The Raj Indian Restaurant ..28 High St, Barton Upon Humber

We hadn't initially decided to go out this Monday but Sara nagged and nagged, so out we went. We decided to visit an old favourite of ours, for several reasons apart from always enjoying the food ,the staff are so nice and welcoming. When both myself and Sara go for an Indian together we don't order the spiciest of food as Sara doesn't like it to hot and we always share our main courses. I do like a jalfrezi but its hot hot for Sara and if you ask them they will do chicken tikka and king prawn jalfrezi ( ummm ). So this time we opted to bypass the papadums to go straight to the mains. I ordered Akhori lamb special (£9.45) and Sara ordered chicken Badami (£7.75), both medium spiced meals with special fried rice (£2.75) , mushroom bhaji (£2.75)and keema naan.(£2), unfortunately on leaving the restaurant we forgot to pick up a take away menu and we going on memory, so the prices we are quoting are in the region of being right. The Lamb special we ordered was so nice we commented to a member of staff how much we were enjoying it. He said it was one of his favourites and that the chef slow cooked it previous day in spices, then he marinated overnight and slow cooked it again. We must say the meat (sliced Lamb, not chunks) was so tender it just fell apart and never had one ounce of chewiness about it. With that in mind every course we ordered was lovely and flavour packed. We did order a little bit to much, but we could have taken it home with us if we wished to. If there was one complaint we could have made on the night it was the Liverpool tie (one of the staff was wearing)....Hahaha....Bad taste....T&S

Xanders of Newland ave Hull

On Saturday 19th we went to see the beat at the Pipers club on Newland ave , before the gig we went for a few drinks in Xanders which is just a few doors away. On walking in it was quite full of people eating and drinking and the food smelt that good even though we was full it was tempting to order something (of course we didn't, we  are not that greedy). While we were there seeing some of the food that came out we decided a visit was needed.
So on Wednesday we took the children for a visit, it is a cosy place to go for a meal and staff were very welcoming and talked us through the specials board of which they have a Wednesday steak special , when you buy two steaks, 8oz, 10oz or 16oz you get a £20 bottle of  wine free. We have two 10oz porterhouse steaks at £11.50 each , £23 including the bottle of wine, which was very nice. steak cooked how we wanted them , not fatty nor chewy but absolutely gorgeous with ample chips, onion rings, mushrooms and tomatoes (sauces are an added extra which we didn't go for ). The children ordered chicken and ribs £8.95 , and chicken cheese burger £6.75, both were gorgeous and plenty on their plates. The chicken  burger came in a nice rustic bun which for a 13year old lad, would expect him to want an ordinary burger but he loved it and finished the lot. The chicken and ribs filled most of the plate, it had plenty of sauce on ribs and the chicken was nice and moist, also the corn on the cob which accompanied this dish was the best (stated by our 17year old daughter)  again this was finished and enjoyed so much, they would love to go back again. After the children had seen the puddings on special board, we ordered one sticky toffee pudding with custard and three baileys cheesecakes with cream at £2.75 each (large portions), these were absolutly gorgeous and we ate them even though we were full from our main course ( I can heartily recommend the visit if only for the baileys cheesecake).
Overall the place was very welcoming, staff were very friendly and helpful and the food and presentation of the food  was excellent and price wise it was good value for money.
We recommend Xanders of Newland ave.

Siam Buri Thai Restaurant 521-523 Anlaby Road Hull

We have recently eaten at this Siam Buri Thai restaurant and after a warm welcome we were seated in a comfortable yet slightly chilly area of the restaurant. Myself and Trev was accompanied by our 3 children, we ordered a variety of dishes ranging from green curry £6.95, moo pad khing with pork and also in chicken, both £6.95 , and a ped priew waan (duck dish) £8.50. .Khao suay which is (Jasmine rice) £2 and  Khao pad kal (egg fried rice) £2.50 also a Pad Thai (king prawn stir fried noodles) £7.50.  Although me and Trev had been to Thailand and experienced real Thai food there and on several occasions here none of the children had ever had Thai food before, which was an experienced in itself as we think they were expecting something like Chinese, of which Thai is nothing like. Needless to say the quality of food was excellent , though some dishes were delivered on the cool side, and not all the meals where delivered together. The quality and value for money were reasonable , if we had an complaints it was that the Pad Thai king prawn only had 5 prawns in the full dish, also the children ordered ice cream and at £3.95 for 3 scoops each of plain vanilla, strawberry and chocolate was very over priced. All in all we would say this is a nice reasonable priced restaurant. We will be looking to try other Thai restaurants rather then rush back here.

|The Coffee House, Brook street (town centre Hull)

This is our first blog and I know you will think it's strange being about a small cafe but, when we are in Hull on a lunch time , we often eat here because the quality of the food and the value for money in comparison to most lunch time eateries.
The Coffee House is an old style English cafe with a traditional menu. We generally have a full English or a mixed grill and a pot of tea for two, although not perfect ie ( I would prefer a Lincolnshire sausage ) the food is well cooked and served in ample portions ie the mixed grill is bacon, sausage, pork chop, two eggs, grilled tomato, mushrooms and chips. Two of these and a pot of tea for two, which we can easily get at least two cups of tea each we paid £13.30 , £6.65 each meal and tea ( very little more then a fast food outlet ). In our eyes excellent value for money, great tasting food.  Admittedly not many smiles from the staff but they where working very hard  to get all of the customers seated and served in what is a very busy lunch time period.  On the odd occasion we have had to stand and wait for a seat perhaps two minutes max , this is due to popularity of a very good lunch time cafe.
The only drawback to this cafe is the outside toilet.  Our view is if you ever are in  Hull centre and hungry for a quality value for money lunch, Then Coffee House is the place.

We do visit other places for lunch and we will be reviewing those shortly.   T&S

Reason for our blog

The reason we wanted to set up this blog is that we eat out quite often, whilst sometimes we are very happy with the quality of food in some restaurants, more often then not we are disappointed. When leaving restaurants we would love to let the restaurants and future visitors know how good the food and service really were. (which is easily said to the waitress or waiter) but you never know if the sentiments are actually past on to the chief , likewise if the quality was awful you can leave your meal and argue the payment but who really knows its an awful restaurant.

So the aim of this blog is not to review the likes of mcdonalds, burgerking etc as we all know the quality we expect and get from these eateries.

So over the next 12 months myself, Sara and Trev whenever we eat out in Hull and surrounding areas (which we do often) will complete a blog commenting on quality and service. These are and will be personal views.  We welcome all of your views and comments on your personal experiences in these establishments.