Lebanese House Restaurant

Hi everyone,

Great to be back. Today I have a restaurant experience to share. Ready? I am!

Location & Opening Hours

Lebanese House Restaurant

5/6 Weavers Walk, Newbury RG14 1AL

01635 552644

https://goo.gl/maps/KseoUG2c1Eq

The Lebanese House Restaurant in Newbury is in a cosy corner off the Northbrook street in Newbury. As I love to say when it comes to my eatery reviews, remember to check the link for opening times. 

Ambience & Service

It’s a rather spacious area on one floor, but the seating arrangement and hues on the wall gives it a rather cosy and warm feel. Pleasant, if you don’t feel distracted by anyone.  I would recommend it for family eat outs or even corporate hang outs.  

Initially, I got upset with the service. Two of the waiters that attended to us seemed to be having a bad day of some sort. And when my main meal order arrived and it was not what I was hoping for, I was thoroughly upset. 

But...

Here’s where the big but is... the one that makes me want to recommend Lebanese House any day...  

At some point, another waiter came up to us and asked if we were enjoying our food. We were definitely enjoying the other orders but my main course: I chose to combine the calamari (buttered squid seasoned & deep fried) under the hot mezza menu with some french fries.  

Both starters were lovely, and my dining partner that day, Joana Lemaire, had ordered a delicious main course! But I was too stunned by my main meal “disaster” to actually say anything. Anything. I won’t lie. For those who know me, I’m barely short of words. You probably can tell that too by my posts. But I was stunned. Joana had to prime the complaint out of me by telling this waiter I wasn’t happy. My fries were underdone and my calamari was not a calamari 😭.

And guess what? 

This waiter not only listened carefully to me and accepted to take the food away whilst offering us the choice not to pay for it, or to have it totally replaced by anything we wanted on the menu without further charge... he actually patiently and very respectfully explained why I disliked my main. 

And guess what again?  

The waiter admitted that what I had ordered wasn’t home cooked from scratch - that's one. It was named the way it was on the menu because it actually wasn't the authentic calamari - two. Like saying a beef crisp isn’t actually made of real beef. So their buttered squid wasn't exactly raw squid covered in batter or fried in butter. And three - I think I was simply won over by his honesty and willingness to make things right. Aside the french fries that was clearly undercooked, my proteins weren’t actually protein... lol... using the example I cited, my beef crisps weren’t beef! No wonder I felt duped by an “inauthentic” meal.  

But because I’m a sucker for awesome customer service, this little experience was a game changer big on my list. My bill was not charged with the main I disliked, I got a very respectful lesson on the difference between what I was expecting and what I ordered, I received an honest, professional and apologetic conversation in response to my complaint, and I received a sweet dessert on the house. 

Mehn! I haven’t seen that in a while. 

So yes, this post was created not because I had delicious dishes at the Lebanese House Restaurant, which I did aside my hiccup order, but because the turnaround to what could have really messed up my night was beautiful. 

Now on to the actual tastes and textures I so enjoyed, shall we?

Tastes & Texture

So Joana and I had a Hummus Kawarma and spicy Chicken Wings for our starters. Both very delicious, and if you’re a lover of hummus like me (but unlike my dining partner... lol...) you’d love this hummus. 

The chicken was moist and tasty, rather spicy and flavourful but not too peppery. This hummus reminded me of my very first intro to Lebanese hummus, the very reason why I love it. Deliciously tangy, very smooth and light but rather filling, it was good it came in a small portion. The well-seasoned lamb and soft pine nuts that were slightly crunchy were a wonderful part of the meal, complementing the hummus served. 

Chicken Wings - Marinated grilled chicken wings served with garlic sauce 

and

Hummus Kawarma - Chickpeas puree with sesame paste (tahini), lemon juice, & garlic topped with fried diced marinated lamb & pine nuts served with a Lebanese Flat Bread

Joana's main dish was good! A king prawn platter served with rice, it was a huge portion and luckily for me, it was big enough to share between us (as my choices for my main meal had failed me). 

The rice was deliciously braised with strands of what seemed to be a fried raw pasta that had been eventually boiled with the rice. The infused flavours of the rice also had a pleasant hint of garlic or onion in it. In all it was a good side to have with the king prawns and veggies and reminded me of an upgraded "anwamo" (a braised rice made with onions that is popular in Ghana). 

