularly popular in the ‘savouring space’ that day. So popular, I was able to give one of our friends a free lesson the following day and had the chance to make this video! I doubt my friend would want to be named here but my special shout outs to him as he reads this: thanks for the encouragement and all your awesome phone shots! Lol

Green pepper sauce has become pretty common in Ghana over the years. It’s often served with meat (normally grilled or fried), or with one of our startchy foods like kenkey or banku and can be a good substitute for the more famous shito. I feel the amount of onions used sweetly compliments the spicy hot side of this sauce. And for some interesting reason, it’s green colour is pretty appealingly to me, maybe it’s because I barely have any that disappoints in taste. I am still trying to decide which one was more exciting for me: showing my friend how to make it or digging into some grilled meat, ɛba and kenkey with it after the lesson. Either way, I am glad to share this video with you and hope you find our green pepper sauce useful to you soon. Enjoy the show 🍿🎞...

I hope our video entices you to make some green pepper sauce soon. Do let us know what you had it with. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Till we meet again, pleeeease remember to continue to have great foodie experiences - one of the sweet blessings of life 😁...

Thanks for spending time with us and reading our post. If you enjoyed it or learnt something new, kindly share this with others, leave a comment or like our post. Thank you!

With warm regards,

The Ndudu Tales Team

Ndudu tales

Pages

Saturday 23 June 2018

Nkatecake! 2 ingredients, yes... just 2!!!

Monday 18 June 2018

The Bathampton Mill

Location & Opening Hours

Ambience & Service

Taste & Texture

Cost

Tuesday 5 June 2018

Green Pepper Sauce... sweet and spicy...