"The Downswings of Property and Poker"

[jezza777]

If the restaurant is on the seafront I like " smoke on the water" . There is a place called smoke shack just opened near me which sounds similar to what you are going to do , I will check it out in January and let you know what it's like.

Merry Xmas

[verndog158]

Merry Christmas Eso! Here's hoping you finally get that vajazzle!

[Eso Kral]

If the restaurant is on the seafront I like " smoke on the water" . There is a place called smoke shack just opened near me which sounds similar to what you are going to do , I will check it out in January and let you know what it's like.

Merry Xmas

Thanks Jezza that is actually my fav so far!
I look forward to the trip report
Have a great Christmas!

@Vern same to bud and hope to see you soon.

[Tractor]

If the restaurant is on the seafront I like " smoke on the water" . There is a place called smoke shack just opened near me which sounds similar to what you are going to do , I will check it out in January and let you know what it's like.

Merry Xmas

Thanks Jezza that is actually my fav so far!
I look forward to the trip report
Have a great Christmas!

@Vern same to bud and hope to see you soon.

The only thing is if you opened up where there is no water, would it still work?

[Eso Kral]

If the restaurant is on the seafront I like " smoke on the water" . There is a place called smoke shack just opened near me which sounds similar to what you are going to do , I will check it out in January and let you know what it's like.

Merry Xmas

Thanks Jezza that is actually my fav so far!
I look forward to the trip report
Have a great Christmas!

@Vern same to bud and hope to see you soon.

The only thing is if you opened up where there is no water, would it still work?

Haha yh hadn't thought of that

Cheers Tractor

We actually had a company do a brainstorm and they gave us 250 names which they have done initial domain searches to make sure they are available and we have been asked to send them our top 15 which they then send to a database of 300 people around the country and they inturn feed back to us the top 3 names.

If anyone is interested in receiving the list to choose 10-15 names please PM me ur email addy and I will forward the list to you.

[Eso Kral]

So Christmas has come and gone and it was nice to spend a good few days with the family at home but finishing work on the 23rd there was still one thing left to do and it wasnt any shopping as the night of the 23rd is traditionally our works Christmas party so once we have handed the keys to all the  mad people wanting to move 2 days before Christmas we pack up and this year all met at the Cliffs's Pavillion Theatre for a meal followed by an 80's party night along with about 6 other companies.

A couple of the girls in the office wanted to dress up so we went to a fancy dress shop and chose some outfits and off we went thinking that there would surely be some other tables who had made the effort, I mean who would go to an 80's event dressed in nice jeans,shirt, jacket etc or fancy little black number?

Well as it turns out everyone bar me, Sarah and one of the other girls!

I went as a combo of Boy George, An extra from a pirate movie, a Jewish diamond dealer extra from Snatch and was pretty devved when the first song after the Rod Stewart tribute was Karma Chameleon as I had drunk nowhere near enough to be first on the dance floor let alone being expected to dance to my own song but I think I just about carried it off!!

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

I couldnt get too hammered as the 24th is Petra's Christmas day so needed to up and at em to help her out and the kids opened some presents after the meal with the rest being opened on our Christmas morning

Here is Ivy the budding singer with her new piano..




It's a time that we remember those not with us as well so we all spent some time at my Dad's resting place and said a few words which was nice a peaceful and I always feel very calm when I go there, more so when the kids are with us.

Boxing Day was interesting this year as most years I would be punting in some way shape or form and for the first year in probably 20 there was no interest in the nags or football but I did watch a bit of sport although it isnt the same as when you have a few quid on it, I do wonder if I will ever be interested in watching sport the way I used to again...

We were supposed to visit a few Smokehouse's up north whilst visiting some family yesterday and today but the weather in and around Sheffield meant it not worth the risk with the kids so it was Leighton Buzzard and back having seen the relly's and a chilled seafront walk instead.

