Rosalia Rambles

Tag: travel

Redundancy Review: Day 54, “Rebuilding my world”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning terraformers and landscapers, welcome to Day 54 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

Yesterday was a seriously good day for me, like… it was the first day in a while that I felt extremely relaxed without the assistance of anything that influences my mood. I had a good burger brunch at Wimpy, I came home and played games with friends including an utterly cracked time at the Arch-Tempered Uth Duna Free Challenge Quest in Monster Hunter Wilds (that is a mouthful), and finished off the day with a lovely takeaway followed by a long cuddle session with my partner.

It was genuinely the first day since I lost my job that made me feel complete again. Frequent readers of the Redundancy Review will be familiar with my usage of the phrase:

“I feel as if my world has collapsed.”

Which was how I felt for the majority of the time that I have been writing the review. My sense of familiarity had shattered with the loss of my job and my worldview has been shifting & changing since that point to accompany that.

In that regard, I feel I have grown a little more cynical than I was before. For all my struggles with burnout & stress in my previous roles, I had always tried to see myself as an optimistic idealist who was willing to go the extra mile: putting in more time, saying yes to almost anything, and pushing myself beyond my limit to get the job done.

And in return, I got hung out to dry by a board of investors I only knew the name of through stalking the company on Companies House. All that effort and dedication yielded a great amount of personal development, but I still had to start from scratch until this contracting role came across my plate.

But I now accept myself for being more cynical, as this is most likely not going to be the first time I see a company heading into the shit in real-time. No matter where the wind takes me I will still give it my full-effort, just without dedicating my heart and soul to a role knowing it could all fall apart as fast as it came to me.

In a way, I have finished grieving for what I had in the past, and with that grief being processed I am starting to rebuild my world bit-by-bit, working towards the person I want to be again with a newfound sense of purpose & belonging.

It has helped me come to terms with my love-hate relationship with routine as well, along with redefining how I want to feel on a daily basis. Up until now, I had been aiming for a “happy medium” in a way, seeking out stability rather than letting myself experience intense emotions. In hindsight, this led to me suppressing a lot of how I felt on certain days which then led into intense negative emotions coming out more than anything.

Highs and lows are all part of life, and instability is not inherently a bad thing, especially if troughs are outweighed by the peaks. It is okay to be sad, and letting myself process this sadness is what I should be aiming for rather than trying to recover back to a middle point.

All this thought has reminded me that I had a severe mental breakdown in November last year due to work. The stress and strain of my new role slash responsibilities weighed down on me heavily to the point that I had no amount of focus to actually do my job, leading to me being put off work for a week to recover. That week was spent doing not a whole lot of anything, my main goal being to wake up and stare at the wall for a bit.

After that point, my craving for the happy middle point started, and that I feel did more harm than good for me. I should have let myself feel sad, to reckon with my stress rather than wanting to hide it away… I also probably should have taken more than a week off and more like a month, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Now I am in an entirely new chapter, and so long as I keep track of myself, however hard that might be, it is whatever I write in this chapter that will become my truth.

That was an intense amount of self-reflection, if still in my signature rambling style, but now it is time for the review, and well, doing a food review yesterday was so nice – I just have to do it twice! That is right, it is time for another episode of…

Rosa Eats Her Way Around Shrewsbury!

Though with a slightly different flavour this time around, as for the majority of these review subjects it has been me going to a sit-down location and having a meal. This time we are venturing into as yet unexplored territory but one I have been meaning to branch out into for a while: a takeaway review.

For a bit of background, there are a large number of what I refer to as “kebab burger pizza houses” in the UK. Takeaway establishments that do not really specialise in anything and instead offer everything.

You want a greasy pizza to forget a long week? Done.

You craving a low-quality burger to fill you up after a train journey? Sorted.

You require a doner kebab to soak up a night of boozing? No problem boss.

And there is a local joint simply called “Hyper” close to me that completely reshifted my perspective on how good a doner kebab can be.

