Salsa at Fin’s

If you fancy trying a little evening salsa since the demise of Havanas, why not pop round to Fin’s Cafe Bar at 106 Palmerston Road in October and enjoy their free salsa night. It’s a small, intimate venue and salsa nights are from 8.30pm on 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd October. Pop in and see what they have to offer.

You can grab a bite to eat whilst there if you fancy it.

PS Join their Facebook group Fin’s Cafe Bar and you could win one of 200 free home-cooked British meals being offered as part of British Food Fortnight running from Sept 18th.

Tags: Fins Cafe Bar, Salsa

Pompey Beer Festival – The Other Side

Now I’ve been to quite a few Beer & Cider Festivals in my time, but none quite so rawkus and damn right hilarious as last weekends Pompey Beer Festival at The Guildhall. With daft hats from the mechandise stand and Skull Splitter as standard the evening was off to an interesting start. Tony winning a bottle of Courvoisier on The Price is Right was pure scream fuelled entertainment for the whole room and the level of Golf putting skills was something to behold.

We’ll all definitely be going again next year and of course it’s not all about the fun & games, or wearing silly hats, but it does help take the edge off some interesting tastes that’s for sure. Check out the rest of the night over at my Flickr.

Tags: Pompey Beer Festival

Sophies Cupcakes giveaway at Fins Cafe

This Saturday the newly opened Fins Cafe Bar on Palmerston Road will be giving away Sophie’s Cupcakes. I did promise to go in last Saturday and say hello, but to be honest The Pompey Beer Festival smashed me in. I don’t think I even left the house for fear of daylight and having to talk to someone.

Anyway…head on over, say hello, grab a Coffee and indulge yourself with a fancy cupcake. Lovely stuff as Alan Partridge would say.

Tags: Fins Cafe Bar, Sophies Cupckaes

Pompey Beer Festival

Do you really need know to anything more than the date and where it is? I don’t think so. There’s a pretty huge crowd involved this year. Gonna be a good one for sure. Featuring over 120 Real Ales, Ciders and Continental Beers. Music from The Trevor John Band, Band of Two, Shep Woolley Band, Big A Brass, Victory Morris, Doghouse and Georgia Ramblers. Tickets £10 per session, check our website for more details at www.pompeybeerfestival.co.uk

Tags: Pompey Beer Festival

Pompey Beer Festival

Do you really need know to anything more than the date and where it is? I don’t think so. There’s a pretty huge crowd involved this year. Gonna be a good one for sure. Featuring over 120 Real Ales, Ciders and Continental Beers. Music from The Trevor John Band, Band of Two, Shep Woolley Band, Big A Brass, Victory Morris, Doghouse and Georgia Ramblers. Tickets £10 per session, check our website for more details at www.pompeybeerfestival.co.uk

Tags: Pompey Beer Festival

Sophie’s Cupcakes and Twitter

There was a bit of of a cupcaked themed buzz on Twitter yesterday evening when Sophie’s Cupcakes (@sophiescakery) gave away boxes of 4 cupcakes to people replying or re-tweeting, I got lucky and got in quick. The cakes turned up super quick (free delivery to PO postcodes) and were amazing, the lemon one in particular. Word is they’ll be giving away their left over cupcakes again on Twitter at some point…eyes peeled.

P.S. You can follow Strong Island on Twitter too: @strongislanduk

Tags: Sophie's Cakery

The Little Johnny Russells launch their new Website

Those good ‘ole boys at The Little Johhny Russells have just updated their online presence with a fancy new website. For those of you who have not heard of LJR or remain curious as what’s going on there then all your questions can be answered through one all knowing portal at littlejohnnyrussells.com where you can keep up to date, either on their Calendar, Blog, Facebook or Twitter. All bases covered there that’s for sure.

