Proper hearty minestrone soup

So, I thought it was time I shared a recipe or two.

My mum makes the best minestrone soup- it's revived me from coughs and colds more times than I care to remember and is easy as pie to make. 

It's great in winter or if you're working long hours as a big batch can last a week by simply adding some extra passata, veggies and beans every day or two.

This soup is all about seasoning which I think is a very individual thing. The measurements for the herbs are just a guide so adjust as your taste buds demand!

This is also very chunky with a high veggie to liquid ratio, like a soup stew.
You will need:

Olive oil
1 brown onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 baking potatoes
2 big carrots
1 red and 1 yellow pepper
a handful of closed cup mushrooms
a handful of fresh basil
chilli flakes
dried thyme
black pepper 
Marmite
1x chicken oxo cube
2 x 400 ml cartons of passata
400 ml boiling water
75g spaghetti or macaroni (dried)
A splash of red wine (optional)

1. First splash about a tablespoon of olive oil in a big saucepan (ideally a stewing pan) and chop the onion and garlic finely. Add this to the oil and fry gently until soft.
2. Peel the potatoes and carrots. Chop the potatoes into 2cm cubes and the carrots into thin slices. Add these to the onion and garlic (add a little more oil if needed) and fry on a low heat to soften the veggies. You need to keep them moving do they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

3. Deseed the peppers, chop into roughly 1cm squares and add to the pan once the potatoes have started to soften and brown a little. You need to keep them moving so they don't stick the bottom of the pan.

4. Once the pepper skins start to soften add the passata and boiling water, put the lid on the pan and let is simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes. (You can add less water if you prefer a thicker soup)

5. Time to season. Tear or chop (your choice, but tearing makes me feel more European!) the fresh basil and add to the pan along with 1 teaspoon of thyme and some chilli flakes (you choose the spice level- I like it hoooooot!). Add a few grinds of black pepper.

6. Add 2 teaspoons of marmite, the oxo cube and a good glug or two of red wine- these elements give the flavour a bit of depth so again be liberal if you like it more 'beefy'! 

7. Now put the lid on and let it simmer again for 15-20 minutes until the potato is cooked and the carrots soften.

8. Slice the mushrooms thinly and add to the pan.

9. if using spaghetti, break into 3cm lengths and add to the pan- if using macaroni just bung it in!

10. Cover until the mushrooms and spaghetti are cooked.

11. Serve in a big bowl with a good grating of parmesan and warm crusty bread with butter- Lush!

This will do about 6 big helpings or 8-10 small bowls. You can keep adding a little more water, passata and veggies, beans or whatever you fancy as the week goes on, just keep it in the fridge. 

Enjoy!

Love Mrs T

X

Tempting Tapas as El Olivo, Exmouth

Hello you lovely lot!
I'm still horribly slow at posting about things I'm afraid, so this post is about a meal we had a month or two ago, but it was soooooo good I promise it's better late than never! However, I only had my iPhone and the lighting was low the pictures aren't the best quality- sorry about that, I'll have to paint pictures with my words :-S

We had one of our oldest friends all the way from foggy old Laaandan town staying with us so we couldn't think of a better excuse to try out a new local restaurant to celebrate his visit.

El Olivo is an unassuming but attractive little Mezze-Tapas restaurant with a little obsession with olives located on The Strand in Exmouth. It's styling is intimate and rustic yet chic and the staff warm and friendly. It was a truly horrid evening with rain and wind battering us from all sides (Typical British summer) so the warm glow from the front windows was truly a sight for sore eyes. 

Photo taken on a slightly sunnier day!

The Menu is displayed on large blackboards on the walls and boast offerings such as Courgette Fritters with Herbs and Feta, and Chicken Thighs with Orange and Fennel. The fayre is Greek-Mediterranean with a large selection of olives and wine to help compliment the main dishes. 



To be honest it took a lot of control to not simply ask for one of everything, but we made our selections, including Calamari, King Prawns with Chilli and Garlic, Sliced cured Meats and Chicken Skewers to name but a few. We ordered a bottle of really quite fabulous Tempranillo and munched on some stunning olives as we chatted away. 

Nothing better than a good bromance...

When the food arrived we could barely stop ourselves wrestling it out of the waiter's hands it looked so fresh and delicious. You may notice all of the photos are after we had started digging in, I literally couldn't wait!