The king prawns were well cooked. Tasty and slightly tough, I felt it was filling especially with the salad it was served with. Joana and I were not accustomed to the dressing served with it, but an occasional dip achieved was an interesting adventure for my taste buds. 

This dish hit high scores on all fronts for me and I would recommend it for anyone who is a lover of prawns and tasty rice. 

King Prawns - Grilled king prawns with lemon & garlic, served with rice

Now, the compensatory dessert that I received on the house is a Lebanese treat made with flour, honey, sugar and pistachios. I love pistachios so I enjoyed having them crushed and sprinkled all over it. The dish was super super sweet so combined with the reminder that I had made a blunder with my own main meal, it was hard for me to dig in. But if you ever ever ever have a super sugary sweet tooth to please, you may want to request this sweet treat. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name, I must be totally honest with you, but I do have a picture of it below.

Cost

Between the two of us, we spent about £30 including a virgin cocktail I had (below).

I would recommend you budget £20 - £25 per head to be in a safe space if you decide to visit this Lebanese House Restaurant. This should comfortably set you up for a 2 course meal and a drink at least. Worth every penny, the taste, ambience and awesome service of the Lebanese House Restaurant is surely something to write home about. 

Now that you have my personal view of the Lebanese House Restaurant, I hope you're are motivated to make a stop there if you're ever in Newbury. Delicious food, lovely ambience and awesome customer service, it's a place I doubt you would be let down by. Till we meet again, please remember to keep having wonderful foodie experiences - it's one of life's gifts if you ask me any day!

Thank you for reading our post today. If you enjoyed it or learnt something new, kindly remember to like, comment or share with others. We would appreciate this. 

Warm regards, 

The Ndudu Tales Team

The Bathampton Mill

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   

Wow!!! Wau!!! Newbury’s Malay cuisine...

Hello hello!

I’m starting to think I should vary my greeting a lot more... maybe one day... lololll... How are we today? I’m good and ready to share my latest discovery in Newbury and probably my first experience of Malaysian cuisine... Wau!!!

If you’re ever in Newbury and enjoy flavourful (as in full of flavour) food and can enjoy food across the pepper hot spectrum from no pepper to nice and peppery, you may want to stop by Wau and hopefully be Wow-ed as I was 😃

Location 

I find the location of Wau interesting... because it’s pretty close to the train station and has a bus stop not far from it. I must be honest, I’m not sure where the Newbury bus station is, but I know that’s close as well. 

Makes me wonder if you’d want to add it to a UK foodie road trip soon... lol... if I ever plan one, I’m pretty sure Wau would be right on the route... lol...

So the Google map link below would also provide opening hours so have fun getting there if you do some time!

Wau

49 Cheap St, Newbury, RG14 5BX

01635 528877

https://goo.gl/maps/hzb2BUN3j9y

Ambience, Service and Cost

It’s cosy. And that’s not an understatement. It feels and looks pretty small on a busy night and since their patronage has gone up over the months, you’d probably want to book a table ahead of time. We didn’t and we wish we had.

It looks like there’s a private room at the back though, which looked more spacious from where I sat at the bar. Unfortunately I didn’t ask, but surely you can ask when calling to book seating before you get there. Remember, don’t forget to book. 

Aside that, the lighting they use is warm and dimmed. Definitely bright enough to see your food and the people in the room, but also dim enough to be welcoming and feel private in a way, like the small office desk in the corner of a big bedroom with its table lamp on.

Overall, I love the ambience, and it’d be great to know what you think about it too.

With the service, I would say it’s alright. The general feedback and timing they give when you have to wait for your food is absolutely honest. You know how annoying it is to be promised 10mins and get it in 20? Well, no experience like that for me there.

On a busy night, the service is still alright. It’s not 5 star with a waiter or waitress at your beck and call but it’s decent. I think what came to mind when I was there was, restaurant workers  are human too... lolllllll... There were some that went the extra mile to check if we could get certain requests met, others that just said things as they were (no filter, no offence) and others that asked polite questions that livened our mood. Overall, it was ok... just still wish we knew we had to book ahead of time 🤦🏾‍♀️🤣🤣

You may want to also note that after you place your order, your food is brought to you as and when it’s ready. So you tend to eat your total order in batches if you ordered different stuff.