Their extremely impressive list of acts so far include: One Man Party (Steve of Soulwax), Fake Blood, Annie Mac, The XX, Friendly Fires, The Foals, Simian Mobile Disco, DJ Zinc, Scratch Perverts, Beardyman, Joe Ransom, Jaguar Skills, Sinden, Vicarious Bliss, Mickey Moonlight, DJ Format, Maximo Park, Sunshine Underground, The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Cooper Temple Clause, Belle & Sebastian, The Horrors, The Macabbees, Good Shoes, Peaches Geldof, Rob da Bank, DJ Derek, Sinden, Dirty Pretty Things, Carl Barat, Rodney P & Skitz, Mystery Jets & Cash Money. Proper…

Website Design : Mark Persuad from Devine Aesthetic

Tags: The Little Johnny Russells

Sophie’s Cakery

Warning, prepare to have a rumbling tummy…

Sophie’s Cakery is a little Southsea based cupcake factory making amazing cakes to order. Sophie’s uses free range eggs, all butter icing and cakes, and fair-trade cocoa powder and can also cater for special dietry cupcakes (for example: gluten free or vegan). Be sure to check the gallery for more photos, love the Cookie Monster cake!

www.sophiescakery.co.uk

Tags: Cupcakes, Sophie's Cakery

Breakfast at The Belle Isle

We’re all on to a winner here that’s for sure. Good breakfast joints are plentiful in Southsea, we all know that, but few offer what we all want deep down alongside the classics. Eggs Benedict.

The Belle Isle in Osborne Road is now open from 10am every Saturday and Sunday for breakfast and starting tomorrow they will have a choice of Eggs Benedict – Poached egg with Hollandaise sauce, Asparagus and Smoked Salmon or Ham served on a bagel for £4.50 or the classic Belle Isle Full English – Sausage, Bacon, Egg, Mushrooms and tomoatoes served with toasted Ciabatta £5.00. Both options come with Tea or Coffee.

The Belle Isle is off to a seriously winning start. If you haven’t been there yet, or eaten there I highly recommend it. A unique bar with a very relaxed attitude that takes in the sunshine all day long.

See you there. I’m all over the Eggs Benedict, that’s for sure.

Tags: Eggs Benedict, The Belle Isle

Wimbledon on The Big Screen

The Big Screen in Guildhall Square will be showing live Wimbledon coverage and highlights of the action (where possible). To ensure that you don’t miss a single serve, have a look at the times below:

Tuesday 22nd June, 12pm – 8pm
Wednesday 23rd June, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday 24th June, 12pm – 8pm
Friday 25th June, 2pm – 8pm
Saturday 26th June, 12pm – 8pm
Sunday 27th June, 5pm – 8pm
Monday 28th June, 12pm – 8pm
Tuesday 29th June, 12pm – 8pm
Wednesday 30th July, 12pm – 8pm
Thursday 1st July, 12pm – 8pm
Friday 2nd July, 12pm – 8pm
Saturday 3rd July, 6pm – 8pm
Sunday 4th July, 12pm – 8pm

To celebrate the final week of Wimbledon 2010, tennis taster and skills sessions will also be held in Guildhall Square where there will be 4 courts for local schoolchildren (Monday 28th June – Thursday 1st July) and members of the public (Friday 2nd July) to have a go on. The skills sessions will feature racket and balls skills. Portsmouth Indoor Tennis Centre will be providing all the tennis equipment and coaches. Sessions will take place between 12-2pm. It is free to take part.

Strawberries and cream
Throughout Wimbledon light refreshments including strawberries and cream will be available to purchase from the Coffee Cup located in Guildhall Square.

Further information
Contact the Big Screen 02392 834109 or email bigscreen@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Tags: Big Screen, Guildhall, Tennis, Wimbledon

Southsea Food Festival – Palmerston Road Precinct

The fourth Southsea Food Festival will return to the area this summer and promises to satisfy the heartiest of appetites! Held in Palmerston Road precinct on 19/20th June visitors will be able to sample some of the finest and freshest produce available from the continent and local traders and farmers. The free event forms a focal part of the month long Portsmouth Festival of Food, and this year promises to be even bigger and better than before. The festival includes a kitchen theatre with professional cooks providing master classes, compered by Wave 105 celebrities, the finest produce from local and national traders, a children’s zone with farmyard animals and a huge variety of drinks from real ales and fine wines to champagne.

As an introduction to the Southsea Food Festival there will be an International Market in Palmerston Road precinct on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th June. This market will add a new dimension to the Food Festival with dishes including Peruvian Chicken, Asian Noodles, Olives, Baklava, Dried Fruit & Nuts plus Continental Sweets, and you won’t need to wait until Christmas for a German Sausage, they’ll be on offer too. Cheeses, wines and breads from the Continent will also be available to sample and buy.