A large doner kebab from Hyper sets you back £9.49, and as you can see from the pictures, they certainly do not skimp on the portion size or the salad, though it is what lies underneath the salad that makes this particular kebab stand out.

Whatever Hyper do to their doner meat makes it stand out beyond compare to other doner kebabs I have had… minus Shawarma King in Glasgow but they are in a league of their own honestly. It is perfectly seasoned, the shaved strips of meat do not disintegrate once they are placed onto the naan, and they remain perfectly juicy throughout – the addition of hot chilli sauce and garlic mayo only making it more of a greasy, heavenly treat.

The fact they use naan instead of the standard pitta bread that most kebab burger pizza houses do also deserves a highlight. Perfectly crispy, able to hold up to much more pressure and ingredients than a hollowed out piece of pitta, making the bread an integral part of the experience rather than just serving as a doner delivery device.

Pictured also are the sides my partner and I decided to get alongside our meal: chicken strips and mozzarella sticks. For all the praise I heap on Hyper, the reason chips are not pictured here is because the chips they serve are mid-tier as fuck, and often leave us dissatisfied more than anything else.

That said, the sides are perfectly serviceable but nothing entirely special to write home about either. No awards to be won by either but still delicious all the same.

Expect more takeaway reviews in future, enjoying good food is a major part of my life and I want to be able to share the joy I experience in trying things both new and old on this page.

Thank you for reading today’s edition of the Redundancy Review. I hope you enjoy a sleepy Sunday wherever you are and the impending Monday blues do not get you down too much.

August 3, 2025
Redundancy Review: Day 53, “Chill Time”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning hyperboreans and ice climbers, welcome to Day 53 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

Birthday party for my friend went extremely well yesterday, and I am going to include a picture of the picnic-ish spread I put together below.

So the bread and coleslaw are homemade with everything else being from the three for £8 deli/picnic section of M&S which made for a pretty diverse range of items included on the table. The bread went down an absolute treat as well, pairing perfectly with a bit of salted butter or a splash of my special “bread dipper” oil, vinegar, and oregano mixture.

The Magic: the Gathering section of the night went by incredibly fun as well, despite the bodge job format we created being a little jank with good pulls opened by all – even if the main hangout bit only lasted three hours due to my energy levels plummeting off a cliff the moment the game ended.

Which leads into how I am feeling today, that being extraordinarily relaxed without having imbibed any of my CBD gummies to reach this state of zen, and I honestly do not know what specifically to attribute it to.

Is it the fact I exhausted my social energy after a somewhat hectic week?

Is it me being comfy in my own space when a week ago I was up in Scotland?

Is it just my mind finally giving me a break and letting me rest without feeling guilty about it?

It could be any of those factors, but the main point is feeling relaxed and not having any major stresses coming in my direction currently.

Times like these do give me a chance to think though, and in something that feels hard to do in today’s climate, think towards the future. The world is in a fucked up place for a lot of different reasons, which makes it hard to make plans for the future when everything feels hopeless.

But even as it does, I still find myself wanting to move forward. To find a better tomorrow and work towards it, especially as a trans person in the UK. It seems like every day the ruling class wants to fuck us specifically, and every day I will find a way to continue living my truth and my best life – be it through pushing myself further into social deviance, looking for ways to support those who need it, or even just stubbornly refusing to bow to pressure and keep existing out of sheer spite alone.

As someone who once did not think she would find happiness and had a limited life expectancy beyond the age of twenty, I consider each day of life I have lived past the point I thought I was done a gift. Through hardship, doubt, and pain, I will keep moving on and writing this story.

No matter what.

But, now it is time to come to the review, and this time we return to one of my favourite topics. That is right, it is time for another exciting episode of:

Rosa Eats Her Way Around Shrewsbury!

When it comes to my food reviews, I have gone here, there, and everywhere thus far but one of the most common threads between all of my food reviews is the humble burger. I have had cafe burgers, restaurant burgers, and fast food burgers, but there is one place in town that I have a particular soft spot for that I have not talked about until today.