When it comes to cost, I’ll say budget £20.00 a head to be on safe side. On our visit, we spent £30.00 in total got all the meals mentioned below and a drink. That came to £10.00 a head for us, and because we wanted to share each meal, I’d say that shout up our value for money score brilliantly! Remember, you don’t need to order a drink if you don’t feel like it, just ask for tap water and you’d be good to go!  

Taste and Texture

So, as usual, when I go to an eatery that has options, I’d talk about what we had... and my oh my... what we had was beautiful... especially when British food no longer fascinates you and home cooked food is just everyday home cooked food. So, presenting our night at Wau in order of appearance...

Stir Fried Noodles (chicken option)

I loved these noodles because of the different flavours in each spoon I had. You know when you have noodles and every separate element you see tastes absolutely different, with some even tasting absolutely bland, you kinda have to get each element in your mouth and chew a bit to get the full flavour? Or when you have noodles that has each element tasting exactly the same be it the noodles itself or the veggies you see in it? Well, this noodle dish was somewhere in the middle, beautifully balanced on soft, crunchy and meaty with each element almost  uniquely tasty in itself. Also, whatever combination of elements you had in your mouth at a time, you could easily recognise you were eating the same dish but also could tell that you probably had missed that soft veggie with this mouthful or oh, there’s no chicken in that mouthful but it definitely was delicious! The menu description read: Stir fried noodles with sambal, egg, vegetables and a choice of chicken or prawns. It was my first taste of Malaysian food, and it definitely left a good impression on me, whilst setting a good precedence for the rest I had that night.  

Satay Chicken on a Skewer 

The menu description of this dish read: Flat grilled chicken on skewers marinated in spices and herbs, served with peanut sauce, cucumber and onion. I loved the peanut sauce. It was rich in flavour but at the same time not rudely overpowering. I literally saved it as a sauce for our other dishes. The chicken was juicy and slightly bouncy. I loved this; as soft textured chicken that isn’t dry is always a winner for me. Plus it was tasty, I definitely loved their Satay Chicken!! 

Roast Pork Belly

And just like the Satay Chicken, this Pork Belly made me smile from the depth of my foodie heart when it came to texture. I think my only issue was it was rather salty. Unfortunately, I haven’t been back again to check if it was a one off flaw or if that was the usual salt level for their pork belly. However, the salt wasn’t overpowering enough to prevent you from tasting the deliciously matured flavours. If you are wary of fatty meat though, you may want to be wary of this dish. Overall, it was lush. Lush enough for me to ignore the soy sauce altogether. The menu description under the dish’s name read: Roasted with seasoning in a charcoal furnace at a high temperature. Crispy skin with juicy and tender meat, served with a light soy sauce. My opinion? This description nailed it! 

 Nasi Goreng (Chicken option)

The menu description read: Malaysian style wok-fried rice with sambal and soy sauce, choice of chicken or prawn, served with sunny-side up egg  and keropok. Now I had no idea what keropok was but it reminded me of prawn crackers dipped in some tasty spicy juice and then fried. Plus it was crispier than all the prawn crackers I have ever had, deliciously brittle. I still don’t know what keropok is but I’d leave it to you and me to Google it later. For now, you have an idea what to expect if you are yet to have the keropok I had. 😁 If you like your sunny side up egg yolk runny with the white well cooked, you’d like this. If not, you would want to prompt the waiter that you’d like the yolk well done. I’d personally be disappointed if that can’t be managed. On the whole, my co-diners that night loved it more than I did for sure, but of course, they are bigger rice lovers. Hint hint to my rice lovers out there! You may want to sink your teeth in this one!

My first ever Dumpling (Totally forgot the shot 😭) 

This was my first ever dumpling and I loved the taste and the texture. The meat and fish were tender and sweet. It’s a shame I didn’t get a picture of it in it’s pretty woven container. But one thing for sure, if first impressions mean anything, this meant a whole lot. I am definitely ordering more dumplings in the future. My mouth is currently salivating within at the sheer memory of it. Two words: Yum yum!!! 

Char Koay Teow (Prawn option)

Now this order came last the night we were at Wau because we ordered it way later. Long after we had enjoyed what we had planned to eat, we called for more. I’m not convinced it had anything to do with the portions they serve but more convinced it had to do with the cuisine we were enjoying. The menu description read: Stir fried flat rice noodles with sambal, soy sauce, beansprouts, egg, onions, pork sausage and choice of chicken or prawns. I feel I’ll be repeating myself over and over if I say it was tasty, and delicious and fresh but well, it was. Another unique dish in taste; glad we ordered it.    

