Feasting at Fistral

I think it's safe to say we filled our boots on our weekend away. My excuse is that we needed the extra padding against the bracing at Atlantic winds.... or that the food was just too good to resist.

We started our Saturday morning off in true lazy holiday style...full Cornish breakfast in bed with an unbeatable view.

However, the views and food downstairs in the restaurant are just as good. There's the usual cereals and fruits, a self serve buffet of full English items and cold meats, and you can also order from the hot menu. FYI, the eggs benny are awesome.

In between breakfasts, we found a food truck called Wild Foods, and devoured an incredibly crunchy wild garlic and nettle falafel. Very filling and just enough garlic to keep the vampires away.

Of course, who visits Cornwall without one of these? Heartbroken that my favourite pasty shop was shut, (I'm hoping that it was just for the winter) but this one filled in quite nicely.

Our deal included a 3 course meal on one night at The Headland, so Saturday night we stayed safe inside from the elements with a bottle of red to keep us warm.

Golden crunchy Cornish crab fritters with a creamy curried mayonnaise, with just enough spice.

Szechuan pork and spring onions. This dish was 100% prettier in real life than in this grainy light! A light and zingy starter with spicy marinaded pork.

Braised shin of beef, with a slice of fried polenta and garlic broccoli. The beef literally fell apart as soon as I stuck the fork in, and never underestimate the power of perfectly cooked broccoli! I could jump through the screen and eat this again right now.

The venison was pinker than the picture, and just as soft. The parmesan crisps added a nice crunch, and look striking, but are a lot harder to eat as a meal than they look.

I was a little disappointed with dessert. Cornish Gouda, quince jelly and biscuits. The jelly was both sweet and a little sharp, but that cheese barely stretched to two of the generic crackers.

Especially when over the other side of the table was this huge slab of sticky toffee pudding with popcorn ice cream. Deliciously sinful. It's probably a good job I only had a little slice of cheese, as Mr P was struggling and what kind of wife would I be if I didn't help out eh?

The restaurant is open to the public too, so if you're down this way at all, pop in for a cosy meal and nose around this beautiful building.

Portobello Market

I'd planned our weekend with meticulous precision, and thought I'd organised everything. That was until the wonderful receptionist (with a wonderful name) Sara mentioned how close we were to Notting Hill, and the famous Portobello Market.

We dropped our plans for a day wandering the shopping centres, and headed on over to W11 early on Saturday morning.

Following signposts and groups of tourists until we started to spot the well known candy coloured houses and the markets started to materialise.

The first few streets of the market are full of antique shops and stalls, selling everything from old world maps, to war memorabilla. Fantastic hats and glittering jewelery at every step, and a smattering of creepy street performers.

I love looking at old, musty original books! There were some beauties to be had here.

We weaved our way in and out of the stalls, but not being able to get a very good look due to the crowds, we headed on down to the main event, food!

The stalls seemed to go on forever, and I don't think we ever did quite make it to the end. They run both sides of a street, that seems to run and flow into other streets like a river, make one long thin market gauntlet!

We discovered the stall above, upon which Mr P insisted that he had to try a 'smore crodough' - the baby of a doughnut and a croissant, apparently.

It was pretty good, I will admit. Flaky croissant pastry, but deep fried to give it that doughnut sturdiness, and of course, lashings of sugar.

However my tastes are a lot more...custardy!

The iddy biddy pastel de nata was a little mouthful of delight! A creamy cold egg tart with just the right amount of sweetness for an elevensy!

We countered this naughtiness with some fruit though, just to be on the safe side...

On and on we plodded, taking in more of the sights and sights of the busy market. It's unbelievably busy on a Saturday morning, but it's definitely worth persevering, and going as early as you can helps.

After a while, our feet got weary and it felt like we'd seen all there was to see, so we headed on into central London to do the typical touristy thing of Oxford Street and Covent Garden.

Not without picking up some lunch first, however. It took me a while strutting up and down to decide what I wanted, but the hot chorizo salad was a definite winner. Look at all that lovely orange oil!

If you're in London on a long weekend, then this one is definitely worth breaking the itinerary for!