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Jive Kitchen opening! Mexican Street food in Norwich

I went to the opening night of Jive Kitchen last week. It’s gone into the old spot that was Le Bistro on the corner of exchange street which is a top notch location with a nice view over the iconic Norwich marketplace. Mexican food and generally anything edible with a kick of spice is right up my street so when I heard about the couple that are behind Jive Kitchen, who picked up their love of the cuisine from their travels in Mexico and combined that with existing chef skills- I had to be one of the first to check out what they had done to the place.

On entering I saw something so eye-catching that I have never come across before and the had used pennies to decorate the stairs as you go up to the restaurant. thrifty and decorative way to empty your piggy bank but seriously in the candlelight it was very very effective.

When we got inside we were welcomed with either a glass of Prosecco or a margarita, the anticipated launch was clearly very popular and both floors of dining barely had a spare chair with lots of guests standing too. Clearly this was the place to be-the newest addition to the Lanes area of the fine city. Me and my OH took a spot at the bar to soak up the atmosphere, get a F-row view of the cocktails being made and in a hope to be first in the rotation of mini Mexican canapés as the came down the stairs. (L-R Pork crackling with guacamole, mini beef soft shell tacos, refried bean cakes)

We had a few drinks while we were there and tested out their lager choices (We had Modelo and Corona), tried a full size Margarita and cracked open their gold patron which they introduced a new twist of shooting with a lick of chipotle tabasco before. They were the biggest shots I’d ever done so by this time after just a few bite size nibbles I was pretty half cut!

The decor is the rustic distressed look with exposed brick walls, raw wood tables and cracked paint walls and woodwork with industrial style hanging bulb lighting which does suit the place and gives it a warm vibe.

I’m looking forward to revisiting now they’re officially open to try a full meal, you can take a ganders at the menu HERE!! Good luck to guys behind this, I hope they see great success, I love Norwich for having so many unique independents, it keeps it special. I’m sure I’ll be a frequent visitor as my new work place in a few weeks Jarrolds is dead opposite.

Has anyone tried the main menu themselves? What did you think?

Thanks for reading!

Love Holly xx

misshollyparish F

Jimini’s edible insects! Bon Appetit!

So my latest post is a slightly different subject matter to what I usually write about but when I started to talking on twitter to Jimini’s (twitter: @jiminisFood) I thought ‘Hey, I’ll try anything’

For some time now I’ve been aware that eating insects has been very popular and a standard element of the menu in Asia and there had been recent whispers that this niche snacking choice could potentially be the latest foodie trend to hit the UK too, so as a lover of all things a bit different and a lust for being ahead of the game I grabbed this opportunity. Raphaelle who I had been in contact with via e-mail was kind enough to send a selection of products from paprika grasshoppers and soya mealworms to all the flavours of energy bars they make!!

So to get a really good view I set out with testing the mealworms and grasshoppers as nibbles to have with having a few vinos with my family.

The meal worms were my preferred choice of the 2 and both of them had a real crunch to them, my boyfriend really liked them and sat happily munching away and my young cousin thought that the idea of eating bugs was very cool but for me the fact that they look like what they are I did struggle to get over. I think that these would appeal to people maybe well travelled, kids and be great for parties looking for a twist with the buffet.

What I really wanna focus on though is the fruit protein bars!!

These are made with cricket flour which is 60% protein and these are great. Think Nakd bars and Trek bars but with more fruit and a really generous amount of nuts for energy. They really are nice. Coming currently in 4 flavours, apple & cinnamon, apricot, goji and chia, dark chocolate and fig, bananas and dark chocolate. All coming in at under 200 calories and packed with nutrients and antioxidants, high in fibre, not to mention dairy free and gluten free along with organic they are the perfect pre/post workout choice, great for a snack or as breakfast on the go. They are full of flavour and do not taste packed with artificial sweeteners and flavours like some fruit bars do. They taste fresh! Look out for these bars because I love them! All products are made in France at Jiminis HQ! Currently stocked in Selfridges if you fancy grabbing yourself some and be sure to check out the Jimini’s site too (jiminis.com) although at the moment you’ll need to be a dab hand at French, I’m just happy looking at the pictures!

Has anyone else been lucky to try any of Jimini’s delights? Or tried insects in general? Thanks again to the folks at Jimini’s for letting me try your products!

Love Holly x

misshollyparish Cocktails

Turtle Bay Norwich Launch!!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the press party pre launch of Turtle Bay Norwich’s hot new Caribbean restaurant. It’s gone into the huge fabric warehouse building and it’s amazing! On the approach I noticed all the fairy lights bordering the Windows dangling in graduation which looks lovely. I am a SUCKER for fairy lights. All the wall are covered in colourful graffiti, there’s an awesome VM camper sliced in half into seating, neon quotes all around to read and much more!

