Giraffe World Kitchen Norwich Review*

As you all know by now, I do love my food and I love trying out new places. I was recently invited to try out Giraffe World Kitchen in Norwich which has recently been re branded. I couldn’t wait to see the new look, I hadn’t been to Giraffe for a long time so a visit was long overdue. For those who are local, Giraffe World Kitchen is right outside Chapelfield Shopping Centre, located near to the other eateries. We arrived at 7pm for dinner and were greeted by two smiling members of staff. I took James with me to help with any photos and it made a good excuse for a date night as well.

As soon as I walked in I noticed the changes in décor. The restaurant is really bright and colourful and I love the pops of yellow that they have all over the walls. It was bright and had a fresh feeling to it. The tables were laid out nicely. We were seated in a booth and I quite liked that we felt a bit tucked away from the rest of the restaurant. You could also sit outside if you wanted to. The atmosphere was great, music was playing and people were chatting. I thought it had a really nice vibe. The staff were really friendly and couldn’t do enough for you. As soon as my drink was getting low, the waitress came over and offered me another one which was great.

Speaking of drinks, I had a couple of Mocktails called ‘Wavebreakers’ which was a blend of pineapple and coconut and oh my, they were amazing. I think when I took my first sip I said “this tastes like summer in a cup” and that is the only way I can really describe it. So fruity and refreshing, I want to recreate these at home! James had Franklin & Sons sparkling Apple & Rhubarb drink which he really liked too, it had a hint of cinnamon which he said gave a nice kick to it.

There were a few different starters to choose from including World Tapas so that you could taste your way around the world by sharing a few small plates. There were also a range of super starters. We decided to go for 3 tapas starters which cost £14.95 which we then shared between us. First up we had the shredded chicken tacos which came topped with guacamole, sour creme, and chipotle. They had a lovely kick to them and were very filling. Secondly we chose the salt and pepper squid which came with a delicious sweet chilli jam. The final starter we had (and my personal favourite!) was the karaage chicken. This chicken was served with a honey and soy dip and was really tasty. The starters were a good size, there was also the option to have five for  £24.95 but I think this would have been a bit too much since we were having three courses.

I had trouble choosing a main course as there were so many delicious tempting options, I just didn’t know where to begin! With dishes from around the world you could go for Enchiladas, Burgers, Vietnamese Steamboat or even a Texan BBQ Brisket. I decided in the end to try out the Turkish Pide topped with grilled chicken, baby spinach, feta and roasted red pepper and chilli on a spiced tomato base with charred Turkish peppers. This dish was amazing and the toppings were well spread across the dish and were plentiful. James went for the Vietnamese Steamboat which consisted of honey and soy glazed sea bream sprinkled with sesame seeds, in a broth of bok choy, red chillies, sugar snaps and cherry tomatoes. From a traditional Dzao recipe. He said it had a nice array of vegetables to it and felt like a pretty healthy option. He said the Sea Bream was cooked to perfection.

We couldn’t leave without trying dessert. The waitress recommended the Hot Chocolate Brownie and the Eton Mess so we decided to go with them. The Hot Chocolate Brownie was served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and some hot chocolate sauce. It was absolutely amazing. When it came out, I thought it was a bit small however you didn’t need any more as it was so rich and delicious. My only complaint is that as it was served on a plate it was hard to scrape every last morsel off, whereas in a bowl I may have been able to get every drop of sauce, but maybe that is just me being greedy. James had the Eton Mess Sundae. He struggled to finish it all as it was a decent sized portion and he thought it was a little bit sickly after a while. This didn’t bother me as it meant I could ‘help’ him finish it. It was very sweet. The meringues were crunchy and delicious, it could have done with a bit of ice cream to take away the sweet flavour of the cream and sauce but between us we polished it off.

Overall we had a really enjoyable meal at Giraffe World Kitchen. The staff were great, food was amazing and there was a lovely atmosphere. What would you have picked from the menu?

*I received this meal free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Zaks - Norwich Waterside Review

Before I start this post, I have to apologise about the photo quality. I took these on my phone, I'm not quite brave enough to take my DSLR into a restaurant, but maybe some day. something is better than nothing though right?

I recently went to Zaks with my Dad, Step Mum, Step Brother and my Boyfriend for my birthday meal. I love Zaks, they do the BEST burgers and it's somewhere I absolutely love going. We visited the Zaks at Waterside. fun fact: It used to be a mortuary!

The interior is decorated in an American diner style, and the menu options reflect this. The menu portions are also reminiscent of American portions. In short, they are massive.

I've never had a starter at Zaks, so I thought I would chose something relatively small as I wanted dessert as well. Needless to say, I left the restaurant absolutely stuffed. I chose onion rings for starters which came with a little pot of mayo. This was delicious, the batter was really crispy and the onion rings were piping hot.

For main course I really fancied fries, but didn't want a big burger so I decided to go for traditional spiced vegetable fajitas. they came with 6 small wraps and a range of condiments and cheese. The guacamole was delicious.

Like I said, the portions don't come small. I ordered fries on the side which I don't think I needed but they were delicious.

I really didn't need dessert but decided to go for an ice cream sundae. This one had vanilla ice cream and chunks of honeycomb and chocolate and chocolate sauce. Delicious.

My boyfriend had the ice cream cake which was sorbet and ice cream. Refreshing!

Have you been to Zaks?

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?

The Outback Restaurant/The Swan Inn Norwich - Review

I recently went for a meal at The Outback which is an Australian themed restaurant in Norfolk for my Nanny's birthday. I didn't realise that the restaurant was actually closed (I assume for refurbishment?) so we actually ate in The Swan Inn next door but our menu options were from the Christmas menu across both restaurants menu options.

When we walked in we were shown straight to our table which was decorated very festively (is that even a word?!) with crackers and Christmas napkins.

The staff were very attentive and took our drink order straight away. They then asked if we were ready for our starters which were promptly brought out.

For starters I had soup. I think this was tomato soup, I honestly can't remember but it tasted really good. The croutons were some of the best I've ever had.  This was served with warm bread and butter.

My main course was something simple, sausage and mash. this was also really nice, the onions were cooked to perfection. the mash was really creamy, just how I like it.

For dessert I had homemade mince pie and cream. This was my favourite course of the lot. The pastry was quite hard and I did end up flicking half of my cream up the wall as I tried to cut a bit off but nevertheless it was really nice.

Admittedly I didn't take the Australian theme on board as you can tell by my menu choices, but I had a really nice meal and would love to come back another time and go for something different. The restaurant had a really friendly atmosphere and meals were served promptly.