Browns Bar & Brasserie Bristol

I went to Browns Restaurant last night in Bristol and had a great meal with some good friends. Browns is situated near the Clifton area of Bristol and is housed in a fantastic building that in it’s long past has been the cities museum, art gallery and university dining room!

There is a smoking area outside (for those that still do!) and a bar as you walk in on your right. It has lovely high ceilings and plenty of character.

We waited five minutes before being seated so they seemed a bit disorganised when we first arrived however thereafter our waitress was cheerful and on the ball which made for a nice night.

I had the pan fried mushrooms to start - very nice, tasty sauce and my wife had pearl scallops which she too enjoyed.

For my main course I went for the Steak and Guiness pie that turned out to be a very good choice. The gravy was really nice and the portion size just right. The food was also hot and served swiftly by our waitress.

The meal was washed down with some quality Shiraz Rose whcih complimented the meal well.

If you want to take a look at their menu online go to: http://www.browns-restaurants.com/menu-bristol.php
Overall I would recommend a trip to Browns after my experience and I myself will return next time I’m in Bristol.

If you visit Browns let us know what you thought below.

The Old Granary Restaurant Wareham

I visited The Old Granary Restaurant for some lunch after shopping in Wareham market this Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and we love to buy our fresh fruit and veg from the market as you get some great deals.

The Old Granary restaurant is situated right by the river and enjoys some stunning views, especially from the open rooftop terrace seated area.

We had our children with us aged 6 and 10 and unfortunately they had no children’s menu at all and not an awful lot on the menu that kids would find attractive.

In the end we ordered sandwiches for the children with a request to have nothing but the actual meat inside as we knew the kids would’nt go potato salad etc. Unfortunately despite being very clear about this to the waitress the sandwhiches turned up exactly as they are on the menu so had to be taken back.

Our dinners had already arrived and I had a Chicken and ham pie and my wife went for a seafood pie. I wasn’t that keen on the way the food was presented in terms of practicality. The pie was in it’s own dish (which is common) but so was the mash potato and gravy - BUT the 3 separate dishes were served on a flat wooden board!

A plate would have been far better as I could have actually poured my gravy over everything but never mind.
The actual food clearly had quality ingredients in terms of the vegetables and meat but for the whopping £11.00 at the time of writing I didn’t feel I had a good value meal and neither did my wife - hers was a £14 pie!

The childrens food eventually came corrected with an apology and apart from this error the staff service was fine.

The actual premises is really nice, it’s like a maze inside with lots of little rooms and separate dining areas which gives it a lot of character.

Overall I would say that you are most definitely paying for the privilege of being right by the river here and although the food is pretty good, it is overpriced in my opinion and the lack of any consideration for children’s meals in this day an age is a shame.

If you visit the Old Granary in Wareham let us know and make sure you take a nice trip down the river in one of the boats you can hire and if you go on a Saturday check out the market.

The Canteen Restaurant Review, Poole

I’m going to enjoy doing this review because it’s going to be a good one.

We went for lunch here a couple of weeks ago and were very impressed with the quality of food and the fact that it is pretty much all homemade including the bread and ice cream! I also like the fact that they try to use locally sourced ingredients too including fresh fish from Poole fish market.

So last night we decided to try their A La Carte evening meals out and were nothing less that impressed once again.

The Canteen is owned by Mike and Thamar Wilson, Mike has been a chef for 20 years and Thamar does a great job of making you feel welcome, so they work well together.

When I went for lunch last time I had the slow roasted pork belly with bubble & squeak and tamarind sauce which was stunning so I decided to have it once again only this time as a starter.

I can honestly say that I was genuinely excited about coming here again just to eat this dish - it is gorgeous and a very reasonably priced starter at just £4.95.

For my mains I went for a good old fashioned Sirloin steak with chasseur sauce, medium to well done. My wife went for her favourite salmon dish which as you will see in the photo looked fantastic.

Both our meals came with a selection of vegetables that were full of flavour and were clearly very fresh.
My steak was first class, simple as that and went down beautifully with a glass of Pino Grigio Rose.

It’s such a nice change to come to a place that just serves fantastic food at very reasonable prices.

For desert I went for some chocolate sponge with homemade caramel ice cream which really topped off the experience.

I would highly recommend visiting The Canteen both during the daytime and evening as we have now tried both and loved it. You just have the satisfaction of knowing you are eating good quality food and not the processed, reheated rubbish many places churn out these days.

It’s also in a nice location being only a stones through away from Poole quay which makes for a nice romantic walk in the evening or there is plently to do for the kids during the day.

You can also hire the restaurant for special occassions such as a birthday party or other celebration and choose from a variety of menu packages.

The Canteen has not been open long but already is establishing itself as a little gem of a restaurant in Poole so give it a try and let us know what you thought of it below.

For more information on the Canteen and to see their menus visit: http://www.thecanteenpoole.co.uk

TJ’s Fish & Chips Lilliput, Poole

This Monday I decided it might be nice as the sun was actually out, to have some fish and chips looking over Sandbanks an Brownsea Island.

