Food & Adventures

Wednesday 11 May 2016

A day and night in Newcastle

Me and Mrs Cool recently found ourselves with a whole day and night without our children. So we decided to have a day enjoying each others company. I love my kids and I miss them whenever they are not around but as a married couple you MUST have time every now and when when it's just the two of you.


We started the day by driving to Ouseburn and parking up, there is a free car park there so you can save a fortune on parking charges by choosing to park a little further out of town. We had a little wander around the Ouseburn farm. As we passed The Cluny we decided we needed to go there more often (we've only been a handful of times between us) as it has a reputation of excellent live music. We then went to The Cook House for lunch. Mrs Cool has wanted to go here for quite a while and we've never had the chance, The Cook House is a great little eatery made out of a converted shipping container. The menu is small but I think this is a great idea as all of the dishes are absolutely delicious. I had Pork Rillettes with a Courgette and Rocket salad and toasted soda bread and the wife had Salted Brisket, Dill Pesto and Rocket salad again with toast. Both dishes were amazing and the portions were more than generous, we then shared a Lemon Posset for dessert (I think this was made with lemon thyme as it definitely had a herby taste to it). The whole meal including 2 drinks was less than £20, Bargin!

Salted Brisket, Dill Pesto and Rocket Salad
Pork Rillette, Courgette and Rocket Salad and toasted Soda Bread
After lunch we had a walk along the Ouse and ended up at the Tyne Bar. This is a great bar situated where the Ouse meets the Tyne. The sun was shining so we sat in the beer garden right by the river, it reminded me of our trip to Amsterdam so I decided to have a pint of Amstel and Mrs Cool had a glass of Sauvingnon Blanc and we chatted about our plans for the future. As we enjoyed our drinks a bizarre scene unfolded when a boat carrying 3 seamen (stop laughing) sidled up the canal between the Tyne and the Ouse. This boat didn't look like a fishing boat so I decided they must have been smugglers and it seemed to have no engine as the 3 smugglers were taking turns to use a plank of wood like a gondeler would to push the boat up the river. It took them 20 minutes just to get about 10 meters along the river, how they managed to get up the Tyne I will never know.

Tyne Bar
After we finished off our drinks we walked up a hill and ended up at the Free Trade Inn. This was great bar that seemed to only serve craft beers and ciders which is right up my street. After asking the barman for a recommendation I decided on an IPA, whose name I can't remember right now, and the Mrs had another glass of wine. The beer garden had amazing views of the Tyne and as we sipped our refreshing beverages we overheard a conversation that left us gobsmacked. A woman was talking to her companion telling a story of how one of her clients had booked her for 4 hours but then when the time came the client said he couldn't go through with it as he was married with kids! Who knows what this, ahem, lady's profession was (I assume it was the oldest one). Anyway, after we were over the shock, we walked along the Tyne.

Free Trade Inn
The view from the Free Trade Inn Beer Garden
After a walk along the Tyne we stopped at the Pitcher and Piano for more drinks and we made plans for our holiday to Cuba next year. I can't wait to be riding around Havana in a Cadillac with a Rum in one hand and fat cigar in the other. We had booked a nights stay at MotelOne which is just off Grey's Street so when we finished out drinks we headed to our hotel. There is some amazing architecture in Newcastle and the walk from the Quayside to Grey's Street has some of the best.

Grey's Monument and Theatre Royal

The bar in MotelOne is a hidden treasure of Newcastle the staff are knowledgeable, the ambiance is relaxed and the drinks are phenomenal. The bar is open to non residents too so I would definitely recommend paying a visit if you are ever out for drinks in toon.

Drinks at MotelOne Bar

We went to our room to get changed and headed to Pleased To Meet You to meet up with our friends Chloe and Simon. We ordered some cocktails (which turned out to be quite expensive as we didn't realise happy hour had just ended) Mrs Cool ordered a espresso based cocktail and I ordered a Bloody Mary. I'd never had a Bloody Mary before and when I tried it my 1st thoughts were "where have you been all my life". Most cocktails are quite sweet but a Bloody Mary is the 1st drink I've had that I would call a Savoury Cocktail. They are an acquired taste though as Mrs Cool thought it was vile.

After we had all finished our drinks we headed to Osaka, which is aJapanese restaurant on Grey's Street. Me and Mrs Cool shared a starter of seared Sashimi which was delicious and then for our mains I had the Teriyaki Chicken Bento box and Mrs Cool has the Teriyaki Salmon Bento Box. If you are planning on having a Bento Box then you really shouldn't bother with a starter as the box comes with Miso Soup, a selection of Salmon Sashimi and Salmon Sushi, a Japanese salad as well as the Teriyaki chicken/Salmon and some rice. When we were finished we were all stuffed and decided it was time to head home.

Teriyaki Salmon Bento Box from Osaka

I've lived near Newcastle (Wallsend as a kid and Northumberland now) all my life and it really is my absolute favourite city. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, the people are always friendly, the atmosphere is fun and the night life is world renowned. If you are stuck for something to do on a date with your better half then you can't go wrong with a day and night in Newcastle.

Well, that's all for now.

S

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1 comment

  1. We'll have to combine two hobbies in one go.
    There is a Geocaching pub crawl in Newcastle. I'm a lightweight so you'd need to drag me the last few!
    Ouseburn is great though.

    ReplyDelete

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