Gusto, Alderley Edge - Near Manchester, UK

An italian restaurant in posh Alderley Edge, south of Manchester, which is equally at home with families+children as it is with adults wanting to have a night out :-) Good food, really good service, and looks great!

Add: 75 London Road, Alderley Edge, Cheshire SK9 7DY
Tel: +44 1625 583 993
Opening hours: Lunch: Monday - Sunday 12:00PM - 6:00PM
Dinner: Monday - Saturday 6:00PM - 11:00PM, Sunday 6:00PM - 10:30PM

Selection of italian breads with virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 3.25 GBP (RM$16).


G enjoyed her Calamari deep fried with lemon mayonnaise, 5.95 GBP (RM$30) ...


Ah ... my pork mains course. Yum!
Wild mushroom risotto finished with Truffle oil and parmesan, with pancetta (9.75 GBP, or RM$49).
M chose the Classic Spaghetti Vongole (i.e. clams) with White Wine Butter, 10 GBP (or, RM$49) which was yummy as well.

Like I said before, Gusto is good with children as well ... Make Your Own Pizza, 5.95 GBP (RM$30). You can arrange your own toppings on the pizza base which has fresh tomato sauce on it, choose from 3 toppings (Ham, cheese, sweetcorn, mushrooms, spicy peperoni, or tuna fish!). Even comes with a dessert, I think that's icecream.

Serves me right ... Its been months since I went there, and I totally forgot what this dessert is :-) Price for this slice of cake was about 6 GBP, or RM$30.

The Trafford Centre & Barton Square, Manchester UK

Oooh ... The Trafford Centre has expanded into an Italianesque square! This is Barton Square.




Cute or scarey ... take your pick!



Whats happened since I left the UK ...
The Trafford Centre announced in October 2005 that permission had been granted for further expansion. The additional 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft), which cost £70M, is known as Barton Square and opened on 20 March 2008. The name of the square relates to the nearby area of Eccles and to another of Peel's nearby ventures, City Airport Manchester, which was formerly called Barton Aerodrome. Barton Square is located to the west of the main building and is linked to the rest of the centre via a glazed bridge. The architecture is based on an Italian square and includes a large fountain as well as a campanile tower.

The glazed bridge ... and a very large new Marks & Spencers!

The original bits of the Trafford Centre ... and some history from Wikipedia!
Twelve years after the Trafford Centre was first conceptualised by developers the Peel Group, the shopping centre opened in September 1998. Construction took 27 months and cost approximately £600 million (approximately £750M as of 2010), excluding new expansion such as Barton Square and redevelopment of some areas for anchor tenants.

B's friend showed off the new Apple iPhone4 which had just been launched when I was there over summer, at the really nice Apple Store :-)

Legoland, Trafford Centre - Manchester, England

Whilst I was in the UK for a weekend, BA and GA took me to Legoland :-) Haha, ta M! The Trafford Centre sure has expanded since my days in the UK ...


Add: LEGOLAND - Discovery Centre, Manchester Barton Square, The Trafford Centre, Manchester M17 , England, UK.
Tel: +44 871 222 2662


Uh ... Professor Lego. Or was it Dr. Lego :-) at the Lego Factory Tour, fun!


Oooh .. my first ride of the day!

From the corporate website:

The unique, indoor attraction featuring over two million LEGO bricks is now open. Perfect for children aged three to 12 years, the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is like jumping into a giant box of LEGO.
The Centre is made up of a series of interactive features to immerse kids into a world where their imagination can run wild with creative inspiration at every turn. Featuring a whole host of exciting attractions from the LEGO City: Fire Station to an amazing recreation of the North West’s most iconic buildings, the centre will not only provide fun for LEGO fans young and old, but fantastic educational benefits too.
On entering the Centre, children are be taken on a LEGO Factory tour, which will reveal the secrets of how the famous bricks are made. Some components of the machinery are missing and require help of the children to create new LEGO bricks.

A fantastic MINILAND includes all of the iconic landmarks from the north of England including The Trafford Centre, Blackpool Illuminations, Peak District and the world famous Coronation Street cobbles.

One of the many workshops, a really interactive place!

Oooh ... how competitive. Lego Racers! This is my poor attempt at a race car :-) All in all, a fun day out!

Rise - Yummy breakfast sausages at Wilmslow, Manchester

The next set of posts will be from my summer trip to the UK, been swamped at work, so have hardly had time to write up these posts :-)

Add: Rise. 19 Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AE, England UK
Tel: +44 1625 521 800


Rise is a modern yet quaint cafe in the heart of Wilmslow's high street, in the south of Manchester, not far from Manchester International Airport. Breakfast sets cost from roughly 3 GBP - 5 GBP, good value considering they use fantastic quality ingredients. Service with a smile too :-) On the left, scrambled eggs on toast (how english!), and on the right, BA had similar but with sliced porky sausages too!


Ah bliss ... My Fry-up :-) I like!

Non-halal burgers in Dubai - Barasti, Le Meridien

How chilled out is this ...

And this .... yes, in the heart of Dubai :-)

Dubai Marina to be precise, this is the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi :-)

Tel: +971 4 399 3333

Oooh ... porky stuffs on the menu!

Some dried beef pizza thingy ... OK lar.

My full-to-the-brim 85 AED (RM70) Frenchy Burger! Yes, that's pork bacon ... unheard of in Abu Dhabi, thank goodness for Dubai!

Large portions!

Casa Mia, Le Meridien - Dubai

There are a number of Le Meridien's in Dubai ... this one is the one near the airport :-)

Add: Airport Road, PO Box 10001, Dubai

Tel: +971 4 217 0000

Always a good start to any Italian meal ... warm bread ;-) and posh butter!

Some bruschetta appeared ... I think this was the equivalent of the chef's amuse bouche, cos' we didn't order it!

Tagliatelle was perfectly executed ... I loved it!

V and I shared our 2 mains, the seafood risotto was good too :-)

The tiramisu was forgettable, as was our caraffe of 150 AED wine (3 glasses only ... ouch!). In all the meal came up to 370 AED for the two of us. Not cheap, but at least the mains were good! Welcome to Dubai, V :-)

Aunty Clara's Chicken Rice ... Abu Dhabi!

Aunty Clara cooked dinner one evening :-) here in Abu Dhabi ... and it was heavenly!

Appetising spicy vege soup to start ... dried scallops and chinese mushrooms were so plump and juicy too!

This was followed by chinese mixed veges :-)

And then ... "tear-good" Pot-roast pork ... Yes, belly pork. Perfection!

Oh yah... it was Chicken Rice night :-) Lovely texture, great taste ... dammmmn good.

Chicken rice wouldn't be complete without the condiments ... Hainanese shallot sauce, and delicious chicken rice chilli sauce :-) Bliss!