Quilliam Brothers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: a Review

The place is packed, upstairs & downstairs, on Friday evenings, so one has to wait to be seated. The fact that so many folk do (at one point the queue was out the main entrance and down the side of the windows) is testament to the food & service at Quilliam Brothers. To ensure fairness, as soon as anyone new enters a server approaches them and then adds them to the board - no queue-jumping here.

[Image description: architectural drawing of the building occupied by the tea-house;

at the meeting of Barras Bridge (B1318), Claremont Road & Eldon Place,

directly opposite the iconic tower of the civic centre; © Quilliam Bros.]

After approximately ten to fifteen minutes we were escorted to table and menus were proffered. We were given ample time to peruse without feeling rushed nor frustrated. Just right. Our waiter served us with a smile, the right level of chattiness and affability.

My best friend took Earl Grey tea - perfectly steeped and served with fresh lemon. My Newkie chum and I had hot chocolates laced with cream and crumbled chocolate. Her wee son took a Fentiman's cherry cola for a special treat. I cannot recall the others' reactions to their drinks, as I was too busy being envelopped in warm, creamy chocolatiness…… Perfect: not too bitter, not too sweet.

We had tasty treats to accompany our beverages. My best friend and I both selected the ginger-beer scones. Oh my! Laced with chunks of stem ginger, a scone that packed a wee punch. Should love to have that recipe!

Shall defo return to Quilliam Bros next time I am in Newcastle city centre - just a couple of minutes walk from Haymarket Metro station.

*

No hot meals after 3pm - their web-page could do with being updated to make this clear.

Theo's Fish & Chips, Timperley: a Review

My home is actually closer to the Sale branch of Theo's - but neither myself, my housemate nor my neighbours frequent it. We have however used Theo's on Shaftesbury Avenue, Timperley, and have been content with their offering in the past.

[Image description: Google map of the location of my two local Theo's]

Coming from a fish & chip background, I know quite well that virtually no shops now double-cook their chips, and hence the soggy masses most of us put up with. Personally, I tend to go to the Chinese take-away if I want crispy chips. On this occasion, Theo's served up what appeared to be chip off-cuts, soggy and quite wan. They were pretty flavourless - other than the oil oozing all over the plate. I make my own oven chips at home, and know that there are plenty of good quality chipping potatoes available this year, so there really can be no excuse.

The fish had been over floured and the batter was another soggy, dense mass. Batter should be light and crispy. Firstly, the batter had not been sufficiently ærated and secondly the fish had not been cooked at a high enough temperature to make it crisp. The same goes for the chips.

Usually, the mushy peas have been of a good texture, so on this occasion we ordered large pots. Again we were disappointed. The peas swam out of their containers like a thick soup and across the plates.

To add insult to injury, the service was quite curmudgeonly. Whilst there was a steady stream of customers, it could not have been described as busy.

I hate wasting food; but this went in the bin.

Theo's have just lost two loyal if sporadic customers.

Staybridge Suites, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Aparthotel) - Revisited

In December 2013, I visited Newcastle-upon-Tyne and had the pleasure of staying at Staybridge Suites on Buxton Street. I wrote a review which I published on this blog and also on TripAdvisor, where it is by far my most viewed review.

[Image description: large flat-panelled television-set with interactive menu of hotel facilities]

On this occasion I did indeed stay longer. We arrived Thursday afternoon and checked out just after eleven on Sunday morning. This longer stay meant I could spread out my activities so as not to tire me out nor aggravate my disabilities.

This time my companion and I stayed in one of the studio apartments. Hopefully the following images give a feel of the place. We took the pictures after settling in so one can observe how homely the pads are.

[Image description: from the sofa looking towards the kitchenette]

[Image description: from the bed looking towards the sitting area;

the writer's gammy leg/foot propped up]

[Image description: the fully equipped & spotlessly clean kitchen area]

[Image description: the room for two shower cubicle in the mould(mold)-free 'bath'-room]

We brought along our own wines, snacks, drinking-water, decaf coffee, etc. However, we also took advantage of "The Pantry", the hotel's twenty-four hour shop. We paid: £1 for a packet of Tyrrell's crisps; £1 for a small packet of popcorn; £1.30 for three large Metcalfes rice cakes coated in chocolate; and £1.50 for a bottle of Purdeys (costing £1.35 in Waitrose). The prices were not extortionate, but reflected local convenience store pricing. One can also purchase inter alia toiletries, ready meals, alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages.

On the Thursday evening we were invited to a meet & greet with the manager and other guests with gratis wine and snacks. We were too tired from the long journey from Manchester to feel up to socialising, so settled down with crackers, pâté and some red wine.

