Photo Diary ~ Summer Holiday ~ Los Angeles ~ Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign

Rustique French Restaurant Richmond North Yorkshire

Last month it was Daddy Lines' Birthday and we had planned to go to the French restaurant in the town where we live for his birthday meal! Normally Dad likes to go to Akbar's an Indian Restaurant in Middlesbrough but as we had visited the York branch recently the French is the next family favourite restaurant. Mummy Lines and Me had treated Dad to a Champagne breakfast in Betty's Tea Room in Northallerton and so by the time 6 O'clock rolled around we were certainly ready for our meal.

Rustique is a small cosy restaurant right in the heart of Richmond on a street just off the market place. Although small it has a Parisian street Bistro feel to it with the front of the restaurant under a glass roof and patio floor to give the impression you are dining outside whilst being shielded from the elements. They also have a few tables just inside the building itself and a mezzanine level that has seating for individual tables but can also cater for larger groups. I came here for my leaving do in February and it comfortably seated 20 of us so don't be deceived by the size is almost like a TARDIS.

We were seated in the courtyard area and we did feel a bit squashed onto the table, there were 5 of us with one of us squashed on to the end of a table for 4 which was a shame but with a bit of manoeuvring we figured out how to eat comfortably. The great thing about this place is that they have a set menu at certain times of the day and you can get a 2 course meal for £13.95 or 3 courses for £15.95 with a wide choice of Starters, Mains and Desserts, check out Rustique's website for times when the set menu is available. You can also order from the A La Carte Menu at anytime of the day.

I went for the set menu, being quite fussy I quite like the options from this menu more than the A La Carte. For a Starter I went for the Champignons a l'Ail which is mushrooms in a creamy white wine and garlic sauce with a French baguette. For my main I went for the Steak Frites a rump steak cooked to your liking with a choice of Garlic Butter or a Pepper Sauce, I went for the Garlic Butter and asked for extra so that I could cover my chips in the garlicky goodness too. Normally by this point I'm fit  to burst but as it was a special occasion I made room for a dessert, and I decided on the Tarte au Chocolat an individual sized pastry tart with a smooth chocolate filling, with a dollop of Vanilla Ice Cream and a berry coulis.

The atmosphere inside was lovely and the waiting staff were very attentive and polite. The main waiter was French and so I decided to test out some French I have been learning and the waiter was very complimentary of my skills so I was very pleased with that and I'm feeling confident now that when I visit Paris for New Year ill be able to survive.

Rustique has another two braches in York one on Castlegate and the other on Lendal. So if you find your self hungry in York or Richmond Rustique is definitely worth a visit.

A Day in London

You may or may not have seen from my Social Media activity last weekend I was in London Saturday, the main purpose of the trip was to go and see the Tower of London Poppy display that has been commissioned in honour of the 100 year anniversary of First World War. Mummy and Daddy Lines being Military Veterans and active members of the Royal British Legion wanted to pay a visit to see this wonderful installation. We set off down the road on Friday after I finished work at 12:30 and the journey took us about 6ish hours, I can't remember the exact time this was mainly down to commuter traffic on the M25 so all in all not bad. We stayed with my auntie who lives just south of London and we had a nice chilled evening catching up as we hadn't seen each other for a while and then we hit the hay. Saturday morning we headed in to London and decided to go straight to the Poppies as it was a miserable rainy day we wanted to get our outdoor activity out the way so we could spend the rest of the day inside shops etc out of the rain. When we arrived at the Tower it was fairly busy it's a very popular attraction anyway but with the poppies it was even more so. I won't go into much detail here about the Poppies all info on the installation can be found on the Tower of London Website and info about purchasing your own can be found HERE, ill let the pictures do all the talking.

After we had finished looking around the Tower we wanted to find a café to warm up in before heading off again and we ended up in Café Rouge and I had a delish Chocolat Chaud (Hot Chocolate). Me and my Cousin decided to head off on our own to do a bit of shopping and it was decided we would meet up in China Town later on for our evening meal. We hopped on a bus to Covent Garden and then made our way towards Trafalgar Square to hunt down a Mexican fast food place I had heard about Tortilla we found it in the end and I went for Chicken Tacos and Rhyanon went for the Burrito. The meal was delicious and I will definitely be going back when ever I'm in London and want a nice quick lunch. Bellies filled we made our way to Oxford Street getting on another bus to stay out the rain we hopped off just outside Primark so that Rhyanon could get some fresh tights and some boots as her feet were soaked. Boots purchased and tights changed we headed for Selfridges to check out some MAC lipsticks I wanted to see what autumn/winter colours they had. While looking at the lipsticks we saw a queue of people waiting for make-overs and decided to put our names down as well, although we ended up waiting just short of an hour I think it was worth it the look the makeup artist created for me was beautiful and she gave me loads of tips and tricks to help me out when I'm re-creating this on myself.

By the time we had finished with our make-overs it was about time to head over to meet our parents for dinner. They were actually close by so we met them and then made our way over to China Town. We found a restaurant and perused the menu Me, Mummy and Daddy Lines decided to share a Crispy Aromatic Duck for a starter and Mummy Lines went for BBQ Duck and Belly Pork and Me and Daddy Lines both went with the Deep Fried Crispy Chilli Beef my favourite Chinese dish. Rhyanon her Mum and her Mums partner went for a Set Menu and had a huge variety of dishes to choose from. After we had finished eating Rhyanon and me went to meet up with a friend of hers for drinks on our way over to the Tube station we came across some Hare Krishna enthusiasts, such a happy bunch of people singing and dancing in the street.

We found a nice bar by Waterloo station and just around the corner from the London Eye. We indulged in some cocktails and wine and then headed over to London Bridge to a German Themed Bavarian style bar for some more wine and Rhyanon's friend went for a Stein of Beer. It was quite busy and loud in this place so we found a quieter bar not far away and had another bottle of wine, its safe to say by this point I was starting to feel the affects of the alcohol, so after a random idea to find somewhere that sells champagne and drink a bottle outside Buckingham Palace I was glad that no where was open to buy any so we picked up some snacks and got on a train home!