May 30th, 2006 by Meri
Frittata
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
I ended up visiting the cafe for a late lunch one afternoon and chose to have this frittata (described just as a “parmesan-spiked omelette” on the menu). The main ingredients were due to be goats cheese and caramelized onion, although I seemed to end up with raw red onion instead, but it was still nice.
The goats cheese was beautifully grilled and definitely dominated the dish — perfect for me, as I adore goats cheese! I didn’t feel like the red onion added anything particularly, but perhaps if it had been caramelised and therefore sweeter it might have done more. The side salad was nice and refreshing, complementing the rather rich frittata very well.
All in all I did enjoy this meal immensely, even though I couldn’t quite finish it — three rounds of goats cheese was too much for even my addiction!
Posted in Lunch | 2 Comments »
May 5th, 2006 by Meri
Steak and Eggs Breakfast
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
There are a few new breakfasts on the updated menu, all of which seem to run on the premise that the pre-existing Belle & Herbs breakfasts just weren’t big enough and more ginormous options were needed!
This breakfast certainly fits the bill. My particular plate of food consisted of two pieces of steak, 4 eggs, 6 hash browns and a small pot of the best Bernaise sauce I’ve ever tasted.
Now, I realise that I fairly often wax lyrical about how great the food at Belle & Herbs is, but I want you to set that aside and REALLY listen to me this time.
THIS WAS THE BEST PLATE OF FOOD I HAVE EVER EATEN. Seriously. It was absolutely amazing. Gorgeous. Fan-bloody-tastic.
The steak came medium-rare, just as I’d requested, the eggs were done to their usual perfection, the hash browns soaked up the meat juices wonderfully and as I’ve already mentioned, the Bernaise sauce was the best I’ve ever tasted.
Now my only real problem is that I will lose my job if I insist on going into Belle & Herbs for steak and eggs every single day…
Posted in Breakfast | 2 Comments »
May 5th, 2006 by Meri
Black & Blue Smoothie
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
There are two new smoothies on the updated menu and this is one of them. It involves blueberries, black grapes and grape juice. Although Elly remains dubious about the combination, I think it’s lovely — sweet but refreshing.
The other thing that’s really impressed me in recent months is the speed of preparation of smoothies at Belle & Herbs. Time was, you’d order and it would take a good twenty minutes before you had a chance of your smoothie arriving — these days it’s more like 5 mins 🙂
Posted in Drinks | 1 Comment »
April 20th, 2006 by Meri
Towering Shroom Burger
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
Over Easter weekend my folks, cousin John and his girlfriend Des came to stay. We of course had to take them to Belle & Herbs for lunch!
In any case, on Easter Saturday (does that exist…?), although hugely tempted by various offerings on the new menu, I had promised John that B&H was the best place to get a good burger. He’s missing South Africa a lot, especially the decent meat!
Belle & Herbs source their beef from one of Rick Stein’s food heroes, so they really are very very tasty. I chose the “Swiss Shroom” burger, which unsurprisingly comes with cheese and mushrooms.
This was a VERY tasty meal and definitely good to see the burger options extended on the new menu. I’d also note that the caramelised onions were devine!
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April 20th, 2006 by Meri
Our Site is on the New Menu!!!!
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
This is so cool — we arrived at Belle and Herbs on Saturday afternoon to find that they’d changed the menu … and that this blog is listed on it!!
But I digress…
Although we had come fairly close to achieving our original aim of documenting the entire menu, the goalposts have now been moved. There are a lot of new things on the new menu. Everything from variations on existing items (like the new Bury Benedict) through to whole new items, like the selection of wraps that we haven’t even tried yet.
All I can say is, I’m looking forward to attacking the new and improved menu and documenting it all here!
Posted in General/News | 1 Comment »
April 16th, 2006 by Elly
Brie, Bacon & Avocado Sandwich
Originally uploaded by ellythompson.
This sandwich is the first thing that I’ve had a Belle & Herbs since they brought out the new menu… it’s new, and it leapt off the page at me.
Bacon and Avo is one of my favorite sandwich combinations ever, and it goes REALLY well with Brie.<
This combo disappeared faster than any sandwich I’ve eaten in a LONG time. Which has got to be a pretty good sign for this sandwich, and for the new menu.