The aforementioned fritters were my particular favourite, although the baked feta with herbs was also an absolute winner. The boys devoured the meat plate leaving more cheesy delight for me! Each dish was fresh and uncomplicated allowing the flavours to do the talking. We ploughed through the offerings although the pace began to slow by the end and afterwards felt supremely stuffed! I have always loved tapas and have long had a firm favourite restaurant in Exeter for my Mediterranean fix, however El Olivo has certainly given it a run for its money. I like that unlike some places it boldly mixes different national influences, particularly Greek and Spanish rather than being purists. It makes the flavours more dynamic as they play off one another.

Excellent effort by all concerned I'd say!

For us El Olivo was a huuuuge hit and we will be going back for more as soon as our tummies have recovered from an almighty stuffing! Thanks guys!

Love
Mrs T
x

A call to arms- it's the shabby chic revolution!

Hello lovely people, and a happy Sunday to you all.

Now as I mentioned in my last post about moving to Exmouth, rather than buying new furniture for our house I decided to 'make do and mend' by rejuvenating and updating a few pieces we already had. 

We've moved from a 2 bedroom flat to a 4 bedroom semi detached Victorian Villa, so needless to say we needed as much furniture as we could find to fill the extra rooms we now have! The lounge in the flat was all about dark wood and pale walls, but with our new beachy lounge the heavy and block-like furniture looked unseemly and completely out of place. So, I read a few blogs, watched a few tutorials and set out on a mission to transform our furniture. 

First things first, what effect did I want to create?

Well, I wanted lighter and more vintage looking furniture to compliment the house's well preserved period features and airy rooms. Given the fact that two of the pieces I wanted to update were Ikea veneer, it was clear early on I was going to need a heavy duty paint. As everyone in the world seems to be using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (including my best friend Hel's, who's been using it to refresh her period cottage absolutely adores it) I naturally chose that as my go to product. However the only shop in the area that sells it was closed the afternoon I went to buy some, so that put something of a spanner in the works. Disappointed, I trudged home but on the way noticed family owned paint shop 'Wilsons Paints' on Church Road in Exmouth, so thought I'd pop in and see if they had anything I could use. The answer was 'Ragged Jacks', a paint they've been making for a while that is versatile and comes in a huge range of colours. It gives good coverage and usable on most surfaces, so I thought I'd give it a shot...

My first project was a vintage nest of tables I'd bought from a thrift shop in town for £15. 

I gave them a quick sand down (pretty half hearted if I'm honest) and then started slapping on the Ragged Jacks in 'Willow' from their Secret Garden collection. After one coat, it had covered pretty well, but I wanted a more solid finish, so added a second coat. Once this had dried I used some standard sand paper to distress the edges and areas of the table tops to give it a worn and shabby look. The key is not to get carried away and take too much off, as it is quite fun! Once I was happy with the look, I put a couple of coats of matt finish varnish to seal it and protect the tables from coffee mug ring marks etc. A word of warning- the varnish I used dried a little yellow in places where I slapped it on a bit thickly, so be careful. Luckily, it works well with the finish I was trying to create but may not be everyone's cup of tea, so apply thinly and build up the cover gradually. 

Et Voila! Whaddya think?

Next up was my Ikea 'Lack' coffee table in black-brown veneer (I know, I know, but it was fashionable when I bought it, I promise).

Hardly inspiring, huh? 

Well, I had my reservations about whether the Ragged Jacks was up to the job of clinging to the slick, slippery surface of the cheap veneer, but I needn't have worried. It was almost completely covered after one coat, but as I had some coffee ring damage that had ripped off the veneer down to the chip board beneath (Hubby doesn't use coasters...) I built the paint up in a few coats to cover over this. Each coat dried in about 15 minutes in the July sunshine so within an hour I was ready to distress the bad boy and varnish it up. I love the result:

I did exactly the same thing to the black-brown Ikea bookcase we had and now have a matching range of furniture, all for about £15 worth of paint and varnish! 

I love that I've been able to achieve this using a local range of paint and not paying through the nose for it. I've definitely been bitten by the shabby chic bug- I'm sure there will be plenty more projects appearing on the blog in the next few months, so watch this space! If anyone has any tips to share post below!

Lots of love

Mrs T

xxx

Our new life by the seaside!

Hello you lovely lot!

Well, quite frankly I'm ashamed at how long it's been since my last post, but I am armed with excuses! As well as changing my career path and selling my flat, Hubby, Louis and I have moved to the seaside, all since April!

