My top 3 places to eat in Reading

Having lived in Reading for 2 years now, I've tried the majority of what it has to offer in terms of places to eat. The town offers a wide range of options and the riverside of The Oracle shopping centre plays host to the nation's favourite restaurant chains; from Jamie's Italian to Nando's, Cote Brasserie to Mission Burrito - I've tried them all! It's so easy to choose to eat at a chain restaurant we know and love, but if you're looking to explore something new, then try eating at one of my favourite foodie haunts.

1. London Street Brasserie

Situated right on the river and serving the most mouth-watering of menus, visiting this restaurant is a must. Although slightly pricey, the A la carte menu epitomises good food. If you're on slightly more of a budget, then I highly recommend the seasonal set menu, offering 2 dishes for £16 (a bargain for such amazing food). When I went, I had beetroot and goats cheese arancini with a celeriac slaw to start and for main, what I can only describe as the best steak I've ever had.

2. The Oakford Social Club

If you're after a more laid back dining experience, Oakford is the place. Although a music venue by night, head there in the day for the guiltiest of diner food and the coolest of cocktails. There's chicken wings, mac and cheese and burgers with toppings galore - and we're not talking your standard toppings either, they do pickled onion Monster Munch and peanut butter?! If that isn't enough to convince you, then I don't know what is.

3. Abbot Cook

Conveniently positioned right at the end of my road, this place does pub food how pub food should be. Although the prices are slightly higher than those of standard pub grub, you definitely get what you pay for. Their menu offers traditional pub dishes but done really well. There is also a set menu, which my friends and I have tried. Although it doesn't offer some of the pricier dishes, it was all still lovely and really good value (the whitebait is a must if you can stand eating fish eyes - lots of my friends couldn't!). I also went on my birthday and had the amazing veggie board, which actually had very little veg on it at all (apart from tempura cauliflower, but unfortunately, I don't think deep fried vegetables really count) They also serve a gazillion different lagers - no joke.

My blogging claim to fame

During my amazing month working at Sainsbury's Magazine I had the opportunity to do some really exciting things. From photoshoots to food tasting (a LOT of food tasting) I enjoyed every minute of it.

The majority of the work I did was to do with the digital side of the magazine. I was given the responsibility of the magazine's Pinterest (which you can find here) as well as writing blog posts for the magazine blog, which as you can imagine, I thoroughly enjoyed!



One of the recurring features on the blog is 'We cook the books', where a member of the team cooks a recipe from a newly released cook book. I went for a chocolate tart from David Lebovitz' new cookbook 'My Paris Kitchen'.

You can read all about what I thought of the recipe and the finished tart by reading my blog post on the Sainsbury's Magazine site here.

(Excuse me whilst I have my "look Mum,
it says my name at the bottom!" moment)