Yup, I am talking about Wimpy today.

Wimpy is a well-established fast food burger chain in the UK, claiming that they were the first to serve hamburger based meals all the way back in 1954,having celebrated their 70th anniversary last year as part of this history. It was only fairly recently that I have started going to Wimpy, and in the beginning I did initially have misgivings over the prices.

It eventually found a spot in my heart, and it is a place I return to for simple comfort whenever I need it.

Went out to Wimpy today for an early burger breakfast/brunch as I had found myself craving their specific brand of food, with me ordering a meal of Double Original Quarterpounder Cheese with chips and a coffee thick shake.

The thick shakes I have a particular fondness for, as the price of £4.50 for the amount you get in a glass and how incredibly dense they are, lasting well into my meal and beyond. The hit of coffee in this particular one is also fantastic, providing a much-needed burst of caffeine into my system early in the morning.

Shortly after ordering, my food came out.

Now, you might be wondering, why does this plate scratch an itch for me? On the surface it does not look anything spectacular, and in all honesty, there is not much glitz or glamour here. The chips are your standard fast food fries, crispy with a little hit of salt, and the burger is two patties with a processed cheese slice each, shredded onions & lettuce, and the special sauce in a floury bap.

But that is exactly why it satisfies me so much, because it evokes so much simplicity. It reminds me of food from a burger van at a local fun fair or school fete BBQ, the most no-frills meat imaginable prepared plainly brings me an immense amount of comfort due to that oddly nostalgic feeling.

It is a vibe I get whenever I visit Wimpy’s, especially later in the day when they turned the music on and it is a nonstop roll of hits from the 80s whilst I eat food that reminds me of simpler times, the perfect mood to set up for the day of relaxation I have had today.

That will cover everything for today. Thank you for reading this edition of the Redundancy Review, I hope you have a good day wherever you are and can take it easy this weekend.

For more information on Wimpy, visit their website here: https://wimpy.uk.com/

August 2, 2025
Redundancy Review: Day 47 & 48, “Doing Double Duty for a Rapid Review Round”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning backmarkers and wooden spoons, welcome to a rare double feature for Day 47 & Day 48 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

Do not expect this to be a common thing, I mainly wanted to enjoy my remaining time in Scotland yesterday and did not have the energy or wherewithal to write an edition on my overnight coach home… where I got stuck next to a drunk and could not actually sleep at all… which meant I was very knackered upon my return home, conking out for around three hours before waking up now to commit to a review.

But not just any review, a rapid-fire series of reviews based on a bunch of things I did up in Scotland from stuff I ate during my travels up to things I found on my way, intentional or otherwise. No mental check-in today either because I am fully relaxed and just wanting to talk about a bunch of things all in one go. Ready?

Let’s go.

Arctic Coffee – Café Latte

A soft spot in my heart for getting a bunch of coffee down my gullet that is both economic and easily carriable in public places. Purchased for £2.35 from a Tesco Express, it kept me going on my early start journey to Scotland over the several hours I was coachbound.

Admittedly drinking one of these in one day (like I so often do) is probably not the best idea with its absurdly high caffeine content of 50mg/100ml, which makes it a higher caffeine concentration than most energy drinks currently on the market. Was it very much needed for close to ten hours of travel? Oh yeah, just not one I can recommend in good conscience for mimicking my methods.

M&S – Chorizo and Cheese Pot

Rather than buying a sandwich to carry on with me or risk rolling the dice on whatever might have been available at the extended stop location, I decided to buy a three for £8 deal on M&S picnic/deli snacks and carry those in my backpack as small things to munch on considering my hunger during travel can be wildcard unpredictable sometimes.

Though I have to say, I was a little underwhelmed by the chorizo and cheese pot. The chilli cheddar had a decent amount of kick to it but outside of that the chorizo was just passable really, it needed some kind of oil or marinade to really wake it up. Asda provides a similar product which is chorizo slices with manchego and I remember scarfing that down in no time at all. I will likely not buy this pot again.