We stopped off at TJ’s fish and chip shop on Sandbanks Road in Lilliput as we had been there before and enjoyed it.

They sell some pretty fancy fish for a chippy such as Barramundi, Sea Bass, Skate Wings, Rock/Huss and Calamari! Of course they have the usual Cod and Haddock for the less adventurous too.

Actually as fish and chip shops go I think these guys have one of the best menus for extras too, mushy peas, pea fritters, onion rings, curry sauce, pickled onion,gherkins and eggs, you name it!

Our order of Cod and Chips for me (hey, I’m the traditional type), Lemon Sole & Chips for my wife and good old chicken nuggets for our lad. All was cooked freshly to order in about 10 minutes.

Now one thing I will say is I have seen ques going onto the pavement before for this place so try to get an early tea if you can as after 6pm things can get busy. If you can, call on 01202 707691 to order over the phone and then ou can be one of those smug folks who walks right to the front to collect our food!

Our food was served in boxes rather than just bags which makes for much easier eating if your sitting in the car or outside.

I enjoyed my cod and chips, nice chunky chips and a decent portion of cod too. I even tried some mushy peas for the first time since I was a kid and there not bad actually, but I’m not sure they match KFC’s chicken gravy!

Over all I recommend TJ’s fish and chip shop and I also recommend after picking up your order and going up the road to Evening Hill just as you enter Sandbanks. You can see a photo of the view here: http://www.asmartartzphotography.co.uk/photo_1538683.html.

There are picnic benches there for you to sit and eat your chips while watching the Sunset over Brownsea island - perfect!

If you visit TJ’s Fish &  Chips then let us know below what you thought.

Tiger Tiger Review - London Haymarket

A trendy Late night London Venue. Not for the posh and not for the pauper. Just about somewhere in between.

I’d booked the table for 7 at 7pm and by this point the venue was filling up and the restuarant starting to buzz. If you’re looking for a quiet intimate meal then this is definitely not the place for you but with the happy hour drinks available it promises to be an excellent night for me and my gang!

Plenty of lubrication ordered and it’s starters all round. I plump for the crispy duck pancake rolls which turned out to be bland and insignificant. Still, I never really expect a huge deal from starters. It’s the main course that really floats my boat… unfortunately at Tiger Tiger it seems the fisherman dropped my lobster back into the sea post boil and it arrives at my table stone cold upon a slightly warmer sirloin steak. To the side I expect beans as ordered but get salad. Back it goes… the waitress doesn’t bat an eyelid and whips it away. My buddies are tucking in by now with moderate ratings all round. The drinks are still happy hour so it’s not all bad!

Toilet break and I have to head down into the depths of the venue past the queue to the cloakroom and it’s one of those places where they feel the need to post some dude to hand you towels and soap, aftershave and lolipops. I hate this and sometimes feel like avoiding the handwash all together but since I’m a nice clean boy I never do. You feel obliged to tip but since I’m a rocknroll boy I rarely do.

Once my dish arives back with side salad and beans it looks to be the same lobster ‘flamed’ and another random steak that turns out to be medium/well done compared with the rare steak I ordered. I’m a bit hungry by now so can’t be bothered to send it back again. The waitress is cute and looks after us well going ‘off menu’ for the jugs of cocktail we order.

The music is a mix of pop and eighties at the moment and in the restaurant not too intrusive. We’re able to chat quite happily. The bill is reasonable based on happy hour and the special food deal I get tonight however the norm would be about £25 - 30 for 2 course and drinks.

So the moral of this story is… go to Tiger Tiger for the happy hour but if it’s food you’re after… avoid!

RnR Boy x

The Haven Hotel In Sandbanks, Poole Review

My husband came across all romantic last week and offered to take me to the hotel where we were married for our wedding anniversary, after getting over the initial shock of his romantic gesture I put my glad rags on and off we went!

We had dinner at the main restaurant however the first thing that struck us was since our wedding three years ago the restaurant has lost its rosette status, the last one being issued in 2005!  We didn’t let this dampen our spirits though and we carried on regardless.  For a starter both my husband and I had local Dorset crab, which was nicely presented with white and brown crabmeat served in the shell with salad garnish which was both aesthetically and tastefully pleasing.

For a main course I had the summer truffle risotto which was very good with not too much truffle which can be quite over powering, my husband had the calf’s liver served on a bed on creamy mashed potato topped with bacon and onion which he enjoyed and said the liver was cooked just right!  The desserts I much say however were very disappointing my cheese and biscuits lacked imagination and variety and my husbands chocolate mousse was not something he would normally pick due to the fact the menu for desserts lacked choice, however after initially not being happy he did enjoy the actual mousse.

