Yamas and a coffee
No cooking tonight. It was team night out time. Last September we went to Yamas, we had a wonderful time, ordered far too much food, but were made to feel really welcome, the bill was incredibly reasonable, but generally once we've been somewhere we don't feel the need to go again, too easy to get into a rut. Our team has grown considerably since then as two teams have merged into one, we did our usual procrastinating and finally came up with Carluccio's, I was quite excited the menu sounded delicious and I've never been before, perfect, but unfortunately they couldn't fit us in, we were a little over the maximum group size they will allow, ironic really as it turned out 6 people couldn't make it and we would have been fine.
So we turned to Yamas to save the day. They were busy though, we ended up in the upstairs room. There turned out to be just 13 of us, so they poached a table for another group. Everything was bustling and hectic and very noisy, the large groups and the upstairs acoustics meant it was difficult to hear the waiters and waitresses let alone each other, not very conducive for interacting with your new team mates.
We had a big order which we had placed the day before and bar a couple of hiccups the staff were pretty efficient at getting it all out, even if we weren't that good at remembering what we had ordered.
I had ordered kalamari for my starter, it's not subtle, they serve it in thick rings with a dense crunchy batter, it not as soft as I've had in other places, but it has a unique taste and texture that I like. There was a long list of starters on the table and I tried to sample just a little of each thing on offer, tart garlicky tatziki, smooth garlicky hummus with soft warm pittas, a gorgeous salad of couscous with coriander, mint and my favourite of the dips Patzarosalata cubed beetroot in a yoghurt and garlic dressing. (I tried to recreate this at home after my last visit without much success). There was a platter with tasty slices of pork loin, slithers of chorizo, mozzarella, halloumi and some beautiful little green peppers, with a tinge of heat filled with cream cheese. Succulent little prawns with lemon and herbs, fresh white cubes of herbed feta. They were the things I managed, I didn't get to the dolmades and garlic mushrooms, spanakopitta - little filo parcels of spinach and feta. I did manage a handful of the delightful tiny black olives, I can honestly say now if I stick to just a few, I do like olives - so my dad was right you can make yourself like them...it's only taken 44 years!
There was a little pause before our mains, they changed our plates and cutlery. We sipped Italian Red and White and jugs of ice cold water.
For my main I had ordered lamb tagine, it came in a perfect little casserole dish in a tapa / racion sized portion and I had it served with a lovely round earthenware dish of saffron rice. I really enjoyed it, meltingly soft lamb chunks in a rich, mildly spicy gravy enriched with sweet dried apricots. I really didn't have room for much else, but I was surrounded by interesting pots filled with mousaka, tender kebabs, the most enormous portion of stuffed peppers, whitebait, fried chorizo with sweet red peppers, chunky hand made chips, patatas bravas, coriander potatoes the list goes on. We did a good job of eating it all and they were very obliging in wrapping up the left overs and putting them in takeaway dishes.
All in all a lovely meal, but the atmosphere was not relaxing today, so I think I will stick to midweek evenings or lunchtimes for the more laid back experience I have previously had.
One thing I missed out on was coffee, so as soon as I got home I brewed a small cup of Nescafé Expresso. On my 40th I treated myself to a Philips Senseo Coffee Machine as I love coffee so much, it was OK to start with but got fiddly and leaked, I had to order the coffee from the Netherlands, I discovered it had a recall as it might explode at any moment...and then I discovered instant espresso, Nescafé being the favoured one but Carte Noir do a good alternative. Don't get me wrong I would much prefer a little dark cup of Illy or Lavazza from a good quality coffee machine but for at home I think I will stick with these new instants they are far superior to what the Senseo achieves.
It's very late now and I have a big weekend ahead which I'm sure I will tell you all about. Sorry there are no photos of the food....photos went right out of my mind once I started eating - guess I will just have to visit again o show you rather than tell you what it's like!
So we turned to Yamas to save the day. They were busy though, we ended up in the upstairs room. There turned out to be just 13 of us, so they poached a table for another group. Everything was bustling and hectic and very noisy, the large groups and the upstairs acoustics meant it was difficult to hear the waiters and waitresses let alone each other, not very conducive for interacting with your new team mates.
We had a big order which we had placed the day before and bar a couple of hiccups the staff were pretty efficient at getting it all out, even if we weren't that good at remembering what we had ordered.
I had ordered kalamari for my starter, it's not subtle, they serve it in thick rings with a dense crunchy batter, it not as soft as I've had in other places, but it has a unique taste and texture that I like. There was a long list of starters on the table and I tried to sample just a little of each thing on offer, tart garlicky tatziki, smooth garlicky hummus with soft warm pittas, a gorgeous salad of couscous with coriander, mint and my favourite of the dips Patzarosalata cubed beetroot in a yoghurt and garlic dressing. (I tried to recreate this at home after my last visit without much success). There was a platter with tasty slices of pork loin, slithers of chorizo, mozzarella, halloumi and some beautiful little green peppers, with a tinge of heat filled with cream cheese. Succulent little prawns with lemon and herbs, fresh white cubes of herbed feta. They were the things I managed, I didn't get to the dolmades and garlic mushrooms, spanakopitta - little filo parcels of spinach and feta. I did manage a handful of the delightful tiny black olives, I can honestly say now if I stick to just a few, I do like olives - so my dad was right you can make yourself like them...it's only taken 44 years!
There was a little pause before our mains, they changed our plates and cutlery. We sipped Italian Red and White and jugs of ice cold water.
For my main I had ordered lamb tagine, it came in a perfect little casserole dish in a tapa / racion sized portion and I had it served with a lovely round earthenware dish of saffron rice. I really enjoyed it, meltingly soft lamb chunks in a rich, mildly spicy gravy enriched with sweet dried apricots. I really didn't have room for much else, but I was surrounded by interesting pots filled with mousaka, tender kebabs, the most enormous portion of stuffed peppers, whitebait, fried chorizo with sweet red peppers, chunky hand made chips, patatas bravas, coriander potatoes the list goes on. We did a good job of eating it all and they were very obliging in wrapping up the left overs and putting them in takeaway dishes.
All in all a lovely meal, but the atmosphere was not relaxing today, so I think I will stick to midweek evenings or lunchtimes for the more laid back experience I have previously had.
One thing I missed out on was coffee, so as soon as I got home I brewed a small cup of Nescafé Expresso. On my 40th I treated myself to a Philips Senseo Coffee Machine as I love coffee so much, it was OK to start with but got fiddly and leaked, I had to order the coffee from the Netherlands, I discovered it had a recall as it might explode at any moment...and then I discovered instant espresso, Nescafé being the favoured one but Carte Noir do a good alternative. Don't get me wrong I would much prefer a little dark cup of Illy or Lavazza from a good quality coffee machine but for at home I think I will stick with these new instants they are far superior to what the Senseo achieves.
It's very late now and I have a big weekend ahead which I'm sure I will tell you all about. Sorry there are no photos of the food....photos went right out of my mind once I started eating - guess I will just have to visit again o show you rather than tell you what it's like!
Surprised you could walk after that feast,am still dribbling, i have tried to visualise it all laid on the table in order to appreciate the various flavours.
ReplyDeleteI really fancied all of it, Lamb Tagine is my fav. Was it tapas or Metsos, all those little bits. Didn't know if you were doing Spanish or Turkish?
ReplyDelete