Ample temporary cycle stands will be available in the vicinity to encourage visitors to ride rather than drive over what promises to be a great weekend. Plenty of parking will also be available at Waitrose, the seafront and surrounding area.

For more information on visiting the Southsea Food Festival and what is on offer visit: www.southsea.co.uk

The Caravan Gallery will also be at the event on the Saturday selling posh bread and olives alongside their gallery which is currently highlighting the upcoming Streetlight Exhibitions!

Tags: Caravan Gallery, International Food Market, Palmerston Road, Southsea Food Festival

Portsmouth Green Fair 2010

Portsmouth Green Fair 2010 is on Sat 17th July from  11- 4 in Portsmouth Guildhall Square and Victoria Park. The event is part of the Green Week Campaign and organised by Portsmouth Climate Action Network.

The current action packed line-up includes:

• 2 stages with 15 live bands powered by Electric Pedals bicycle generators organised by the Portsmouth coalition.
• DJ Danny Turbo.
• A bicycle powered cinema showing some of the latest eco activist films.
• Steam Boat Willy pedal powered hovercraft, where YOU can fly by pedaling.
• The Interdimensional Wizard who will show you some amazing sun powered energy machines.
• Clowns and Street entertainers doing workshops on juggling etc.
• Lodge Arts giving spray painting workshops and showcasing entries for the Big Green idea for Portsmouth
• Green motor show including vehicles which run on waste gas (Organic Power) waste oil (Veggiepower) and electric vehicles
• Healing Area including massage, reflexology,reiki etc
• Talks on permaculture, environmental gardening tips ,money saving guerrilla gardening etc.
• Portsmouth Beekeepers association where you can find out how to keep your own bees and buy some local honey.
• Art Displays and competitions from local schools
• Children’s games and activities inc building a monster using recycled materials, bouncy castles and Face painting. Also roundabouts and children’s rides. And story-tellers
• Bicycle maintenance demos + Trick bike display and skateboarders.
• Live broadcasts by Express FM and filming by Portsmouth Live
• Demos of green technology plus information and campaigning stalls
• Green Crafts inc Cob ovens and woodworking
• Pedal powered smoothie maker.
• Farmers Market for local Organic fruit and vegetables etc.
• 4 cafes selling local Organic fair-trade food and drinks including a cafe in a yurt.
• + almost 100  Stalls selling local produce, inc. clothes, eco-gifts, arts and crafts

They are currently looking for cyclists to power the generators – contact chriskennett01@hotmail.com to find out more. There are also other opportunities to get involved.

Tags: Climate Change, green, Green Fair 2010, Local Events, pcan, pedal, Pedal Power, Portsmouth

Irving & Co. Local Brewery

Seeing as Portsmouth has such a rich history for pubs and naval culture I thought i’d bring your attention to something that combines the both.  Irving & Co brewers are situated at Railway Triangle in Farlington and have their doors open for tourists as well as turning out a fine range of real ales to a huge number of pubs in and around the Portsmouth area.

Irving and Co brings the welcome return of brewing to Portsmouth and a brewery to excite the taste buds of drinkers in Hampshire, Sussex and beyond. The company aim is to produce the highest quality traditional cask beers supplying the local market within 45 miles of Portsmouth.

Malcolm Irving ably assisted by Mark Doswell bring together 29 years of combined brewing industry experience to produce beers that they thoroughly enjoy and about which they care passionately. It’s not just a job, it’s definitely not just beer, it is a way of life.

Tags: Brewery, Irving & Co.

The Belle Isle Southsea

If you haven’t heard yet, The Belle Isle has now opened it’s doors to the public. Located on Osborne Road it brings you a new, low key and relaxed atmosphere bar with comfortable furnishings in a friendly environment. With a great variety of cocktails on the menu, Liz recommends the Mudslide, and an awesome range of continental beers you can’t go wrong on the drinks front that’s for sure. They have Asahi, need I say more…

I popped in after work to sample the food and seriously, it was amazing. I’m no food critic but I know what I like and I can highly recommend the Asian Beef Salad for sure. They have really taken time and effort to bring a well considered menu to the table. The meals to share at £19.95 with a jug of Red Stripe look pretty damn good to me. You can download the Menu and take a peek at what’s on offer HERE. They even do take away on all Bagels and Sandwiches.

