People always talk about finding hidden gems, unassuming street food type places. Sadly these are a rarity in Britain, apart from those places that make it their business to ‘look’ that way. But I actually found one, on Fishponds Road in Bristol – nowhere near Clifton.

It ticks the boxes:

• Hidden – Fishponds is not trendy or fashionable and people don’t go out of their way to visit. Fishponds is a place where people live.
• Unassuming – no wanky bollocks here, it is what is says it is and does what it says it does; and it does that superbly.
• Streetfood – it serves the very heart of what you’d expect Jamaican food to be, it actually has ‘a jerk guy’, he’s the dude that makes the kick ass sauces.

Like I said, I was full of beer after watching the rugger and was heading back to play some post match Snooker and drink more beer. Obvs I needed to eat and obvs I was thinking Kebab, we all were. You don’t have to walk far to find a Kebab shop on Fishponds Road, so I thought don’t go into the first one you see, and then I found it, Mamma P’s Jamaican Food.

I love spice, I love sweet heat and prefer rice and beans to flatbread (most of the time) ergo, love Caribbean Food (and Floribbean food actually). In there….alone, not caring about peer pressure, I didn’t need my mates, I felt I was about to find something great.

The chain, Turtle Bay is pretty good actually and I love West Indian food but I just knew that Mamma P’s was gonna be different.

Their menu is varied, from sit down to take away, I was doing a take away and went for a Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans, loaded with hot sauce. It’s insane, the rice and beans were fluffy and not stodgy, the Jerk was zingy and the chicken shredded, perfect. So much so I started throwing drunken compliments at them and demanded a selfie with Mamma P.

We were lining up and they shouted out for the Jerk Guy to join us, that’s what they said, this is the Jerk Guy – I love the Jerk guy. All the staff here are so friendly, it really is a cracker.

I wish I had more photos, I don’t, so go there and take your own – but you gotta go there – say hi to Jerk Guy for me, the Jerk Legend.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

PRICE: £

Website: mamma-ps.co.uk

MENUS: Order online, but not great selection for some reason – take a look here

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 117 239 6718

The post Mamma P’s Jamaican Food | Fishponds Road, Bristol | Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

It’s getting cold, although you could be reading this when it’s warm, doesn’t matter, this recipe is well fun. The kids and their buddies will love you for this, plus it will get them eating more fruit. It’s really easy. By the way, you need to slice a watermelon so make sure you have a sharp knife – believe it or not, that’s dangerous – so don’t let the kids have it!

The post Have an indoor fruit BBQ for the kids | National Dish Fun Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

– we’re not 100% sure where this dish might originate.

I accidentally made it up, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. So in actual fact this could be a South East Asian ‘influenced’ English dish – Changlo food! You saw it here first.

Anyway, I fancied sweet and sour chicken, but wanted to add lots of chilli and forgot to buy pineapple, so used some mango I had – hence…

It’s really good – I also knocked up a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein on the side.

The post Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia…maybe appeared first on National Dish.

We went the day after it opened to the public and we could forgive any teething problems, and there were a few. We, by the way, were represented by three generations – Grampy (had stop him bringing is spikes), Daddy (me) and the two Grandchildren (girls).

The premise of Mr Mulligan’s Lost World Adventure Golf is a Johnny Weissmuller (the best Tarzan ever) meets Indiana Jones trip across 36 holes of indoor crazy golf – with a heavy aquatic leaning toward Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea . This is the second ‘Lost World Golf’ – the other is in Stevenage. There’s also Pirate Golf in Castleford, Nottingham, Milton Keynes and Woking and Dino Golf in Sidcup and Tonbridge. A little more about the golf later – National Dish is a food blog.

Ok, you’ve finished goofing around – you may or may not have the kids, you could be with work mates or chums, getting drunk. Surprisingly, you can take beers around the course with you and then when you finish, you come out next to the bar and restaurant – so you can carry on.

The setting is rather canteen like, mixtures of tables, chairs, benches – pretty modern shabby chic with those nifty light bulbs that dangle randomly from the ceiling. Sit anywhere you like – we were approached by the front of house who said we can order at the bar or he would take our order. Honestly, I don’t know if he meant the latter, because at the bar itself, he was inundated.

It might have been because its new, but he seemed to be the only person old enough to take an alcohol order and the youngsters weren’t eager to take any sort of order. Let’s assume it’s new and ordering at the bar is the norm.

The menu, I’m pleased to tell you, wasn’t too big, hopefully resulting in some quality. No marks of course for guessing what might be on it. Nothing fancy, but after the golf, you’re gonna want burgers, wings, leaves, fries – beige. The bar, well stocked, they served decent brands, such as Stowford Press cider rather than that Strongbow garbage – so grabbing a drink, a good idea.

