UGOT Food Review - Newcastle Train Station

ÜGOT kindly invited me along to try out their Newcastle Train Station shop for some lunch. As I don't live in the immediate area I tagged this on to a trip up to Newcastle for a different blogger event. I got there early so I had enough time to pick my food, sit and enjoy people watching.

When I got there the guys were super helpful as they explained what all the different options they had and what extras they provided. They didn't have the whole selection left to pick from as it was around 5pm when I visited but there was still some tasty meals which I struggled to pick from.

I finally decided on a falafel & kale wrap and a nettle ice tea with fresh berries. I took a pew outside the shop and munched away at my wrap. It was super tasty with all sorts of healthy bits inside including kale, couscous, lettuce and tzatziki dressing. The taste of the falafel was a bit dry but it was definitely not lacking flavour.

I was dubious at first about the ice tea as I'm already an avid drinker of peach black tea. As it was nettle tea I thought it might taste bitter but I think the infusion of berries certainty helped and it tasted lovely and refreshing. They also have earl grey and elderflower ice tea which I'd love to try.

After my wrap, I went back inside to take a few more pictures for this post and the guys offered me some frozen yoghurt to try. I was given a mix of normal and chocolate. It tasted lovely but I swear it tasted fruity, I was very confused but assured they were the right flavours! They also offer pomegranate & raspberry and carrot cake flavour. I want to try these so bad.

Overall I had a really great experience at ÜGOT. The food is such good quality and what they serve is super healthy and good for you. It's nothing like you'd find anywhere on a normal high street. The service was friendly and helpful and the interior was really creative and cool. I really wish they had an ÜGOT in Middlesbrough as I'd be going there every day for lunch! If you pass this place on your journey in or out of Newcastle Station I'd recommend it. They also have a few other locations in the UK including York Train Station.

*this meal was provided free of charge but all opinions are honest.

Copenhagen Day Three

Following on from day one, day two part 1 and part 2, we have the final instalment in my Copenhagen adventure!  Day three started with a walk back to MASH, the restaurant we'd eaten at the night before. Matt had lost his phone and we were positive he'd left it there. Sure enough, he had and the staff had luckily kept it and gave him it back. How lucky but also wonderful of the staff to keep it safe for him. On the way there we saw these guards below walking through the street, no idea where they were going but they looked interesting.
We were a bit stuck as to where to go on day three as we had covered a lot of ground on day two (as seen in part 1 and part 2!). We had a little scour of our map and decided to visit a castle, the Rosenborg Castle to be precise. We got to the castle and it was beautiful! Rather than going inside and paying we just walked around the gardens and enjoyed the lovely sunny weather.

As it was a long walk to the castle and then back again to our hotel, I decided to take a nap before we got ready for Pharrell on the night! When we were ready we decided to take a look around Tivoli Gardens as it was right near our hotel. It looks amazing inside, so retro but so well kept. There are so many different vibes and looks to this place, one minute you could be looking at a magnificent palace and the next you are at a popcorn stall! Although there aren't many rides they all look really good and very safe considering how old they must be.

After another meal at MAD, we set off walking to the Forum, where Pharrell Williams would be performing. The whole reason we'd decided on Copenhagen is because we knew Pharell was playing a gig there. We looked over his European tour dates and decided on a location. It just so happens we picked an amazing place!

The venue was like a smaller version of an arena with only a few tiers up on the balcony and the whole floor standing. Service was brilliant for getting drinks with concise lines and pre-poured drinks which saved lots of time. It was funny when the staff couldn't understand when Matt asked for Tuborg, it's like how else do you say it?! Foxes performed first and then it was Pharrell's turn - he was amazing. Although I couldn't see him too well through the crowds, I just danced and jumped about and it was great! The atmosphere was brilliant but it was weird being some of the only English people among a lot of Danish. I'm very pleased we went to see him and that we did it in Copenhagen. ... That was the last of my Copenhagen posts. I hope you enjoyed coming along on a little journey with me over the last four posts. If you get a chance to visit Copenhagen make sure you do as it is an amazing place.

Copenhagen Day Two - Part 2

Today I've written about the second half of my second day in Copenhagen. See the first day and the first half of day two in my previous posts.

