Note this is an archived version of this page. The current blog is now here
It was my birthday yesterday, so Mrs F and I went out to Cotto for dinner. It was fantastic. We got off to a slightly shaky start, as we were greeted by a woman who looked at us in a sort of "what do you want?" way, until we said we had reservations, at which she rather directed us upstairs. Anyway, the food was really nice - I had a salad with stilton, and then mackerel with a dhal. H had pork rillette and then a tagine of lamb. All really full of flavour. They were able tweak the dishes slightly to cater for H's dairy intolerance (always a good sign), and they even had a dessert she could eat. Fairly expensive (~£80) but I'd definitely go again for a special occasion.
I've had the week off, so we've been out to eat a few times in Cambridge and nearby. Friday night Jay babysat for us, so Mrs F and I went to the Riverside Restaurant at the University Centre. Last time we went was not long after we moved to Cambridge and it was deathly quiet. This time it was reasonably full, and the food was very good and good value for money too. The service was less impeccable - the staff were quite friendly but didn't seem to be entirely on the ball - eg we were brought pre-starters but the waiter couldn't remember what one of them was called, and eventually just gave up trying to describe it. Coffee was not so good either, and the sweet trolley seemed a real touch of the 70's. I quite enjoyed the fact that the place seems quite out of time - I assume it can't be making money for anyone, and is presumably kept as a sort of vanity adornment for the University.
For Saturday lunch we went to Teri-aki at the Quayside which was great. I haven't had good sushi really since I left London so it's really good to have somewhere like that in Cambridge. It's similar to Wagamama but better executed. Only gripe would be that there's no baby-friendly seating. Fortuately E was well behaved and didn't try to throw herself off the bench. She also ate like a horse (well, a horse that likes Japanese food perhaps). Even L seemed to enjoy the dumplings and tried a little bit of some other things too.
Finally today we ventured up to the Five Miles Inn at Upware. Great location right on the river, and the food and service were both pretty good (although my steak and ale pie needed some gravy or something grumble grumble). Unfortunately it seemed to be raining over a small radius around Upware but nowhere else, so we couldn't sit out, or go in the playground. I slightly preferred the Fish and Duck for shear remoteness and eccentricity (although last time we went we immediately bumped into Jay) but when we went past the little road leading to it the sign was gone, so I think it is probably still closed.
Went into town this morning to help out with the No2id stall. We actually had a lot of people there today so I went out into the market square to hand out leaflets - I think I got through a hundred or more over the hour and a half or so I was there.
After that, I met up with H and the girls and we decided to try somewhere new for lunch. So we went to Galleria on Bridge Street. It was really good - H had a salad (very tasty but a bit on the small side), I had a steak, which was very tasty, and done to perfection. They were quite happy to do pasta and tomato sauce for L and E and the restaurant was nice and cool, given it was pretty hot outside. I think we'll go back with just me and H and try out the terrace by the river.
Mrs F and I had a parents' evening at L's school last night - she starts reception in September. Didn't learn much that we didn't know already from the nursery class. The teacher seems good though. Since we had to get Jay to babysit for us so we could go to that, we decided we'd make night of it, and went on to Cafe Adriatic on Mill Road. The food was very good - I had a smoked tuna salad to start, and then linguine with mussels and prawns. Mrs F had a great starter - chicken livers and goats cheese salad, but her main was a rather limp pizza. Fortunately, they replaced it without demur so overall we left very satisfied with the food and service.
Do I recommend it. It's not the cheapest, but it's not outrageously expensive either. Don't have the pizza though - Jay thought they only did them still because there are still customers coming who used to go when it was Pasta Fresca.
I can't remember where I heard about this place - probably on cam.misc. Anyway, I have a week off work so I thought we could go and then wander round Ely for a while. It really is one of the most isolated pubs I've ever been to - you turn off the A10 from Cambridge to Ely towards Stretham, drive through the village and then eventually you cross a railway line. Turn left there and follow a long track and eventually you get to the pub at the confluence of the Cam and another river.
