Harrogate Cheap Eats - Tak Yan

Tak Yan is a Chinese Takeaway on King Edward's Drive in Bilton, Harrogate. A couple of years ago JD and I discovered that they open at lunchtimes and since then we've bought lunch there several times.

They sell all the usual Chinese food options but our favourite is the Noodle Box for £6. You get a box packed full of meat, vegetables and noodles. There are 6 varieties, my choice is always the Hot Box. Egg noodles with chicken, beef and pork plus vegetables in a chilli sauce. It's delicious and really filling. The noodles are cooked to order so you have to wait maybe 5-10 minutes but it's worth it for a fresh-cooked lunch.

It's a great lunch out as long as you remember to take your own forks and don't mind eating your lunch on a bench. It's a takeaway so you can't eat in but we often sit on a nearby bench next to a church. We've also just eaten in the car if it's raining. A lunch out is a lunch out wherever you sit!

We feel the noodle boxes are really good value at £6. You could even have a can of soda and stay under our £7.50 cheap eats budget but we prefer just to take our own water. You need it if you pick the Hot box, it's spicy!

Visit Tak Yan for your own delicious Hot Noodle Lunch :)


Previously on Harrogate Cheap Eats:

Drakes Fish & Chips

I Am Doner

Cafe Rita

Palm Court Cafe

Watch The Birdie!

My sister Sally and I have decided to embark on a serious birdwatching challenge! We're going to attempt to complete the i-spy Birds 1000 points total and become super-spotters. You get a certificate and badge if you do it :D

The book is full of about 150 of the birds you're most likely to spot in the UK including a few rarer ones for big points. I've already got my first one.

It's déjà vu because a few years ago I started the same challenge with my Dad. For Father's Day I got my Dad an i-spy bird book and one for myself and challenged him at spotting the most birds. He was recovering from illness at the time and I hoped it would help him walk a little each day and speed up his recovery. He did much better than me for the first few months spotting all kinds of birds in his garden. But then sadly he became ill again and never recovered. 

Earlier this year Sally lent me a book by Alex Horne called Bird Watching Watching. In it the comedian joins his Dad in doing a Big Year (trying to spot as many different birds in one year as possible). He wants to get closer to his Dad and find out why he enjoys birdwatching so much. It's a nice read and quite comical too.

After reading the book I was feeling tempted to try a Big Year myself and asked Sally if she wanted to try. We talked about it but decided it was a bit ambitious. We did want to feel closer to Dad by knowing more about birds though. So when I left my job recently and one of my leaving gifts was this i-spy bird book I encouraged Sal to get one too so we could have a go at this slightly easier birdspotting challenge.

Dad was quite knowledgable about birds from going out walking with his Dad when he was younger, but I'm not sure he'd want to be called a birdwatcher. He did watch birds though, at home in his garden at the numerous birdfeeders he put up. He took these pictures among many others.

He also watched birds out on walks. Here he is at Great Armscliffe trying to get a picture of his beloved Red Kite.

He also enjoyed trips to Staveley Nature Reserve where they have hides you can watch birds from.

So now it's our turn. Sal and I are going to try learn a bit about birds. Watch this space for exciting bired related updates!

Photo Challenge Week 3

Another week, another set of pictures. I've had a good week for getting out and about taking photos. Here we go!

BLACK AND WHITE. Ripon has a lovely old Victorian bandstand. I remember when I was a kid lots more places had bandstands like these including Harrogate. I really like them.

BIRD. Ducks on the River Ure. It was hard to take a picture because they were both busy grooming their feathers. So vain!

GREEN. JD and I like to sit on a blanket in a field sometimes. It's peaceful and relaxing. This lovely green scenary is perfect for the green prompt. Green grass, green bushes, green trees.

 RED. I love the bright red of this postbox in between the green hedges.

 STATUE. This one is of George Frederick Samuel, Marquess of Ripon. La-di-dah!

 YELLOW. Buttercups!

YOURSELF. Here's me in my new job which I started this week.

That's all for this week. Just one more week to go :)

Oh Burger! 28: Chicken Parmesan Burger

Chicken Parmesan is one of our favourite family meals so I'm interested to see what everyone thinks of it in burger form. I forgot to buy mozzarella when I ordered the shopping and realised about 2 minutes into making tea. Luckily JD was on hand for a quick dash to the local Sainsbury's. Hurrah!

Ingredients:

500g chicken mince
breadcrumbs
parmesan
1 jar marinara sauce
1 ball mozzarella
bread buns

Form the chicken mince into patties and coat them in a mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan. Cook the burgers as usual in a frying pan until done. Transfer to a baking tray and top with a layer of mozzarella.  Warm up the marinara sauce. If you can't get marinara sauce you can reduce down passata and add herbs/ salt & pepper to it.

Grill until the cheese melts and bubbles. Serve on a bread bun with a good dollop of tomato/marinara sauce.

Mixed reviews from the family! Erin really didn't like it and wouldn't eat the burger at all. JD and Leigh kind of liked it, they ate it but weren't that impressed. I quite liked it. My first bite tasted just like a mouthful of chicken parmesan. The sauce kept it from being dry with the breadcrumbs and the mozzarella had melted into it's delicious stringy form. Ah well, you can't win them all :)

Ratings: Emma - 4, JD - 3, Leigh - 3 and Erin - 1

Harrogate Cheap Eats: Drakes Fish & Chips

Drakes Fish & Chips Restaurant is on Knaresborough Road behind the Drakes Fish & Chip shop. Leigh and I called in for our lunch there one Saturday after having a walk by the river in Knaresborough. 

It's a nice light restaurant with plenty of tables, not squashed too close together. We had a look at the menu. I ordered a Fishcake with chips and Leigh wanted a chip butty so I got her chips and a breadbun.

The food came and while it's not the best presented food (it's made in the fish and chip shop adjacent) it does have decent sized portions. We had water and breadbuns but usually everything is served with tea or coffee and bread & butter. Our food cost just £5.40 in total!! Talk about Cheap Eats! There's a few other items on the menu for £7.50 or less, you could get Pie and chips, Burger and chips or Chicken Goujons and chips. The Fish and chips is just over our budget at £8.25 but it's not bad considering it comes with tea or coffee plus bread and butter like I mentioned earlier.

This restaurant is a great way to enjoy your Fish & chips meal inside if it's a bit cold to eat them outside. I can recommend the Fishcake at just £1.50, it's huge!


Previously on Harrogate Cheap Eats:


I Am Doner

Cafe Rita

Palm Court Cafe