I will be putting together a small package of events for the first couple of months of 2015 and it should go on the staking board tonight but it will consist of
DTD Deepstack
UKIPT London
Sky Mini to try and bink a £1k seat (3 online day 1's only)
Sky Main 1 bullet
GPS Westcliff

These will be the only events I am likely to play in the first quarter as I expect to be very busy come the end of March so keep em peeled as there is likely only 20% max available due to some regular backers having res'd a piece already.

Hope everyone has a great end to 2014 and that 2015 see's us all healthy and prosperous, we will be having some friends over and keeping up my late Grandma's tradition of letting the old year out the back door after midnight and opening the front door to let the new one in as the clock strikes midnight.

Have a good one all!! 

[StuartHopkin]

Review of Rub Smokehouse, Nottingham
http://www.rubsmokehouse.com/

As promised Mr K here are my findings after a trip with 4 mates including Matt & Neil G....

After years of watching this man


tuck into this

Click to see full-size image.

I was pretty excited to visit one of the two Smokehouses that have recently opened in Nottingham

Venue 6./10
Although the venue looked impressive when we walked in we soon realised that the seating was somewhat strange.
The tables in the middle of the floor were undoubtedly meant to be in a junior school and the booths were made from discarded shipping pallets much to Mr Russell's discomfort.

Staff 8/10
Everyone was friendly and efficient, which unfortunately seems hard to find these days.

Beers 8/10
Choice of about 5 draft and 10 bottled craft lagers and ales from the USA

Food 6/10
As directed by the waiter we went for the hung, drawn and quartered sharing platter. In retrospect this was probably a mistake.
The £65 platter for 4 came with 8 sides and was plentiful even between 5 of us.
Tray one was covered in ribs, corndogs, brisket, chicken wings, sliders and pulled pork.
Tray two was covered in chips, slaw and macaroni cheese as requested.

The meat tray presentation wise just doesnt work, everything is running into each other and it just looked like a big greasy mess!

None of it looked like anything I have seen on Man vs Food

Most of it was average and the ribs were good but the brisket was just crap.
It was okay for 5 lads before an afternoon on the beer but I wont be rushing back.

The third smoke house is opening next month, Red, which I believe is a chain.
Hopefully they will have taken some inspiration from MvF as I am pretty sure that is what people are looking for.

[Eso Kral]

Review of Rub Smokehouse, Nottingham
http://www.rubsmokehouse.com/

As promised Mr K here are my findings after a trip with 4 mates including Matt & Neil G....

After years of watching this man


tuck into this

Click to see full-size image.

I was pretty excited to visit one of the two Smokehouses that have recently opened in Nottingham

Venue 6./10
Although the venue looked impressive when we walked in we soon realised that the seating was somewhat strange.
The tables in the middle of the floor were undoubtedly meant to be in a junior school and the booths were made from discarded shipping pallets much to Mr Russell's discomfort.

Staff 8/10
Everyone was friendly and efficient, which unfortunately seems hard to find these days.

Beers 8/10
Choice of about 5 draft and 10 bottled craft lagers and ales from the USA

Food 6/10
As directed by the waiter we went for the hung, drawn and quartered sharing platter. In retrospect this was probably a mistake.
The £65 platter for 4 came with 8 sides and was plentiful even between 5 of us.
Tray one was covered in ribs, corndogs, brisket, chicken wings, sliders and pulled pork.
Tray two was covered in chips, slaw and macaroni cheese as requested.

The meat tray presentation wise just doesnt work, everything is running into each other and it just looked like a big greasy mess!

None of it looked like anything I have seen on Man vs Food

Most of it was average and the ribs were good but the brisket was just crap.
It was okay for 5 lads before an afternoon on the beer but I wont be rushing back.

The third smoke house is opening next month, Red, which I believe is a chain.
Hopefully they will have taken some inspiration from MvF as I am pretty sure that is what people are looking for.

Incred, I was just watching him!

Thanks Stu that is really helpful and if anyone else wants to expand their waistband and try some other smokehouses up and down the UK I would be most grateful, with a report like Bopkins that would be great.