So finally! We’ve come to the end of my narration of my delightful experience at Wau... beautiful first experience of Malay cuisine, I hope it motivates you to try it too if you are yet to try it. Or convince you to head back to a Malaysian restaurant for a good meal! I hope if you do go, you go to Wau, and are wow-ed!

Till we meet here again, keep remembering to have beautiful foodie experiences... it’s one of life’s pleasant treasures ☺️



Thank you for reading our post here at Ndudu Tales. If you loved it, or just learnt something new, don’t forget to comment, like or share this post with others. We look forward to having you back here soon. 

With warm regards from the Ndudu Tales Team 

Rooster Piri Piri, hellooooo Slough!

Hello hello hello 👋🏾

How are you and how’s your day/night going? Mine’s alright and even if it wasn’t, our little meet up here always seems to brighten my day.

So guess what I have for you today? My low down on a lovely place in Slough I discovered some weeks back. Ok, let me be entirely honest, it’s not like I chanced upon it. It was a Girl’s Lunch Out and our own eat-out expert, Ellen, was showing us one of her favourite places in Slough. And boy, was this place good!!!

Our girl squad out for lunch

It was  my first visit to Slough and Ellen couldn’t have chosen a more memorable place for us to have lunch. Lemme not over do it; as you can see, this place left me excited. There’s a broad smile on my face as I type. I will get straight to the descriptions and why I loved Roosters Piri Piri.

Location & Working Hours

So where’s Roosters Piri Piri in Slough? Thanks to Google maps, if you ever want to try it, you could get directions from the link below.

Roosters Piri Piri
High St, Slough SL1 1XY
+44 (0) 1753 525315
https://goo.gl/maps/FUHq2XGksaz

Since Google is your friend, you’re sure to find it by private and public transport. Just remember to use the app to find the nearest parking place when you’re about 5mins away if you’re driving.

Currently, the working hours for this Slough branch is shown below. However, remember to always check the Google Maps link above for the current working hours.

Roosters current working hours and other info

Ambience & Service

Just in case my initial mention of a memorable experience got to you thinking of fine dining and crystal glasses, my sincere apologies 🙈. It still was super memorable but you’d find out why in a bit.

Roosters Piri Piri in Slough is a typical Fast Food joint. Place your order  at the counter and then pick a seat. Unlifke many other Fast Food places, a waiter/waitress will bring you your meal if you’re eating in. However, if it’s a takeaway, you’d wait not far from the counter till your order is ready.

The menu is at the counter and the staff who took our order was particularly helpful and patient, explaining what we did not readily get, like the names of their sauces or how spicy a particular item was.

I loved the large clear window in front, it brought a lot of light into the room and made it feel spacious. And yes, it made for good aimless chatter from random observations from the street. Lol

It’s generally a calm place but gets super busy around lunch time. Super busy! But luckily most of the traffic was at the counter and not really at the seats. I guess most people were grabbing lunch and heading back to work or some other place they could squeeze during their lunch break. 🤔🤷🏾‍♀️😁

Now I’m ready for my most favourite section in our eat out posts 😋 taste and texture...

Taste & Texture

So first a picture of what we had...

Voilà!!! From the left, we had Piri Piri chicken wings with potato fries, mashed potatoes, butterfly wing chicken and sweet potato fries.

Since we did not have eeehhhhhverything at Roosters, I’ll talk about this. So coming from a West African country that has very sweet and flavourful sweet potatoes, I must confess I was not keen on eating UK’s sweet potato fries. Why? Because the sweet potatoes here pale in comparison to the ones back in Ghana... almost tasting watery and super bland. And I never got round to understanding how to cook it to get texture that is plausibly compensating to me. I really love potatoes, but not the sweet potatoes in these parts.

So I was in for a big surprise when I finally tasted the sweet potato fries. My goodness! It was delicious! It was sweet, it was flavourful, it was yummy! I’m really glad Birago and Ellen decided to convince me to have a taste of the sweet potato fries. It actually ended up becoming our latest addiction because we went hunting for it in Iceland after a lunch. I probably should have post dedicated to sweet potato fries and the interesting stories surrounding it including how we cook it, why we went looking for it and the ingredients that make the typically blander sweet potatoes taste like heaven!

