Vinyl Restaurant And Cafe

Vinyl restaurant and cafe has been open just over one month now and is located in Washington Village. Vinyl used to be known as Cellini's and has been taking over by a family (mother and son) and what a transformation they have made. The owners have revamped the building into a retro themed restaurant with crockery made of re-purpose records aswell as LP's used for flooring and decor (even in the toilets). My favourite part of the restaurant is the room upstairs where you can see the original features of the building e.g the wooden beams. Of course the LP's really do give the place that very unique look and there is nothing like Vinyl in Washington Village.

Since Vinyl has opened, I have been a number of times for breakfast, lunch and EVEN a takeout. YES takeout, my boyfriend was very surprised when I suggested getting a takeout from Vinyl as not many people are aware this is available. We ended up ordering a Carnivore and Bolognese pizza with a side of chips. We went to collect the takeout and it was ready within 10 minutes. It was DELICIOUS and a much better opinion than ordering from a local takeaway or even Dominos for SUREEEEEE!! Actually it was definitely the warmest takeaway pizza I've had in a long time and didn't make me feel all greasy (you know the feeling).

Now back to the restaurant, the downstairs part is a very relaxed set up where I enjoy sitting having breakfast. The breakfast menu is very reasonable and everything is under £6.25. My personal favourites are the Fried Hash with Sausage or the Eggs Benedict. The eggs are always cooked to perfection, I'm such an egg lover so I'm very hard to please when it comes to eggs. 

I have sat in the upstairs part of the restaurant for lunch and as mentioned before I adore how the owners have kept the original features of the building, it really given the room some character. Myself and my friends browsed the menu and decided to share the 'Antipasto Board' and 'Garlic Flatbread'. The antipasto board entailed of Italian meats, mozzarella, goats cheese, pickles and toasted breads. We shared this between 5 of us and it was a perfect amount for something light and YUM to get our taste buds going for our mains. 

For main I went for the Margerita pizza with some extra goat cheese...can we take moment for the pizza cutter....HOW COOL! One of my friends went for the Carbonara pasta (see the picture) and if I'm honest, I can't remember and didn't take photos of my other friends food but I do remember that there wasn't even a crumb left on everyone's plate. One of my friends even said "I could eat that all over again!". Can't get any better than that can you? 

The serves at Vinyl has always been very friendly, attentive and helpful. The food is always delicious, the portions size is generous and it is very good value for money. I am yet to try the restaurant on an evening but if the serve during the day is anything to go by, I'm sure it will be just as enjoyable. I think the next time I visit, I will try and order something other than pizza. The PIZZAS are just so dam GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

Come follow me on Instagram @annalouiseloves to find out! 

As I am writing this blog post, Vinyl have just uploaded a picture onto their Facebook of a very famous picture of the Beatles walking on the zebra crossing. The picture has been hand painted on one of their walls in the restaurant and I've got to admit..it looks FAB! If these pizza/breakfast pictures don't excite you, maybe the art work or homemade cakes will? 

Vinyl is very close to 'The Green' which I have also reviewed on my blog. Click HERE to read. 

Hope you've enjoyed reading all about Vinyl.

lots of love

A x

Thaikhun Metrocentre: Launch Event

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Hello my beautiful readers. I hope you're all well and had a lovely Easter weekend. I'm still on my Easter holiday and currently loving life spending time with my friends and boyfriend. Click HERE to follow me on Instagram to see what I've been up to. 

Today's post is all about Metrocentre's newest restaurant Thaikhun.  The Metrocentre have recently upped their game in terms of eateries as they have recently opened Barburrito, TGI Friday and Byron in the Yellow Mail. Five Guys is still yet to open on 4th April which I've got to admit, I'm looking forward to as it's the first one in the North East and I've heard AMAZING review on the place. 

I was invited along to Thaikhun VIP launch event at the Metrocentre Gateshead, to try out the food ahead of their official opening day (31st of March) with a plus one.  I have to admit I was rather excited when receiving the email as I love a good Thai Green curry. Thaikhun is already located in 6 different cities (Manchester, Aberdeen, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow and Nottingham) however, I can't say I had ever heard of the restaurant before so this added to the excitement of their invite. 

         

Thaikhun aims to transport diners to the streets of Thailand with their unique layout and authentic decor. We were seated in the back alley surrounded by clothes hanging on a washing line, distressed Thai posters and air conditioning units. Honestly sounds strange but it looks amazing and gives off a great atmosphere!

Thaikhun offers a range of starters, we sampled the 'Sukummt 38 Platter' which entailed of chicken spring rolls, fish cakes, salt and pepper squid and honey pork. Everything was full of flavour and we didn't leave a thing. I even enjoyed the squid which, is a surprising as I'm not a fishy lover at all. The salt and pepper seasoning however was beyond YUM!

Whilst waiting for our main course we were given some of their prawn crackers and sweet chilli dip to try. The prawn crackers did have a slight kick to them but nothing too hot! Honestly, I'm a wimp when it comes to hot food and I could handle them. They're definitely worth a try for something to snack on or to eat alongside your main meal. 

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Thaikhun food menu offers a delectable array of over 50 dishes which include classics such as; Thai curries, stir fries, soups and salads, rice and noodles along with a grilled section. To keep in with their street food concept, Thaikhun offer that takeout service which also entails of over 30 dishes, enabling you to enjoy their food in a location of your choice. 

We were giving 4 dishes to try alongside some Jasmine Rice. I was drawn to Thai Green Chicken Curry straight away as it is a favourite dish of mine! It did not disappoint, it was DELICIOUS and I would highly recommend ordering if you like a good old Thai green curry. 

We were also given a Chicken Salad but we weren't very keen, to be honest we aren't salad lovers so that might have had alot to do with it. If you are however, the salad did have a slight kick to it so if you like hot food this could be for you. 