I was able to take both the main and kids menu for a spin. Quick note, they left the food under the heating lamp for about 10 minutes, again, let’s put this down to it being new. So everything was warm and a little dry maybe, but as you can see it sitting there, it might get some peoples back up.

I had some buffalo wings, 9 to be exact, for £7.25 – that’s expensive right, it even didn’t come with fries? £6.95 and maybe I wouldn’t have noticed, but I reckon wings at £5.95 would have made me feel like I was getting the right value. How were they? They were good, not juicy fall of the bone good, but still very good. They came with two dips, made in the kitchen? Probably not, but the blue cheese was ace.

Grampy had a club sandwich, The Club Special, with fries, which were served in a cool little basket. But, as you can see, it’s all a little…sparse, even down the filling of the sandwich. He did enjoy it though, but that might have been because I was paying – all £8.75.

The kids went for a Slider (mini burger) and Tomato Pasta with Garlic bread – each comes with a drink at £5.25 – that’s a little better. I did let them wash it down with a £1.85 slush puppy each – so they were well happy.

The golf, wasn’t too bad – to be honest, having seen the coming soon signage for so long, I had built up a much better picture in my head. The art work and ‘fairy dust’, which is what I believe theme parks call the ‘make believe’ element – was superb. One of the holes has a crashed light aircraft above you – really very good.

But, the actual holes weren’t that…crazy. More like putting with a couple of bumps – where was the windmill man? If the crashed aircraft was part of the course, that would have been mega cool. As you progress, a few pipes and tubes pop up, so it does get a little more adventurous, but never CRAZY. We played on one of two courses – maybe the other was more challenging.

In summary,  we had a good time and will go back to play the other. The food, is as you would expect, but a little on the expensive side.

It’s definitely worth a visit.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £ £

WEBSITE: mrmulligan.com/cheltenham/

TELEPHONE: 01242 787940

The post What’s the food like at Mr Mulligan’s Lost World Golf, Cheltenham | Restaurant Review National Dish appeared first on National Dish.

A British favourite – homemade lemonade, Mary Berry I am sure has made a fair bit of this.

I had to post this one as I made it with the kids, they wanted to sell it in our village for and raise money for our village panto that supports a local children’s charity – The James Hopkins Trust

It’s very easy, but…it does contain a fair amount of sugar AND you’ll wanna stick gin in it…so not super healthy, fun though.

The post How do you make homemade lemonade? | National Dish of England appeared first on National Dish.

A real crowd pleaser and simple to boot – goats cheese salad with Serrano ham and peaches
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

It’s sunny and you want something fast and healthy. This is only labelled Spanish because I used Serrano ham – but you can use any dry cured med ham, such as Parma – so it’s basically a Mediterranean thing. So much more than a goats cheese salad.

The critical thing and the reason to make this, is the peach, goats cheese and the dressing – it’s sunshine on a plate and rather impressive.

Cold drinks are a must and English ‘Dry’ Cider, especially Stowford Press, cuts nicely through the honey lemon dressing and enhances the flavour of the goats cheese. Sounds total nonsense doesn’t it? Try it first…it’s skill!

The post Serrano Ham, Goats Cheese and Peach Salad | ensalada de Serrano, queso de cabra y melocotón | What is the national dish of Spain? appeared first on National Dish.

This Rocket and Parmesan Salad is so easy you should be able to make it up yourself or just look at our picture and make it from that. Failing that, we’ve written it down for you – takes minutes.

Ours is the quick version and doesn’t have pine nuts – but they are a nice addition is you would like them, just roast them in a pan and let the cool a little first.

The post Quick and Easy Rocket and Parmesan Salad, takes 5 minutes | Rucola e Parmigiano Insalata | Italian National Dish Favourite appeared first on National Dish.

Aspargus wrapped in Parma ham is clearly a side dish, one that you can put next to a lot of mains. It’s very easy, tastes good and even look fun. What’s not to like? It’s asparagus wrapped in bacon for fuck sake and anything wrapped in bacon is a thing to behold, uhhhhh

I eat bacon as a condiment!

The post Asparagus wrapped in Parma ham | espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy? appeared first on National Dish.

The original carb heavy dish originated in Mexico, but was cooked for Americans, who had visited a restaurant just across the border. The restaurant was closing and had few ingredients, so they made a nacho, cheese and jalapeño snack and the rest is history.

This version, with cauliflower, adds a few more flavours, is equally as social, tasty as hell and way healthier.

The post Mexican Cauliflower Nacho Mountain | Coliflor Nacho Montaña | What is the national dish of Mexico? appeared first on National Dish.

Sinangag is a very common side dish which interestingly is served always with dry meats, rather than a curry style sauce. So, how do you make Sinangag? This recipe is the cauliflower rice version and do you know what, you can eat this as a main no problem, and the eggs served this way make it great fun.

The post Filipino Garlic Fried Rice | How do you make Sinangag? | What is the national dish of the Philippines? appeared first on National Dish.