And in case you missed it, this was my super highlight of my memorable Roosters Piri Piri experience. The discovery of UK’s sweet potato fries... lol

Now unto the other foods, the butterfly chicken was nice. It was super strong in some spice I am not used to and quite salty. In hindsight, I think that spicy taste may have been mustard. But seriously, don’t take my word at all, it’s a very wild guess. Plus, the menu at the counter will describe its ingredients to you if you get there. Lol

Now the mashed potato was dry with a fine crumb texture. It reminded me of  mashed yam in Ghana, right before you add it to the rest of your ɛtɔ ingredients. If you are a fan of dry mash then this is the place to visit. If, however, you are a fan of creamy mash try adding the mayonnaise they serve with your meal to it, Birago seemed to like it and it resembled creamy mash when she did that to the one they brought to our table. I think expecting creamy mash and then tasting dry mash for the first time was a shocker for me, so I didn’t try it after the mayo was added.

Another favourite was the Piri Piri chicken wings. Now Piri Piri is the hottest sauce they have there. And yes, it’s really hot. I love pepper so trust me on this one. Probably the hottest chicken I’ve had in any UK fast food so far, but just to be fair, I have not tried many fast foods just yet. One thing we discovered whilst eating was that adding some ketchup to the chicken is lovely. It converts it into delicious sweet chilli chicken wings immediately. So when you try it, do have it with ketchup and without ketchup and tell us which one you prefer.

The fries were crisp and the meal was just lush. Thanks to Ellen for her wonderful selection and Birago for letting us try the butterfly chicken.


So that’s a wrap on my low down on Roosters Piri Piri at Slough. I hope it convinces you try it if you’re ever in the area, and I hope more than ever, you love it as much as we did!

Till we meet here again, remember to keep having wonderful foodie experiences!



If you enjoyed this post at Ndudu Tales or learnt something new, please remember to like, comment or share with others. Thanks for reading! 

T Havanna Pork

I love holidays. And I love fried pork!!! And this joint's pork makes me feel like celebrating each time I have it.

You see, I'm one of those people who loves to have pork but not really taste the strength of the meat itself. Simply put, I love my pork well spiced so it doesn't taste porky, but it also doesn't taste like I'm chewing a wad of spices and ginger. And guess what? T Havanna pork is just that to me. No wonder I feel like celebrating...

Location

So T Havanna can be found by Google Maps via the link below:

T Havanna Gardens,
Hospital Rd Link, Tema
 https://goo.gl/maps/vmHaDtoMS7r

It's actually an outdoor pub-like place and has a green hedge surrounding it so you surely can't miss it.

There's outdoor parking within the hedge and security personnel who help you find a spot to park. Alternatively, you may park outside the hedge in case there's no space within. I'll talk more about other things you might want to note about the place in the ambience section in just a bit. Now let's talk about the food!

Taste & Texture

There are quite a number of chops sold at T Havanna, including fried yam, khebabs (gizzard, beef, sausage, and maybe some others as well). There are alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks to go with what you eat. But my all-time favourite, and sometimes only purchase, at T Havanna is the pork!

The pork I fell in love with was handled by a certain gentleman when I was first introduced to T Havanna pork. Oh yum! I can still remember how excited I was about it. It reminded me of some particular spare ribs from my childhood, nowadays I often get the kinds of pork I don't like when I request spare ribs at Chinese restaurants. Now when this man stopped working at T Havanna, the pork taste & texture changed and then started moving from bad to worse. They replaced the vendor a couple of times, but still the taste & texture I fell in love with was gone. 

However, to my greatest delight, and to challenge my cheat-on-my-diet discipline more, there's a lady there now that does it just right! The pork love of my life is baaaack... lol

Trust me to forget to take a shot when I'm hungry.

 So this is T-Havanna pork (in the dark) after I dropped my pork-selector (a.k.a. common toothpick) to take a shot.

 A full serving is about this height and fills the base of the pack.

Now how do I describe the taste & texture any more than I have in the intro... hmmm... 

A light just went on... lol

Ok, so the pork is fried hard. So it's not moist, or wet, and often if you find some pork hyde in it, it could be very tough or even crispy. In spite of this, the meat is often tender, even though dry. If you've never had such meat, do try this. I'm a moist soft meat lover but this surely works for me! 

