We are creatures of habit here in old Devizes. We’ll stand in the Market Place wearing a vacant expression, wondering where we can bag ourselves a good kebab in town now the Kebab House is sadly no longer. I urge you to think Sidmouth Street, think The Olive….
Yeah, I get you. Save the longstanding New Pacific Chinese, the previous takeaways in Sidmouth Street didn’t receive great appraisal, causing the street to be considered a no-go zone for the peckish. Well, times change. With Mustafa Suna, the once owner of the Kebab House content to be relocated a hefty trek away at the Garden Trading Estate, the new option is The Olive Pizza & Grill; you best believe it.
It was newly opened a couple of months ago. By name, it sounds fresher and natural, but does it live up to its name? I thought I’d drag my tastebuds there to find out…..
Shenol Redzheb is the owner of this tidy little takeaway where Acropolis once toppled. He cut his teeth at Chick-O-Land, where he spent thirteen years, but was adamant about building his own new legacy here. It certainly was spotless and hospitable, with everything freshly prepared right before your eyes.
The range is fantastic, too. The standard range of kebabs, combo or wraps, burgers, and chicken, but with a pizzeria too, choices are ample for the most fussiest of families, like mine! One apple of my eye opted for a cheeseburger, the other a pizza, and the wife and I went for the donor kebab, though she favours garlic mayo on hers; sacrilegious! I say this because the homemade chilli sauce here is to die for, really rich, perfect level of hotness and tomatoey; yummy, yummy, yummy, love in my tummy.
In fact, everything was well received. The boy’s burger was apparently “ummm,” and despite explaining I needed a bite for the purpose of the review, he wasn’t giving it up without a fight! The daughter praised the pizza, and she’s the Jay Rayner among us, but she especially adored the chips, describing them as crisp, and they were, I concurred. Perfectly cooked little beauties, and cut just the right size to be best considered “chunky fries.”
The kebab was lovely too, meat, tasty, a good range of fresh salad, and oh, did I mention the chilli sauce?! It’s worth mentioning twice!
Portions generous, all at a competitive price, the family were happy. I’ll be back faster than Schwarzenegger for an uzi 9mm. You should give this local owner’s new enterprise a try. There’s vegetarian options, phones, and an online ordering website HERE, and they deliver right out to the sticks, at around a four mile radius; dinner sorted!
The Olive Pizza & Grill is at: 26 Sidmouth Street, Devizes, SN10 1LD, UK
Featured Image:@jenimeadephotography Just another rainy Saturday afternoon in Devizes, whereby I watched a profound fellow dramatically sacrifice himself to the devil, then popped to Morrisons…
Stone Circle Music Events announced today that all proceeds of CrownFest will be donated to Wiltshire Hope & Harmony’s Dementia Choir. CrownFest is an all-day…
If I’ve been feeling as excited as little Charlie Bucket all week, I’ll justify why. On Friday my son and I had a chocolate adventure of our own, and while no one fell into a chocolate river or blew up into a giant snozzberry, we had fun at Hollychocs in Poulshot, returned with lots of goodies made with our own hand, and decidedly more enlightened to the art of the chocolaterie…..
It was a birthday present for my ever-growing Oompa Loompa, rather than a recipe for an article, but this half term chocolate making workshop was so fun I feel inclined to mention it anyway!
Holly Garner opened this successful business five years ago, and while she’s yet to install a glass elevator, Hollychocs has won awards and expanded to a café known as The Beanery. It’s the ideal space for hosting homey workshops, and there’s plenty to choose from for all ages. We’re here for a family-friendly course; I made enough mess with this one let alone something more technical!
Let’s be honest here, these workshops come at a price, but you certainly get what you pay for, especially if you love chocolate, and if we’re being honest, who doesn’t? Personally I’m as passionate about eating the stuff as Holly is with making it. If stuffing chocolate into a cakehole was a competitive sport, I reckon I’d be up for an Olympic gold medal; a chocolate coin medal, here’s hoping!
Holly’s enthusiasm and passion for her art is exemplified at such events. As her assistant provided us all with delicious hot chocolates, Holly introduced herself with a little background, including her roots as “the queen of caramel” at Cadburys; there has to be a parody of a Billy Ocean song in this, Caramel Queen, now we’re sharing the same dream? No? Maybe? Just me then!
And it was a dream come true. A detailed and educational five minutes kicked it off, explaining the journey from cocoa pod to chocolate liquor, and to your belly, with the use of a mock pod prop. Several example chocolate buttons of various strengths were handed out to try, including ruby chocolate, something you won’t find mass produced because of a lesser shelf life.
We were told their country of origin, facts about fair trade agreements, and after the brief but informative lesson, we were given the raw liquor and double cream to mix ourselves. Needless to say, I was getting a smidgen overexcited at this point!
