DELICIOUS PRAWN PASTA

SO HERE WE ARE OOP NORTH now, having driven up a couple of days ago to the university town of Loughborough, which is just outside Leicester in the Midlands.

England lived up to its reputation and it P'ed down practically all day yesterday. It was cold, wet and miserable. However, today was quite sunny and crisp. We checked into the unassuming and unpretentious little Cedars Hotel on the A6, at the edge of Loughborough University Town.

And would you believe it, I had one of the best meals ever.

MANY MOONS AGO, I had a prawn and pasta dish which I consider the best I've ever eaten. It was in San Francisco, and I just HAD to finish the whole plate it was THAT good. Since then, that has been the benchmark against which I judge pasta dishes, particularly prawn and pasta dishes, and, sad to say, not one has come up to scratch. This one though came pretty close to it.

To be fair I had warned the manager that I would be blogging about it, so the chef was rather prepared for it. However, as I have had pretty abysmal meals despite the proprietors knowing about my visit, this was not really a criteria.

I ordered their Prawn, Garlic and Chilli Pasta - and it was really truly magnificent. Spicy but tasty, and full of large prawns. It was an alio olio so no tomatoes were involved, and the spiciness was introduced in the form of finely-chopped Scotch Bonnet chillies, one of the hottest in the world, even hotter than Thai chilli padi I think.

For just 9.95 pounds, it was excellent value, and I would honestly go back there just to eat that! Well done chef, and a 9/10 for it; as you can see, I devoured the lot ... with a bit of help from the rest of course!

UNFORTUNATELY the rest of the meal was not so brilliant; Mac's steak was tough and overcooked despite having asked for it medium done - 4/10 for that - and and No2 Son's lamb was mediocre, probably a 6.

I was also slightly disappointed to find out that the Sticky Toffee Pudding was bought in and not made in house, although it was quite tasty. Bang goes the diet - how on earth I ever thought I could try and be a bit abstemious during this trip the food has just been too much and too good, no wonder there are so many fat Brits! - and it's back to the treadmill when we get back for sure!!