We went to Ask, Reigate in July 2009 for dinner to spend a 4 number win on the lotto.

Jim’s Opinion 9/10

We ordered a sparkling wine as soon as we got there but when opened it was flat, this was not a problem though because the waiter replaced it straight away. I had Prosciutto and Mozzarella Crostini to start which was very nice with the Spagetti e Polpette for main this was like a meatball pasta and delicious. The restaurant is nicely decorated with a lot of original period features and the staff are very smart and polite.

Nicola’s Opinion 6.5/10

Was very pleased with the sparkling wine… For starter I had Gameri al Forno, which was prawns cooked in a tomato, basil and chilli sauce. This was very tasty and comes with lovely bread to wipe up the left over sauce. Main dinner I had Fusilli alla Cacciatora which is a simple but lovely dish of marinated chicken, wild mushrooms, baby spinach, red chillies and herb with pasta.

Visit Ask’s website

We went to Dassia, Corfu at the beginning of July with 4 friends. We stayed for 7 nights and had a great time read on for some reviews on the hotel, resort and various other things.

The Hotel

We stayed at The Eliana Hotel, Dassia.  The hotel is 2* and situated around 1/4 mile away from the beach up a steepish hill.  We found the rooms to be basic however clean and tidy.  Our stay was B&B, the breakfast was limited to cereal, toast, yoghurt and tinned fruit with the normal tea and coffee.

The pool area was lovely with stunning views over Dassia.  The position of the pool was great as it was in the sun for a majority of the day and we also enjoyed a drink at the pool bar, the barman (Alexandros) was very friendly and made some lovely cocktails.

Evenings Out

There was 6 of us altogether so it was good fun going out as group in the evening.  Dassia is a fairly quiet resort with much of the same restaurants that will mostly do Greek dishes such as, Sofrito, Pattastada and Greek Salad.  We visited a few good ones in Dassia and would recommend going to Alex’s bar (which is actually Welsh run) here you can have a very tasty English breakfast and Alexandros which is a quaint and friendly restaurant that serves good Greek food.  We would suggest that you may wish to stay away from Mythos, we had not heard very good things about this restaurant and on eating there didn’t get the best meal ever.

When we were done eating we enjoyed going to Viva Bar that is on the main stretch and part of Hotel Oscar.  This was a cocktail bar with very reasonable prices at €3.50 for ones in the happy hour list and with others going up to €5  it was overall the same as back home or cheaper.

We decided to visit Corfu Town on a couple of occasions.  The bus from Dassia came every 1/2 hour and at €1.30 each way was a bargain! The buses are air-conditioned and clean and took around 15-25 minutes depending on how many stops it has to take.  The first time we went to Corfu Town we went to a sea-front restaurant that served up lovely well cooked food and got taxis back to the hotel in Dassia for €20.  If your sharing this between 3-4 its not too bad but you might look to get the last bus back at around 11pm.

On the second visit to Corfu Town James and I went to a nice restaurant which was set in the Riccora Corner.  This had beautiful surroundings and a lovely atmosphere.  We went with a glass of wine and beer (prices were fairly steep).  James ordered cheese pies (yes, cheese pies), I had olives and we shared these between us.  The cheese pies were delish. We both had Kleftiko a lovely lamb dish with roast potatoes and tomato and feta. When we asked for the bill they brought out some fresh melon which was perfect to finish off the meal.

Boat Hire

We hired a boat from Dassia Beach, €140 + fuel for the largest boat that you can hire without a licence, we went up and down the coast finding sea caves which you can swim in and some lovely fishing villages. We went out to a satellite island just off of corfu town and in some shallow water the boat got some seaweed wrapped around the propeller so we raised it to remove the seaweed, we noticed that the prop had a hefty chunk out of it but we thought nothing of it and went on our way.  So we drove over to the marina and not noticing the bouys we hit bottom and the steering cable snapped, I phoned the boat firm and a man came out and showed us how to get the boat back to dock. When we paid for the fuel he asked we pay for the damage to the boat which was fair enough but he blamed the chunk of of the propeller on us aswell when that was already there. So begrudgingly we paid the €50 up. But anyone renting a boat should check the propeller and engine and general boat condition with the hirer before you leave dock so that you wont end up responsable for any existing damage. This was still an awesome day and would definitely recommend it!!

