521. Afternoon Tea And Street Food.

 

  By using the term ‘dining out’, I usually think of two meals, either lunch or dinner. Generally now however ‘dining out’ has extended itself in the casual culture of middle-class hipsters who presently seem to be about the only people who can afford to eat out in their frequently grubby little enclaves in trendy suburbs to anytime-of-the-day street food, expensive burgers and costly pizzas and ‘dirty fries’. Much of this stuff is over regarded by a social group which over regards itself in parallel but there are some purveyors of street food products which do indeed show a passion for their products and consequently bring great pleasure to those who consume them.

  ‘Dining out’ may now also encompass breakfasts & the ‘all-day breakfast’ has long been elevated from its greasy spoon origins to being partaken of in more rarified establishments and ‘afternoon teas’ are now immensely popular particularly with ladies who previously lunched but now settle for a teapot, a scone (whether or not the jam or perhaps the cream is layered on it first is up to them in this casual society - for me the only correct format is scone, butter, jam and cream (call it a Warwickshire tea if you like), sandwiches and dainty little cakes and, if they can get away with it, and long before the sun is below the yardarm, a glass of Prosecco. Why they are called Afternoon teas is perplexing as they are often not consumed at teatime but sometimes as early as 1PM which is silly. I have seen a fatuous article trying to explain the difference between afternoon tea and high tea but I remain to be convinced.

  So we have it - ‘dining out’ - what is it? Lunch and dinner and now also anytime Street food, anytime breakfast and afternoon tea which lasts from just after lunch to just before dinner. 

  Here are some of my recent new-style dining out experiences which I thoroughly enjoyed - 

Breakfast -

  On another stay at the Hotel du Vin in Stratford upon Avon I chose to eat breakfast at the hotel as I have done several times before. This of course was breakfast not all day breakfast. The Hotel du Vin in Stratford really does serve very good breakfasts. I always feel that the scrambled egg is key to judging the breakfast. Oh yes! And the humble slice of black pudding. The perfect scrambled egg is a rare and fabulous beast.mi like it butterfly and mildly baveuse. The HDV chefs so often succeed in sending out a very fine scrambled egg. On this occasion the scrambled egg was excellent though not perfect but well deserving of a 7.5 out of 10. As regards the black pudding, most hotels overcook it and the contents are dry and flag in the mouth. The HdV usually avoids this and retains a little moisture in its cooked pudding which makes it all very edible. On this occasion, the pudding was not wholly perfect but well deserving of a 7.5 out 10. I will just add that the tomato was excellent - sweet and juicy, the mushroom ver pleasing being moist and firm, the sausage tasty but the bacon somewhat overcooked and tending towards the mildly leathery.

The previous evening I had enjoyed a dinner of truly delicious, mildly spiced cauliflower soup and a well-cooked confit duck. This was a very pleasurable pre-theatre dinner before setting off for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s Other Place to see a clever production of Macbeth set in a splendidly authentic-looking working men’s club in 1970s Glasgow where Duncan is a gang boss and Macbeth one of his thuggish lieutenants.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛

  And so to Afternoon Tea. 

  Kiss Me Cupcakes is a coffee and cake shop, now only open occasionally, in Alvechurch Road in West Heath. The owner is Mary Ashman, a skilled baker, whose main work is making attractive and spectacular occasion cakes which are bespoke in design and cleverly made and extraordinarily appealing. Whenever Mary is holding a special event - in this case a Christmas-themed afternoon tea - I try to go along and not only support a valiant local small business but also to simply enjoy myself. The exquisite, wood-panelled sitting area, full of atmosphere drawn from its eclectic, homely furniture and old ceramics such as Royal Albert tea cups, saucers and teapots, is immensely relaxing and dog friendly and no place seems a better spot to find a chilled-out black Labrador lounging in the hope of sharing in the food served than there at Kiss Me Cupcakes.

  The tea does not have the pretensions of that which is served at, say, The Grand Hotel. But Mary serves it all very nicely. Neat little sandwiches - seasonal turkey and cranberry, smoked salmon and cream cheese and cheese with a delightful sweet chutney. Mary’s scones served with whipped cream and strawberry jam are light and moist, as fresh as anything newly baked (which of course is precisely what they are) and a great pleasure to languidly consume whilst sitting in one of KMC’s very, very comfortable armchairs. There’s a toothsome mince tartlet, just as sweet as you need it to be, and the lightest of fairy cakes beautifully decorated in the style of a Christmas wreath. The meringue with raspberries and passion fruit seeds , is unimpeachable - crispy outside, gooily gorgeous inside and there’s a fine chocolate brownie as well as the cinnamon hit of a gingerbread man to round everything off. This is fine value for £19 which of course includes tea - I was served two pots of Tea Pigs tea and enjoyed the quality of it. 

  Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.

5 December 2015.

And food, a street food lunch.

  Another facility not far from my home is Herbert's Yard in Longbridge where the immaculate Greidy’s has been the outstanding stall over autumn and into winter. I had a lunch there on a cold grey day and was warmed very pleasurably by my Greidy’s sriracha Thai chicken strips, quite hot to be honest, but full of flavour from the sewer sriracha sauce. The tender, moist chicken strips were served with a necessary and excellent salad and some very well cooked, instantly addictive salted chips and Inconcluded that this was one of those dishes tgat everyone should eat at least once before they die.

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛.

 I had chosen all the above dishes wisely. Breakfasts/afternoon teas/street food. Yes, I think they are part of the dining out scene (when done well) in this age when men can’t be bothered to shave, scruffy is fashionable and going to work is an occasional day out.