local eats :: the purple pig

A couple of weeks ago, O came home from work raving about a burger joint that his colleague had recommended and surprisingly, it was pretty nearby! Usually we have to go mooching into the city for a decent burger, so we were pretty excited to give The Purple Pig a try. They have restaurants in both Yarm and Middlesbrough, but Yarm being closest, we hopped in the car and off we went!
I loved the style of the restaurant, it felt like we were in the city, rather than the little town of Yarm. The communal seating wasn't great, but luckily it was really quiet when we went in, so we had the whole bench to ourselves.

First port of call of course...cocktails! O was driving so he ordered one of the milkshakes, but the blender was broken (he was gutted at this!), so he went with a coke. I chose a PIG Mistake...HUGE cocktail (typical Scot) which had gin, fresh lemon juice, sugar, apple juice, elderflower cordial, grapes and mint. Oh my days, it was so so good! Everyone loves a cocktail in a jam jar and it came complete with a glow stick! I even ate the grapes!

There's plenty to choose from on the menu and after about 10 minutes of changing my mind, I went for their namesake burger The Purple Pig, which came with a double beef patty, bacon, sugary onions, BBQ sauce, baconnaise, purple slaw and piggy smalls. O went for The Notorious P.I.G., which came with a triple beef patty, pulled pork, flat iron, shrooms, Purple Pig mustard mayo, jack cheese and strings. I'm seriously drooling whilst typing this! We also ordered a couple of sides to go along with our burgers (fatties), the Bad Boy fries (a mixtures of normal and sweet potato fries) and deep fried gherkins.

We were actually pleasantly surprised with the burgers. They didn't look awesome, but they tasted amazing! The beef patties were so well cooked and the fries with baconnaise were pretty standard. The pickled gherkins were a bit strange, but none-the-less quite tasty. For some reason I was expecting sliced gherkins not these little cornichons! The blue cheese dip was tasty, but could do with being a little thicker. Overall, we were pretty impressed with the Purple Pig. The staff were really attentive and the food was drool-worthy! It's not the best burger I've ever had, but having this place just down the road means that we will definitely be back!

 

 

local eats :: pleased to meet you!

I don't know about you, but I love me a good gin bar. I'm actually half way through writing a post where I declare my love for said gin. So, when O and I decided to go to Newcastle for the afternoon, I knew exactly where we were headed. Pleased To Meet You is nestled on a little side street called High Bridge and looks pretty unassuming from the outside. Inside, however, it's glorious exposed brickwork and super comfy leather benches seriously woo you.

We arrived around noon, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which meant the service was impeccable. We started off with some beers whilst we perused the HUGE menu (it's about two feet long!). O ordered a craft beer (can't remember the name) and I got a bottle of Anchor lager, which I loved. Nothing nicer than a cold beer to start off your afternoon! Their selection of craft beers is pretty epic, even O was impressed.

After much debate we decided to order the Meat Slider sharing platter with herb fries. Oh my. Firstly, those fries were to die for. Crispy on the outside and nice and fluffy on the inside. The mini burgers were so darn cute. They all had some kinda quirky flavour, not your usual run of the mill slider. We had brisket, pulled pork and salt beef to choose from, and luckily for us, they give you two of each, so no fighting over them! 

The sharing platters are just the right amount of food to line your stomach before embarking upon one of their infamous cocktails. It literally took me half an hour to choose which cocktail I wanted. The descriptions themselves leave you slightly drooling...

In the end, I went with a "Pleased To Meet You No1", which was a concoction of: Gabriel Boudier saffron gin, Yellow Chartreuse, Licor 43 and DiSaronno Amaretto. It was served ice cold with a "spray of orange blossom flower water". Hells yeah! You really need to enjoy oranges if you want to like this bad boy, which luckily, I do! It was served in a champagne saucer, which is seriously my favourite cocktail glass. I want these beauties in my wedding! I was initially planning on ordering one of their many gins, but I have a least twenty different gins at home that I can have anytime (I'm not an alcoholic, I promise! Just a collector...). 

O decided he was feeling too manly to get a cocktail, so he ordered a whisky. A Japanese Hibiki 17 year old, which was also pretty darn good. The only problem with this, is that O now wants to buy a whole bottle of it!

All in all, we pretty much fell in love with this place. Don't get me wrong, it's not the cheapest gin joint I've ever been in. But I'm a sucker for quirky places with atmosphere and PTMY definitely ticks this box for me. It covers most bases, good food, it boasts hefty whisky and gin lists, craft beer and some seriously interesting cocktail combinations. Do yourself a favour and nip into this joint for a wee dram, a slider or some lush gin. 

 

local eats :: the mockingbird deli

 

Having just moved to the area recently, we're on the look out for a new list of favourites. Favourite restaurants, coffee shops, pubs...you get the jist. In a bid to avoid anymore unpacking, we decided to drive to the local town, Yarm, for a breather. If you've never visited Yarm, let me tell you, it's one of the quaintest little towns I've ventured to. The High street is super quaint, with lots of pretty independent stores, just begging to be shopped in. But, on this particular day, food was our priority, so we wandered into The Mockingbird Deli. Boy, am I glad we did. The deli is one of these little cozy nooks, that you want to have all to yourself all damn day. They have shelves full of tasty looking morsels and don't even get me started on the cake! After much deliberation, we decided on one of the meat and cheese deli platters. I'll let this photo speak for itself....

Are you drooling whilst you're reading this? Because I'm drooling as I type! Can you see the balsamic onions?? I think these were my favourite part! Unfortunately, my phone battery died straight after this photo, so I didn't get to show you how lovely the actual deli itself is, but I'm hoping to be back there sometime soon, so I'll fix this then!

So, if you're in the Yarm area, please give the deli a visit, even just for a coffee. You won't regret it. The staff are super friendly and I think they even have a resident dog...what more could you want? You can find them on Facebook here.

Where have you eaten in the NE recently? Tell me about your tasty adventures!