Sunday 16 March 2014

A Garden Picnic

Nothing beats saying goodbye to the Winter so I was pretty happy when I bounced out of bed on the first day of March to greet the Spring sunshine. 

What better way to start the new season than with a picnic?

Don't worry I haven't completely lost the plot, I realise it's still a little bit too cold to be heading outside to sit in the grass with a picnic basket, I'm talking about a fantastic alternative at Garden Kitchen.

Garden Kitchen is hidden in a quiet little corner of Eldon Square Shopping Centre and it's one of my favourite places in toon to go for lunch.  





Everything they serve is just delicious and my favourite part of the menu is the picnics, they are amazing value for money and perfect for little piggies like myself and Simon.

The arrival of Spring was the perfect excuse to head out for our first picnic of the year, I was also itching to debut my beautiful new Primark dress.





































Whilst trying to decide which of the three yummy picnics to chose from we ordered a jug of homemade lemonade.  We always have it as it's beautifully refreshing and you get a huge jug for only £4.95.





We eventually decided on the Garden Picnic as it had a great mixture of savoury and sweet food, perfect for a hungry lunchtime.  The picnic costs £18.95 and is served on it's own mini picnic table overloaded with food.






How's that for the "wow factor"?  It's quite a lot to take in so let me run through what you get on the picnic.

On our little mini table of goodies we had mini jacket potatoes, a little selection of sandwiches, homemade coleslaw, scotch eggs, baked beans, HP sauce, fresh salad, flapjacks, banana loaf, shortbread biscuits and victoria sponge ... phew!

As you can imagine it's a bit of a dream to photograph and Simon had a few very frustrated minutes watching me snapping away when all he wanted to do was grab all the food.   He did offer to set up a game for my blog - "guess what food was on the picnic table before I ate it?!" .. but I told him no!





The highlights of this feast were the gorgeous salad which had a lovely mustard dressing, the baked beans which were such an experience for me as I've never had homemade baked beans before and the flapjack which was really rich with treacle.




One fun part of having a picnic like this is that inevitably some of your courses do collide.  I did have a little shock when I bit into my roll to discover a tiny piece of victoria sponge had snuck in between the bread.  I enjoyed it though, if you can't eat a cake in a sandwich on a Sunday then when can you?

Garden Kitchen is a fantastic place to cure a rumbling tummy, I can't recommend it highly enough and I'm already looking forward to our next visit.







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26 comments

  1. What a cool post!
    http://www.facebook.com/AmandaChicFashionRoomLounge?ref=hl
    http://fashionroomlounge.blogspot.com.es/
    Twitter / tumblr/ instagram: @fashionrlounge

    A chic kiss ;)

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  2. Wow, that looks super yummy! I think I need a picnic now :)

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    1. SO good! It's a perfect alternative to sitting outside with one, perfect for when the weather isn't quite warm enough yet :D

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  3. Can't believe I've never tried this! It looks amazing :) I think I would've skipped straight to the cake, though :D xx

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    1. They do another picnic which is more of an afternoon tea one, you get a few sandwiches and then lots of cake :D

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  4. I've been tempted to visit this little place so many times whilst in Eldon Square but I'm yet to actually go for food, definitely need to pay a visit next time I'm in town!

    www.talkingaboutm.com

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    1. Definitely do it! I've also had a cheese toastie there before (so good!), bought a cocktail (even better) and they do breakfast which I'm yet to try x

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  5. Oh my, that cake looks so good and I love this idea of the indoor picnic for sure. I use to go into Eldon Square so often but I never explored the food areas.

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    1. I really wanted to pinch one of the picnic tables :D

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  6. I love this place! I'm planning to go this week when we pop to Newcastle. It's nice and spacious in there for a pram too. I love the lemonade. I have had the afternoon tea there, but my favourite is the Allotment picnic because I don't eat meat, but I always think the one you had looks delicious!

    I just replied to the message you had left on my blog, but in case you don't see it I would love to go to the blogger meet up, but I'm not sure I will be able to. My husband is at work that day and I might not be able to get a babysitter and I'm not sure it would be the best place to bring a baby. I will have to see what I can do. Where is it taking place and where do I get a ticket?

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    1. I really want to try the Allotment but it's hard to convince Simon that a meal with no meat is worth having! If I ever give him something with no meat in he's literally hunting for it .. I had to stop buying cheese and onion quiche cos he just didn't get it :p

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  7. Also, you got some great photos of the place. I've always wanted to do a post on it, but I've never got round to it and taking photos has proved even more difficult when juggling a baby! x

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  8. That looks so good! Super cute too!!

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  9. This looks amazing and somewhere I will definitely keep in mind for if I'm ever up in Newcastle :)

    Belle x Part of Belle's world

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  10. Wow, that looks amazing! I love the mini picnic table! Your bio in the sidebar is so lovely - congratulations on losing 9 stone, that's incredible! Best wishes for your new(castle) life :) x

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    1. Thank you so so much for your lovely comment :) x

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  11. How cool is that? I've never seen a place like it, sounds perfect for my husband - he's a picker and nibbler - just need to find its sister place all the way down in Devon :o)
    And I don't think it's ever wrong to have a cake in a sandwich, Sunday or not!!
    M x Life Outside London

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    1. You'll just have to come up to Newcastle ... it's definitely worth the treck :D x

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  12. This looks absolutely amazing, I can't believe I've never spotted this place, I'm going to have to go sometime :D xxx

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    1. It's in the Eldon Garden bit of the mall, no surprise you've not seen it, it's quite hidden away .. it's just outside Lakeland x

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  13. Amazing and so cute! Love the picnic style! :)
    For a girl not from the Toon, you really know some really cute places! :)

    Caroline.x
    notesfromcaroline.com

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    1. I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to new places. As soon as Simon and I started dating I was researching Newcastle and seeing what there was to do. He was going to move down to London originally so my first Summer in the North East I was planning these crazy mad days cramming in so many things because I was desperate to get my list of things done before he moved! Thank God I moved up here because there's way too many things I want to do and I never would have got through it all :D

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  14. that looks sooooooooooo good, i'm now starving xx

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  15. This looks pretty amazing - and a good lemonade is one of my favourite things! x

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