My awesome friend K was in town for a couple of days, which gave me a great excuse to revisit some favourite places, as well as check out some new ones. She also kindly brought the sun with her, so Thursday afternoon was spent having a nice stroll along the Quayside, with a trip to the Baltic (which was still showing the same exhibitions from my last visit, but worth revisiting) and a few beers in the sunshine from the By The River Brew Co – which is usually stowed at the weekend, but was pleasantly quiet. Dinner was at The Alchemist in town, where we ate lots of halloumi and mac and cheese bites – little realising this was to set the theme for the trip.The next day we had a jaunt to the castle and cathedral (see separate post), and lunch was a cheese toastie in The Jazz Cafe on Westgate Road, somewhere I have walked past a million times but never actually visited. We were in the smaller downstairs place (apparently it has a mezzanine?) but the service was friendly and the food was great, though as the cafe is located in the rear of the Newcastle Arts Centre, the main issue is getting out without buying any of the gorgeous array of crafty goodies on sale. We also visited Flip, a hangout of my youth, for a hit of nostalgia – though it mainly caters for men’s clothes now, I remember buying many of my student outfits there.Then it was time to meet our mutual friend L (who had bought me a cute notebook and a FAB birthday card, which she picked up on a recent trip to Nashville). A quick stop at the Tyneside then we headed down to Ouseburn. Drinks in The Tanners Arms were followed by a veritable feast in The Cluny, where K tried lots of their great range of beers and we accidentally ordered enough food to feed about 6 people (no kidding: the table next to us was twice our size, and ordered the same amount of food). Pro-tip: those sharing plates are VERY generous (there was SO MUCH halloumi.) Next day I was so craving green veg we went for avocado on toast at Super Natural, before K caught her train and headed home.