Breakfast each morning featured cereals, fruit, yoghourts, choices of milks & juices, teas, coffees, hot-chocolate, bagels, croissants, muffins…… Friday morning hot sausages were available along with cold sliced ham and cheese. Saturday bacon was available but not Friday's offerings. On Sunday both bacon and sausage were available but not the cold cuts. I suspect part of the reason for some changes each day is so that long- or longer-term residents do not become bored. Free newspapers were available to anyone who wished. Take-away cups & lids were available for those who wished to breakfast on the go. Some folk used their room's tray to collect a breakie and return to breakfast in the privacy of their rooms.

Room service is available weekdays but one is at liberty to decline it. At weekends it is on demand only, so one can have a lie-in without fear of being disturbed. All we had need to request was an extra dishwasher-tablet.

As per our last visit the customer-service interface is faultless. Talking to the employees all were happy in their work and therefore all the affability and smiles were probably totally authentic. It's lovely to hear workers speak contentedly about their work-place. Also reassuring to see all the awards proudly displayed in the vestibule.

*

The only negative aspect to our stay was the quality of the toilet-paper. At home I go through two rolls every three weeks. Over our stay we went through nearly two rolls between two of us due to the quality being so poor, which meant we were using three to four times more tissue than we would normally. A false economy methinks. Next time - and there will be a next time - I shall take a roll of my own.

Frankie & Benny's, John Dobson St., Newcastle-upon-Tyne: a Review

Frankie & Benny’s is a national chain, I have visited occasionally over the years. It’s not haute cuisine, but the food is fair for the price and there is an extensive menu. On this occasion I was with two adult and one child companions.

[Image description: screen-shot of © Frankie & Benny's web-page for the restaurant reviewed, with location map - the purpose of which is to differentiate the specific branch critiqued here.]

From outside with all the windows one could see plenty of dark wood and banquettes; a cross between American diner and Italian restaurant - the food offering is basically the same.

We all immediately felt the warmth on entering after the mere three degrees outside. We were greeted quickly enough and asked how many our table would be for. My young chum answered, and we were led to table. Menus were placed on the table, before we had even had a chance to sit down, rather than offered to each of us in turn. Furthermore, the young female greeter failed to check to see whether or not the table was acceptable. As it happened the banquette was too low for myself (the disabled one) and we needed to move to a table with a sturdy chair. We could not attract anyone’s attention, despite us all still standing, so one member walked half-way across the room to discuss with the original greeter. She did not return to guide us nor again to check we were happy with our choice.

The drinks waiter came over and enquired what we might like to drink. We ordered a bottle of pinot grigio rosé and a child’s refillable lemonade. There was then a fairly long wait in which time we all had an opportunity to select our meals. A heads-up: the meal-offer separate menu meant that some of the dishes are cheaper to order with a starter than the price of just the main course from the primary menu. So cheesy garlic bread was ordered too and shared between three of we diners, who had not intended to have an appetiser.

Three wine glasses and the lemonade and a bottle of wine in a wine-cooler were placed on the table and the waiter rapidly walked off. All the wine-glasses were delivered wet, covered in water-droplets - something I have never seen at any restaurant prior to this occasion. As the glasses had not been dried and polished, it meant that it was highly unlikely that they had been checked. Mine of course had lipstick remains on the rim. After several minutes I rose and went over to the manager, who quickly scuttled away, but took some time to come back with a dried & polished clean receptacle. No apology though. My female companion then checked her glass to find remains of pink lipstick on hers. Then we discovered that the incorrect wine had been delivered - the waiter had not shown us the label when bringing to table - but then again it was also the wrong colour; white instead of pink. By this point I was annoyed, we still had not placed our food orders. I went over to the manager once again and made sure he understood our complaints and that this would affect our tipping.

Eventually two burger dishes (one adult, one child), a calzone and a fillet of salmon (for the writer) were delivered. Alas, despite making it very clear that the child wanted no tomato and no ketchup on the burger, it came with said sauce. Of course it had to go back to the kitchen for them to start again. In the end the child ate most of his meal and was fully sated; no complaints with the meal he finally was served. His mother ate her burger too with no complaints. My companion consumed his meatball calzone with gusto. It looked fabulous. He said the pizza base was really light, and we both considered that it appeared like genuine Italian pizza base. Scrummy! My thick salmon fillet was perfectly cooked, tender, succulent and tasty. Alas the accompanying potatoes were undercooked and harder than firm. The garden peas were either incompletely reconstituted or had dried out in the wait. The broccoli turned out to be two soggy floret-lets. Most disappointing.