So after filling up on burritos at Paper Island, we decided that it would be a good idea to climb a huge church tower. We'd passed the Church of our Saviour on the way to get food and decided it would be great to go up. Matt isn't too good with heights but he is getting better and at least trying, so he said he wanted to go up the Spire. However, when we got the mid-level, after climbing up very steep and eerie stairs, we discovered it was a very small area and also slightly levelled down towards the railing, i.e it felt like you had to go towards the rails. Matt didn't feel comfortable there so he decided to go down whilst I made the silly decision to go on further up.

Now it doesn't look too far on the image below, but let me tell you it was very scary. Going up spiral stairs around the central spire was crazy and then more so was that the railings felt so open. The whole time I felt like I was going to fall back and as you got higher the stairs got ever so smaller in width. When I was almost at the top there was a cluster of people waiting to reach the summit. At this point, I had to sit down and grab on to the railings I was so scared! I got so far up that the stairs were only big enough for one person, stayed there for a minute for pictures then descended down. It was great to say I did it, but oh so scary!

Next up, when we were safely on the ground, we went on the long walk to see the Little Mermaid. Gifted to Copenhagen by a brewery owner, the Little Mermaid sits on a cluster of rocks around 20/30 minutes from the town centre. She is much smaller than you'd expect but oh so elegant and worth a visit.

After our big day of walking, we headed back to the hotel to get showered and ready for tea. After checking the Visit Copenhagen website we decided to go to one of the top 10 places they'd listed for steak in the city. The restaurant we went to was called MASH and they served a whole host of different types of beef steak with varying prices. Matt went for the Danish 90-day aged rib eye, whilst I went for a Danish tenderloin which was an eye-watering £40, but hey, we were on our jollies! We got a portion of chips, macaroni cheese, Bearnaise and peppercorn sauce to accompany our meat.

The food was gorgeous and the service was brilliant.  The waitress even offered to show us the pieces of meat to help us decide but we declined. We were very happy with our choices when they came. We went to eat around 9.30pm and they were very accommodating as they didn't close till 11pm which was great for us dilly dalliers. After all that food we walked back to our hotel and got some sleep ready for our next big day!

Copenhagen Day Two - Part 1

Day two was our first full day in Copenhagen and it was a busy one. I think we just tried to fit so much into our day so we wouldn't miss anything. This just meant that we walked so much and then the next we were a little stumped as to where we hadn't been...
We decided against a sit-down breakfast, instead, we picked up a pastry from 7-Eleven (mine was a cinnamon bun) and started walking. We saw some gorgeous and interesting places on our travels such as the town hall, a Hans Christian Anderson statue and the lego store which had the Nyvarn built from lego! Walking around Copenhagen is stunning, all the buildings are so grand, well kept and colourful. It's hard to feel unhappy walking around the city.

On our travels, we came across the Round Tower which Matt had wanted to go up since seeing it on the Visit Copenhagen site, which is very handy by the way. The cost to get in is 25krone which is around £2.50 (just divide everything by 10 and you'll get it there or thereabouts). You walk up the tower in a spiral eventually getting higher until you reach the summit. On the way up there are two stops, one is a gallery and a shop, then next is the loft area of the attached church which holds some historic pieces. At the top, you have a 360-degree view with enough space to step back if you are a little scared of heights.

All this walking and climbing had made us a hungry bunch. However we weren't about to stop at the next food joint we saw, oh no, we decided to walk around 30 minutes to the other side of town to find Copenhagen's street food - Papirøen (Paper Island). It was a bit inconspicuous to find and at times we thought we might be kidnapped but in the end, we found it and I felt right at home in the industrial setting by the quayside.

It was in a huge warehouse with seating outside and many trucks, containers (converted to stalls) and bars lining the inside filled with food vendors. We had a good look round at all of our options finally deciding on burritos. I went for chicken and Matt went for pork but when we got them we had no clue who's was who's so quite frankly I'm not sure what I ate but it tasted good! We went pretty early in the day so not all stalls were open, I think it comes alive at night. I'd definitely recommend it if you can stomach the walkover as it is lovely fresh food in a chilled atmosphere.

After we fuelled up we got back on our feet again and started walking. You'll have to wait until the next post to see where we went for the rest of day two!