We are loving our new lifestyle of popping down to the beach in the evenings, finding lovely new pubs, restaurants and shops in our new town of Exmouth and already have some firm favourites. 

For an evening tipple we are loving 'The Grapevine' just off The Strand. With a strong emphasis on community and sourcing local produce this place is buzzing with energy and enthusiasm as well as a fabulous menu and delectable bevvies. We caught their live music evening last night and were massively entertained by folk, roots and blues band 'Grizzly and The Grasshoppers'- absolutely fantastic and definitely worth catching them this summer if you get chance.

'The Waterfront' at Exmouth Marina is an absolute must if you're visiting. I love it for lunches or a cold glass of Pinot Grigio on one of these fabulous sunny afternoons we've been having recently. The sharing platters are wonderful (the seafood one is my favourite) and with its beautiful terrace that can be fully opened to the sunshine or closed to the wind and rain, you can enjoy your meal alongside the stunning sea views, whatever the weather. 

'Bumble and Bee Tea Room and Kitchen' is a lovely little haven amongst the flowers and trees of Manor Gardens. It serves up wonderful coffees, teas, cakes, scones and lunches with locally sourced produce and fun, quirky interior touches. It's particularly good for veggies with lots of meat free lunch options. You can also buy a selection of gifts and cards which are all lovely and a bit kooky.

I stumbled across the wonderful flower shop 'The Floriade' in town who made me up a beautiful bouquet as a little treat for our new lounge. They were incredibly helpful and polite, especially as I went in not having a clue what I wanted, and I came out with a stunning bunch of bright blooms. Thank you ladies!

All in all, we are LOVING Exmouth so far- it's very dog friendly, we have plenty of places to wet our whistles and gorge on amazing local fayre, and the feel of the place is welcoming and vibrant. Here's to our new hometown! Cheers!

Mrs T 

xxx

Our week in Edinburrrrrrr!

Well hello again!

I know I did an exclusive post about The Newsroom in Edinburgh a week or two ago, but I felt I needed to do a little round up of the lovely trip hubby and me took to gorgeous Edinburgh recently.

I have family up in Scotland and lived in Newcastle for a time but somehow neither of us have ever been to Edinburgh. We wanted a mini break somewhere in the UK and after looking online and speaking to our lovely friends, Edinburgh came out firmly on top!

So, we booked our return flights out of Bristol and set about looking for a hotel to act as our exploration base. We didn't want to spend too much as we didn't plan on spending much time in the room, and wanted a good location rather than plush interior. We struck a happy balance with The Parliament House Hotel just off Leith Street. It has a nice intimate feel with a cosy lounge complete with fire and whiskey tasting menu, and also a restaurant (which we admittedly didn't try. The double room was comfy enough, with a gorgeous soft king sized bed and soft sheets. 

The en suite bathroom was well equipped but the towels were more like serviettes which would be my chief moan about the place. However the free toiletries made up for that and were genuinely nice products to use!

So, we set off exploring. The hotel was a stones throw from the shops of Queen Street and only a short walk to the old city with Edinburgh Castle, Grassmarket and all the fabulous architecture that you just seem to stumble upon every time you turn a corner. 

As we didn't really have a clue where to start, we hopped on one of the City sight-seeing bus tours to get an idea of the layout and where we wanted to focus on over the next couple of days. We even braved the open top section for a few minutes, although at 6 degrees with added wind chill we chickened out fairly quickly! We rolled past the 'New' Scottish Parliament building, The Palace of Holyrood House, New town, Old Town, The National Museum of Scotland and many others, learning from the audio guide as we went. Maybe not a lot of points for the street-cred bank, but a good use of £13 for our 24 hour ticket.

On the walk back to the hotel we stumbled across The Newsroom which was so lovely it has a blog post all of it's own on here. After a relaxed afternoon tipple we headed back to the hotel for a lie down in preparation for our first evening in the city. 

An old school friend of mine lives in Edinburgh and kindly offered to act as our unofficial food and drink guide for the evening. We met for drinks at Jeremiah's Tap Room on Elm Row which had a great range of cask ales, international bottled beers and lagers and a lovely stripped back ambiance to sit, chat and catch up. We then moved on to Phuket Pavilion for a Thai feast of hot jungle curry, coconut rice and a host of tasty sundries. We also had a lovely bottle of Chablis, which is partly responsible for the fact that in spite of the gorgeous and beautifully presented food, this is the only photo I took in the restaurant- an amusingly shaped cactus.