Posted in Lunch | 3 Comments »
April 9th, 2006 by Meri
Ham Salad Sandwich
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
Normally ham salad really isn’t a combination to write home about. In most places the ham is inoffensive, but fairly tasteless, the salad a bit wilted and the bread not that special. Nothing could be further from the reality at Belle and Herbs.
This particular sandwich was GORGEOUS. Wonderfully flavoured ham, not too moist, not too dry, with nice crisp lettuce, cucumber and juicy tomato, all on big slices of doorstop white, spread with just a little bit of mayonnaise.
Despite being one of the “normal” sandwiches, it was easily a main meal and I did somewhat regret having ordered some potato wedges as well — we ended up focusing on the wedges and taking half of our sandwiches home for later!
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March 25th, 2006 by Meri
Farmers Breakfast
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
The Farmer’s Breakfast is a huge 4 egg omelette, filled with sausage, bacon, fried potato & onion and plenty of cheese. It’s served with some plum tomatoes and a great slab of fried bread.
The first thing to note is that this was an IMMENSE breakfast. Seriously huge. I didn’t even get through a third of it and I was hungry! Taste-wise it was very nice. I’m not usually a huge fan of omelettes, but this one was really good — full of interesting flavours.
The sides were great as well — the plum tomatoes juicy and a perfect accompaniment to the protein-filled omelette. The fried bread was … well, heavenly. The best fried bread I’ve ever had (but don’t tell my Grandma!).
I’d recommend this, but only if you were really really hungry or working off some serious hangoverage!
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February 26th, 2006 by Elly
Muesli & Fruit
Originally uploaded by ellythompson.
Just for a change (and because I’ve already eaten far too much at Belle and Herbs this weekend) I decided to go for the ‘light’ option at breakfast today, which is the Muesli & Fruit.
Mine came with green apple, kiwi fruit, apricots, sliced banana and blueberries, but what you get will change day to day.
And the muesli’s good too – none of this slightly-powdered-shaken-in-the-box rubbish but a good mix of grains and dried fruit, with a good helping of plain yoghurt. My only reservation was that there was a little too much yoghurt for the amount of muesli but overall an excellent choice for the not so hungry.
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February 26th, 2006 by Meri
Hot Chocolate
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
On Molly’s last day visiting with us, we of course had to go to Belle and Herbs for breakfast.
I had one of my favourites, the Eggs Benedict, which was very enjoyable, but not the best I’ve ever enjoyed there. I also decided to have this normal hot chocolate (usually I choose the more extravagant option. It was LOVELY. Nice and light, but beautifully chocolatey as well. Definitely a good start to the morning!
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February 25th, 2006 by Meri
Scooby Snack Again
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
When Molly was in town, we met up on a Saturday afternoon with a bunch of Newcastle geeks. Much fun was had, a lot of it at my expense, because I chose to attempt the biggest thing on the menu.
The Scooby Snack is a monumental sandwich. It’s quadruple decker (4 doorstop slices of soft white bread) and has pretty much every ingredient ever between its slices: ham, chicken, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, smoked ham, Gruyere cheese, cheddar cheese, Mozzarella, red onion, barbeque sauce, mayonnaise and dill pickles.
This sounds like a hell of a strange mix of fillings, but in fact it works rather well. Truly, the only problem with this sandwich is its sheer SIZE. I couldn’t take a bite out of the whole thing and had to break it down into mini-sandwiches. For those of you who know me this might surprise you — I do have a big mouth after all!
The various geeks on the table thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. They thought this sandwich was unfinishable. I proved them wrong. I ate the entire thing. It was FANTASTIC. Even if I did need some peppermint tea afterwards to help my poor stomach cope 😉
I would agree with the Belle and Herbs health warning though: only attempt this sandwich if VERY hungry!
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February 17th, 2006 by Meri
Roast Ham, Cheese & Chutney on White
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
Another classic sandwich, but again executed outstandingly. The ham was gorgeous — great texture and flavour, but not too salty, not too sweet. In particular, it was impressive that the ham was tasty enough that the strong flavours of the mature cheddar and Branston pickle didn’t overwhelm.
As always, the bread was fresh and lovely and again some chips & dips were a nice accompaniment.
