Rain, rain go away – And it did

 

Today’s blog is a story of two different days in one. Or rather of 2/3rds of a day of wet rainy weather followed by a delightful late afternoon and evening. 

I got up at my usual time of 5.30am and drafted the blog post for the previous day. Then after the usual ablutions I did a little work. When at home I help out with some of the admin tasks in my local Parish. Having taken a break from these during the holiday there were a few things I need to catch-up with, and this morning was a good time to do some. With the Parish Newsletter prepared for a colleague to print and emails sorted we put our dirty washing together and headed towards Norwich to the Laundromat we had visited before.

Laundrette 

With the thunder and heavy rain showers, which friends in Wales had had on the previous day, we sat in the car and read while the clothes were being done - obviously getting out when the washing machine was due to finish to start the tumbler. These Covid days means that crowds sitting watching their washing go around are currently not a good practice. 

We have been surprised how busy this laundrette has been on both occasions we have visited. In the US when we use laundrettes, we had always thought there were a lot of people living in high rise apartments that might not have facilities in their own flats. However, this place is just as busy though the surrounding area is mostly houses, not sure how to explain that.

Clothes all washed and dried in just over an hour we returned to the Barn and put them away to make sure they didn’t crease. We had bought fruit last weekend, so I had an apple (Braeburn), pear (Conference) and apple (Granny Smith) for my lunch while Drew had two easy peelers. We had planned to visit Dereham and take some photos of our nearest town, but the persistently heavy rain meant we sat and read instead. I’m now reading a great book called Norwich 1144 A Jew's Tale set in Norwich – which was gifted to me earlier this week via Amazon Kindle by Robin Croft. While I'm reading this Drew is relaxing reading Terry Pratchett and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy one after another. 

Norwich

With the weather lifting we headed out to Norwich at 4.30pm arriving just after 5pm and parking in St. Andrew’s Car Park which has apparently won national prizes for being a good car park!

It was perfect for us in terms of location for both tonight and tomorrow night’s meal (oh and Tuesday night’s meal too) and not to expensive.

We then wandered the pretty streets of Norwich for 2 hours. Drew was determined to avoid doing any of the main sites which we are planning to include in a day trip to the City later in the holiday, so most of the photographs were of off street names and pretty alleys and arcades.

We arrived at Tatlers Restaurant, where we had booked to eat at 7pm about five minutes early [Co-pilot’s note: As usual we arrived about 30 minutes early!! Early from the time someone booked a few hours ago. He was made him to wait, discipline dear readers, that's the key, he'll learn in time.]

Dinner

It being Friday I had been looking for somewhere that did good fish on the menu but enabled Drew to opt for an alternative. This place did it to perfection.

The menu was simple but focussed on French influenced cuisine. 

We began with the breads, olive oil and balsamic and olives. This was a lovely refreshing start with the olive oil and balsamic being perfect when you dipped the bread in deep enough to get both. 

For starters I opted for crispy squid with chilli jam and candied lemon, not only did this look pretty but it also had a wonderful texture, a perfect start for the meal.

Drew opted for peppered Venison with celeriac puree and blueberry jus. The waiter returned to ask if they could replace the celeriac with butternut squash as they had run out of the former. The look of the dish was improved with the dash of yellow from the squash alongside the other lovely colours. The venison was rich and earthy and the sauce was delicious, indeed Drew felt he would have benefitted from a spoon to eat the remaining sauce. 

For mains I went with Sea Bass with a roasted red pepper coulis, saffron potatoes and fennal with sea vegetables. The Sea Bass was cooked perfectly, a crispy skin and a soft subtly flavoured flesh. The coulis, which sounded a bit chefy, actually turned out to be a perfect accompaniment, with a rich softness which roasted peppers can achieve and a strong flavour, much stronger than if they have simply been chopped, yet not to strong for the fish to carry. Again the eye was part of the eating experience, as it often is, as the plate looked very appealing as well as tasting so.

Drew’s main was pan fried duck breast, truffle roast potatoes, baked beets with cherry jel and jus. The duck was perfectly cooked, a crispy skin with a tender meat with all the fat rendered down. It was lovely. The beets added a pleasant earthiness which was rounded off by the cherry. The potato was perfectly cooked. The minor quibble was the carbonated powder around the plate which didn't add much. But overall it was an excellent dish.

We added some extra vegetables on the side which were el dente and a perfect addition to the overall meal.

For dessert Drew had Blueberry set cheesecake with vanilla ice cream. For Drew the ice cream was perfect, the cheesecake was sharp and fresh and had a lovely buttery biscuit base. The crunchy meringue was nice and crispy and an additional unexpected treat to the dish making the whole thing look perfect. 

I had the cheeseboard. Here was the one fail on the experience at this restaurant from my perspective. I got the sense that whoever designed this cheese board was someone who didn’t like cheese. The cheese was squeezed in a pile on the right 1/8th of the plate while the other 7/8th was covered with biscuits, chutneys and jams. I could live without all of them, I was only here for the cheese. The cheeses too were disappointing. There was a nice brie, but of the other three cheeses two were flavoured with stuff and one was smoked. So, the cheese flavours were largely masked. I’d expected, based on it being a Norfolk Cheese board that there would be some nice artisan cheeses which are made all over this county. But no this was cheese designed for people who wanted to avoid the cheese taste and taste other things instead. 

A pity as the rest of the meal was not just good, but excellent. 

We left Tatlers at 8.45pm and stopped for some milk, fruit and petrol at Sainsbury’s on the journey home getting back at 9.40pm and to bed by 10.30pm. A day which began with us hiding from the rain, but which was delightful at the end.