We did not bother with dessert - we were not even asked.

We were only asked once whether we needed more drinks, when most of the wine was still in the bottle.

In summary: atmosphere was good (about a quarter to a third full for early-mid evening - on a Friday); food over all was fair (two good [child’s burger & calzone], one average [adult burger]; one below average [salmon]); service amiable but not what should be accepted across the board from kitchen-, waiting- & management-staff; toilets very clean and not malodorous.

The bill came to £67. We left a £3.50 gratuity (about 5%), half what is our usual starting-point - it would have been nothing if the staff had been less than affable. I advised the manager on departing that his whole team needs to work together to improve affairs.

Would I recommend or revisit? On reflexion, probably not.

*

Please note that there are several branches of F&B in the Newkie area.

My Genealogy Hobby: Researching My Family-Tree

Some nine years ago, for some long forgotten reason (possibly due to FriendsReunited - the facebook of its day - suggesting I try it out), I signed up to GenesReunited and began to research my family-tree. Being disabled and housebound for the vast majority of the time, I needed a pastime to keep me occupied on those days when I am compos mentis. Over the years as I have become gradually more bed-bound, this hobby has helped me keep my sanity. Indeed, whenever I feel anxious, I find that I can retreat into the safe world of research.

Some days I feel like a sleuth trying to follow clues and thinking laterally in order to find data. However, the vast majority of the action of retrieving information is repetitive, laborious and requires very little active thinking.

One of my favourite sites is FreeBMD: where one can find the official record of births in England & Wales from 1837 to around the mid-1970’s. Not all records have yet been added. Their ultimate aim is to list all the records up to the mid-1980’s. They have two sister sites which I also occasionally use: FreeCEN, covering the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901 censuses; and, FreeReg, which records parish records from around the whole of the UK including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The records contained on the last two sites are very incomplete, so I tend to use them as a last resort.

My favourite parish record site is lan-opc.org which lists many, but again not yet all, of the parish records of births, deaths & marriages in the county of Lancashire. Most of my personal ancestors are from said county, so this has proven to be an invaluable source.

Alas there are not equivalent sites for Staffordshire and Warwickshire, the two counties with the highest concentration of the surname Peakman. In these instances I use FamilySearch (FS) which superseded the International Genealogical Index (IGI) - often referred to in the older episodes of the BBC television series Who Do You Think You Are? This site is owned and run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), the Mormons. They are however very willing to share their data.

Since I started working on my family-tree on my own computer rather than on the GenesReunited site, I have solely used MacFamilyTree (MFT) produced by Synium as my software of choice. The current version gives the option to share data with and from FS. One of my very first contacts, in New Zealand, led me to the IGI (FS as it is now) and I am ever so grateful.

[image description: RP, a fifth cousin once removed and a Maori,

performing a haka, featured in & © Life magazine]

That same contact opened up a whole off-shoot of distant (literally & genealogically) cousins in New Zealand, a whole ‘tribe’ of Maori. For me this was and still is one of the highlights of my research. I am not related to any royalty, no nobility, no gentry. My ancestors include a fair few smiths, other metal-workers and metal-dealers, petit bourgeois, as well as miners and quarrymen. My modern relatives include some leading scientists & researchers. Criminality is represented by a living Canadian (drugs) and a living chap from the USA (speeding), and in the past by a bigamist, a couple of fraudsters and a few bankrupts (from the days when they were imprisoned). Most folk have been and are ordinary working people.

[Image descriptions: some stats from a screen-shot of my MFT]

I have now breached the 7,000 individuals mark on my tree, as well as passing 2,000 families and there are just shy of 1,000 media. I never expected a family-tree of such size as I am from what I thought was a very small family!

MFT allows its users to post trees to a dedicated site. Thus far I have posted two trees. The original I amended four times. The second I posted a couple of years back. The third (version 7) tree is currently uploading as I type……

Alas, having attempted twice, the new tree will not upload. Should I ever succeed, I shall of course post a link below. In the meantime here is the link to tree 2 (version 6).

Cost-wise my hobby has cost me two sets of software and a handful of certified certificates from registrars of births, deaths & marriages. In other words no more than £150. One can of course spend a lot more if one has the resources. So far, I have not felt the need to lay out monies to join sites, purchase dedicated books & magazines, etc.

Would I recommend genealogy as a hobby? Certainly I should. I also recommend as therapeutic too. %)

******

UPDATE

Version 7 (incorrectly labelled version 6!) is now live at https://www.macfamilytree.com/criquaer/Peakman%20or%20Pakeman%20to%20C%20R%20Hunter/languages/en/index.html