The place looks epic, completely transformed and unrecognizable.
Their ethos is broken down into 3 areas- The Rum, The Reggae and The Jerk and it sums it all up perfectly.

The Rum This isn’t just about their signature spirit it’s about all the drinks they do. On arrival we were served a Passion Rum Punch which was a fruity punch made with one of their favourite rums Wray and Nephews, a renowned rum at 63%! These welcome drinks were so strong I knew that I wouldn’t be walking out sober! If 63% is too much for you there’ll be something alcoholic or non alcohol that tickles your tastebuds on the cocktail menu which is 2-4-1 everyday until 7pm and again from 10pm. Around the top of the Barbados inspired bar there’s rows of extensive spirits and a range of speciality rums too. Myself I decided to play it safe with big plans the following morning and stuck with Red Stripe one of my favourite lagers which is their house beer originating from Jamaica.

The Reggae
The first thing that reggae brings to mind is the music and that’s exactly what you’ll hear there, super chilled, happy holiday vibe reggae but again reggae as a whole summarises the vibe and the general attitude of the restaurant.

They try not to turn tables as they like the relaxed vibe for an evening so no rushing and getting you in and out, the lights get dimmer as the sun goes down adding to the atmosphere and you are surrounded by greens, yellows, blues, blacks and Caribbean inspired imagery to really give it the right feel to represent what they’re all about. Finally the staff themselves really encompass the reggae attitude and are all really friendly and relaxed and look like they’re happy to be there and having fun.

Then finally my main reason to visit The Jerk which is all the food they do. We got to sample a few different things on the menu starting with the Beach Food Platter, a sharing platter with chicken wings, sweet corn fritters, pepper rotis and garlic and herb flat bread. This was a great starter and a lovely way to try a few things. The sweet corn fritters and chicken wings are particularly awesome! We then got half a jerk chicken, this was amazing! I’m absolutely addicted to spicy food (as in I have extra hot in Nandos) so this was a real treat, the marinade had an awesome kick, sometimes I find things out a little tame in the spice department but this didn’t disappoint. Marinated for 24 hours and grilled and served with orange chutney and coconut shavings. Mm Mm mmmmm. It was delicious!! We then got given a classic West Indian dish of curried goat, Turtle Bay have an entire section on their menu for One Pots and the curried goat is located there. Served with rice and dumplings it really is a filling meal. A nice kick to the spice and for those curious about the taste and texture of goat think lamb. It was lovely. A must for any curry fan. The menu has quite a lot of meat and fish, there is dishes for the vegetarians out there but just not as much choice. We finished of the dining with a dessert platter which had a selection of bite size pieces of most of their deserts and they were all really really tasty!

Throughout the night we had a selection of cocktails delivered to sample by the lovely bar manager Emma. My favourite was the One Love, a Turtle Bay version of a Pornstar Martini (with rum of course)

I left there feeling very happy (and very drunk) and had such a great night, there is a real buzz about the place which is the key to any great venue.

Thanks to the whole team for the kind and generous hospitality and including Jamie (the boyf) and I in the press launch!

Has anyone checked it out yet? What were your thoughts?

Love Holly xxx

misshollyparish blog

The Doughnut Diaries

So, I am having to write this post as a matter of urgency because these DELICIOUS doughnuts did not hang around long and I wanna get words to page whilst I’m still experiencing the immense sugar high. If you’re local to Norwich or have visited in the last few weeks you may have noticed a number of people walking around proudly carrying a Krispy Kreme dozen and wondered where they came from. Well on Friday the 2nd of September a Norwich Krispy Kreme fresh store will open its doors in Chapelfield for the first time.

On Thursday night I attended the Norwich Bloggers social at none other than the Warwick Street Social and we were very privileged to be joined by the lovely folks from Krispy Kreme!! On arrival I was presented with my very own assorted dozen!!! After a proper rubbish day I was made up only having tried an original glazed the previous week and already hooked I was gagging for the extra flavours! As you can imagine by the speed this post has been published the following 24 hours involved a lot of doughnut eating…..

Thursday Night Dinner- Nutty Chocolatta- The most delicious, amazing, topped and filled doughnut filled with NUTELLA!! All that chocolate hazelnutty goodness set me up good and proper for a few drinks at the WSS!

Midnight Snack- Glazed Raspberry- A classic raspberry jam filled doughnut with that signature iced glaze on top, shared with the mother and put a smile on her face.

