It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Anonymous101

zagfles said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Yes I've found there's often an inverse correlation between price and quality. The only time we go expensive places is when friends arrange it, and I've never had food that was significantly better than standard or cheap priced places.

Last year we went to Italy as our only proper foreign holiday of the year, so we didn't do our usual of looking for good value places, we ate whereever we fancied at whatever the price. The expensive places were always worse food, worse service, the cheap places were excellent food and friendly service!

Mind you, I have a friend who raves about a Michelin star restaurant near him, the food does look good, so I will probably try it one day. I'll probably kick myself for having not learnt the lesson, but it'll shut him up at least

I have to say the best quality food we had in Italy was from cheap, often small and out of the way cheap places too

At the other end. We live near the Ribble Valley which strangely boasts a really high density of Michelin star  and  Michelin star type places. Due to the location its often much cheaper than the equivalent place in a city would be. Our favourite is possibly the cheapest / best value Michelin star restaurant in the UK. I've had the best meal I've ever eaten there, its simply outstanding. Not cheap at £55 a head for lunch and £75 for dinner, but worth every penny in my opinion.

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Absolutely!!!

We plan to do this soon.   Hunstanton here we come! 😎


Unless it's raining. ☹️😉

I went to 'Sunny Hunny' for a week once in August to a holiday park which was a bit down market,  and it rained all the time and the thermometer never went above 15 degrees.
It was the most miserable holiday I ever had, and the only one I ever came home early.
So very unfairly I know ,but since then North Norfolk is permanently not included in any of our holiday plans, due to the experience !
No doubt you will have a lovely time though 

pensionpawn

Just popped into our local farm shop to get a bone to keep our daughters labrador content, as we're looking after him today. I also came out with an impulse buy and a huge grin on my face. A "Thor's Hammer" beef joint (it looks spectacular) which is 3.3 kgs (around 2.8 kgs of meat) for £16! £16! We're going to slow cook that (with horseraddish mash and veggies) on BH Monday when we have guests visiting. With a couple of bottles of wine that mains for 6 for ~ £35 total. When you're (semi) retired you have more time to explore cooking and start to enjoy the whole select, prep, cook, eat, dishwasher process. When you're 9-5, 5 days a week with kids, cooking is a chore and rushed, or it was for us.

Sea_Shell

We're not particularly into cooking or baking* either. 

Food, is fuel.   But with a bit of variety thrown in 😉.   We do have "treats" though. 

Our cooking is hybrid half "from scratch" and half packet/sauce/ready meal.

eg Chilli con carne, would be fresh mince, tinned kidney beans, tinned tomatoes but packet spice mix.  Freshly boiled rice.

A treat would be, say, a Finest "ready" slow roast lamb shank.



*I must be the only person I know who didn't bake a single cake during lockdown.😁

GazzaBloom

Sea_Shell said:

GazzaBloom said:

Sea_Shell said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Absolutely!!!

We plan to do this soon.   Hunstanton here we come! 😎


Unless it's raining. ☹️😉

I love fish and chips at Hunstanton, we live not far away and I like to park in the north promenade car park, which is right next to the sea wall, there always seems to be spaces as not many tourists seem to know it's there, and is just a hundred yards from the green. We walk up the green, get the chips and go back and sit on the sea wall. My favorite time is on a warm evening when the tide is in!

Which is your favourite Chippy?

We used Fishers last time and it was lovely.  Massive portions which beat us.   But then we had been for tea and cake in the Coffee Pot cafe!!

Love the "treasure trove" shop opposite...they sell all sorts!!!   It's like a whole shop of "Aldi middle aisle" 😁

Yep Fishers is good, I don't mind 5 Frying Fish either, the sea air makes it all taste better!

GazzaBloom

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Absolutely!!!

We plan to do this soon.   Hunstanton here we come! 😎


Unless it's raining. ☹️😉

I went to 'Sunny Hunny' for a week once in August to a holiday park which was a bit down market,  and it rained all the time and the thermometer never went above 15 degrees.
It was the most miserable holiday I ever had, and the only one I ever came home early.
So very unfairly I know ,but since then North Norfolk is permanently not included in any of our holiday plans, due to the experience !
No doubt you will have a lovely time though 

My daughter works at one of caravan holiday parks, as a born and bred local (from King's Lynn) I can't for the life of me fathom why anyone would want to stay for a holiday at Hunstanton! As a local, my favourite time is winter when the tide is in and wind is howling, but I will bob in during summer for fish and chips then out again, trying to keep away from the hordes of holiday makers.

zagfles

Anonymous101 said:

zagfles said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Yes I've found there's often an inverse correlation between price and quality. The only time we go expensive places is when friends arrange it, and I've never had food that was significantly better than standard or cheap priced places.