M&S – Antipasti Medley

The antipasti pot however I will definitely buy again. Whatever the various foodstuffs were marinated in gave them an amazing flavour, and when it comes to deli olives & vegetables this pot managed to include one item I have an insanely soft spot for: marinated garlic cloves.

Something about marinated garlic gloves in a deli context just makes my brain go all happy. I am someone who loves garlic in general and being able to eat a whole clove packed with the flavour of what everything else was soaked in scratches a psychological itch that left me thoroughly enjoying each bite as I continued up north.

Happy Chippy – Pizza Crunch & Chips

One of the few things I requested of my brother as part of my visit was that one night we go to a Scottish chip shop and I try something I would not be able to find down south. Whilst the prospect of deep-fried haggis sounded… interesting, the moment he said the phrase “pizza crunch” to me, my curiosity was piqued.

It is exactly everything I would have dreamed of from a Scottish chip shop – a deep fried half mushroom pizza. Crunchy, crispy, and salty in a way that stimulated all of my taste buds, I could not have asked for a better welcome present to a country I need to visit way more often.

Stereo – Crimson Zero Mocktail, Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, and Double-Cooked Chips

Stereo was a place I had not even heard of twenty minutes before I patronised it, initially only looking it up as I was needing to find a place to go to the toilet and like any self-respecting trans woman in the UK, the prospect of going into a public bathroom terrifies the shit out of me. Stereo not only provided much needed relief with a gender-neutral loo, this vegan LGBT bar provided an incredibly wholesome lunch for a reasonable price of £21.75.

My cocktail was an alcohol-free drink called the “Crimson Zero”, containing Giffard AF Bitters, apple juice, sugar, and Franklin & Sons Ginger Ale. Considering I am not someone who imbibes ginger ale on the regular, this surprisingly hit the spot for me, providing a much needed cooldown after pavement pounding across town for a pee.

The star of the show was the Buffalo Cauliflower Wings though, florets encased in a delicious beer batter, drenched in a tangy buffalo sauce, and served with the sleepy hit of garlic aioli. It was a pleasant surprise to find something so delicious and filling as an incidental to my quest, with the salty chips just adding to the spectacle. I will definitely return to Stereo in the future, with full intention.

Heavenly Desserts – Cookie Blast Milkshake and Lemonade

After finishing my lunch and concluding my quest for shopping, there was one thing I wanted to cap off my Saturday excursion: a milkshake of some description. My first port of call in the St. Enoch’s centre did not have any milk in, so I took to Google maps to see what places were nearby that could scratch that itch. Ideally I would have wanted to find somewhere a little more independent, but considering the aesthetic of this place, it was a good time regardless.

The presentation really stood out to me here, as the tall and skinny glass is not something I have encountered when it comes to ordering milkshakes at a restaurant before, usually getting a wide brim glass with cream coming out the top. Though when I think back to that situation along with how far I had walked to get to that place, they could have served it to me in a paper trough and I would have gulped it down happily.

Lemonade added both to act as additional hydration and to fulfill the bisexual stereotype of having two completely different drinks to satisfy two cravings at once. For £10, I could have done a lot worse for myself in wanting a sweet treat, but I definitely want to explore more independent offerings next time.

Shawarma King – Large Mixed Shawarma Wrap

My final port of call for food before starting my travel home was a recommendation from my brother that paid off in spades. Before I had settled on my pizza crunch on Friday I wanted to try a doner kebab from Scotland, which led to me being told about Shawarma King – a multi-award winning kebab house just a stone’s throw from the city centre.

As someone who has frequented various kebab/burger/pizza houses in my home base of Shrewsbury, including one that completely reshifted my perspective on how good a doner kebab could be, I went in with fairly high expectations…

…and came out completely blown away.