Beer was good, and the food was pretty good. The pub had a good atmosphere too. It's really nice being somewhere that's just quiet. If I'd come by bike it would have been nice to just stay there a while and have a few beers - alas I was driving. It looks like the present buildings are going to be knocked down and then rebuilt, so if you want to go, go soon (and ring first) or wait till sometime next year.
Hopefully my phone data cable will come soon and I can start posting some of the photos I have been taking of places.
One more while I'm in blogging mode. Fentimans Ginger Beer has long been a favourite in our house (although often rather hard to get for some reason - it seems to come and go at Sainsburys, although I've also sometimes seen it in one of the off licences on Mill Road). So when I saw Fentimans Orange Jigger in Sainsburys, I thought I should give it a try.
Verdict - it's okay, but probably not worth a pound a throw. Mrs Freestone described it as being like a "weak St Clements - not orangey or lemony enough". That seems to about sum it up I'm afraid. Buy another one of the Ginger Beers instead.
While I'm in catch-up mode, I went to both of these places recently. The visit to Hotel Felix was for a work Christmas do. I thought the food was good - and there were good alternatives to the standard turkey. While I wouldn't say there was not enough food, you also couldn't accuse them of being over-generous. I think this was mainly about style rather than stinginess, but it depends on your taste I guess. The hotel itself is nice, although the modern extension looks a bit jarring to my eye. A good place for a special occasion, although I'd take the Crown and Punchbowl over this any day.
Loch Fyne is a nice relaxed place to go - we went as two couples with two small children + another grown-up and nobody felt at all out of place. I've always had good food there - this time I had kippers followed by bream, all of which was delicious. The service was very friendly and overall it was a lovely occasion. Be prepared to pay accordingly though - not much change out of 200 pounds for 5 adults and 2 children once you include the tip.
So, no post for a while - been busy with work and other stuff. Anyway, today we had a drive up to St Ives, which I've not seen before. To be honest, it's not that exciting, plus the weather was absolutely freezing. We had lunch at the Golden Lion in the High Street - kind of generic chain pub food, but it was cosy, and the food was fine.
Then we walked up to the Ouse and I saw the Dolphin Hotel (may be called something else now) and I realised I had been to St Ives before. When I was a student and secretary of the CU Humanist Workshop, I had lunch there with Gerd Sommerhoff. I remember the food being good (although since I was a student, I was hardly accustomed to eating in hotel restaurants) but I'd totally forgotten about the meal until I saw the hotel again. Quite a strange deja vu experience really - uncovering a little bit of lost past.
Just a quick one. Mrs Freestone and I went to the Crown and Punchbowl at Horningsea last week. I'd been once before - it was the only time I went out for lunch at my last company and I heard so many bad things in an hour that it was one of the things that clinched my decision to leave. Anyway, the food was very good and the staff seemed pretty knowledgeable, and also willing to work with my wife's dairy intolerance to produce something interesting. Wine list was also good - I had a glass of 3 different wines and they were all very good selections (and this was from the cheaper end of the list).
Anyway, nice place. Nice evening out. Bring a full wallet though. We spend 60 pounds without really pushing the boat out. I could see a blow out costing 80 to 100 without too much trouble.
We stayed in Cromer on Wednesday - went for a walk on the cliffs. Found a nice cafe called Breakers in the town.
Thursday we went to Houghton Hall, which was excellent. The hall was owned by Robert Walpole and it has some fantastic rooms - particularly the stone gallery, and the trompe l'oeil effects of the Hell staircase. Even better were the gardens (this was a nice day) which included a croquet lawn - first time I've been able to have a go at it since I was at college.
Lizzie surprised me twice in the afternoon - firstly by going on a huge (to her - maybe 10 feet tall) slide in the playground at Cromer, and also when I discovered she knows her left and right. I'm sure I didn't learn this till I was at school, and we've not consciously taught her, but she can consistently tell her right hand, foot etc.
