We were already just over a week into June as we set off for May’s meal, but holidays and other commitments had forced us to push our meal ever so slightly into the next month. And the month was June so hopefully we’d be in for a nice balmy summers evening…the country had in fact seen rain of almost biblical proportions and my toes were feeling the chill as I set off, rather optimistically, in my lovely new sandals.
This evening we were headed for the Caribbean courtesy of
‘Discovery Bay’ restaurant which is situated on a quiet little back street in Huddersfield town centre. It may have felt like autumn on the outside but once the five of us had settled into our seats and Danielle and I had spotted the sunny looking cocktails on the next table, we knew that for the next couple of hours we’d have our own little taste of summer.
Once we’d had a very quaffable jug of Rum Punch installed on the table we were free to cast our eyes over the very tempting menu. Starters of ‘Mango Mushrooms’ and ‘Caribbean Crab Cakes’ were ordered both of which went down very well, the flavours certainly matching up to the delicious aromas that filled the air.
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| Caribbean Crab Cakes |
There was a lot of catching up to do because the five of us hadn’t all been together since the last meal. I’d just come back from a very enjoyable few days in Paris with my sister where I’d dined on escargots, had lots of cocktails and tried steak tartare for the first time and really enjoyed it. Danielle was very excited about the prospect of going back to college as she’s just been accepted on a beauty course – she’s now threatening to wax us all to within an inch of our lives and tan us all in shades of mahogany.
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| Finger Licking Rum Chicken with Chunky Breadfruit Chips |
Pretty soon our main courses arrived at the table. Phoebe and I had both opted for one of the days specials ‘Caramelised Jerk Pork’, Caroline had ‘Rum Pork’, Danielle had ‘Finger Licking Rum Chicken with Chunky Breadfruit Chips, and Catherine, who is approaching the end of her experimental vegetarian month, had ‘Vegetable Curry’. The food was absolutely spot on, the only criticism coming from Danielle who bemoaned the lack of tomato ketchup for her breadfruit chips, peasant that she is. The pork I had was deliciously tender with a rich, creamy, spicy rum sauce and the slices of sweet potato added another layer of taste. Suffice to say we cleared our plates.
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| Caramelised Jerk Pork |
We were offered the dessert menu but were far too full to eat more and decided that coffees were the best option. We needed to vacate the table by 9pm as the restaurant is so popular it runs three sittings an evening. We still had themes to do so we thought it would be a good idea to head on over to the all-night coffee bar next door. After settling up the bill we happily headed along the road only to be stopped in our tracks by a very obviously closed coffee shop. There then ensued the fastest pub crawl I’ve ever done as we hopped from bar to bar, full of Saturday night revellers, in the hope of finding a coffee and a quiet ambient corner. Poor Danielle even had to suffer the humiliation of getting i-d checked. We finally came to the conclusion that drive-thru Costa might be the wisest option and headed out of town only to find that they were closing up. The family friendly pub next door proved to be our salvation where we finally settled into a quiet window seat with a selection of coffees and soft drinks and prepared to present our themes.
Mays Theme - Cultural Highlights
Amanda's Theme
I chose to visit The Hepworth in Wakefield, a brand new, stunning gallery dedicated to the work of Barbara Hepworth. The gallery is truly inspirational and so for my theme I chose to claim the gallery as my own and re-name it The Boothroyd.
The first room in the gallery would be Early and Formative years containing items such as my Tiny Tears doll and Secret Agent Handbook. On the walls are images of my childhood heroines - Wonder Woman, the Bionic Woman and Charlie's Angels.
Room 3 would be named The Mother and contain every pair of my sons shoes from his very first baby ones right up to his last pair from junior school.
Caroline's Theme
Phoebe's Theme
Phoebe visited Manchester Art Gallery and was impressed with the variety of exhibits on show there.
After wandering round for a while and looking at the various displays she found herself drawn to a photography exhibition, a form of media that doesn't usually excite her that much. This one was different as the photographs all contained a human element which she found much easier to relate to than photographs of static objects. Most intriguing was the man who had created a tiny model house from pieces of skin removed from his own body.
Catherine's Theme
Catherine grew up in Sheffield and witnessed the city, almost consumed with depression and grime, pulling itself out of a huge recession to become the thriving paradise of shopping, galleries and restaurants that you see today. So this month she chose to visit the city's Millennium Gallery.
Dannielle hadn't managed to do the theme but she's intending to take her Dad to Tate Modern next month to see the Damian Hirst exhibition. It'll be worth it just to see the diamond skull.
And so another evening drew to a close. We'd been very impressed with the Caribbean and can't wait to see where in the world we'll be dining next month.