This was my first time having a proper shawarma kebab as opposed to doner meat, and the quality difference was noticeable from the first bite. The meat was flavourful, juicy, and not at all tough, complimented by the soft wrap it was all wrapped up in, the salad and sauce bringing it home for a frankly transcendent experience of what takeaway kebab could be. For £7.50 as well, this wrap offered more than most places have presented for a way higher price, and I will return to experience the euphoria once more.

Outside Glasgow Queen Street – Stupid Bit of Pavement That Knackered My Ankle About a Year Ago

When I visited Glasgow about a year ago for my brother’s wedding, I ended up rolling my ankle on an uneven bit of pavement that really put a limit on my ability to walk around which hampered my exploration efforts with a friend of mine. I walked past that bit of pavement this time, and decided to exact my vengeance.

Take that, you shitty bit of nonoptimal infrastructure.

Finish

Eight reviews done in rapid-fire fashion covering various points of my weekend away in the northlands. I think that more than makes up for missing a day.

Thank you for reading this strange edition of the Redundancy Review. Normal service will resume tomorrow with Hololive Tuesday on the agenda once more. I hope your Monday is not too taxing and you find some time to relax.

July 28, 2025
Redudancy ‘Review’: Day 46, “On Holiday”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning cats and dogs, welcome to Day 46 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

Not much to say today, I am enjoying my holiday in Scotland and spending time with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. Once I wake up on Monday properly I intend to do a rapid-fire review of a lot of the things I have experienced up here because I have had a good time.

It has been a needed time. Having time away from home has helped reshift my brain on a few things I have been worrying about and given me perspective on what potential solutions could look like.

The review today is my brother’s black cat, Bella.

She is pretty darn cool. In general I love black cats and definitely think they deserve more love as the witchy familiars they are.

Bella warmed up to me very quickly, and I am glad because it was very nice to pet her.

Thank you for reading a very truncated Redundancy Review, I am off to continue enjoying my time away.

July 26, 2025
Redundancy Review: Day 45, “On the road again”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning wanderers and travellers, welcome to Day 45 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

This review comes from the seat of a National Express coach as I head towards Glasgow for the weekend to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew for the weekend.

It was something I said I would do once my redundancy money came through, to make an effort to travel up north and spend some time with them since I have not really had a chance to do so after he moved up there.

The issue was trying to find the right weekend, usually being occupied most of the time with one thing or another, but my redundancy initially presented an ideal opportunity to take some time away.

I feel a lot better than I did yesterday, with my therapy session helping a lot in regards to organising my feelings and understanding specifically what they were – in a way, what I am still processing grief from my initial redundancy.

Whilst my contract work is entirely within my remit and an industry I am familiar with; I no longer have the relatedness of my colleagues like I used to, along with a good chunk of the work feeling hollow compared to what I was doing before.

Trying to disconnect myself from the role is helping to some degree, in that I am here to do what my terms stipulate and nothing more, but I do desire to return to something where I can exercise my passion properly.

The idea of becoming a more permanent freelancer did come up during the discussion as well, that once this current contract ends do I feel I would do better throwing myself into companies as a free agent, never staying in one place too long for risk of becoming bored or complacent again.

Part of this weekend is to do some soul searching away from home, using being in an unfamiliar place to do some proper thinking at the same time as not trying to think about work.

How delightfully oxymoronic.

Today’s review is going to be the exact spot I am sitting in, specifically, seat 2A of a National Express coach.

I have a particular soft spot for coach travel over train travel. The former definitely takes a lot longer to reach my destination, but considering the prices of the latter in the UK, the extra time spent is well worth the savings in my opinion.

Seat 2A is a lovely little tip I picked up from a travel blogger shortly after I had returned from a long coach trip last year, advising that reserving this seat provides extra legroom due to the assisted travel seat in front.

Ever since I strive to book this seat. Being around six foot tall usually means my legs can get cramped in standard seats, but with this lovely tip I can stretch my legs out without disturbing whoever is sitting in front.