Starting easy, we made chocolate lollipops and decorated them, followed by a chocolate bar and onto the grand finale, chocolate truffles. The kids all had fun, the parents had more. Some of the treats we made, like leftover buttons, mysteriously went missing before leaving the factory floor, the rest were neatly bagged to take home.
Like a right cheeky Wonka, I even ate the letters of my nametag, which Holly inscribed on our paper base with, yeah, you guessed it, chocolate! From now on, in chocolate language, I’m known as just “ren!”
I wondered if when Holly gets home after her working day, she just craves a packet of crisps, but one thing is for sure, she made techniques in chocolate engineering look simple, when it wasn’t so, and things got sticky; scrummy fun for all the family.
Cadburys, and I’m sure other sweetie factories too, may have their own theme-park-fashioned activities, where you’re a face in an overcrowded commercial queue. At Hollychocs, just down the road, you’re treated to the personal touch, not to mention her divine handcrafted and unique chocolates.
I can’t tell you anymore about it then this, who do you take me for, Slugworth? You’ll have to find out for yourselves!
Christmas has come early for foxes and normal humans with any slither of compassion remaining, as the government announced the righteous move to ban trail…
Thinking of going vegan? Maybe after your turkey and pigs in blankets?! I have a chat about the possibilities, lifestyle and, you know me, a number of silly tangents, with Wiltshire foodie blogger Jill; to see if she can convert me!
I dissented my daughter’s culinary request on peculiar grounds; two everyday objects, sausages and bacon, when the latter is wrapped around the other, are, for some outlandish reason, a treat retained for Christmas dinner only, and to have them on our mid-December roast dinner would spoil the magic of the imminent feast. But once served, I ate ‘em anyway!
An oddity, why certain things, like Brussel sprouts are attributed only to Christmas dinner and eating them at any other time is like swearing at a vicar. Absorbed by the explicit naming of pigs in blankets too, like a hog-roast or rabbit stew, and unlike venison or beef, they don’t attempt to disguise the notion you’re munching on dead animal. Rather celebrate pride in the fact.
Such is my allure for something in blankets, if not pigs, I was intrigued by a recipe for a vegan alternative on a local based website, Especially Vegan. The site’s creator, Jill, uses parsnips wrapped in vegan bacon. I quiver at meat alternatives, but love a good parsnip; becoming vegetarian is something although I consider pursuing, I never attain. I blame pigs in blankets; oh, the smell of bacon cooking, chicken and numerous other dishes of god’s creatures great and small.
Roasted Butternut-Squash Skin & Seeds
However much I preach about environmental issues, I find the idea we all must go vegan the hardest pill to swallow. On principle I agree, but the reality, the golden aura of a roasted chicken, just overrides my carnal appetite and I cave helplessly like the carnivorous beast I am. If it was going to happen, you’d have thought my years working at a butcher, skinning rabbits and watching turkeys meeting their maker might have dissuaded me.
Can Jill help? Especially Vegan is a fantastic website, chockful of hints, tips and recipes. Can Jill convince someone as thick skinned as me to turn vegan? No, not really, she’s not the pushy type. “That’s the thing,” she explained, “I am not trying to change your mind. I would like a happier world, you know, world peace,” she laughed.
“I am not trying to change your mind. I would like a happier world, you know, world peace.”
Rather stereotypical of vegans, they rarely preach or thrust their ideas down your throat. Perhaps this is the undoing, I need the direct approach, a seven-foot skinhead vegan to order me to give up hotdog-stuffed pizza, or else!
I put it to Jill I could meet her halfway, reduce my meat allowance by 50%. Environmentally if everyone did, we’d reduce carbon emissions from 18% to 9%. “I feel we should all make our own choices about what we eat,” Jill clarified, “but obviously, the more those choices are based on the environment and health and, for me personally, animal welfare, the better.” A dislike of meat-eating is perhaps the most common reason, Jill wrote a post on the blog explaining why she became a vegan; “in recent years it’s more about health for a lot of people. For me it’s always been about animals.” I was still keen to gage her on her feelings about the environmental impact of not turning vegan.
Vegan Couscous & Halloumi Salad
“Absolutely,” she replied, “it has a big influence now. But not when I ‘turned’ back in the nineties! I feel any reason that people eat less meat is a good thing. It is fact now, regardless of what the meat industry says, less meat will help the planet. But there are other things we could all do that will also help.” Jill continued on recycling and the supermarkets cutting down on packaging. “I also know that cost is a big factor. When low-income families can buy cheaper meat due to the way it is farmed, they may have no choice. I think the government should make well-bred and cared for animal meat affordable for all.”
But if you know the methods, I figured, most of the recipes on Especially Vegan wouldn’t break the bank. It was Jill’s husband who came up with the idea for Especially Vegan, in May, and the blog was launched in August. “So,” Jill enlightened, “it’s still quite small but growing weekly.”
