Flying Fillet - Steak Ciabatta - Hay Book Festival [@NLi10]

 Hay Castle has a little book shop in the courtyard (of course) but I could smell fantastic things coming from the area so we popped in.

Turns out the chief suspect was the Flying Fillet - and they had steak Ciabatta for £12 so I took the plunge.

And it's tiny :(

But my goodness - it's packed.  And it was probably some of the nicest tenderest steak I've ever had - especially surprising for a little outdoor food place.  Well worth the cost of entry and more filling than I'd anticipated.  Seriously - I was recommending it to strangers, and the only thing that prevented me getting more was the fact that there were many more food stalls on the town and main site which I wanted to also sample.

Drinks were at another stand.

Gin Slushy at 12 O'Clock?  Tempting, but I had a coffee.

My partner had veggie tacos, which did look nice - but the steak was magical so I was happy.

Porthleven Food Festival - Summer Berry Filled Churro & Brazilian Picana Sandwich [@NLi10]

 While in Cornwall for the week a local streamer gave me the top tip of visiting the Porthleven Food Festival.  We tend to avoid these things locally as it's usually the same people each time (much as I love the Fuffle Man), but here it's a whole new selection of Indy food makers!

Having been to Porthleven before I knew the layout and that there are lots of cool arty shops anyway, so we popped over.

There was music and drinking for the locals too!

I chose a Brazilian Picana Steak Sandwich for my lunch.  

Lovely and crispy with deep flavours and filled with lots of excitement.  This ordinarily would have been a highlight of the day.

My partner had a Buddha bowl which I'd almost been tempted by too - great variety here too - hard to make things like this at home without having loads of left-overs.

I'd already spotted this on lap one - the recon - and decided it was to be my pudding of choice.  And I went for the Summer Berry Filled Churro

Turns out I was the first to order this new item - and the guy behind me in the queue ordered the second!

It's a complicated mix of dried fruit and sugar on the outside, and a strawberry & vanilla creme on the inside - and it's amazing!

Like all filled Churro the second half is always a mess as it creeps out of the sides and the sugar starts to fall off and get everywhere. I managed to eat it all before the park & ride bus arrived to take us back to the car - so it wasn't too messy.

Overall a massive hit - and banana split style with ice-cream would easily be a restaurant grade pudding.

Well worth the trip out, and decent value for money too - I'd certainly go again.

Las iguanas - new menu choices (by @NLi10)

We are on a mini break in deepest darkest Wales (Pembrookshire) at the moment so have been eating out a few times. On the way down in Cribbs Causeway near Bristol were stopped off at a Las Iguanas for a change and spotted that the menu was very different to the last time we ate in our home one in Birmingham.

There are a couple of notable new steaks

And this fantastic sounding Bahian (it's a region of Brazil) curry - which I will certainly go back and try.  Today however I had the Picanha Steak.

This wasn't quite what I had pictured, but it was certainly very appetising. The plate was mostly sweet potato fries (a fashionable trend I can get behind) and the sauces were separate as if they may scare the more reserved diner. Despite all the wonderful descriptive text on the menu I'd ordered the safe choice - darn!

The green sauce was basically minty pesto, and the chopped tomato was a simple enough garnish. The steak was nicely done but had none of the regional flair I'd hoped for. It tasted pretty English! When mixed together the flavours came alive and I did really enjoy the meal. It was certainly filling enough and well put together but with someone whose tastes are a little more conservative in mind. This does mean I could take my Granddad to Las Iguanas and he could have this while I go for something that sizzles and pops with flavour.  Just means I definitely have to go back for the curry now!