James's favourite dish was the Pad Thai Gai with King Prawns, as I mentioned before I'm not a fishy lover so I give this one a miss but he LOVED IT. You got around 5/6 large prawns and he couldn't get them in his mouth fast enough. The prawns came with noodles in a sweet and sour tamarind sauce which I did try and they were so tasty.

My favourite dish out of the 4 has got to be the Moo Prik Ging which was the Belly Pork in a Red Curry Sauce with Al Dente Green Beans. I can't stress enough how nice this dish was. I would have never thought about ordering this dish but I would highly recommend, it was well cooked and the sauce was YUM! 

Overall, our experience at Thaikhun was outstanding. The atmosphere was so relaxed and the serve was so friendly and welcoming. The North East have eventually upped their game and created somewhere unique to dine. YEYYYY!! After exploring their menu, I am dying to return and try the Thai Red Duck Curry aswell as their cool cocktail menu. 

To check out their full menu click HERE and if you do happen to pop in and have a try for yourself do let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear from you.

Lots of love

A x 

The Herb Garden: Foodie Review

I have been wanting to go to this restaurant for a while now as I was recommended by a friend a while back. Today I FINALLY got the opportunity. I have to say I don't normally go out on a Sunday I'm normally tucked in bed watching crap TV or hungover (the best Sundays right?). However, my boyfriend has just moved away to work so on the weekend when he comes home we are making the most of our time together!

This morning when I woke up all I could think about was FOOD and where we could go for breaky/brunch. I had two places in mind 'The Herb Garden' and 'Butterfly Cabinet'.  I thought I would let James decided as I had already been to the 'Butterfly Cabinet' but he hasn't. He went for 'Butterfly Cabinet' soooo off we went, as we drove passed looking for a car park space and there was a MASSIVE queve outside. We decided to go to the 'Herb Garden' instead because we didn't want to wait outside in the cold! To be honest I'm quite glad now as I wouldn't have had this Herb Garden experience and secretly I wanted to go here anyways. WINNER!

Anyways enough of my life story! First of all the location. The Herb Garden restaurant is in centre of Newcastle just along from Central Station about a 2 minute walk, if that. It has a horses head poking out of the entrance so really you can't miss it. If you're wondering why the horse has bandages around its face its because some silly person punch it on 'Derby Day' last weekend and cracked his face..I mean how sad! It seems that 'The Herb Garden' has make light of it anyways which is good! Poor Herbie eh?

Myself and my boyfriend just walked straight into the restaurant and we were greeting by a very friendly man called Lewis who took us to our seats. My first impressions of the restaurant were definitely inviting and welcoming. When sitting down I couldn't help but look at the modern/urban decor! We were sitting under loads of lanterns..how CUTE. Also to the right of us we could see herbs growing.. I mean what a cool eating experience! I loved it so much that I had to take a picture of the view and of course Instagram it!

We were served straight away for drinks and as we were looking through the menu myself and my boyfriend passed comment on the fact we thought it was really well priced. After receiving our drinks (Red Wine and Apple and Raspberry soft drink) we couldn't wait to explore the food menu. There were salads and wraps but we knew it was a pizza we were going to go for as we had heard so many good comments about them. Not only did you have a great number of pizza to choice from you could also select from the special menu. The special menu had a select of pizza with beef, fillet steak etc on.

After alot of debating we finally decided.For starters we went for the trio of dips with peppers, carrots, cucumber and celery. Iv gotta admit we didn't eat the celery but it wasn't because it was disgusting we just both don't like it. The three dips you can see if the picture were hummus, mint and beetrot! The HUMMUS was my FAV <3

Now for the MAIN. I decided to go for no.9 pizza which was the parma ham, pepperoni, mozzarella, onion, bresaola, peppers and basil. For James he had no.10 which was chorizo, mixed peppers,mozzarella and oregano. All pizza are made from scratch so if we wanted to take anything off or add anything extra that would of been fine but we didn't, we just rolled with it. We didn't wait long at all for our food and we were served very professionally by the same man that greeted us at the door. Iv got to admit there was hardly anyone in as it was early afternoon but I'm sure when we return the serve will be just the same. Anyways the PIZZZZZAS were AMAZING! I don't think we really spoke to each other whilst eating them we couldn't get each slice in fast enough. There was also chilli oil on the table so James added a bit of extra SPICY to his pizza and love it.He said it wasn't too spicy just enough! I mean check out the pictures how UNREAL do they look!?! 

So although we both LOVED every bite of our pizza we both decided we wanted to check out the dessert menu so we left a little bit of pizza each and the staff asked if we would like it take it home! Of course we said 'YES' and of course it wasn't just in tin foil it was in their very own pizza box! CLASSY!

YES before you say we went all out. Three courses was a MUST. The staff members advised us to try the 'Creme Bruiee' but we decided to go for the 'Scrumptious Ice Cream' and get every scoop! WHOOPS! I'm just such a sucker for ice-cream especially chocolate! When it arrived I was so excited to tuck in and try the chocolate orange and I was not disappoint, we literally scrapped the jars and it literally was SCRUMPTIOUS! Next time I will definitely try the 'Creme Bruiee' or if you go anytime soon and have a try please let me know what you think. 

So there you have it my 'Herb Garden' experience! In total the meal came to £42.70 which I think is very reasonable for the amount we got, the excellent serve, the taste and of course the venue. I will definitely be visiting this pizza restaurant again and if you're visit and just looking for somewhere different to go I would definitely recommend this place if you're a pizza LOVERRRRRR like me and James. 

Wheres your favourite restaurant in Newcastle?

Have you been to 'Herb Gardens' before? 

Whats your favourite on the menu?

Let me know by commenting below

Lots of love

A x