Belper Rice Bowl Hosts Successful Fundraiser For Derbyshire Blood Bikes #EatGoodDoGood
Published On Sunday 12 Feb 2017 by Sticky Beak
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The Boy Wonder and I have just perched back at Chez Beak after eating some great dishes and supporting a fantastic cause at the same time. Tonight, Sunday 12th February 2017 saw Rice Bowls owner Woon set his talented team to work as they cooked up an oriental storm in aid of the Derbyshire Blood Bikes charity.
We arrived at about 6.30pm and there were only three tables vacant, which was good to see. Dave, one of the Blood Bikes team members came over to say hello and give us a bit more information on the background and work of the charity. He was saying that last year, 2016, the team covered an incredible 46, 000 miles delivering blood, blood samples from Transplant recipients and other specialist services all over the country. Most of the time they do journeys from the main blood bank at Sheffields Northern General hospital to wherever it is needed, but they have recently been doing a lot of visits to Newcastles Freeman hospital. Annually they need to raise £16,000 to keep the small fleet of bikes and a 4x4 roadworthy and up to the job.
After we had ordered our drinks one of the Rice Bowl team brought us a plate and cutlery and said that whenever we were ready, we could help ourselves from the buffet. There was an impressive bank of metal trays all containing amazing smelling dishes and I had to show incredible self restraint as I placed two or three different dishes on my plate.
First up I had the Chicken Curry with Curry Leaves and some Thai Sweet Chilli Chicken accompanied by egg fried rice. I have previously had Woons curry with curry leaves and it was every bit as delicious as I remembered it to be. The Thai sweet chilli Chicken was equally lovely; the large pieces of chicken had a brilliantly sticky coating that really was sweet but with that typical chilli heat in evidence simultaneously.
His Nibs’ first foray to the buffet saw his plate laden with the same morsels as mine, and he was just as happy with them as I. Somehow a Samosa or two had also managed to find their way back to the table with him, and he was soon oohing and aahing with happiness as he chowed down on them. One of the servers had brought over a plate of Prawn Crackers, Spiced Poppadoms and Naan bread as well as a dipping bowl to cleanse our fingers as needed.
You could hear the sound of laughter and chatter coming from all directions and bodies were arriving and leaving steadily as we munched our way through our first platefuls of food.
Our next visit to the buffet selection saw The Man Bird load up his plate with Sweet and Sour Chicken and some more egg fried rice. I had a Sesame Chicken toast, some Chicken Curry with Keffir Lime Leaves, Sweet and Sour Chicken and some fragrant steamed rice. I know I said it last time but I really cannot get over the size of the meat pieces that Woon puts in his curries, each one is probably as big as a Quails breast! The vibrancy of the Lime really came shining through in Keffir lime and chicken curry, and suffice to say that it was eaten in double jig time.
All too often a sweet and sour dish is nothing more than a gloopy, nondescript neon red mound of sauce containing a couple of small chicken pieces. The vision before me, however, proudly bore chunks of white chicken breast meat in a sauce that was indeed sweet and sour in taste and I immersed myself in its oriental glory. My sesame toast was lovely and crispy on the outside and wasn’t greasy at all; another sublime morsel from Woons’ kitchen.
A rather delicious looking Banana Fritter was brought to our table for dessert and as we had come to expect, it wasn’t your usual sad looking version. Firm bananas (still with green skins) had been skilfully sliced and paired with chocolate slivers before they were wrapped in what I can best describe as a tortilla style wrap, coated with crumb and fried in oil. The result is a wonderfully crispy outer that has an amazingly gooey warm chocolate lake with the clean flavour of Banana there too. I am not a huge fan of Banana it must be said, because normally they are over-ripe; then their flavour reminds me of pear drop sweets (bleurgh) and they are slightly soggy to the bite. So I am pleased to say that Woons interpretation was full of texture and flavour and I enjoyed the Rice Bowls version of a Banana Fritter rather a lot :)
Woon was absolutely determined that we weren’t going home without having one of his scrumptious deep fried ice cream desserts. We both tucked in and they were marvellous again, just as on our previous visit.
We took our leave of everyone, and as we were leaving another couple of diners were arriving. Obviously we don’t know the final amount raised for Derbyshire Blood bikes, but as soon as we do we will of course let you know.
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