The flavour is rich and the spicing is not overdone if you ask me. You know you're chewing tasty meat but it doesn't overwhelm you with the strong flavour that pork is often associated with. It's peppery and the khebab powder sprinkled on top of it adds to the flavour. The sliced onions and bell peppers added to the pack also make the taste come alive even more. Try using the toothpicks served with it to pick an onion slice, a bell pepper slice, some pork and some extra khebab powder before popping this combo in your mouth. It's the icing on the cake for this meal for me.

I'm not a drinker, so I wouldn't be the best person to recommend a strong drink to go with this. However, I will surely recommend a Sprite, Coca Cola, Fanta Lemon, Schweppes Bitter Lemon or Schweppes Tonic Water to go with this. The fizz definitely helps curb the pepper effects on your tongue if it's on fire from the pork. The fizz, I also often feel, fills me up so I don't feel so hungry when I split my serving with another person. Out of the lot, I often choose what drink I'm in the mood for or what's available. Each drink has its own unique addition to the pork savouring experience, so do try them all when you can and create your own mood-based list. Lol

Cost per serving

T Havanna pork currently costs 20 cedis a pack for the smallest serving. You may definitely request more than 20 cedis if you want to. 

As a general rule of thumb for most eat out purchases, if your extra purchase costs a multiple of the minimum serving, buy as many minimum servings as possible instead of bundling it all in one serving. That way you tend to get more value for money.

The minimum serving is more than enough for me and as earlier mentioned I tend to share it. However, remember that all that pepper has a tendency to make you eat more than you need. Therefore eat as little as you can and give yourself a 20 minute pause before you decide if you've truly had enough. You may be surprised how much actually fills you up.

Opening Hours

T Havanna pork is often available between 6pm and 8pm everyday. However, when there are a lot of random orders, it could get finished as early as 7pm. And on days that you're lucky you may get some to buy after 9pm. 

T Havanna itself is active way before and way after these times. Since our focus is the pork... lol... I'll just speak to your best bet on times to buy this pork.

Ambience

T Havanna is an open air pub so if you need to go there, do go well covered lest the mosquitoes have a field day on your skin. There's a huge screen that often shows music videos or a football match. There's loud music at night and dim lighting. There are canopies that cover a number of tables with seats in a wide space. Sometimes there are private and public events held there as well. 

If you're buying to go, as I often do, you would have to walk to the respective vendors to make your preferred purchase. They have quite a number of vendors and I honestly have not bought from all of them before.

To find the pork vendor, just ask any of the security men within the premises where the pork is sold. You won't miss it when you do. You probably won't miss it either if you ask anyone else... lol

Service

I honestly have not sat down to order anything at T Havanna before so there isn't much for me to say about the service if you plan to do so when you go there. So I'll warmly welcome your own low down on their service in the comments if you are ever served seated at one of their tables. 

But since I'm a frequent touch and go customer, I'll talk about buying from there. First of all, as indicated earlier, you would need to walk to each vendor and place your order. If their orders are a lot, they may not prepare yours if you walk away. So if you need to move away from any vendor, keep going back to ask if your order is ready till you are served. I personally won't recommend this though.

Secondly, you may have to get used to the fact that the vendors you know can change often. And at any time, you could get bubbly chatty vendors to rather impersonal ones. They are generally polite and are often efficient.

Other comments

Though I love this pork to bits, like holidays, it's more rewarding to have it occasionally. Definitely not because of taste, since it's mostly on point for me, but because of all the fat I consume in a serving and all the extra calories I add with a fizzy drink (which more often than not is a 1.5l bottle between two of us). Remember, though dry, the pork is still fried. 

So my advice, don't go on a guilt trip when you dig in to the delicious T Havanna pork, but don't, just don't have it so often. Be kind to the rest of your bodyas well as your taste buds... lol

So now that I've told you almost everything I know about T Havanna pork, please do let us know here at Ndudu tales if you've tried it and what you think about it.

And do have a delicious pork savouring experience at T Havanna when you do!




It was great having you back reading here at Ndudu tales. And if this was your first read here, we're excited you shared our Foodie experience with us today. Please remember to comment and share this post with others if you enjoyed it. And thanks again for reading our write up at Ndudu tales #allsmiles

My favourite Tilapia joint in Tema

Today, let's talk about one of my favourite Tema food joints... Feel at Home Catering services.

