I eat French food in Lincoln

My Mum (hello, Mum!) emailed me the other day and told me off for neglecting both my blog and my diet healthy eating plan. And she was quite right and I am duly chastened, but in my defence I am in the wilds of Lincolnshire this week delivering a training course with limited access to t’internet and little control over meals. This blog entry comes courtesy of the fact that I have been able to leave the class in other hands this afternoon and find a quiet corner to do some work. It is lovely actually, a nice, quiet office with a view over green fields.

I am not going to bore you with whingeing about how hard it is to diet (sorry, I hate that word, but it is impossible to make a verb out of healthy eating plan) when you are busy and away a lot and stressed out over new jobs and new homes in new cities. You’ve heard it all before and you’ll just roll your eyes and perhaps think that if I really wanted it I wouldn’t rely on a string of rather lame excuses.

Instead (says she, moving swiftly on), I just popped in to tell you about a lovely meal I had the other night. Usually when we come to Lincoln we stay in a residential training centre, but this time we’ve had to stay in the city itself and travel in. It’s been nice, actually. Lincoln is a very pretty city. I didn’t hold out high hopes for finding a decent eatery which would be priced to fit the modest civil service budget and had resigned myself to a few days of Pizza Express et al. But an Internet search turned at trumps when we came across No 14 bistro.

Snails!

No 14 is a French bistro that serves the kind of dishes that you expect to see in a French bistro. It perhaps means that the menu would look a tad dated were it plonked down in the middle of Paris but who would be so churlish as to care about that? I had snails in garlic and parsley butter, which were beautifully cooked and hummed with just the right amount of garlic, followed by a lovely Provencal vegetable tart with goats’ cheese mousse.

Tart!

The beef bourguignon across the table, served with a wedge of dauphinoise potatoes smelled heavenly. And (Mum, cover your eyes) I couldn’t resist the chocolate and praline mousse which was as decadent as it sounds with the crunchy praline layered throughout to add texture and interest to the densely, darkly rich chocolate. These dishes were all chosen from the set course menu and came to a mere £12.50. Yes, £12.50. It was stupendously good value. If you went for the a la carte menu it would have worked out as slightly more expensive but still reasonable. I wholeheartedly recommend the place, an unexpected delight in an unexpectedly delightful city.

Right, duty calls so I must love you and leave you for now. Please bear with the sporadic posting. I promise that I am still here and trying to stay on top of reading and commenting and that usual service will be resumed at some point in the near future. As, I’m sure, will the downwards trend of the scales.