We then took up refuge in the cool and quirky Joseph Pearce where we settled in for the rest of the night, trying some craft beers and, at times, modelling them for your enjoyment...

A little tired but still chuckling for the night before, we awoke the next morning and decided to amble down to the Shore and take a tour around The Royal Yacht Britannia. I am a huge royal family fan and hubby loves sailing and anything maritime, so it ticked both of our boxes. It was fabulous wandering around the huge state dining room and seeing where Queenie used to sleep when on board. The Britannia Bell was a high point for me...

For someone who isn't really a fan of museums or long tours, I LOVED the Britannia- you go at your own pace, learn a lot and there's always an opportunity to take a break with a cuppa at The Royal Deck Tea Room on board. We had a scrumptious lunch in its elegant and relaxed ambiance, admiring the view and my lovely Britannia emblazoned cappuccino!

The next day after a relaxed breakfast at Pep and Fodder (great staff, simple but tasty fare and lovely interior), we headed to The Palace at Holyrood House.

Pep and Fodder

We wandered around the Palace, taking in the wonderful architecture alongside the somewhat grisly history or Anglo-Scottish relations over the centuries. As a working Royal Palace it was a fabulous insight into how the other half live! I would definitely recommend a visit there. Unfortunately they're pretty militant in enforcing their no photography rule, so I don't have anything to show you, but Mary Queen of Scott's original bed is on display in all it's restored glory, which really is something to behold.

My absolute highlight of the trip was the champagne afternoon tea we treated ourselves to at The Balmoral Hotel. The Palm Court is a gorgeous, light, airy and elegant affair and the staff made us feel like the most important people in the room. After a wonderful selection of simple yet delicious finger sandwiches, we were spoilt with fresh scones complete with clotted cream and preserves, followed by mini lemon curd sponges, Spiced plum mousse with ginger bread (Hubby's favourite), caramel and pecan brownie, all washed down with a beautiful glass of champers. We even made room for some hand made chocolates to finish off. Bliss.

Palm Court at The Balmoral Hotel

The waistbands were definitely groaning after that, so we had a light dinner and headed to Stac Polly, a gin and wine bar for a drink. Unfortunately the weather was horrendous, so we were pretty much the only ones in there, meaning there wasn't a great deal of ambiance and the bar man had to keep running from the restaurant down stairs to serve us which was a little odd. But the drinks were lovely, with a good range of gins (I plumped for my favourite, Hendricks). It would be nice to try it again with a few more punters in to get a real feel for it.

G&T at Stac Polly

We headed to bed for an early night as running around this exciting, diverse and contrasting city for 3 days had started to take it's toll! The next day we headed to the airport to come home, happily tired but with one very clear thought in mind- we will certainly be going back very soon.
Cheers Edinburgh!
Lots of love
Mrs T
xxx

Hints and tips for wedding belles (and beaus) in Devon

Hello you lovely lot!

As you may have noticed from previous posts, me and hubby only got married a couple of months ago. I didn't want to write a post droning on and on about our 'special day', but really wanted to share information on some amazing individuals and suppliers we met along the way who made our wedding (and even the planning) a real joy.

We got engaged on 28th December 2012 and after knowing each other for 12 years and being together for nearly 4, we knew we didn't want too long an engagement. We both LOVE wintertime with the log fires, comforting food and of course CHRISTMAS! We went to a stunning christmas wedding a year or two ago at Polhawn Fort, Cornwall with carol singing around the tree and mulled wine which inspired us to do something similar. After thinking about it for a week or two though, we didn't want to feel like we HAD to adopt a christmas theme or like we were intentionally ignoring it if we chose not to. So we opted for late November where we could have a cosy, intimate affair with mulled cider and fires and soft candlelight but no christmassy overtones.

So.... where should we choose to kick off this shin-dig?!

Well we both decided we wanted a church wedding, but with so many stunning and varied churches around the county, how do you choose?!

After talking to my mum, we realised that my grandparents were married in the stunning St Mary with St Andrew Church in Rockbeare, a village of beautiful thatched cottages and the amazing Jack in the Green Gastropub (where we had a wonderful meal after the rehearsal), just outside of Exeter. It's a beautiful church dating back to the 1600's and the vicar Jeremy is welcoming and very approachable and agreed to marry us there, much to our delight. So the wedding ceremony and venue- tick!

Now, where to eat, drink and be merry?