Popularly known as Community 10 banku from its Community 10 location in Tema, it's a great joint for deliciously flavoured grilled tilapia and banku.

Location

So I know of two branches, not sure if there are more though. You get the same quality of food at both on most days so for me, I just prefer the one I'm closest to at any time.

Here's the Google link to the one at Community 10:
Feel At Home Tilapia Joint
https://goo.gl/maps/fvcUAtZwp2k

And here's a link to the Community 9 one:
https://goo.gl/maps/2cWmZZCDjEK2

The latter is a dropped pin so doesn't have an official Google name yet.

Alrydee!! Now you know where to go, let's move on to what you can expect... Ready? I am!

Ambience

It's ambience is pretty local, not big on fancy, but surely functional. Plastic tables that allow you to sit at a good height and sit up straight to eat if you wanted to.

The Community 9 location is pretty spacious compared to the Community 10 one by Monte Carlo. Often they both play loud music, usually at night. They're both also an open air environment and have fans in some places on the premises.

There's a TV screen at both places and they show pretty random stuff from music videos to old movies and football matches.

Opening hours

And they're open every day a week, from about 11am to 7ish pm when the food runs out... lol.

At a point, they weren't opening on Mondays. It was a sure heartbreaker then when you weren't aware or had forgotten that vital piece of info but made the trip to the place with high expectations. Only to find it closed in such a circumstance was devastating. I am personally glad and thankful Monday breaks are over. Thanks, guys!

Taste & Texture

This is my takeaway pack from today's purchase. It was 20 cedis and not my best shot yet... lol...

Now on to the food itself! The banku is small and makes good for a high protein meal. As you can see, the fish is the biggest single thing in the dish, even with this picture that the fish was relatively small to the average size you'd get. If you're lucky, and you're a lover of soft texture & rich flavour like me, you'd get one of their long-marinated tilapias that is soft and well seasoned throughout the fish. If you don't, don't worry. To make up for a less flavoured tilapia, just make sure you dip your piece of fish inside the pepper found within it before you savour it in your mouth. It surely does well to get back that rich flavour, and compensates me adequately on the texture I didn't get to have.

I love the veggies that they add. Makes you fuller especially if you share your meal here like me. I barely eat their ground pepper. It's good, but I just got hooked on to the pepper inside the fish some time back and use that instead to eat my banku. Why? It's cooked, one, because cooked pepper often sits better with me. Two, the fish juices infused in it make it a more tasty adventure than the raw ground pepper. However you like your banku with this fish, I hope you enjoy it as I do.

Cost

It currently costs between 20 to 27 cedis a plate depending on how big the day's fish are.

You may want to budget for a fizzy drink as well since the pepper can really put your tongue on fire most days, especially when you haven't had so much pepper in a while. That ranges from 2 cedis to 5 cedis the last time I checked. So if you're buying a takeaway pack, maybe you may want to buy your drink on your way to your final eating destination, wherever that may be *imitating an air hostess voice.... lol*. They often sell glass-bottled fizzy drinks so that's another motivator to buy your drink outside the premises if saving a few coins isn't.

They never charge extra on takeaway packs so that's good if you're tight on your budget but still want to eat somewhere else. I know some eateries do.

Service

Well, it isn't a five star restaurant so don't expect white shirt waiters in bow ties... lol... 

The ladies who serve are often respectful and decent. 

Remember you may need to give them money before you're served. More especially if you're taking it away or just want to ensure you order isn't forgotten on a busy day. Which honestly can happen. 

Take note of the lady you give your order to, it may come in handy if your order delays. You should probably get your food in 10mins on a good day, and up to 25minutes on a busy day. Busy days include they preparing a huge order for events so it's not always equal to the number of people you meet there.

Most of the time, they're in some uniform or the other so it's kinda easy to tell who works there. 

You're given a bowl of water and soap to wash your hands when you eat there. And if there's no ketchup on your table and you want some, just ask, they'll get you one since it's not served as part of the meal. I find ketchup reduces the peppery effect.

Other thoughts

I used to love eating there a lot. So a tip, do wear trousers if you're planning to go there at night or sit in the sandy portions even during the day... mosquitoes and sandflies have the power to make your experience less enjoyable. Now, I just love to carry it home.

