Paella at the Cornerhouse

I quite like the Cornerhouse, as do half the trendy arty Powerbook-weilding bods of Manchester. No trouble fitting in there then but it can get pretty crowded - or convivial perhaps. I came, had some coffee, used their wi-fi for a while and I realised I was hungry. I'll have a bottle of Entire Stout and a paella please. And you know what, there was nothing wrong with it at all. Massive juicy (tender and in no-way rubberised) prawns, bits of chorizo, mussels, chicken and lots of nice yellow rice. All served in one of those cast iron things with handles. I ate every scrap.



I've had the food in there a number of times now - and considering that it isn't their core business (that would be drink followed by the cinema I suspect) for a nice lunch at semi-reasonable prices it's very good. The menu is basically Mediterranean in style, pizzas, bowls of meatballs (ask for extra bread to mop up the sauce if you get these), paella and so forth. Sit, sup, open your laptop and for god's sake try to look cool.

Savino's

The morning after the stonemason party I found myself victim of Cambridge's appalling Sunday bus service. One bus an hour and the connecting bus leaves 2 minutes before the inbound bus gets in. Great! I've got 58 minutes to kill at Cambridge bus station! I checked the messages on my phone which seemed to mainly involve one of my relatives trying to get in touch with me not exactly what I needed at that particular moment.



I somehow still had a few quid in my pocket and there was a busy looking cafe with authentic looking foreigners sat outside reading authentic looking Italian newspapers. Coffee must be good there. And it was.



They have some pretty interesting sounding combinations on the board for their sandwiches and pannini - ever the masochist I had a pannino involving dolcelatte and artichokes. It was crunchy and full of nice Italian stuff. There was a basic but serviceable salad on the side (is raw red onion allowed? I'm not sure) and oil and balsamic in drizzlers on the table - among the little touches that make the place just-so. It wasn't cheap - by northern bus-station standards it is pretty astronomical in fact but I'm a stranger in this land.

The man behind the counter (is he Savino? answers in the comments) was clearly having trouble with the young waitress he was working with. Along the lines of he was dancing the tango and she was dancing the boogie-woogie. They weren't quite going in the same direction and seemed to be forever crashing into each other. It would be good to know if they have managed to resolve this particular bit of choreography. I took some photos, promised them a review and off I toddled for the number 7.



All in all it was very pleasant and such a million miles away from all the shitty chain coffee starbucks bullshit. If you are ever stuck at Cambridge bus station it's the place to go.

Prezzo

I was coming home from a few days away. I was about to get a train back up to Manchester from London and needed some lunch before I came up. What is it to be? Onion rings from Burger King? No, I had had that on the way down. What about this posh looking little restaurant on the corner. That will do nicely. Prezzo look like they are quite a big chain but mostly limited to the South - which will be why I hadn't come across them before.



Clearly these guys are EXPERTS at extracting as much money as possible from those who haplessly wander in off a train - they were on to me in seconds offering drinks and nibbles. The pretty waitress asks me if I want olives and I say yes please. Then in a way that sounds like it is mandatory says "and bread" and I say "yes, ok". The bread is not mandatory, it does not "just come" with the olives and it is certainly not free. It was also quite filling and I didn't really need it. While that might seem a bit pushy the service was actually very good - for speed and efficiency you simply can't fault them. I even managed to extract a smile or two.


The main course, now it was a while ago but I think I had some kind of baked pasta chicken carbonara affair and as I remember it was nice. Could have had a bit more creamyness in the sauce perhaps. I was so stuffed from the bread and the pasta though that I just couldn't manage a pudding - bit of a shame as I rather fancied one when I walked in there.