THE RETURN OF THE CHILI, POTATO AND MUSTARD MEDLEY

With the arrival of my 500th blog post last week I thought it would be a great time to go right back to the start and revamp another old classic. With the evenings being warm recently, I decided to pull out an old summer favorite I posted back in May 2014, my chili and mustard potato medley. Essentially it's a potato salad but not a cheap and nasty one you'd get in a supermarket that's smothered in mayonnaise but a proper fresh one full of spicy, tangy flavors and textures that really turn it into something really special.

YUU KITCHEN LONDON (MATTYB RECOMMENDS)

The discovery of Yuu Kitchen was once again another "using TripAdvisor to find restaurants close to our hotel" jobby. Still having a love affair with Asian food after our trip to Bali/Singapore, I loved the look their fun take on Asian classics, some of which had been given a fresh twist that sounded brilliant. There was only one way to find out if this was true and that was to go and try them for ourselves. 

MATTY'S HOMEMADE CHEESE AND ONION SANDWICH SPREAD

Have ever tried Heinz sandwich spread? The pale slightly tangy concoction they sell in the little jars with the green label? Well this tastes nothing like it even though it was my homemade attempt to emulate it using an array of fresh vegetables and pickled gherkins chopped very finely and processed together with cream cheese, herbs and mustard powder. What I ended up with was a spread that is more like the cheese and onion spread you get on pre-packed sandwiches in supermarkets. Was I disappointed? Err no! It's super scrummy delicious.

THE CHILLI PICKLE BRIGHTON (MATTYB RECOMMENDS)

Sometimes when your googling a city to find out the best places to eat you'll get the same places popping up time and time again. "Award winning" you will hear or "best in the city" but it's when even friends start telling you about somewhere that you start thinking that this place could be particularly special. That is what happened with The Chilli Pickle in Brighton, we kept hearing such amazing things that we knew we had to give them a visit.

MATTY'S RED HOT XMAS ONIONS

You can't have Christmas without a good old cheese board and you can't have a cheese board without a pickled onion or two. Making your own batch of plump pickled onions is so easy to do and also makes a great gift to hand out to friends and family as part of a homemade Christmas hamper. Take a slow, stress free day to prepare these bad boys, packed full of chili and other spices to really give them a kick. These little globes of pickled goodness are so much more delicious than any version you can buy in a supermarket.

THE RETURN OF JON'S CHILI DILLY PICKLES

There is always two firm camps when it comes to gherkins and pickles. There are those who will see one on a burger, instantly pick it off and throw it twenty miles away like its the dirtiest thing they have ever come across and there are those like myself who would happily sit and eat their way through a whole jar of them. With Christmas just around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to make another batch of Jon's yummy cucumbers pickled with oodles of dill and spices. Are they as good as shop bought pickles? They are better!

MOWGLI MANCHESTER (MATTYB RECOMMENDS)

When I finally got round to visiting Mowgli Street Food in Liverpool last year I was incredibly delighted that I enjoyed it as much as I expected too what with all the positive comments I'd heard about it from my friends and family. Because of this, I didn't think twice when there was a possibility of visiting their new opening in Manchester over this Valentines weekend to see if they could carry over the good work to a second city. So off we went on an extremely cold Friday in February to the newly revamped Corn Exchange in Manchester's bustling city centre.