the oast house

the oast house is always agoodplace to go in the sunshine, but that also means big queues at the bar on busy evenings/ weekends (which can be frustrating if you’re trying to order food too).

the hanging kebabs are always agoodchoice, and on this occasion we had them, the spring rolls and also the cheese sharing platter. the white sangria wasgoodand my friends were impressed with the gin selection.

so to begin with, it's been a long time coming!

i had seen this place a few times while passing by spinningfields and always thought it would be a great place to sit when the weather's nice because of their unique outdoor section that kind of reminds you of an old barn.  i however assumed that it was a pub so never thought to try the food because there's a fewgoodfood options in spinningfields.  anyways, moving on...

so one day a friend of mine suggested we go to oast house, he told me that they had amazing kebabs but for once i wasn't in the mood for meat so i wasn't too excited.  either way we went and i decided to order the vegetable option kebab which was a halloumi cheese kebab with vegetable couscous.  it didn't sound that exciting and i've never been a big fan of couscous but nevertheless, i was in the mood for halloumi.

when the dish came i was shocked.  it surpassed all my expectations.  i was expecting a few pieces of halloumi with a bit of couscous but this was different.  the halloumi came as huge succulent chunks on a hanging skewers with beautiful, lush mushrooms inbetween amongst other veg such as yellow peppers.

the couscous was incredible.  big scrumptious balls of couscous like i've never previously experienced (i hate that grainy couscous).  the texture was perfect and to top off the dish.  there was a side of garlic butter that you could pour onto the top of the skewer.  it then ran through the halloumi and veg and then dropped onto the couscous that soaked it all up.  

when i had my first spoonful of the halloumi with the couscous after it had sucked up a bit of the garlic butter... lets just say my taste buds were truly satisfied!  you could taste the the perfectly grilled halloumi with a lemony, garlicky tinge carried through by the soft and absorbent couscous balls...

the next few minutes were a blur as i was engulfed in total food satisfaction which is incredibly hard to put me through if meat isn't involved but this really hit the spot!

i haven't tried anything else yet but although it was simple, it was magnificent so this alone did it for me!

a recent experience of attempting to dine out on a saturday night without a reservation would teach me not to do it again.  we wondered around for what seems like an eternity on empty stomachs put off by the waits of at least an hour at most decent places.  eventually we settled on oast house, as there were tables free outside and we couldn't wait any longer. not having had a kebab for a while i was looking forward to it although it wasn't a conventional kebab.  served hanging and the fries at the bottom with garlic butter on the top, which was allowed to drizzle over the meat and coat the fries, this lookedgoodwhen it arrived.  by this point we were ravenous.  we ordered both a chicken and a beef hanging kebab.  the meat was well grilled and surprising juicy and not overdone.  the garlic butter on the chips was indulgent and we couldn't get enough of them. we also ordered an italian deli board consisting of parma ham, pastrami, roast peppers, olives and oast-dried tomatoes.  it was