I will see how many invites to our opening nights I can wangle

Thanks again Stu and Red's is a brand I am aware of with their other restaurants in Manchester, Headingly and Leeds
Here is the opening of the Leeds venue earlier this year


I look forward to the TR....

[Karabiner]

Season's greetings to you and the family Rich, love those vids of the kids.

Has anyone suggested smoke and mirrors as a name yet?

It has outs..

[Eso Kral]

Season's greetings to you and the family Rich, love those vids of the kids.

Has anyone suggested smoke and mirrors as a name yet?

It has outs..

Thanks Ralph and the same to you.

We have a company looking at all the names on the 5th so I will add it to the list

I shall try and wangle an extra day off around the Sky event in Feb and if the weather looks promising maybe we can have a round somewhere?

[EvilPie]

Just spotted Stu's report on that smoke house type place we went to and I have to say he was a bit generous with his 6/10 regarding the food.

Other than the ribs (which were cooked really well with the meat falling off the bone) it was pretty damn awful!! They just threw everything on to one big plate and left you to sort yourselves out which for that type of food really doesn't work for me. It all just fell in to each other meaning you couldn't eat any one thing without tasting another.

How are you supposed to share a whole chicken between 4 people without lots of cross contamination of knives/forks? Pretty disgusting if you ask me. I always thought sharing platters for 4 had at least 4 of each item? Whole chickens just don't work!!

Stu also failed to mention that the food wasn't particularly warm. When it arrives I expect to struggle to eat it at first because it's that little bit too hot. The fries in particular were tepid at best when they arrived.

Special mention must go to the macaroni cheese. I'm not exaggerating when I say you could literally turn the bowl upside down and none of the stuff would fall out!! It was dry as a bone!! One of the guys managed to tear a few bits off but nobody else went near it.

The place itself looked decent but the seating was insanely uncomfortable. I understand that 'shabby chic' is all the rage but sticking 2 sanded pallets together at right angles then bunging 4 legs underneath does not make you want to remain there for long or indeed return in the future. The tables were also very small to say they sat 6 people. By the time we had a few drinks on the table plus our individual plates there was barely room for the 2 large platters of sharing food. This meant lots of leaning over each other to get to the food which can never be a good thing.

Drinks options were good and beer tasted fine. That's not exactly difficult to get right although obviously a massive negative if they get it wrong.

Staff were really good and I'd echo Stu's 8/10 for them. Very friendly and helpful which really offset the terrible food.

Despite the negative points I have to say that for £20 each including a tip + 5 beers for 5 people you can't expect gourmet standards. We probably left half of it so for pure value it wasn't really bad at all. For 5 lads having a pre beer snack it was okay and the fact it was so awful actually provided us with some decent entertainment.

There's definitely a market there for something good and surely it can't be that difficult to cook and present this stuff properly? I won't be returning to this place but if another smoke house opens soon I'll give it a go to see if they manage to get it any better.

[EvilPie]

Having read this back to myself I've realised that what was missing from this sharing platter was some serving cutlery.

Having some cutlery that was purely intended to come in to contact with food rather that 1 of 5 mouths would have been a very welcome addition to this eating experience.

[StuartHopkin]

Having read this back to myself I've realised that what was missing from this sharing platter was some serving cutlery.

Having some cutlery that was purely intended to come in to contact with food rather that 1 of 5 mouths would have been a very welcome addition to this eating experience.

Not sure why but felt this was appropriate...

[Eso Kral]

Thanks again Matt and Stu!

Let me know how you get on when Red's opens as they have 4 now so seem to be doing something right.

Have a good night all whatever you get upto, just a quiet one here in SS9 with us just having got back from Max's first visit to the cinema to see Paddington which was really good and then got some friends coming over for dinner.

An early Happy New Year to everyone.

[sonour]

Hi Rich,

Did Max enjoy Paddington ? We were thinking of taking the girls to see it but weren't sure if they were old enough to enjoy it.
We're taking them to see the singalong version of Frozen on Friday so I'll see if I can get a video of Pete singing ' Do you want to build a snowman '

Happy New Year !