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are one to watch in Corfu for sure. We were all unlucky enough to be savaged by these blood sucking fiends but James and I kept our damage to a minimum by using strong biting insect repellent. We would recommend if your hotel offers air-con that you take this up as the Mozzies seemed to prefer a warmer room to a cooler one.

We went to The Parador, Reigate on the late May bank holiday 2009 just for an evening out together.

Jim’s Opinion 6.5/10

Was really looking forward to this as been before.  Started off really nicely, ordered some wine but waiter was a bit weird it was like he wanted to get the ‘last word in’ before walking away.  I ordered chirizo sausage, spanish omlete and suckling pig.  When the suckling pig came out it seemed a massive portion so I asked matey the waiter if it was the tapas or the main course version, to which he went weird again saying something like ‘are you checking up to see if we know what we are doing’.  At this point I was getting annoyed with this waiter so complained about him to a different waiter, which got it off my chest.  Anyway back to the food and wine… this was nice and plentiful and would recommend (if you can avoid getting matey)!  When we asked for the bill, we had matey again (I thought round three), but I was pleasantly surprised.  Not sure if someone had said something to him, but he TOTALLY REDEEMED HIMSELF!

Nicola’s Opinion 6/10

I had booked this as a last minute thing so that Jim and I could have an evening out.  On calling The Parador I left a message on the answerphone (as it was before 5pm) saying when I wanted the reservation and how many for, they called me back within an hour and confirmed everything was booked.  Very chuffed with this as it made life easy.  We got to the restaurant and was quickly seated even though we was slightly early.  They came and took our wine order, I wont go into ‘matey’ as think Jim has covered this.  I ordered sizzling prawns in oil with garlic and chilli, meatballs in a tomato sauce and stuffed mushrooms.  Overall the food was enjoyable and I was pretty full, which is always good

Papouse and myself went for a days fishing at the Milton Lake, Bury Hill Fisheries, Although it rained cats and dogs at times it was a good day out I started the day pretty well with a few nice roach, rudd and tench including the one pictured above. All this time Papouse had hardly caught a thing apart from a couple of tiny perch so he decided a move was in order, from this point on he had a lovely days fishing also catching some nice tench.

If you want more information on Bury Hill Fisheries visit their website here.

I went to Pizza Express with a friend in May 2009 as we had a 2-for-1 voucher.

Nicola’s Opinion 8/10

I went for the Pollo ad Astra pizza, which has torn chicken and peppadew sweet peppers with a side salad that has the house dressing on it.  This is by far my favourite pizza, the base is not too heavy and the peppers are real added taste.  The service was very good and having the voucher was just a major plus point.  If you want reasonable priced dining would definitely recommend!

Visit Pizza Express’ Website

We went to The Joshua Tree in April 2009 for an evening meal after hearing good reports from friends.

Jim’s Opinion 6/10

I had chicken liver pate to start, was ok but not sure I actually like chicken liver pate.  For the main I had Skate with cockle sauce, the skate was good but the sauce ruined it, this maybe because I don’t like cockles so I appreciate this might not be the most fair review but this is all I have to go on.  Service was superb, wine was a little over priced and not much of a selection.

Nicola’s Opinion 6.5/10

I had a poppadom basket to start, which was different but tasty, there were mango and brie parcels as well as mushroom and pepper parcels inside of one large poppadom, must say that the brie and mango ones were more to my liking and I like mushrooms! For the main I went for braised belly of pork with a barbeque sauce, the BBQ sauce was a little overbearing but the meat was cooked well, plenty of it too.  Overall I thought the service was good but the surroundings are a little cramped.

Visit The Joshua Tree’s website