Jill still cooks meat for her friends and family, “that’s their choice,” and was keen to point out her blog is not just for vegans. “I take the meat, etc, out of recipes I like, so there’s no reason why people can’t add meat to my recipes. The hope is that they will try it my way. So, try parsnips but with your bacon!”
“There’s no reason why people can’t add meat to my recipes. The hope is that they will try it my way….”
Jill was direct when I asked if she felt there’s a lot of misguided information, “meat propaganda” which ridicules or gives incorrect facts about vegans? “Yes, I do. I haven’t researched it fully myself because I do not preach about being vegan, my choice! However, I do belong to some Facebook groups and see posts about industry starting rumours about vegans and it being a dreadful, non-healthy diet. I am pleased to say, I have thrived on it for over twenty-two years and have never taken a supplement, which is another area for misguided influence from the drug companies who sell supplements.”
I did read the blogpost on her not taking vitamin supplements; it’s necessity to is a given stereotype, isn’t it? “Yes, a stereotype!” Jill replied, “however, not everyone can absorb vitamins naturally and do need help. But, not just vegans. There are a couple of things that are a little more difficult to obtain as a vegan. B12 – I get from marmite and fortified cereals and milks. And the new one is Vitamin D. Which can be an issue, but if you are careful and research your dietary needs well, then it can be overcome. However, I am not saying there is not a need, but that need could be for anyone whose body needs it, non-vegans too!”
Vegan Date & Nut Chocolates
If I was going to consider this, is it a good idea to dip my toe in the water, you know, try being a vegetarian first, or diving right in to vegan?
“Way back when,” Jill elucidated, “I didn’t really know much about veganism, so vegetarianism was the way for me. It was only later as I learnt more about vegetarianism that veganism crept into what I was reading. No internet to hand back then, like it is today. And cheese was the hardest for me to give up when I turned vegan. I think with all the info there is today, and you are really sure it’s what you want, then, yeah, head straight in. But otherwise, take it slow. If it’s your end goal, the importance is getting there, not how fast you get there.” Meat was Jill’s favourite thing on her plate, growing up, and said she couldn’t stand vegetables. Internet or not, though, I wasn’t put off by Iceland’s chicken tikka lasagne; it’s surely too late for me!
“Cheese was the hardest for me to give up when I turned vegan.”
The internet is an information minefield. I typed into Google: “do we need to go vegan to…” intending to add “environment,” but a more popular choice suggestion freaked me out. It was “…to get into heaven?!” Seems people use the word of god to encourage their own opinion on it. There’s some shocking stuff suggesting you’re on your way to hell for not eating meat! But equally there’s many who say, and I’d agree, if I wasn’t an atheist, you’d be a higher tier in heaven for not eating God’s creatures.
“Say no more!” Jill agreed, even as a bellringer, “I have to honestly say, what a load of rubbish. But that’s what happens with everything, there will always be people out there who say stuff like that. I’m sat here with a G & T so I must be heading downwards, surely; but it is vegan!”
The Especially Vegan website has hosted events and cookery courses, and offers a free tapas recipe eBook on signup. I asked Jill what was next, if a paperback was an option. “I will try to grow it and, yes, would love to have some books in print, alsolooking to develop a YouTube channel, but for now, I will just keep developing and adding recipes to the blog. It would be lovely to have friendly people subscribe as that’s an incentive to keep going.”
Our chat drifted on tangents hereafter, ending with me waffling. I cannot believe I bought up the subject of Douglas Adams’ ironic “Amegluan Cow,” with a vegan; an animal which wants to be eaten. Served live it offers the diners its rump or its organs, and they’re horrified, save for the alien Zaphod Beeblebrox, who offered to Arthur Dent that he would gladly eat a creature which didn’t want to be eaten. Furthermore, the Ameglian Cow added many vegetables were “very clear” on the point of not wanting to be eaten!
Mind you, Jill bought up a horrible scene in The Waking Dead, where they ate a horse, likened it to Tesco’s burgers, and suggested she hoped she never meets an Ameglian Cow.
But she was an endearing and interesting person to chat with, and Especially Vegan is a well-written, personal styled foodie blog, you should check it out. I noted my sad hypocrisy, given the horsemeat refraction, as I wouldn’t eat nice and fluffy animals. But perhaps my hypocrisy is my reason for an interest in veganism.
Jill mentioned how horrified she was by shark catching fishermen who put big hooks through live dogs’ jaws. She can be horrified, but I’m a hypocrite for being equally horrified, does she think?
“No,” she replied, “just the way we are.” See, a genuinely nice person, and she left pondering her next recipe post, orange zest cake. Nice, in my mind I’m there already!
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