Month: December 2021

Afternoon Tea · Breakfast · Cafe · Cakes and Desserts · Dinner · Eating out · Street-Food · Take-aways

Milton Keynes Foodie 2021 Review

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Now is my opportunity to recommend a whole bunch of great eateries that I have been enjoying all year (or for many years), many of which haven’t made it to a dedicated blog post. So if you want to know what and where you should be eating in 2022, look no further…

Take-Aways

Best Chinese take-away: Sam’s Chinese in Peartree Bridge, MK6 3BX (01908 695695)

Okay so the location has a lot to be desired, but Sam’s has been my go-to chinese take-away for the last couple of years. They are generous with their meat in their chow meins and I can recommend their curries, ribs and satay.

Best Pizza take-away: Oleevo Pizza (in Broughton)

Absolutely delicious and authentic italian pizza, this is my husband’s favourite, he loves thin bases. I love the tomato and garlic bread in particular, as it is difficult to find that anywhere. I also appreciate that they seem to understand young children and offer plain pasta, my 5 year old is still in her plain pasta phase! The only downside I have found is that even though we live within 3 miles of the take-away, they will not deliver, even though it says they deliver within 3 miles.

Best American: Percy’s BBQ (in Crownhill)

You may have noticed if you have read more then one of my posts that I love brisket and Percy’s BBQ do a great brisket burger; in addition their gravy is outstanding and don’t get me started on their malt milkshake (which arrive in a cute bottle), so delicious. If you like malt, like I do, you should also try their malt icecream cookie dessert.

Best Mexican takeaway: Taco Shack

Best Chicken: Kings Comfort Food

Restaurants, Pubs and Cafes

Best Breakfast:

Codebreakers Cafe

I have two breakfast favourites. Codebreakers has comfy seats, a delicious cooked breakfast and great service. Location is not as pretty as some.

Nonna’s

Nonna’s looks good inside and out and they have the slightly more elevated breakfast experience such as poached egss on sourdough; though be aware that service can be slow sometimes.

Best Afternoon Tea:

Teapots of Olney

Definitely my first choice for a cream tea (and lunch), and if you have a tighter budget, teapots is definitely more cost-effective and the scones are worth every penny. They also have amazing homemade cakes.

French Affaire

If you want a more extravagant full afternoon tea experience and have a bigger budget, this is a delightful and beautiful french patisserie experience.

Best Dinner:

I have had a lot of great dinners this year, the Swan at Salford probably comes in second place, but my best meals of the year have been at…

The Cross Keys

Dinner · Pub · Sunday roast dinner

Cowper’s Oak (Weston Underwood nr Olney)

katchambers1 Comment

We tried a pub at the weekend that I have never heard of before but that has great reviews on Tripadvisor, plus the menu looked amazing, so we decided to give it a try, and boy are we all glad that we did! It is not a long drive from Newport Pagnell (where we live) or from MK. You basically drive almost into Olney, then turn at the co-op and it’s 5 mins down the road. 15 min drive.

A lovely looking old pub with charm, kids playground in the garden, open fire, smokehouse menu, great service.

The pub itself is very pleasing to look at; it is a 17th century Grade II listed, like one of those pubs that you drive by and say, oooh we should try that pub.

They have a large outdoor area, it looks like they had a lot going on in the summer, outdoor BBQs, covered eating area, rattan furniture and a large kids play area. The kids loved the garden, it has a climbing frame and slide and two swing sets.

Inside is like a rabbit warren, lots of little areas to eat and drink. We were sat by the open fire, is there anything better in the winter than sitting with a drink (and a book) by the open fire?

The husband had vegetable pie – a pie-roast he called it. He said it was one of the best meals he has had in a long time. In fact, he keeps asking us if we can go back for dinner again; which is rare!

I had the beef brisket in a bun, the brisket is cooked for 9 hours and it was super succulent, however, I think I might try the brisket with the roast dinner next time, I think it might be even more delicious in gravy. The only minor issue I had was that it came out with mayonnaise in the bun; which is not mentioned on the menu. This happens a lot, and though I am not allergic to mayonnaise (egg) some people are, so I wish they would mention it on the menu.

Kids had a beef burger and chicken nuggets which they were both pleased with and scoffed down, but the bit they loved most was the dessert. Nutella-filled doughnut balls – and I had them too and wow were they more-ish. I could have eaten two bowls of them! The kids also had bubblegum ice cream with their doughnuts; which was very kind of the staff because they normally serve that ice cream on its own.

There was so much on the menu I wanted to try, I definitely want to have a roast meal here and try almost everything on the smoke-house menu. The lunch menu looks exciting too, so we shall definitely be returning.

Further Information

Address: High Street, Weston Underwood, MK46 5JS

Website: http://www.cowpersoak.co.uk/

Parking: On-site