So anyway you want it, do make a stop at Feel at Home at Community 10 or Community 9 next time in you're in the area. Don't forget to let us know what you think of it in the comments below!


Thanks for reading this post at Ndudutales. If you liked it, do let us know in the comments below. Also, please share with others so they can read it too. Have a pleasant day or night, lol, depending on what time it is... lol

Intro to Eat Outs

Yes, we love to cook... but not all the time 😛... So join us on our trips to the scrumptious world outside our cooking spaces because once in a while don't you just want to have (or not have) something someone else has tried? Lol

The Granadilla Collins and a jist of why we're here

Hi everyone!!

So Vanessa and I really really love food and about a year ago we decided to create a blog for it. I mean, it would have been kinda lazy to do it on our own so welcome to our partnership  :D !! We thought aside it being fun to proclaim to the world what we were cooking and tasting and discussing and taking shots of, we also did feel it could just be easier for many others, if we shared our tips and tricks, our bumps and dips, and our views on our foodie life. I mean we would keep learning, and so would our readers, maybe even you today :) Obviously, we won't survive without you guys (no matter how cliché that sounds) so do leave your comments, let us know what you think and give us your suggestions on what you want to see here at Ndudu tales. It'd be encouraging to hear from you.

For those who may not know what ndudu is (I must confess I did not know till we started creating a name for this blog), ndudu is food in Ewe, one of the languages in Ghana. Why we chose it? Sounded more interesting to us at the time than chitchatchop or aduane... so yeah, this is us. Or rather me saying who we are :P

I'm Ofosua and for our first post I decided to talk about cocktails...

I am an absolute sucker for cockatils, and because I do not drink at all, I do virgins. So anytime I go to a restaurant that serves cocktails, I ask for the barman's/mixologist's best cocktail! I can get disappointed by that at times, but honestly, many many times I am simply BBBBBBlowwwnn away.

And talking about blown away, please let me tell you my ultimate favourite cocktail so far!

It is called the Granadilla Collins and I had it at Barrio, Gateway in Durban. Here's my Google search link to the restaurant: Ofosua's Google Search for Barrio Restaurant and the Google Maps link to it just in case you are in Durban one day and want to try it: Google Maps to Barrio. Also here's a link to my original Instagram post of this photo: Ofosua's Instagram - the Granadilla Collins at Barrio

Now, my killer punches for cocktails are a fruity zang, and layers!! And oh my did this Grandilla Collins nail it! From the bottom was real, and I mean real, pomegranate pulp, seeds and all! The next layer, I honestly cannot remember what flavor it was but it was definitely some freshly squeezed juice, that I surely recall. The following layer you see in the photo above was another very interesting part for me aside the pomegranate pulp that had caught me by complete surprise. It was sweet soda water, or probably unsweetened. It was chilled and just something I did not know before. The pinkish last layer initially I thought was from some strawberry cordial, but later on I figured it was from those berries infusing their own juice into the soda water. Topped with a sliced lemon and served with a long dark straw, this cocktail was a true sight to behold for me. A delight to my eyes and my taste buds, the Granadilla Collins at Barrio Restaurant at Gateway is just awesome.

A bit on the ambience of Barrio itself, well it really was one of the first restaurants I had been to in Durban so the level of detail did awe me. I think after being here a while, I noticed it was more of a culture here than something one particular restaurant or office or home did. Even in that, the soft colours of the room and that worn by waiters, the mirrors, the paintings, the aquarium, et al do remind you that you are in a Mediterranean place. And I was definitely pleased with the service.

So please, do pass by Barrio at Gateway when in Umhlanga and ask of my current favourite cocktail, the Granadilla Collins, if ever in Durban. And if you ever have the chance to do so like I did, don't forget to tell me what you think. I hope you love it!!



Added later:
So my friends had the Collins at Barrio, and they requested I add some tips to this post. Please drink the Collins by taking a sip from each layer throughout the drink, if you're anything like me on layered drinks... lol... Or, do remember to mix the layers lest you are left with soda water and ice at some point. It is an enjoyable drink, but not doing this can upset the experience. And they are absolutely right! Thank you, Sine and Kerusha!!!
 

From left to right: Sine, me and Kerusha at Barrio

 

 

 

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