Last year we went to Italy as our only proper foreign holiday of the year, so we didn't do our usual of looking for good value places, we ate whereever we fancied at whatever the price. The expensive places were always worse food, worse service, the cheap places were excellent food and friendly service!

Mind you, I have a friend who raves about a Michelin star restaurant near him, the food does look good, so I will probably try it one day. I'll probably kick myself for having not learnt the lesson, but it'll shut him up at least

I have to say the best quality food we had in Italy was from cheap, often small and out of the way cheap places too

At the other end. We live near the Ribble Valley which strangely boasts a really high density of Michelin star  and  Michelin star type places. Due to the location its often much cheaper than the equivalent place in a city would be. Our favourite is possibly the cheapest / best value Michelin star restaurant in the UK. I've had the best meal I've ever eaten there, its simply outstanding. Not cheap at £55 a head for lunch and £75 for dinner, but worth every penny in my opinion.

That's cheap for a Michelin star place, the one my friend was talking about is something like £90 for the "taster menu", and that's without the wines (apparently there's a different wine recommended for each course!) which would probably double it!

zagfles

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Absolutely!!!

We plan to do this soon.   Hunstanton here we come! 😎


Unless it's raining. ☹️😉

I went to 'Sunny Hunny' for a week once in August to a holiday park which was a bit down market,  and it rained all the time and the thermometer never went above 15 degrees.
It was the most miserable holiday I ever had, and the only one I ever came home early.
So very unfairly I know ,but since then North Norfolk is permanently not included in any of our holiday plans, due to the experience !
No doubt you will have a lovely time though 

That can happen anywhere, there was a video of a couple that went on honeymoon to the Seychelles, or might have been the Maldives, and it rained solidly and heavily for 2 weeks! If you write off places due to one random bad experience or something you've heard about then you probably wouldn't go anywhere!

MallyGirl

zagfles said:

Anonymous101 said:

zagfles said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Yes I've found there's often an inverse correlation between price and quality. The only time we go expensive places is when friends arrange it, and I've never had food that was significantly better than standard or cheap priced places.

Last year we went to Italy as our only proper foreign holiday of the year, so we didn't do our usual of looking for good value places, we ate whereever we fancied at whatever the price. The expensive places were always worse food, worse service, the cheap places were excellent food and friendly service!

Mind you, I have a friend who raves about a Michelin star restaurant near him, the food does look good, so I will probably try it one day. I'll probably kick myself for having not learnt the lesson, but it'll shut him up at least

I have to say the best quality food we had in Italy was from cheap, often small and out of the way cheap places too

At the other end. We live near the Ribble Valley which strangely boasts a really high density of Michelin star  and  Michelin star type places. Due to the location its often much cheaper than the equivalent place in a city would be. Our favourite is possibly the cheapest / best value Michelin star restaurant in the UK. I've had the best meal I've ever eaten there, its simply outstanding. Not cheap at £55 a head for lunch and £75 for dinner, but worth every penny in my opinion.

That's cheap for a Michelin star place, the one my friend was talking about is something like £90 for the "taster menu", and that's without the wines (apparently there's a different wine recommended for each course!) which would probably double it!

Yes - Ortolan near Reading is £95 per head plus another £79 for the wine flight (£119 for fine wine) and it lost its Michelin star this year. The ones that kept theirs nearby can be more.

Albermarle

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Anonymous101 said:

Audaxer said:

A few months ago we went to an upmarket pub/restaurant for a two course lunch which cost us around £60 for two of us, including one drink each. The meal was not that great and the starters were miniscule for the price. More recently on the way back from a morning walk we stopped at a nice looking cafe and treated ourselves to two delicious Full English breakfasts and pots of tea at a total cost of £25. That is what we intend doing in future as much better value and more enjoyable.

Absolutely agree. We have found those upmarket (but not high end) type places least value.
For us its either really upper end (which we are unable to replicate at home) or good quality cheap eats.

For pure value, there's not much better than enjoying a fish and chip supper sat on a bench with a sea view.

Absolutely!!!

We plan to do this soon.   Hunstanton here we come! 😎


Unless it's raining. ☹️😉

I went to 'Sunny Hunny' for a week once in August to a holiday park which was a bit down market,  and it rained all the time and the thermometer never went above 15 degrees.
It was the most miserable holiday I ever had, and the only one I ever came home early.
So very unfairly I know ,but since then North Norfolk is permanently not included in any of our holiday plans, due to the experience !
No doubt you will have a lovely time though 

That can happen anywhere, there was a video of a couple that went on honeymoon to the Seychelles, or might have been the Maldives, and it rained solidly and heavily for 2 weeks! If you write off places due to one random bad experience or something you've heard about then you probably wouldn't go anywhere!

I  know it is not a rational reaction, but at the time arranging family holidays was not easy, and we were really looking forward to it.
As discussed many times in other threads, the human being is a mix of rationality and emotion. In this case the disappointment of this particular holiday has overruled my usual more rational self !