It is especially good considering the length of my journey today, a lovely eleven and a bit hour stint with a handful of stops in-between. My Steam Deck is charged, my phone is loaded with music, and I got about a litre of coffee.

Let’s rock.

Thank you for reading this shorter travel themed Redundancy Review, I hope you can relax over the weekend and take whatever time you need for yourself to unwind. For me I am going to settle into my seat and absorb myself into my own world.

July 25, 2025
Redundancy Review: Day 39, “Sankyu”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning idols and divas, welcome to Day 39 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

True to form with the weekend, this is the first time I have woken up feeling somewhat relaxed in a long while, especially considering how many challenges I ended up encountering during my first week of contracting.

That said, I have not slept in like I was anticipating. It is currently 8:48am as I start to write this which is not all that long past my usual wakeup time of 8am, I feel a small amount of grogginess in me but not to an overwhelming degree like on the weekdays.

Regardless, my cortisol levels will probably thank me for not feeling stressed right now, letting my body slowly return to normal before it inevitably begins all over again on Monday.

Something that affects me greatly in terms of my career path is how hard it is to trust my own emotions at points. My mind is often in a state of flux due to both estrogen and the way my brain has always been which makes it difficult to settle on how I am actually feeling on things, leading to confusion and uncertainty within myself.

Returning to the tech space has, without a doubt, made my stress worse – which is weird to consider that when my state of being before that was unemployment, something that makes anyone stressed regardless of background. But even though my unemployment was stressful, I was following a plan to try get myself set up as a writer of sorts.

Would it have made me anywhere near as much money as I make in the tech space? Most likely not, at least not for several years.

Would I have been happy living on the back of my creativity? I definitely think I would be.

My intention is to still make the most of this contract, because whilst I get stressed I am still able to prove that I am able to do the job day-to-day, it is just a matter of trying to find the appropriate coping strategies that help ease the pain.

I think that is what might drive the conflict within me. On one hand I am fully capable of doing tech-focused roles especially in regards to QA, being able to navigate my way through a vast multitude of problems and proving the adaptability that so many people compliment me on.

But conversely, the life I am so good at leading puts me at odds with living a lower stress lifestyle. The tech world, especially the startup space I have worked in for the last three years, moves fast and does not let up in terms of presenting challenges. I recognise that I am the person I am today because of how many challenges I have faced, but at the same time I desperately want to stop being challenged so I can focus on other areas of my life.

A much longer mental check-in than I had anticipated this morning, but the topic kind of rolled naturally to me.

This leads us on to the review, and whilst I was not able to put out a proper review yesterday, I have got another exciting episode of: “Rosa Eats Her Way Around Shrewsbury” for you all – this time with an extremely new restaurant on the scene.

When I say The Gate is extremely new, I mean it only opened on July 2nd this year, a mere 17 days ago at time of writing. A dual offering of a brunch menu during the day and a steakhouse menu when evening rolls around, it provides a unique twist to a historic underground location.

The location has a bit of personal history for me and my partner as well, as the Traitor’s Gate used to contain a burger restaurant called Lyon’s Den which unfortunately closed a while back – though it is with only a twinge of sadness I say that, as new management in the final days of the Den led to a severe drop in quality, service, and atmosphere of the establishment.

But regardless, we were excited to return to a familiar venue with a new purpose for a good meal. Full disclosure, whilst pricing will be talked about in the review, the meal was paid for by my parents as it was my dad’s birthday meal (thanks mum and dad!).

It was surprisingly quiet for a Friday evening, for the longest time we were the only people in the restaurant with a handful more coming in as we were getting ready to leave. My partner asked about it as we were leaving and we got told they get more busy on the weekdays than the weekend currently, which is a good sign that their dual-offering is working.

We ordered our food, and admittedly it did take a while for our starters to come out to us, but considering the quality of what we received, it was no detriment in the slightest.

