Monday 20 October 2014

Food and Coffee in Canterbury

As you probably all know through many of my posts that i'm a big food lover. I have tried some places in Canterbury but never wrote about any as I didn't think it was that great, however, this weekend for my boyfriends birthday we went to quite a few nice places and so if you're ever in Canterbury or is in Canterbury, you will have to try these two places!


Willows Secret Kitchen



This little corner coffee shop is tucked away, out of the high street down Stour Street. Living up to the name of it being a secret kitchen, it really is a very quiet, secretive place to open a coffee shop as I would probably never walk down this street if it wasn't rated 9th on TripAdvisor.
One of the smallest coffee shops I have ever been to but nevertheless one of the smoothest coffees I've had. My favourite type of coffee is cappuccino as I love the froth and chocolate on top but the cappuccino I had didn't taste much different to the flat white my boyfriend had, neither did it have any chocolate on top.

     

They also had quite a few selection of sandwiches/baguettes and we shared a ham and apple cider chutney baguette which was a nice size and came with a small side salad. The apple cider chutney also tasted a bit like apple pie! 

Altogether this place was very nice to relax in whilst enjoying a nice cuppa and talking to friends, read or do work. 
If you love your daily dose of coffee then this cute little secret kitchen is for you!

Rating: 7.5/10



Deeson's British Restaurant

Rated 6th in Canterbury and having walked past this place many times I have always wanted to try it as the menu always looks so yummy. The only downfall is that it's pretty pricey, especially for students, so I only went for a special occasion and it was so worth the money!

The service was quick and friendly, making the dining experience much better. There was a couple that sat beside us who were a bit annoying but in the end treated me and my boyfriend to a bottle of champagne! 

 To start I had the woody pigeon with onion tart, quails egg and parsnip puree and it was one of the best starters I've had as the balance between the sea salt sprinkled onto the just pink pigeon and sweet parsnip puree was just right. 

For main, I had a very posh roast that had roast pork, apple sauce, crispy roast potatoes and sweet roast vegetables, topped with a piece of crackling. The pork was nice and soft, going very well with the apple sauce and the roast potatoes seemed to have been cooked in duck fat making them fluffy on the inside and crispy on the out. However, what I didn't like too much was the gravy/jus as it was just a tad too sticky and sweet making the whole dish a tad on the sweet side. It would have been more perfect if it came with a more savoury jus and a bit more of it too!

Overall we had a nice experience and Deeson's definitely did serve up great fine dining British food.
Rating: 8.5/10












Saturday 11 October 2014

Corfu!


Being so busy in the summer, I haven't had the time to write since May and so I want to talk about the holiday I went to in June as it was a really nice experience and I urge those who have never been to Corfu (a small Greek island) to go at least once!

Me and my cousin stayed at a nice, small and friendly apartment in Sidari, which was around 2 hours away from the airport and the centre of Corfu town. It is only a 15 minute walk into town, the beach and a 2 minute walk to the nearest supermarket! Christina Apartments was reasonably priced and cost us only £370 (booked through Thomson) for flights, hotel and coach transfer. It is also ranked #1 on Tripadvisor!


It's owned by a small family and they are all very friendly and helped out a lot and the food was very cheap! You could get a full english for around €2-€3! The place was kept nice and clean as there was a cleaner that came everyday and every studio had their own balcony which was nice to sit and eat breakfast in with a lovely view! There was always enough sun beds and people wouldn't hog the space with a towel like they do at hotels which is good as it's very annoying when people do that! The only down fall was that you had to buy your own toilet roll and cannot flush it down the toilet and have to put it into the bin as the drainpipes are too small and can get clogged up easily!
Rating: 9/10


We went on a lot of excursions and my favourite was Paleokastritsa as it was such a beautiful place and we even got on a taxi boat and sailed around some of the island and into the blue caves. We also went to Paxos and Anti-paxos (a little beach island with amazing white sand and crystal clear blue sea), corfu town for a bit of souvenir shopping and also got on a local bus to Kassiopi which was situated only half an hour away from Sidari. 

I do not recommend booking any excursions via Thomson as it was overpriced and the excursion I booked was cancelled and they never told me about it until I asked them! There are many cheaper travel companies in the centre of Sidari and the best place is Valeros Travel where I booked mine!


Corfu Town

Anti-Paxos beach


Kassiopi

 So save up and go to this wonderful little Greek island!