Friday Coffee and Cake- Cappuccinos for 3 and an Original Glazed, Nutty Chocolate, Chocolate Iced and an Apple Pie- shared with my parents who grew up in the 50’s and state they’ve “never had doughnuts so light” and their childhood holidays both mostly consisted of seaside resorts famed for doughnuts!

Special Delivery for the one I love- Strawberries and Kreme, Chocolate Dream Cake, Chocolate Sprinkles and Triple Chocolate Cake- I hand delivered these to my boyfriends building site for him to share with his boss, strawberries and kreme is his favourite and was perfect as always, he gave 2 to his boss who proceeded to buy him lunch and let him leave off early. There really is no denying the joy that is the Krispy Kreme effect!! *Bribery is never a good route to go down but if you’re planning on it Krispy Kreme is clearly a damn good idea to use*

Friday Night In- Strawberry Gloss- Now this is 100% my new favourite. Definitely the one that always caught my eye at service stations with its princess pink glittery, glossy, glaze; thankfully its taste did not disappoint. O M G is all I can say, I’ll be going back for this one first. Teamed with a glass of fizz this was the ultra girly night indulgence.

Sharing is Caring- Chocolate Custard- I was gonna eat this with my lunch but as I had already definitely had my fill but I gave it to a friend at work when she coincidentally told me how this was her favourite KK. Definitely made her morning.

12 doughnuts. 6 happy people. 36 hours.

If you do decide to let your dozen hang around longer than I did do not refrigerate to ensure soft and fluffiness and they are good for 3 days.

Enjoy folks, do not underestimate the power of the Krispy Kreme. 1st in line for the Norwich store on the 2nd gets a gold card which is a years worth of free doughnuts and many more giveaways too so get yourselves down to Chapelfield to enjoy the launch. I on the other hand will be hopping on the treadmill to jog off my day of doughnut decadence.

Whats your favourite KK?

love Holly x x

misshollyparish Cocktails

All Bar One Launch Party

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to attend the launch night for the brand new and improved All Bar One in Norwich. All Bar One has been closed for some time due to a fire and has had a £1m refurbishment so I was super excited to see the changes!!

It started at 5 so I got myself dressed up and headed on down straight from work, on arrival they had door staff to let you in and a hostess checking names on the guest list which made me feel pretty special. My party were greeted inside by a lovely lady handing out the arrival bubbles and she explained the concept of the evening. Each of us received a drinks token to either go to the left to the wine bar and try some of the new wine available on the menu or go to the right to the cocktail bar to taste one of their cocktails! A Cosmopolitan or a Disoronno Sour. (A lady driving gave me her tokens so I had both. Yum yum yum.)

We found ourselves somewhere to soak up the atmosphere and get stuck in to our drinks and watch the venue fill. Throughout the night the incredibly knowledgable staff came round handing out complimentary tasters off the main menu from mini burgers, to calamari, falafel and filo feta parcels for the vegetarians out there. We even got out own antipasti slate too! It just was wonderful to see the place alive again! So I thought I would just break it down to cover everything!

The Decor

I love what they have done with the place, It has such a warm and modern feel with amazing attention to detail. Thick hardy leather chairs and stools which will endure the major footfall in warm tan tones and deep teal. There are loads of different lighting features including the -so on trend right now- exposed element Edison bulbs and soft lit lamps throughout. The lights have perfectly clever placement near cut glass mirrors to add light to the space. The colour palette chosen of muted Jewel tones- think teals and blues, tan and brown with hints of nude and orange with a lot of strong wood. On the walls they have chosen colourful artwork and some picture clusters which all work really well. It still looks like an All Bar One which is vital to keep that brand continuity but is a welcome return to the Norwich bar scene.

The Staff

The new team all seemed great and I wanna commend them all on their amazing manners and service. I haven’t been served by such polished and polite waiting staff in Norwich for ages. They all made you feel genuinely special and welcome. On top of that they new all the dishes they were serving inside out from memory so have clearly been trained really well!

The Food and Drink

Everything that I tried I loved! The menu appears to be updated and diverse with something for everyone. Inspiration from lots of different global cuisines, lots of choices for veggies and if you’re healthy eating and from full meals, sharers, tapas and light bites. You would struggle for even the fussiest person to not find something they would like! And last but certainly not least the drinks. The cocktail menu is quite extensive so a blend to tickle all tastebuds! The house white I tried was lovely and the cocktails were made good and strong the way they should be. They also had an Aperol bar which isn’t my cup of tea but looked really popular! You can take a look at the menus right here!

I had such an awesome night! Thanks so much to the manager Clive and the team and I’ll definitely be back very soon!

Has anyone else been since the reopening? What’s been your favourite thing?

Thanks for reading!!

love Holly xx