What better way to start your Friday than with our weekly round-up of some of the many sweet treats we’ve eaten this week. Here’s five of our favourites.
1. This tasted as good as it looks. A lovely sweet crisp pastry base, custard centre, topped off with berries and a glaze. I’m off to France next week so this got me all excited about my trip. Helen and I visited Boulangerie Victor Hugo in Southampton where we had a spot of lunch and of course one or two cakes, plus one to take home.
2. The Chocolatier, Aneesh Popat kindly gave Helen and I a few of his delicious new chocolates. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them – Helen has much better will-power than I and has kept them for her upcoming plane flight. This one is Tamarind and was exceptionally good. The chocolate melts wonderfully and the centre is soft and smooth. I love unusual flavours like this.
3. When Helen and I visited the Hungry Guest in Petworth for lunch last week we also popped into their shop around the corner which has lots of fresh local produce, a bakery and a butchery too. It reminded me a little of Daylesford in Kingham, Gloucestershire. We took home – amongst lots of other goodies – a date cookie. It fell apart which made it difficult to eat but it was rather tasty nonetheless.
4. With an awful wet day on Saturday, our cycle ride was cancelled so four of us met up at Salt Cafe at Wicor Marine for coffee and cake. I love their flat whites, one of the best around. I hadn’t had breakfast so I had a round of fresh white and brown toast (from the Hungry Guest) accompanied with pots of preserves. I took home a chocolate bar named Smooth Operator from Makers & Merchants which is made with equal parts of dark and milk chocolate.
5. We dined out in style at Manna Tearooms in Old Portsmouth last Friday. Manna had a pop-up Michelin restaurant where we had many courses – all divine – and all cooked by chef Jamie Stapleton-Burns who comes from the Michelin restaurant The Black Rat in Winchester. These were our biscotti’s with a creamy coffee flavoured topping which we enjoyed with our coffees at the end of a great evening.
All of these places (apart from Salt Cafe which we have already recently reviewed) will feature in the next few weeks. We’ve done so much eating out the last few weeks we have tons of reviews to write.
