Whirlwind Taste of the Northeast

I had a whirlwind visit recently from an old friend who had never been to England before and was only going to be in the Northeast for a single day. 

Marshalls Fish & Chips

I felt obliged to show him not only the visual highlights of the area (see my non food blog entry) but also a few of the culinary highlights.

We headed to the seaside to enjoy fish & chips, complete with mushy peas, in its natural surroundings.  We had our typically British meal at Marshalls in Tynemouth which came very highly praised by a friend.

From now on I will be the one strongly recommending Marshalls.  

Neither one of us had room in our stomach to completely finish our tasty meals but it was so good we just wanted to keep trying.

Tasty treats

This could have been because they serve quite generous portions, or it could have had something to do with the delicious selection of sweet things we had just enjoyed whilst sitting on a breezy bench along the coast.

We chose these little beauties from a lovely bakery along the main road to the Priory in Tynemouth, which unfortunately I don’t know the actual name of but I know exactly where it is for future.

There was an unfortunate cake casualty due to the slightly slippery strawberry tart not coming with a warning label of some sort or perhaps simply because one of us was a bit over excited about eating it and got a tad bit clumsy. 

Luckily we had two other treats waiting in the wings to indulge in. Phew!

Slippery strawberry tart

The chubby coconut macaroon with a little maraschino cherry on top was superb. The other item shall remain nameless (just like the bakery, darn it!) because I have no idea what it was called. The anonymous treat was an almond flavoured shortbread-esque bar with dried fruit sprinkled throughout with each end of the square dipped in chocolate for an extra sweet touch. So good!

There was also a nice selection of real ales enjoyed during this extremely brief visit to the Northeast. The choices available at the Bodega and The Bridge Hotel pubs were fantastically varied from blonde beers to dark brews and all the stages in between.

Real ale at Bodega

The evening was rounded out with a four-course meal at The Raj Tandoori off the Bigg Market in Newcastle’s city centre, but unfortunately I did not get a decent photo of the delicious curries we had, but trust me they were very flavourful and got thumbs up all around.

It has to be said that all involved parties enjoyed this little whirlwind taste tour of the Northeast, and I personally can’t wait to head back to Tynemouth very soon to discover more sweet treats from that fabulous bakery.