EATING OUT: The White Swan, Swaythling, Southampton

I'm not going to deny it I am seriously skeptical when it comes to eating a roast out. Whether it's just because I have been lavished by amazing roast dinners by my parents when I was a  child I will never know but for some reason when I eat out, roasts just don't seem to cut the mustard.

My boyfriend's sisters birthday came around recently, and as she was busy the majority of the day with rehearsals on a Sunday daytime, he thought what better than a sunday at the pub with a carvery. At the time we were on holiday in Cornwall and mooted the idea for a fair few days whilst away, and then it came. The more I thought about carvery's the more I had an insatiable urge for one. Each night we went to bed and it came again, so when the Sunday arrived I was literally gagging for some roasties and slabs of meat with a slathering of gravy and sauces.

Living close to the pub we opted for The White Swan in Southampton, and despite the disappointing reviews I had read online about eating here, we ignored them and set off. This pub, is what we would call our 'local' so we visit here on a regular basis. We worried that seven of us would have to wait a while and linger until seated, but we were noted immediately and offered a high seated table or a twenty minute wait to sit in the crowded restaurant area. High seated table thanks! The boyfriend's younger sibling is slightly adverse to veg but opted for a delicious looking fish and chips kids meal. We were told when to order our carvery's in order to time it with her meal coming out. Top marks on service!

 GET IN MY BELLLLLYY!

Meats on offer included Gammon, Beef and Turkey. Being the glutton I am I opted for all three, topped off with a generous yorkshire and stuffing and sausage trimmings. I had about 20 parsnips and a load of broc, but felt seriously let down by the roasties; I'm sorry but NOTHING comes close to my dad's. NOTHING.

Still mega good carvery and the reviews online proved to be total tripe. Looking at the photo above is making me want to go back for another now, and at a reasonable £8.99 for all day Sunday, I can see no reason why not to ;)

8/10

White Swan
Mansbridge Road, West End
Southampton
Hampshire
SO183HW

Telephone :(02380) 473322
Email: whiteswan@orchidpubs.co.uk

FOUND IT: Best Sandwiches in London - Valentinos, N1 OHQ

I'm a sucker for a good sandwich. I came across sheer unadulterated sarnie heaven when I recently went up to London for the Graduate Jobs Fair. Alas, I found no jobs there, zilch, nada; nothing for a recently qualified Journalism graduate anyway. I was told by the media related stands I was over qualified for what they were offering and that they didn't have things 'suitable' in relation to my qualifications. 

I was utterly disheartened. I have applied for well over 200 odd jobs since graduating in November last year, and have never once been told the reason I can't get one is because 'you're too qualified' I felt slightly relieved that it wasn't just me. My fabulous bessie friend of 11 years, hugely brained, intelligent Chemistry extraordinaire from Oxford University, can't find a work either. It sickens me her intelligence is going unnoticed, so all in all we were pretty bummed by the whole trip.

But there are reasons why certain people are better friends to you than others. How someone can just know you and do something to lift your mood and lose your worries. So Emma, this one's for you. Gagging for grub, she pointed out a quaint sarnie bar across the road. So tottering over in our interview best, we entered ready made sandwich utopia. Every filling out? Salads, meats, dressings. THE-ABSOLUTE-WORKS.

Chicken, Bacon and Lettuce Roll. Hello lunchtime!

I made a decision in haste, and now can see I perhaps should have deliberated my deli decision more, but even a simple combination of Chicken Bacon and Lettuce came up trumps. Check out the size for starters! It set me back a measley £2.80 something? Bargain and not a salty ready made sarnie additive in sight!

When I was studying at University, I had to complete compulsory work experience. Living in sleepy Hampshire didn't offer much in relation to Journalism apart from the mundane local newspapers and free handout publications. So, searching for pastures greener, I commuted to London daily, to work at some of the countries top selling women's consumer glossies. Ok, so I'd be the first to admit it wasn't all glamour, and yes it was more Devil Wears than me wearing Prada, but I can vouch for one valuable skill I learnt; where to find the best delis, sandwich bars and eateries in the West End. There were numerous times I was sent out on a round. "Sophie can you please go across the road?" "Yeah sure" "I want one slice of wholemeal toast with marmite cut in half" "Ok...."

So in my time I'd been to some pretty good and pretty abysmal cafes, but this one topped them all, for sheer value for money and quality, not to mention gut busting sizes. I don't think I ate for at least three hours after this. A personal record.

Valentinos

345 Upper Street

Islington

London

TASTE IT: Lusty Pirate Cornish Pasty Flavour Crisps

Sometimes some food creations just boggle your mind so much, however revolting they may sound you simply have to try them; for curiosity's sake if nothing else!

I remember, many moons ago a family trip to our favourite beach one hot summer, in which me my parents, my sister, my aunt, uncle and two of my cousins packed up our cars with our seaside essentials and spent the day basking in the sun. When it came to lunchtime we tucked in to a veritable feast of goodies, including Donut Flavoured Skips. Yes. Skips. The child delighting melt in the mouth prawn cocktail star shaped crisps. Weird and quite frankly horrifying as it sounds they did exist!

It just so happened that it was down to me reminiscing about vile flavour crisps when I was in Tesco Penzance and came across Lusty Pirate Cornish Pasty Flavour crisps. And so it began again.

 Ahoy there me hearties!

Yargh! Ok so with my pathetically lame sense of humour, I actually took great pleasure in  picking up a  bag of Lusty Pirate, although I don't know how lusty the hairy fella on  the front is! I couldn't resist and for the sake of 60 something pence and bringing a mildly interesting post to G&G readers I thought I'd give it a go!

To be fair nothing competes with the nastiness of donut flavour crisps and I'm pretty sure nothing ever will, but in my honest tastebud's opinions, these tasted like any other packet of steak and onion crisps. How someone would recreate the flavouring of pasty pastry on a crisp does nothing but baffle me. Ok, so this was an impulse foody buy, and would lose any enjoyment value if you could purchase it anywhere BUT Cornwall but sometimes food novelties can be fun. If for nothing but a giggle over a Lusty Pirate!