Friday we went on the North Norfolk Railway from Sheringham to Holt. Bit expensive, but it was good fun to go on a steam train. Unfortunately the Holt end is not really in the town itself - you have to walk a mile or more to get there. We ate at the Kings Head which had good beer and food, and a nice garden to sit out in.
On Saturday we drove up to York to go to the wedding of Vicky, a friend of my wife's. The drive took longer than we thought, and we ended up arriving at our guest house at about 2.45, with the wedding starting at 3. Fortunately, we were quite near, and a helpful taxi driver got us to the church about 2 minutes before the bride.
I liked York a lot, we didn't do much more than potter round really - saw the Minster, some of the walls, and visited another of my wife's friends. One good place to eat we found (21, High Petergate, right near the Minster) was Cafe Concerto. Food was great, although a bit pricey (but then, it's in a tourist hotspot). I also liked the Three Legged Mare (named for a type of gallows), a bit further down Petergate - they have beer from the local York Brewery and a nice little conservatory and garden at the back.
I ought to also just mention our guesthouse, Warrens (30 Scarcroft Road, York, 01904 643139). Good location for getting into town, everything was clean and comfortable. My only gripes would be that our family room was very hot, and that the cooked breakfast was very bland - Wall's type sausage, plastic bacon, that sort of thing. Another thing on the plus side though is that it has a little carpark, which means you are guaranteed somewhere to park (if you can manoeuvre into it - access is a bit tight).
All in all, a very enjoyable trip. I hope some of this information is useful to anyone else travelling to Cromer or York.
I'm just back from a week in Cromer, and a week-end in York. Both very enjoyable, though the weather was a bit iffy at the start of the week. Anyway, I thought I would just record a few of the places we visited or ate at, in the vague hope that it might be useful to anyone going to those places. You can assume anywhere we ate takes children, because we were travelling as a family.
We set off for Cromer on Saturday 8th from Cambridge. We stopped for lunch on the way at a pub called The George & Dragon at Newton by Castle Acre, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE23 2BXTel/Fax: 01760 755046. Food was good, and they didn't quibble when I complained that the beer didn't taste right, just went off and changed the barrel. I'm not saying it deserves special praise, but it's a good sign.
In Cromer we stayed in a rented cottage at a place called The Grove (95 Overstrand Road, Cromer, NR27 0DJ. 01263 512412). There's a guest-house too which is fine, but we found that last year it was hard to have any evening to ourselves if we stayed there, so this time we self-catered, and it worked out much better. No complaints about either the guest-house or the cottage, and the setting is really nice - it's a little bit out of town, but you can walk there in less than 10 minutes, and there's also a footpath up to the cliffs, where I did a couple of good little runs.
As I said, the weather was not so good in the early part of the week: we stayed in Cromer on Sunday, and went to Norwich on Monday. Norwich was nice, I recommend the castle as a place to visit.
Tuesday we went to Sheringham, and stopped on the way at the Priory Maze and Gardens which is pretty much what you'd expect. Bit pricey for what it is, especially as the gardens aren't really in full bloom yet, but our daughter enjoyed running in the maze. We had lunch at The Lobster, which has a nice quiet back-room for families. I think there was a beer garden, but it was too cold that day. The grown-ups food was good, but the fish fingers were not so great. Not bad overall though.
More later when I can be bothered to write it.
Update 04.06.02: Part two is now up.
Very useful cam.misc thread about pubs doing good food near Cambridge.
The main recommendations are for the King William IV at Heydon, the Pheasant at Great Chishill, the Cabinet at Reed, the Anchor at Sutton Gault, and the Crown and Punchbowl at Horningsea.
A few impressions of places I've been to recently:
I'll try to do a few more of these as I go to places. I may try to write a bit more about Cambridge in general, and give some pointers to other local bloggers (there must be lots I would guess).