Category: Driving All the Way – England

We wanted to stock up some meat and we went to G. Bolam Foods (Sedgefield Industrial Estate, Salters Lane, Sedgefield, County Durham TS21 3EE) for it. Before we shop, we had lunch at its restaurant(The Full Monty Restaurant) for lunch.

So many people dined there, really no nonsense at all! Packed! Young and old, people from all walks of life.

We ordered beef and pork carvery set(£6.15/set) which came with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, mashed potato, carrot & turnip, and cabbage drenched with rich beef gravy all in one plate. That one plate of goodness can be shared among at least 6 small eaters or 4 average eaters.

It was such a satisfying meal! Meat lovers will definitely won’t miss it.

After our lunch, we went to the get our meat. Didn’t get to take any photo of the place though. Camera not allowed if not mistaken. Not just meat that you can get, there’s also bread, cheese, fish, fruits, vegetables, seasonings, and cooking tools too. All under one roof. So much to see! I can spend at least 1 hour there!

Ok… This is the second last post of my July 2018 UK’s trip. It sure is taking a long time to finish. One last one is sharing with you about the airline I used to fly to the UK. Can’t wait to start blogging about my August 2018 Japan trip hahaha…

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a seaside town in North Yorkshire, England. We went there specifically to eat fish and chips hahaha…

After we parked our car, we noticed there’s a garden there called the Saltburn Valley Gardens.

A popular place for young and old to enjoy the nature. The paths and tracks are equipped with seats at frequent intervals.

The walk is likely to be suitable for people with impaired mobility or with a pushchair, wheelchair or mobility scooter. There’s also a playground for the kids. The circular walk is approximately 2 miles in length (3.2km)There is also tea room in the Valley Gardens but it was already closed when we were there.

After the walk, came out from the garden, we walked towards Saltburn beach.

Here, you can see Saltburn beach and Hunt Cliff.

We stopped by for ice cream and I highly recommend the ice cream from this shop, Surfs Up( Foreshore Buildings Lower Promenade, Saltburn-by-the-Sea TS12 1HQ, UK).

Saltburn Pier is the only pleasure pier on the whole of Northeast England and Yorkshire coast. The 1,500 feet (460 m) pier opened in May 1869. We didn’t walk to the end of it because the sea breeze was just too cold(for us… :p) even though it’s summer that time.

The place where we wanted to get the fish and chips was not opened on that day. In fact many were not open. The only place that was opened was The Seaview Restaurant. Supposed to just get a simple fish and chips and to enjoy eating it while looking out of the sea, we ended up at The Seaview Restaurant, the price of the food were more expensive of course.

We ordered Cod and Chips(small-£8.80); Haddock and Chips(small-£12.50); and Smoked Salmon & Prawn Salad(£12.95). Really love the chips, it’s chunky, not shoestring or crinkle cut, and fried to perfection.

After dinner, it’s time to head back. Still trying hard to finish this trip post hahaha… Two more post to go… A porky meal and my experience on Emirates before I start with my Japan trip posts.

Chinese New Year coming soon! Follow my Instagram for frequent updates. I will not have access to my laptop for about a week by then. There won’t be any post during that period of time. See you in Pig Year! 😉

My previous trip to the UK over 5 years ago, I didn’t go to Sunderland. I don’t think I went as I can’t find any record of it in this blog haha… So, it’s confirmed that I did not go, this is my first time. It was just a half-day trip for a quick visit.

Went around thinking of buying something but we came back only with a box of Lego for my niece LOL!!

It was such a sunny day. We just walked around the city centre. The sun was so bright. Look at the sky! No shade too…

Since it’s lunch time when we were there, we walked around and came across a pub called The Lambton Worm(36 Low Row, Sunderland SR1 3PY, UK). By the way, it’s closed already. It’s now known as Victors. There’s a huge worm structure inside of the pub -.-” Didn’t realized it until we studied in detailed hahaha… As usual… How can you miss out on Fish and Chips when you are in the UK?

Left: You see that flattened rounded bread? That’s Yorkshire pudding. We were curious what it was… We were thinking it’s some sort of sweet food served with pork slices. It’s not hahaha… It’s bread-like. The main ingredients made up of milk or water, flour, and eggs.

Quote from Wikipedia:
Yorkshire pudding is a common English side dish consisting of a baked pudding made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on the choice of ingredients, the size of the pudding and the accompanying components of the dish.

Right: Salmon with rice. The salmon looked dry but it’s it was ok, not as dry as it looked. However, the dish was bland though.

After lunch, we continued walking around and headed home. Not much done. It’s a peaceful and quiet place, great place to relax, the pace is slow and also great for student to concentrate on their studies hehehe… A bit(just a bit hahaha…) of Adelaide feel.

Before we went to the National Railway Museum, we had our lunch at Maxi’s Restaurant (Ings Lane, Nether Poppleton, York, YO26 6RA). They have few branches throughout the North of England. It seems to be a popular place for people to have dim sum here. Even the interior design is so ‘Chinese’ style, even the exterior too(no photo…). You definitely will know it’s a Chinese restaurant.

Again… I’m not reviewing the food or the place. I’m posting it for my own record. In case you are around the area and want to have some Chinese food, you can come here. It’s quite a popular place for dim sum in York. In general, the food isn’t bad. Portion is reasonable.

This branch is established in 1999. The dim dum is available from 12pm-6pm. The choices to choose from is pretty extensive.

Just look at what we ordered, I forgot to take photos of the desserts.

We ordered rice noodle roll and fried glutinous rice (the second photo above); dumpling and pork intestine(the third photo above); chicken feet and tofu skin roll.

Turnip cake and salt peeper deep fried squid.

Deep fried squid and steamed fish. Ok… the fish is not part of the dim sum menu, it’s an extra order.

Overall, it’s a good meal. I don’t remember the prices though but if you are there, it’s considered as standard range of price to dine in this type of eatery.

Haven’t talk much about what we’ve eaten in the UK. Nothing much really, nothing fancy. Mostly we cooked at home. When we were on the road, we would also buy fresh produce so that we can cook in our Airbnb. The Blackwell Ox Inn(Carlton in Cleveland, Stokesley TS9 7DJ, United Kingdom) is one of the eateries we went when we were there. One day, we decided to have Thai food, that’s why we ended up here.

This is the place my sister will go if they want to have some Asian food. I’ve never been to Thailand so I have no idea how the actual Thai food would taste. However, I would say that the food here is not so bad. Very rich in flavour that would suit many general Asian palette, not very spicy which is suitable for the Caucasians. I don’t quite remember what we ordered too ;p The photo here is green curry.

Left: Tom Yum.
Right: No idea what’s this!! 😛 Hahaha… I guess it’s coconut soup.

Left: Red curry.
Right: Pad Thai was my least favourite. It’s just weird LOL!! Doesn’t look and taste like the Pad Thai I know. More like just normal fried noddle hahaha!

Okie dokie, I have no intention to talk much or review about the food. Just to post it for my own record. If you noticed, I blogged less about food these days. Well… For food I’ve been eating daily, they can be found in my Instagram, I post more food there than this blog because it’s faster and easier. Blog needs more work and time to come out with. Do follow my Instagram for more food and my generally my daily updates.

I still have quite a number of UK trip’s posts that is still pending… Gosh… Half year already! Osaka post not even started!! Trying to churn out as fast as I can now hahaha… January is almost ending… First month of 2019 almost gone… Time sure flies when you are having fun 😉