Cocktail Masterclass - All Bar One Norwich*

I was recently invited along to All Bar One in Norwich for an Exclusive Blogger Cocktail Masterclass which I was really excited about attending. All Bar One is located on Tombland in Norwich and is the perfect place to start your night out. It has recently reopened after being renovated from fire damage and it’s better than ever before. When I arrived I was surprised to see that no other bloggers had turned up, I checked twitter and saw that Hannah was on her way and I was pleased it wasn’t just going to be me! Hannah then arrived and the manager said we were waiting for 6 more bloggers, despite it already being 20 minutes after the start time. The manager then decided to wait until 7 to start the event and apologised by means of a glass of bubbly for us both – we were happy. No one else arrived in the end which I think was quite rude as they hadn’t called to cancel or anything. All Bar One had set the table up for 8 of us and I did feel bad no one had bothered showing up, I am sure there were plenty of Norwich bloggers who would have loved to attend so we were both a bit disappointed.

We sat at our table and got ourselves comfortable and started on the nibbles that had been laid out. We met Sam who was taking the masterclass. He was very knowledgeable about the cocktails we were making and knew all of the recipes off by heart. He also answered any questions we had along the way. We got to make 3 cocktails, and of course drink them! As no one else had turned up we got a more personal experience and me and Hannah got a chance to use the proper Boston Glass and Shaker which is usually just used by the host!

The first cocktail we made was a Cosmopolitan which tasted the strongest of the three, but I still had no problem in knocking it back! Firstly we filled our glasses with ice to chill them then added 50ml of cranberry juice and 12.5ml of lime juice. Sam told us that by adding the fruit juice first, at least if you mess the cocktail up then you haven’t wasted any alcohol and can start again! We then added 12.5ml of Cointreau which has a very orangey taste, then we added 37.5ml of Absolut Citron Vodka, added ice and then it was time to shake! Sam taught us how to correctly place the shaker onto the glass, how to hold it and then how to remove it at the end. We had great fun doing this but it was hard work! We then double strained the drink into the glass and added garnish of orange peel and straws. This cocktail was very fruity and you could really taste the vodka. After just half a glass I already started to feel a bit woozy!

We then made a Strawberry Daiquiri which was my favourite of the three we made. This cocktail consisted of 12.5ml of lime juice, 12.5ml sugar syrup, 50ml strawberry puree and 50ml of Bacardi rum. Once again we then mixed this up in the shaker and double strained it to get rid of any excess crushed ice. Sam told us they do a skinny version of the sugar syrup (the calories were a bit shocking!) and skinny versions of some of the cocktails were also available. This cocktail didn’t taste alcoholic and went down far too easily. We garnished this with half a strawberry pressed onto the side of the glass. Things were definitely getting more blurry at this point and despite there only being 2 of us we had a really good laugh!

Lastly we made a Sun Rise which had the most components to it. When we were adding the ingredients, I didn’t think I was going to like it but it was absolutely delicious! This cocktail was served in what I can only describe as a noodle pot, which after 3 drinks me and Hannah found hilarious. This cocktail consisted of 12.5ml of lemon juice, 12.5ml of Bottlegreen Ginger And Lemon Grass drink, 50ml mango juice, 50ml Riesling white wine and 50ml Opihr Spiced Gin. Hannah did mention it smelled a bit like a curry – but it didn’t taste this way thankfully! The mixture of all of these flavours combined really well and we really enjoyed it. This one was served with plenty of ice too.

As there was only two of us, we had the added bonus of sampling Sam’s Creamy Christmas Martini he has designed for Christmas. I can’t remember exactly what went in it but it was absolutely delicious and considering it contained the most alcohol of all of the drinks we tried, it didn’t taste that way! We did suggest he add Holly and Candy Canes to garnish this so watch this space haha! Overall I had a really nice time at All Bar One and really enjoyed the cocktail making experience. I would love to return again with a group of friends. Would you attend something like this?

*I attended this masterclass free of charge. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Cosmo Norwich - Restaurant Review

I recently had a chance to visit a new restaurant to Norwich called Cosmo which I believe is a chain restaurant. Having walked past multiple times and seen the massive queue,  I couldn’t wait to try it out. We had a voucher for 2 meals for £14 which was ideal and luckily we were able to book a table just before the vouchers ran out despite the restaurant being fully booked the week we wanted to go.
I went in with no expectations, I had dreams of Cosmo being like Golden Corrall in America. If you’ve been to a Corrall then you’ll know what I mean, cheap and cheerful with every dish you can think of and a damn tasty range of foods to suit all appetites.



I had by this point seen some pretty bad photos of how they store their fresh food in with the rotting leftovers, and their vegetables on top of corrosive products. This came from a reliable source but I didn't let it put me off. This sort of thing probably happens a lot more often than we like to let ourselves think and having a pretty hardened stomach to this sort of thing I put those thoughts aside.

We were booked in for 7pm. I was suitably hungry by this point. We walked in the front entrance and we were greeted with a luxurious lobby area with escalators to take you up to the restaurant. It was packed! There was nearly a 2 hour wait and people were actually waiting! We were slightly early and the girl behind the desk told us to 'go away' for a bit. She seemed a bit flustered with the amount of people around. We came back 10 minutes later and she told us she had crossed our name off the list. I could see my mum's blood starting to boil. We then realised she was looking at the wrong page, found our booking and had given our table away. Fuming was an understatement. Eventually we got seated after some staff upstairs shuffled some tables about but it was all a complete mess.

The staff seemed rushed off their feet. I'll put this down to teething problems and the fact it was so busy but no one really knew what they were doing.

The range of food was varied, but mostly Asian inspired but there was also a carvery and plenty of dishes for fussy eaters such as chicken nuggets and chips. You could also have different meats and fish cooked fresh for you. My boyfriend went and had some squid cooked which he said was lovely. I lost track of what I tried as I was in a food induced haze. I went up 4 times in total with no order to what I stacked on my plate. Some of my favourite foods were the chicken korma, the sweet and sour chicken and the chips which is pretty standard and you can't really go wrong.

We ordered bottomless drinks, they brought us over empty glasses and we just refilled them whenever we wanted at the drinks machines.

 
The dessert selection was small, but you didn’t need a lot by that point! The chocolate fountain was the highlight for me, I just wish there was more things to dip in it other than marshmallows. The food was all kept well stocked up, I didn’t see any empty trays.

We only had two vouchers between 6 of us and our waiter very kindly let us have a 3rd one so we got discount on everyone which made up for all the stress at the beginning of the evening.

Overall, nothing beats the Corrall, it's just not possible, but I enjoyed my food. I'd love to go back and try the lunch time menu. Have you been to a Cosmo?