I ordered the Buffalo chicken wings as a starter, which came with four full wing joints, for a total of eight wings for £7.50. It even came with a little bowl of water to wash your fingers off afterwards which was definitely needed.

The sauce was the perfect blend of sweet, spicy, and rich, with the chef definitely not skimping on the amount put on the wings, that said the amount of sauce did not negatively impact the crispiness of the wing too, the skin being perfectly crisp to compliment the flavour of the sauce – with the experience only being elevated by the addition of the blue cheese dip served alongside it.

When it comes to blue cheese, and by extension, blue cheese sauces, I can usually be a little apprehensive of them tasting more like the mold than the mold enhancing the flavour of the cheese. But this sauce was the perfect compliment to the wings, an amazingly creamy accompaniment to a very generously portioned starter for the price.

It was a similarly long wait for the mains to come out, which our lovely server Callum did apologise for as he brought them out, making a point to say everything is cooked freshed, but taking into account the quality again, it all makes sense.

My main was the appropriately titled “Elephant Classic” burger, with my standard addition of a fried egg, bringing the total price to £19 for this absolute beast-sized burger, accompanied by a side of hand-cut chips. (£17 without the egg)

Is this the priciest burger I have reviewed thus far? Yup, beating out my Beefy Boys offering by over £5.

Do I think the price is worth it? I absolutely do.

The patty on this burger was thiccc, you can tell it is thick because I added an extra C on to how I described it. It was easily at least a half-pounder – in actuality I would guess the patty was closer to a full pound than anything else given how dense it was, and despite that density the inside was not dry at all, still being perfectly juicy.

That said, all shows need their supporting actors, and the hand-cut chips were an absolutely perfect co-star. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and perfectly seasoned with salt & pepper, they needed no sauce to accompany them, standing out perfectly on their own merit.

One side I specifically asked to order was the creamed spinach, my personal favourite side when it comes to matters of steak. Admittedly when it came out I was a little worried, the cream sitting in the dish with the spinach itself looking a little plain made me think I was going to be underwhelmed.

The exact opposite happened.

Despite its appearances, it was one of the best bits of creamed spinach I have ever had.

One of the main dangers when making creamed spinach is that it will come out soggy and bland due to the fact spinach contains a great deal of water which can severely dilute the quality of the sauce. But this humble plate exceeded all expectations, the spinach was moist without being soggy, the cream and the leaf itself were perfectly seasoned. If not for the fact I was sharing it with the table, I would have happily eaten it all myself.

When it came to desserts I was too full of meat and dairy to even consider going further, so I finished my meal with a mocha (which I forgot to take a picture of) that delivered an insanely strong hit of coffee, serving as the ideal finisher to a delicious meal.

That said, my partner had a dessert of a churro sundae, which I will include a picture of here because it was an absolute spectacle of a sweet treat.

For a new restaurant on the scene, I did come in with a fair bit of skepticism. But I walked away wanting to return, and wanting to recommend this place to the highest degree.

Independent restaurants are the heart of towns and cities, bringing immense amounts of variety amongst the big chains that can often dominate. I can wholeheartedly recommend The Gate, I am wishing them every success in the future.

That was my longest food review in a while, with a lot of passion being translated onto the page. But I hope it shows how much I love food as part of my life, and makes you curious to try The Gate.

Thank you for reading a much more substantial Redundancy Review today. I hope you can take a relaxing Saturday wherever you are, treat yourself to some good food, or if you are able, treat your friends to good food too. The best memories are made around a dinner table with people you love.

For more information on The Gate, visit their Linktree page here – it will let you view both their menus, book a table, and visit their Facebook page for even more info: https://linktr.ee/thegateshrewsbury

July 19, 2025
Redundancy Review: Day 15, “Patch the holes, change the parts”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)

Good morning teas and coffees, welcome to Day 15 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

After having a somewhat terrible Monday, Tuesday was… up and down.