Devon plays home to some stunning wedding reception venues. We recently attended weddings at the beautiful Dartington Hall in the South Hams and also The Great Barn at Higher Ashton which is a gorgeous, elegant venue. As we were having a winter wedding we were looking for a cosy, intimate venue that was big enough to accommodate our 105 guests which was harder to find than we first thought! However after some looking we found the wonderful Muddifords Court Country House in Willand, Cullompton. A Georgian Farmhouse with two renovated barns, it's own mini pub, 5 boutique B&B rooms and a thatched cottage, it ticked all our boxes of an intimate yet impressive venue. Also, with the capacity for the bridal party to stay on sight and the freedom to bring in our own decorative touches, drink and entertainment it was the perfect choice in allowing us to make the day unique to us. The owners Nicky and Pip are some of the nicest people I've ever met and could not do enough to help us, which made the process of bringing together lots of independent suppliers a lot easier than it otherwise could have been. Pip's breakfasts are legendary and have even won their own award, so our first morning as man and wife was made even more scrummy!

Now here are some of the people and suppliers who helped make our day truly 'ours'.

Picture perfect

Now, hubby will be the first to admit that he is not a keen nor willing photography subject. In fact, as soon as a lens is pointed in his direction he gets flustered, stressed and beats a hasty retreat in the opposite direction. I, however,love photography and was desperate to have a beautiful, unique record of our day to look back on over the years. So how did we reconcile these opposite extremes? With the amazing Rebecca Roundhill. She had photographed our friends' wedding a few years before and came highly recommended. They key element that attracted us to her was her focus on 'reportage' style photography, meaning she captures unposed, natural moments rather than organised or contrived shots (perfect for camera shy hubby).She was an absolute dream from the moment we made contact with her, and I think her photographs speak for themselves (all but the bottom two on this post are hers). She put us at ease, didn't take us away from our reception and guests for hours to get our 'couple's shots' and documented moments I hadn't even been aware of until I saw the images. She covered the service, reception and even some of the (questionable) dancing in the evening, giving us over 500 beautiful shots on disc to reproduce to our hearts content! She was a fabulous lady to spend time with and I honestly couldn't have wished for anything more from our wedding photos. So, happy hubby, happy me! 

Silver Screen

The one thing we hadn’t planned on but that a number of people encouraged us to include was a videographer. There is so much of the day you miss, don’t see or simply forget (i.e. Speeches etc) so a video is the perfect way of preserving the day for the years to come. Again, I’m not a fan of run-of-the-mill when it comes to photography and film, so when I found Cupcake videos, based in South Devon I was over the moon. Milos and his team specialise in individual wedding videos, beautifully and artistically edited and set to beautiful soundtracks. They tailor their approach to what you want and we barely noticed the cameras or that Milos was even there! He was relaxed, unobtrusive and a joy to have around as he filmed me getting ready. Have a browse through their material here: www.cupcakevideos.co.uk

All dressed up...

I bought my beautiful Pronovias dress at The Wedding Company in Plympton. The service here is second to none and I felt doted on and valued as I tried on gown after gown! They stock some wonderful designers including Charlotte Balbier and Sophia Tolli and I have to personally mention the wonderful Hayley who guided me through the choosing, fitting and general stresses/emotional breakdowns of wedding dress shopping! They also have a wide range of  mens wedding wear and bridesmaid dresses. After having some underwhelming experiences at other dress shops I would strongly urge you to visit the fabulous team here.

Fix up look sharp!

I usually enjoy doing my hair and make up ahead of an evening out, however I knew I was going to be stressed on the day and didn't want a bad hair day or dodge eyeliner to send me into melt down! After lots of searching I found Lucy Milton who was an absolute god send. She did a hair and makeup trial for me, my bridesmaids and mum beforehand to make sure we were all happy. On the day she helped me stay calm and was lovely to have around as the nerves started to rise! We were all really pleased with our hair and make up and felt gorgeous. I would urge you to check out her website for more details.

Coming up roses

The wonderful Jenny Rose Flowers created our low- key but beautiful table arrangements and bouquets. Jenny was very tolerant of multiple emails and calls from me, and even took a total colour scheme change in her stride! The flowers enhanced the venue and day beautifully.

Dance the night away!

