[Restaurant Review] Roast Dinner at Toby Carvery

Roast dinners and English food are getting scarce these days so the ones that still do it can get quite busy.
At Toby Carvery, they serve the carvery every day but Sunday is the best day to go as all five roast meats are available.

As it can be very busy on Sundays, it really depends on luck as well because the Yorkshire Puddings run out fast and the lines for roast are long.

Although the Yorkshire puddings are refilled, they do take time and the second batch that we saw were not as good as the first as they had not risen.

The roast meat is also like that because it gets dry the longer it sits there.

The location also matters because the quality looks different at different Toby Carvery branches.

Went to the South Croydon branch because the roast and sides looked fab.

To be honest, I was lucky everything was spot on when it was my turn so definitely top marks.

On my plate was Gammon, Roast Beef, Roast Roast Lamb and Roast Turkey should have there but as it wasn't so I got some more on a different plate.
Sides on my plate were Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, mac & cheese, Pork Crackling and beef dripping and plain roasties from the carvery deck.

After you get the roast, the final touch is the gravy and condiments where they have Toby's Special gravy and Vegetarian gravy.

Lashing of gravy and mint sauce make it all delicious.

I was definitely satisfied with the roast especially the gammon ham which had a nice salty kick without being too dry and the turkey was soft and moist.
The best thing was the stuffing, mint sauce and gravy which just makes it complete so that's why I'd rather come on Sundays when everything is there!

The Menu:

Will also be coming back for breakfast because they have the all you can eat breakfast!

[Review] Yummy Cakes at Victoria Yum

I love cakes, but it has been difficult finding a decent cake shop.
Most of the good small bakeries have retired so you have to resort getting cakes from the supermarket which are just frozen cakes or cakes that have a long shelf life.
Some bakeries offer instaworthy cakes which lack substance but Victoria Yum appealed to me in the sense that their cakes are creative as well as delicious and not to mention instagrammable!
The shop owner is probably called Victoria hence the name Victoria Yum but I love the the classic British Victoria Sponge/Sandwich so somehow I just knew I was going to like it.

After browsing their website, the cake choices were exciting so it was hard deciding what to get.

Some of the creative ones include:
Matcha Chai with Cinnamon & Cardamom
Raspberry Rose & Pistachio
Poached Pear & Blueberry
Fresh Peach & Raspberry
Courgette, Pistachio & Lemon

I planned to go there in January but fortunately I found out they were doing some refurbishing as they were closed until Feb 2nd, 2020.
They are only open from Weds to Sat from 9am to 4pm so as soon as it was Wednesday I went to Victoria Yum.

However, when I got there, they didn't have the full collection so went back again on Saturday.

As expected, the cakes were like eye candy so it was hard to choose.
The special cake that day was Parsnip, Apple and Honey which shows her creativity with vegetables in cakes just like the courgette one.

It was a battle to decide which cake to get, I already had red velvet in mind because I wanted something basic to satisfy my simple cake craving.
As well as the red velvet the rhubarb raspberry also looked good, I liked the pink cream in the middle which should have a nice tartness from the rhubarb.

In the end I went for the Ruby Red Velvet which was a big generous slice!
Not only was it big but it had four layers so it was difficult to fit another slice in that day.

Digging in to my cake, the layers were so decadent and the silky vanilla cream cheese in the middle literally melts in your mouth.
Having tea with the tea is a must but then you always have tea with cakes.

Although I couldn't quite finish it, I was already thinking of another slice of cake.
I regretted not getting another cake to take home as it would mean looking forward to another Saturday for cakes!!!!

[Restaurant Review] All you can eat breakfast at Toby Carvery for £4.89

I love breakfast so the all you can eat breakfast for £4.89 at Toby Carvery was really captivating.
If you are having Quorn sausages, this must be ordered when you pay.

At the breakfast bar, all these items should be there.
Bacon, Pork Sausages, Free Range Fried Eggs (v), NEW Hash Browns (v), Baked Beans (v),
Plum Tomatoes (v), Handmade Potato, Bacon, Cheese & Onion Hash, Freshly Roasted Mushrooms (v), Breakfast Gravy, Breakfast Yorkshire Puddings - Our famous homemade Yorkies with roasted onion and bacon bits, Toast (v) - With a selection of jams and spreads and Quorn™ Sausages (v) - Available on request.

Got there at around 10am and it was not very busy however at the breakfast bar, certain items were not refilled until later so you have to leave room for other bits.

I was looking forward to the hash but it was in a lot of oil so were the mushrooms.
The breakfast Yorkies are different in the sense that they have bits of bacon and onion in them and the breakfast gravy has a hint of tomato in it.

Overall, I would recommended the breakfast because you can try everything for an affordable price which is unlimited but some improvements are needed.
Some of the the items were in a lot of oil and the sausages were over done.
The gravy ladle was too hot to handle as it got heated at the breakfast bar.
The tea is bottomless but again you have to wait for them to refill the tea bags.

2020 Easter supermarket finds - Easter Eggs, Crumpets, Hot Cross buns and Tea

Easter is celebrated in commemoration of Jesus being resurrected.

Easter eggs are said to represent Jesus' emergence from the tomb and resurrection hence all these chocolate Easter Eggs.

In the 1900s, there were chocolate chickens, chocolate fish etc according to the dailymail.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2607739/Chocolate-chicken-Pictures-1900s-Easter-treats-youve-never-seen-shape-shoes-fish-poultry.html

In my childhood days, it was just chocolate eggs by the regular brands like Cadbury's etc.

Since 2018, Easter eggs of all shapes and sizes began to appear like Unicorn shaped chocolate, avocado chocolate etc.

Here is a sample of what I found in 2020.
It was a mix of traditional and eye catching chocolate, but the there was a LATE COMER, Marks and Spencers came out with savoury Cheese eggs in two sizes!
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Waitrose has repeated the avocado as well as Heston's Scotch Egg:

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Marks and Spencers:

Quirky chocolate egg sarnies/sandwiches:

Egg on Toast:

Egg and Soldiers:

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Aldi:

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Morrisons:

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Tesco:

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Hot Cross buns are getting fancy this year.

I like the idea of Chocolate and Cherry from Waitrose, as well as tea infused fruits.

Marks and Spencers has chili and cheese which I would expect it to good if it tastes 100% savoury!

Hot Cross Bun flavoured tea by Sainsbury!

Last but not least crumpets which come in all shapes for every occasion.
Christmas tree shaped crumpets for Christmas, heart shaped crumpets for Valentines and Bunny shaped for Easter.

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Marks and Spencers Cheese EGGs!