One of the high points was getting to take care of my parent’s axolotl, Dottie. He is the second axolotl to have been in my family, with my axolotl Cedric being the first.

Cedric was a very interesting character, she was quite upfront and social with me, even trying to jump into my hand on a few occasions when I was feeding her – doing so by hand as I had always done. Dottie is a bit more of an introvert though, he did not seem too interested in food and did not fully come out of his log while I was visiting.

Yes, the axolotl with the male name was female and the one with the female-coded name is male. There is a metaphor in there somewhere.

But in between talking to this not quite there salamander I was dealing with shit relating to my redundancy payouts, primarily around my unpaid wages and holidays. The company handling the administration is very opaque and obtuse, very rarely providing advice in advance, instead choosing to react whenever myself and my colleagues light fires under their arse.

This was most prevalent in them not sharing the information/formulae used to calculate what holiday we have taken and what our weekly rate of pay is. Once presented with the information it made sense, but it feels weird that none of this was communicated upfront. There is a chance I will name and shame the company once this process is over, I do not exactly have “clout” or anything to make change, but it is part of my story.

Main thing is I am finally getting paid what I am owed, which will help with finances for the foreseeable future and keep me in a position where looking for my next job does not make me too stressed out.

If you reading this would like to make my next job working for you on a writing project, please consider getting in touch! My skills are slowly improving every day and the ability to work on real projects would only accelerate my personal growth.

So, regular readers of the review know I am a big lover of food with many of my reviews taking me around various Shrewsbury eating spots. Today’s review is about food, but something a bit more closer to my original home.

I have mixed feelings about my hometown, a very quiet village known as Codsall. The quietness and quaintness still have their appeal, especially living in a very busy town nowadays, but at the same time there is very little unique there for me now, highlighted further with the local butcher shutting down due to rising costs.

However, one place is still around for me, and it is a place I will always make a pilgrimage to each time I need to return.

Birches Bridge Fish Bar is one of two local chip shops, and in my opinion the vastly superior one. Both have been around since I was little, though Birches holds a special place in my heart as it was the regular haunt after my usual Saturday Warhammer 40k (later just card games) club for a filling lunch.

One menu item in particular always draws me back, and it is in the picture above: the Birches Burger. A double cheeseburger topped with onion rings and the salad & sauce of your choice, my usual picks being onion, cabbage, jalapeno, and garlic mayo for an almost spicy coleslaw-like topping – paired with a regular sized portion of chips to give me a throwback to being fifteen again.

It is your standard chip shop burger. Thin patties with a slight crisp to them due to being cooked in a press, topped with plastic cheese, and placed into a lightly toasted bun. There are no illusions, no fancy additions necessary, just a dense sandwich that brings immense comfort.

However, I do have to highlight the chips though. Birches’ chips always hit hard for me, maybe partially out of nostalgia but something in my chips yesterday sang to me. I forgot to check the signage before I went in but it is around the time of year when chip shops start to serve new potatoes for a short while, and they definitely tasted like it. An almost buttery taste to them, only amplified by the addition of salt and vinegar.

Now for the price: a Birches Burger sets you back £5.50 for the burger alone, and adding on a regular portion of chips is £3.40, bringing the total cost of my meal to £8.90 for yesterday. Looking both at local Shrewsbury chip shops and other takeaways, I would actually struggle to get a meal of that quantity for a similar price…

…of course I have to factor in a £13.50 train ticket in order to get to Birches nowadays but I am purposefully choosing to ignore that in this context.

Even outside of the very reasonable price for the one meal I had yesterday due to the sheer size, the familiar comfort that eating a Birches Burger once more brought to my soul helped ease the wounds of the last couple days, refilling my morale and letting me tackle the challenge of unemployment once more.

That does it for today, hopefully I have not made you too hungry after writing all that (I certainly have made myself hungry). Whatever you get up to today, remember to eat hearty meals that bring you joy and keep you going throughout the day. I hope you have a good day, and I will see you tomorrow.

June 25, 2025