Until now I was often choosing the different/exotic things on the Belle & Herbs menu, but now trying some of the simpler, more classic/traditional dishes I am equally impressed, if not more so. It’s one thing to make something different taste great — to make something bog-standard taste amazing is a whole different skill.
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February 14th, 2006 by molly
Bacon, Brie and Cranberry at Belle and Herb’s
Originally uploaded by mollyeh11.
The image here is only a slice of the original sandwich, which I ordered along with a bowl of fantastic broccoli and stilton soup.
When Meri and Elly first told me about this particular sandwich, I was a bit uncertain. Bacon and brie? Made sense. Brie and cranberry, also made sense. But the three flavors together?
The sandwich is absolutely delicious, and just how good it is can be summed up with the fact that Malarkey and I ordered it to share. He took one bite of the sandwich, stopped the young man who had brought it to us and asked if we could have another. After just one bite!
I think that says it all. Thank you Belle and Herb’s, thank you Sam, and thank you Meri and Elly for turning us on to such an awesome place.
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February 12th, 2006 by Elly
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Originally uploaded by ellythompson.
I love the cake counter at Belle & Herbs. The only problem is there’s generally so many things I want that I can’t decide.
No such problem today. Anything titled “Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake” is pretty much guaranteed to get my attention.
And it was wonderful. To be honest, there was definitely more Chocolate Mousse than Cake, and it’s not light, but that’s what I loved about it and it wins hands down on the happy feeling afterwards. I’m definitely gonna have to have this again!
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February 12th, 2006 by Elly
Tomato & Avocado Bruschetta
Originally uploaded by ellythompson.
I wasn’t really feeling quite hungry enough for a Belle & Herbs Sandwich today, so I decided to go for Bruschetta instead. And being a fan of Avocado, this is what I chose.
It was great – The bread was crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, and not to oily (as can sometimes happen). And the Avo and Tomato were both fresh and perfectly ripe. All in all, a nice plate of food if you’re after something snacky.
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February 12th, 2006 by Meri
Whatever’s Left Smoothie
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
We went along to Belle & Herbs rather late on this Sunday afternoon. When trying to order some regular smoothies, they explained they’d had a massive rush that morning and so the regular smoothies were all off! They were, however, offering this one — a random combination of all the fruit left in the kitchen! 🙂
I must say it was very refreshing — I detected pineapple, orange and plenty of blackcurrant (as you can probably guess from the colour), but really not sure what else was in there!
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February 12th, 2006 by Meri
Cheese & Tomato Sandwich
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
Mature cheddar cheese, with freshly sliced tomato on white doorstop bread. A very simple, classic sandwich, but so well executed that it was absolutely GORGEOUS.
Went very well with the chunky chips and dips that we had as an accompaniment to share.
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February 11th, 2006 by Meri
Posh Hot Chocolate
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
This posh hot chocolate (as opposed to the dead dead posh hot chocolate that Elly had previously) consisted of hot chocolate made completely with steamed milk, topped with lashings of whipped cream and as many marshmallows as the staff can balance on top!!
This is seriously, seriously rich and you really shouldn’t order it if you want a nice light drink. That said, if you fancy something decadent then it is perfect! It has serious quantity (there’s about half a litre there) and great taste too.
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February 11th, 2006 by Meri
Lemon Meringue Slice
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
I have to be honest, this wasn’t my favourite Belle & Herbs dessert. Although the meringue on the top was light and fluffy, with a nice crisp crust, the lemon goo had a strange aftertaste. It was a perfectly acceptable specimen, but not up to their usual high standards.
Posted in Sweets | 1 Comment »
February 11th, 2006 by Meri
Closeup of Bacon & Goats Cheese Bruschetta
Originally uploaded by meriwilliams.
We hadn’t yet tried any of the bruschetta options on the lunch menu, so I decided I’d see what this was like. The goats cheese and smoked bacon were both strong tastes, but did work very well as a combo.
The bread was nice and fresh, with just enough olive oil to make it toast well, but no so much as to be oily. It seemed to have been left under the grill a LITTLE too long, but that would be my only criticism. The balsamic dressing and mixed salad were both nice, even though I’m generally not such a fan of balsamic anything 😉
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