Milan Restaurant

Salmon Tagliatelle

A wander round town in search of dinner for under a tenner revealed very few choices. Not more than a hundred yards from where all of the students live in the Polygon, I stumbled upon a small Italian restaurant with a slightly garish exterior but neatly finished and surprisingly welcoming interior.

I was greeted by a very enthusiastic Italian restaurateur who managed to squeeze us in to what was a completely deserted room with about fifty covers. This was slightly unnerving as it was just after seven on a Friday night but we persevered.

After a quick scan of the menu, I found a substantial number of dishes in my price bracket. I was starving so I was very grateful when a complimentary bread roll and delicious olives were placed in front of me. Sadly, the bread was a tad dry and could have benefited from a few minutes warming in the oven.

I was not waiting long (although, the noisy drinks fridge was starting to bug me) before my Salmon Tagliatelle arrived before me. I very much enjoyed the first half of the meal before the richness of the cream sauce overwhelmed my palate and I became very full, very quickly and struggled to finish.

My total bill came to £13 which included a bottle of Peroni at £3 which I was very satisfied with seeing as most of the other restaurants along Southampton’s main street would have cost substantially more.

• Food: 6.5/10
• Service: 6.5/10
• Atmosphere: 5.5/10
• Value: 8/10
• Overall: 6.6/10

Have you eaten at the Milan Restaurant? Tweet us your experience @FongtasticFood

Are Dog-Friendly Restaurants Going A Step Too Far?

The Bluebird Restaurant in London has announced that it will be launching a brand new dog-friendly menu as part of it’s ‘VIP Bites and Bones’ event, promising to deliver a whole range of “doggie cocktails, canapés and goodie bags”.

The Bluebird is not the only restaurant seeking to expand its market by catering to the needs of a more hairier clientèle. The Rivington Shoreditch restaurant in east London will be celebrating the Queen’s birthday by rewarding those who show up for lunch with a corgi with a free bottle of prosecco.

George, a members’ club in the capital, held a special party to launch their new dog menu last month. Model, Yasmin Le Bon, and shoe designer, Patrick Cox, brought their pets to be the first to try the canine cuisine, the proceeds from which went to the Dog’s Trust.

These events reflect one of today’s most popular trends, where owners are spending thousands of pounds spoiling and indulging their most-loved pets. But what do diners in Southampton think about the prospect of eating across from a Dalmation sipping on a Long Island Ice Tea?

How do you feel about dining alongside dogs? Tweet your opinions @FongtasticFood

Tate & Lyle Unveil Cake Hotel

A hand-stitched rug made of meringues.

A team of 14 cake-makers has spent almost 3,000 hours baking and decorating over 100 pieces of edible art to fill a three-storey luxury hotel in Central London.

The edible project has been set up to promote a new line of Tate & Lyle Sugars, inspired by regions from around the world. Over 600 kilograms of this sugar was then used to reflect each different region across eight separate rooms.

A pirate room contains a giant treasure chest filled with edible pearls and gold coins.

The eight tasting rooms include (from press release):

• A Mediterranean-inspired bedroom, with edible furnishings, a caramel popcorn-filled bathtub, floating meringues and edible pearlescent popcorn bunting, all created using Light Soft Brown sugar.
• A Pirates of the Caribbean room, with a giant treasure chest full of edible pearls, ginger spiced doubloons and cutlasses, which visitors can spray gold themselves, and rum and raisin chocolate brownies and tea cakes – all made from Taste Experience Caribbean-inspired Light Muscovado sugar.
• A British-inspired Golden syrup sugar room, with a giant golden-syrup lion, patriotic treacle tarts in the shape of the British Isles and a giant tower of doughnuts.
• A Mayan-inspired room hidden in the cellar featuring a Mayan fudge temple, complete with floating meringue ‘clouds’, ‘sacrificial’ salted caramel and chocolate hearts, and Mayan-inspired carved gold cookies all made from Taste Experience Mayan-inspired golden caster sugar.
• A Mississippi-inspired ‘Mardi Gras’ room featuring a five foot long rainbow cake in the traditional colours of green, yellow & purple, gold baby heads and of course King Cakes.
• A Barbados-inspired library, with edible shells, and beautiful hand-painted cookies, fruit cakes and florentines showcased as museum features inside vintage glass jars, all made from Barbados inspired Dark Muscovado sugar.
• A Guyanese-inspired room, complete with a sea turtle cake, and cake ‘turtle eggs’ buried in mounds of Demerara sugar.
• A South Pacific-inspired room with a huge two metre high Easter Island statue, made entirely from chocolate mud cake baked using Golden Granulated sugar.

Giant edible sculptures include a 2-metre long vanilla sponge turtle cake.

In the Barbados-inspired library, edible shells line the shelves.

James Whiteley, Tate & Lyle Sugars Senior Brand Manager said: “We think the cake hotel perfectly captures the excitement, inspiration and expertise behind the creation of our new range of golden and brown cane sugars. The Taste Experience range is about more than just adding sweetness; it’s about subtle flavour differences, texture and appearance. We hope that through the cake hotel we can showcase the versatility of golden and brown cane sugars and inspire people to get creative in the kitchen.”

The Soho-based hotel is open from now until Wednesday, March 27. For bookings, tweet @welovebaking saying why you want to stay over in the first cake hotel, including the hash-tag ‘#TastingHouse‘.

For more information, please contact Mischief PR at Tate&Lyle@MischiefPR.com