We opted for a live band rather than disco for our evening entertainment and had seen The Pookas numerous times in Exeter venues. They are a 5 piece outfit headed up by lead singer Kat, and describe themselves as a 'soul swing funk Lindy hop band' and never fail to disappoint and bring a real vibrancy and energy to any event. They are very reasonably priced and got everyone up on the dance floor (even my nan)! They even offered to learn our first dance song (although we chose the original recording for nostalgic reasons). Big thumbs up to them.

Shaken, not stirred...

I am a bit of a cocktail worshipper and as such thought this should feature a little in our celebrations. We therefore had Samsvan, a 1978 VW camper van which had been lovingly converted to a cool cocktail bar complete with seating and lighting. We selected 4 cocktails and then had a signature drink created named after our new married name. They were incredibly reasonable to hire and charged £5 a drink. I have to say the cocktails were absolutely delicious and VERY popular with our guests, beautifully served in jam jar style glasses and in no way scrimping on the booze. The guys running it were fab too, a real credit to the Sams' team, Fowey. 

He put a ring on it!

One last mention has to go to Coopers Couture Jewellers in Barnstaple. Hubby bought my emerald and diamond engagement ring from a Jeweller in Hatton gardens, London (it's a real stunner even if I say so myself), however the design meant I couldn't get a normal wedding ring to sit beneath it. Enter Coopers who designed and made a diamond and platinum wedding band which fits around the design of the engagement ring, making them look like one single finished piece (see my very amateur photo below). The initial consultation in their showroom in Barnstaple was a wonderful experience completed with a chilled glass (or two) of champagne. The team were impeccable in their communication with us and also supplied hubby's palladium ring at a very competitive price which he is thrilled with. Even got the original sketch of the ring as a beautiful and thoughtful momento to keep (which I still haven't got round to framing). I cannot recommend then highly enough. 

All in all we had a fabulous day and want to thank all involved for helping it to be such! 

For any of you getting married the only advice I can give is this: things may not go according to plan, stress may rear it's head and the sun may not shine, but I promise you will have a truly wonderful day, whatever goes right or wrong, because after all the organising, you get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend.

That's all for now!
Love
Mrs T
xxx

All Images (except the bottom two) Copyright Rebecca Roundhill

Post nights lunch at The Cosy Club, Exeter

After a set of night shifts I like to have a proper, comforting and hearty lunch to try and get the body clock back on schedule. The Cosy Club, with it's varied lunch menu and kooky, fun interior was the obvious choice, so hubby and I headed down there to start our week off together with a good old feast!

The Cosy Club describes it's decor and atmosphere as "Gentlemans club meets village hall meets cricket pavilion". It's located in the old Southernhay hospital, with echoes of the buildings past worked cleverly into the interior styling, from medical anatomical posters to surgical lighting over the bar. It has a warm and inviting ambience whilst being a large open space, aided by the helpful and attentive staff. 

It was a dreary Monday, so to kick off the holiday I ordered a Bloody Mary (extra spicy to pep me up!) from their fairly extensive cocktail menu. There is a fabulous outside Terrace which is wonderful when the sun is shining- hopefully in the next couple of months we'll be able to venture out there!

We perused the menu and after umming and ahhhing, hubby plumped for the prawn cocktail sandwich, upgrading his thick cut crisps to skin on fries, and I chose the Mushrooms on toast from their brunch menu. Their lunch and evening meal has a broad range of dishes and is reasonably priced. My Bloody Mary arrived and was beautifully piquant and tasty. Deeeelish!

The service was efficient without making you feel rushed, and when the food arrived it was truly a sight for sore (and tired) eyes!

Hubby enjoyed his sandwich and their skin on fries really are great- crispy yet fluffy, served in a tin mug. Yummy. My mushrooms on toast was quite simply one of the tastiest and satisfying meals I've had in recent years! Rather than garlic overwhelming the dish, the button and portabello mushrooms were cooked in brandy, Dijon mustard, creme fraiche and tarragon. It was creamy but sooo flavoursome! The doorstop sized slice of farmhouse white bread was perfect for soaking up the delicious sauce. I rarely leave food in the plate, but the portion was so generous and the flavours so rich that I had to admit defeat, but it would definitely be a dish I'd order again. 

The place has a different feel in the evening with young professionals and students sipping from pitchers of cocktails, craft beers and ciders, giving it a cosmopolitan air, but still delightfully quirky. 

So an all round thumbs up for The Cosy Club, both for food and drink, day and night. Give it a whirl! 

http://www.cosyclub.co.uk/exeter

Lots of love

Mrs T

xxx