New Business on the Block – Sugar and Spice
Earlier this week we shared a post from a new business venture on Queen street Sugar and Spice which stands where the former Nunzio’s restaurant was opposite walkabout. The new venture is a twist on an old classic – Sugar and Spice combines all the favourites of a traditional general purpose take away but brings to the table much better ingredients and a wider range of good quality products.
Click HERE to skip straight to the Menu Boards. – Or HERE for their Facebook
New Facebook Page
We were invited by the restaurant’s social media manager who was interested in talking about running a competition for our local followers to help boost the likes on Sugar and Spice’s new Facebook page. The BPL Bible was made for spreading the word about what’s going on in Blackpool and a new business is definitely on our radar so we agreed to pop down and have a chat.
Having worked in the heart of the town centre for well over 10 years It’s difficult to walk around without bumping into someone I’ve worked with or served somewhere along the way and low and behold the owner of this new venture is none other than the very man who I used to regularly trust to feed me when I was working as a rep/PR for a local nightclub.
Finding good food on Queen Street
Admittedly finding somewhere trustworthy to eat on Queen Street has been a challenge for me in the past for reasons we need not go into, – but this fella previously managed a similar eatery in which I would regularly have wraps and kebabs when needing to sit and scran for 5 mins on an 18 hour Saturday promo shift directing club goers into the club I worked for. Always clean and tidy – really nice food – He didn’t own the place last time I saw him but now he’s in control of this new business.
First impressions on arrival
My first impressions of entering the place is that it looked too good for Queen Street, It wouldn’t look out of place in Lytham or Poulton even – It’s stylish – modern, comfortable and clean. It has an open kitchen and everything there looks brand new and spotless. There is plenty of comfortable benched seating around the premises which is a lovely cadbury dairy milk purple sort of colour, it looks modern and is comfy even for a big fella like me.
We discussed a plan for his Facebook page competition over a brew and he insisted on cooking some food to take photos of – to help with the Facebook promotion. Not one to waste an opportunity to grab content (or food) I agreed that I would love to try whatever he decided to present for the photos and said I would give him my honest feedback (which is what I will give to you also).
Was it any good?
That’s how this review service works – It’s usually by invitation to a new business to help them build a following online – we all know how it works. There’s nothing underhand – It’s just a lad who likes his food taking some photos and relaying an honest experience about it – If i wasn’t so ugly I’d vlog it as it would take me less time to sort out afterwards. Anyway back to the food…
He asked what type of toppings i liked and I strategically asked for chicken and tuna – An odd choice for some but if your tuna comes out like twigs or pencil shavings then it’s not gonna be a pass – and chicken is a pretty safe bet all round If it’s not cooked it’s pink which is a big give away. 6 mins in the oven and out came this thin and crispy minimalist fussy eater pizza which I must say passed on all marks.
The base was thin and light, The sauce seasoned well and the blend of cheeses made for a delightful experience – a hand-full of fresh cilantro really makes a difference too.
Making “pretty” pictures
To make for a better photo – The pizza was also presented with a large portion of fries with red salt – which were bigger than your standard mcD’s fries (not quite big enough to be classed as a chip though) – had a slightly sweet taste to them (even the unseasoned ones underneath the red salt) and had a great crisp texture to the outside whilst remaining moist and fluffy on the inside. From the taste of them – obviously not fried in shared oil so you don’t get that generic fryer taste as you can do in other take outs which just have a one fryer fits all policy.
So presented to us for photos was a selection of Chicken popcorn type stuff (can’t type it the other way for legal reasons but effectively slightly bigger popcorn and chicken without the word and.), Chicken strips (not far off a chicken select type thing you’d get from a branded take away) fair sized wings and thighs.
Good Wings
The wings and thighs were marinaded in a house sauce which is a pleasant zingy sauce but not too spicy; and the wings dropped off the bone as you would expect. Not normally a fan of wings to be honest but these were nice even by my standards.
I agreed at the time it was a difficult arrangement to make look good in photos and in honesty I would usually photograph everything separately but not wanting to hesitate I just went with the flow and these are the best images of the food as it was going from hot to warm. It smelled fantastic.
Never imagined taking food photos when I was younger…
It’s hard making take away food look “sexy” while sticking to the truth of how it’s actually presented.
It’s always a challenge to get the right photos before the food goes cold too as the heat of the dish often affects the overall experience of the meal (for review anyway). If it’s going to be delivered to your door as is intended from the next week or so – this wouldn’t be fair to eat piping hot straight from the oven – as that’s not what you would get from a delivery or a take out. Even after the food had lost much of it’s heat – it was still pleasant and tasty.
If you do decide to pop down early doors for a mid week feast (discount details at the end of the article) – it’s a nice space to relax in for an hour or so whilst trying something different in the town centre. I’m sure over the coming weeks with the plan this team has in place this will for sure be a venue to visit on everyone’s list but I’ve got to keep my gob shut on the next phase for now.
Considering that we have previously reviewed food from New Businesses like The pizza Company, Pastels, Dalvi’s fine Indian Cuisine and other places like Walkabout etc – We haven’t ever done a standard town centre take away basically because other than the odd single meal from the odd one here and there – it’s not much to write home about… but to be honest – this didn’t seem like a standard generic Blackpool take away. It was a refreshing change.
The pizza didn’t come on a pre-bought frozen base – it was made in store fresh and you really could tell – the pizza sauce is made up each day and has an authentic Mediterranean taste to it – They use a blend of mozzarella and cheddar to get the right taste and flavour on your pizza – it was a really light and pleasant pizza truly NOT what you would expect to get from a Queen Street Take Out. And rightly so – It’s 2020 in a few weeks – we should have top notch takeaways on Queens Street – and hover boards and other cool future stuff too… We deserve it.
If you are out in Blackpool for a Christmas party over the festive period and fancy a decent munch before you go home – we would genuinely recommend this place and can say with certainty the food is good quality – Even if you fancy a change and want to go for a nice sit in meal – It wouldn’t be hard to eat a meal in peace during the evening there – The town centre isn’t as wild as you might think at this time of year – In fact – the business owners round there would be so happy to see you they would make a massive fuss of you and make SURE you wanted to return.
It’s no joke – the owner lives nearby – his son came in while we were there to have a burger for his tea – and the chicken I ate as part of the meal was nicer than the birds eye stuff I feed my daughter on a daily basis so wouldn’t have an issue taking her there for a pizza and some chicken and chips every now and again.
There is more to come from this cosy new venue – There is a further business space that used to be the bar in Nunzios – We can’t reveal too much but it should shake things up a little in the town that’s for sure.
You can call 01253 627 777 to order a meal for collection and in the coming weeks they hope to be on just eat and to have a driver on staff to deliver their fantastic food. If you tell them that you have discount code BPL Bible 10 you will receive 10% off your order. This helps you to save a little money and for them to figure out if it’s worth working with us in the future.
We snapped the Menu board for price comparison if you would like to see the menu please click the image below to go to another page..