The boys really went to town and put in some serious hours to bring you this unique new bar. The attention to detail and collaborations with not only people helping build the bar but with local artists, designers, photographers and more really adds to the feel, making it a more one off environment that will grow over the years with new art, trinkets, photos and random paraphernalia being added.

Also to note is the fact that they have a pool table, a black top pool table no less and soon to arrive is the dart board. With darts on the menu expect to see the local arrows crew throwing there on a regular basis. Andy, Nick, Matt, Gonz and Jam couldn’t be happier that’s for sure.

Check the photos below for a few shots from the opening night on Friday and some of the interior that I took earlier today. There are also some more blurred randoms from Friday over on my Flickr.

Click read more at the bottom to see more photos from The Belle Isle.

www.thebelleisle.co.uk | The Belle Isle Facebook | The Belle Isle Blog

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Tags: Osborne Road, The Belle Isle Southsea

The Belle Isle

Some of you may have heard already, some of you may not but Little Johnny Russells recently announced their newest venture soon to be opening in Osborne Road, Southsea, called The Belle Isle. They are still in the early stages of development but they are aiming for a relaxed atmosphere with a great quality menu and serving a selection of wines, cocktails and continental beers. You can follow developments on The Belle Isle blog and on Twitter for now.

Look out for the special Strong Island cocktail on the menu when they open. Can you guess what it might be?

Tags: The Belle Isle

Southsea Common Barbecue Zones

I’m sure a lot of you enjoyed the fantastic weather this weekend and many of you no doubt had a barbecue on The Common. I was out of town on Saturday but heard it was seriously busy down the seafront. A few of us had a BBQ on Sunday and we’re approached by some council officials regarding our position. They were very polite and let us carry on as we were already cooking and handed us some details of all the new zones.

Unfortunately the new zones now means hundreds of people are going to be packed in to single areas. The main common by the War Memorial will be extremely busy over the summer. More so than usual for sure. I fully back having these zones in place, but feel I’ll no longer be going to the common for BBQs if I can help it as they have made a lot of areas no go zones. It was always more appealing when you could spread out from other groups.

Tags: BBQ, Southsea Common

Submit Southsea Recipes

We mentioned the Southsea Food Girl blog the other day, Lou is asking for original, local recipe submissions for the blog:

“I started it to share recipes with friends, I would love some recipes from local residents! It has to be there own creation because I’d like to start an online collection of free local recipes, to celebrate our food culture.”

Recipes can be emailed to loubeerocks@gmail.com and will be featured on the site.

Tags: Southsea Food Girl

Southsea Food Girl

Quick local food link of the day, Southsea Food Girl. Although not many posts at the moment, lots of interesting local food opinion and some good recipes too. One to add to the RSS feed list for sure.

Home Growing Vegetables

Portsmouth City Council aims to recruit 2000 Portsmouth residents to start growing in any available space they may have. They want to encourage people to grow in front or back gardens as well as using balconies and windowsills too. The council are issuing free growing packs to Portsmouth residents who have signed up for them either via the form in February’s Flagship magazine or via email growing@healthypompey.com (with your name, address and which type of container you would like: indoor, window, for back or front garden). The packs will contain all you need to start growing including resources to grow salads, herbs, tomatoes and potatoes. The participants will be asked to keep a record of what they grow. Also the Council’s community Gardeners will be running growing surgeries so those participants can get further advice on growing throughout the year. Get involved!

www.healthypompey.com

Restaurant 27

I’ve been past Restaurant 27 a few times in the last month or two and was really curious about it as it looks really good. I checked for reviews online and found a really good one over at Lay The Table (a great local food blog with loads of amazing recipes). It seems the restaurant is the new business by Kevin Bingham, previously the chef at Palmerston Road’s Montparnasse and he is working towards a Michelin star, which would be amazing for Southsea.

Has anyone eaten here? Thoughts and recommendations?

Tags: Restaurant 27