The service given by the staff was attentive and welcoming and you could tell they work well together and take pride in their service.The meal overall was a pleasant experience and given the setting right on the waterfront it is hard not to be impressed by the actual hotel!  I cant help thinking though as The Haven is the main hotel situated at the centre of the 4th most expensive place in the world to live (1st for leisure) they should invest in their main restaurant and really take some chances to expand the menu and attract some the clientele that frequent the glamorous Cafe Shore.

Branksome Beach Restaurant Review

It was a Friday morning and as my wife and I were both on holiday so we decided to take a trip down to Branksome Chine. We thought we would have a meal at Branksome Beach Restaurant on the chine’s beach front. The location is amazing overlooking the beach.

We decided to have an outside table to take in the superb views and summer atmosphere but found the table we were given was behind a wall where the beaches bins were, which then gave us a problem of a nasty smell and wasps. So we asked the waitress if we could move inside, we were then given a corner table with a nice view of the beach front.

The menu was very well designed with a good mixture of fresh fish and meat dishes I believe the restaurant once had an AA Rosette for quality but there was no evidence that was still the case. There were around 30 customers which surprised me as it was 12.30pm but the restaurant did start to fill from the English classic lunch time of 1pm. The waitress served our drinks quickly and our order was soon taken and I must say the front of house service was very good throughout our dining experience.

My wife and I ordered the scallops as a starter from the fish specials and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with tasteful mix of a spicy chilli and tomato relish, fresh salad garnish and the lightly pan fried scallops these went down a treat with the only downside being the half hour we had to wait for our starters considering how quiet the restaurant was and the number of chefs on duty.

For main course my wife had the pan fried cod which was served on a bed of mash which was simply cooked, tasted wonderful and fresh and I must say the presentation was first class it seems the chef must have a fine dining background. I ordered the Angus beef burger which looked great! The hand prepared burger was served in a focaccia bap and was served with hand cut chips, beef tomato salad. I then tasted the burger and I must say it was overcooked and the taste was dry. I know in the UK that mince meat has to be cooked through but there is a difference between cooked thoroughly and cremated.

Disappointed by my main course we decided to pass on desserts and had two filter coffees which were nice, hot and freshly brewed.

The pricing is average to high starters being from £5 to £10 and main courses are generally between £10 and £20. There was a BBQ upstairs which runs during the summer months which I saw advertised for £17.95. Overall we enjoyed our dining experience and the red arrows flying over for the Bournemouth air show was great.

My ratings: Atmosphere/Ambience 9 out of 10, Front of House Service 8 out of 10, Food quality 7 out of 10.

For more information on Branksome Beach Restaurant see their Website at: http://www.branksomebeach.co.uk/

Cumberland Hotel Bournemouth Ventana Restaurant Review

Well I’ve just had a great weekend staying at The Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth watching the fantastic Bournemouth Air Festival from my hotel room balcony!

During my time there I had a BBQ outside on the Saturday and a meal on Saturday Evening and breakfast on the Monday morning so I’ll do a quick run through on all of them.

Saturday was an BBQ Air Show special deal or not so special in terms of price but the setting was excellent. The Cumberland Hotel was perfectly situated inbetween Bournemouth & Boscombe pier - exactly where the various aircraft would be doing their displays!

The BBQ was priced at £25 per person as against their normal price of just £9.95 but with over 200,000 people coming to watch the Airshow just oni the Saturday spaces were at a premium.

There were a good variety of meats on offer including Steak, Shark,Tuna steaks,Pork Kebabs and chicken together with a range of salad, cold meats, breads, new potatoes etc.

It was actually the first time I had tried shark - not bad but not as nice as a Tuna steak in my opinion, shark has quite a salty taste.

Overall the BBQ was very nice though I wouldn’t have paid £25 normally but as it was the Air Festival and it included your own table it wasn’t to bad.

For dinner I had mushroom soup to start followed by chicken pasta with tomato and basil. The soup was fine, nothing special but nice all the same. The chicken pasta however I really enjoyed as it also had a large blob of cream in the middle which really added to the dish, somehting I have never seen before.

For desert I had a mousee, strawberry and mandarin I think it was with some fruit at the bottom of the glass.  Service was fine as there was plenty of staff with dedicated staff for each service as is often the case in hotels. The meal cost £25 per person for three coarses and a coffee which wasn’t too bad I guess and the Cumberland has recently been refurbished to so the surroundings are nice - very art deco.

On the Monday morning it was time for a full English and I’m glad to say the actually had an automatic toaster that actually worked! So many hotels have those toasters you feed the toast in, wait ages and then have to put them through again because they didn’t toast your bread enough.

There were a good range of cereals and also crossiants, cold meats etc for those who like a continental breakfast but I must admit if there is a full english breakfast around I will usually go for that.

Overall breakfast was fine, a typical hotel help your self breakfast buffet and I found the staff helpful and friendly, though speaking of staff I found a mix there - some friendly and helpful others abrupt and even rude on ocassion. Perhaps they were doing to many hours and not getting enough sleep, highly possible as we saw them in the day and evening working too.

If you go to the Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth and eat on their Ventana Restaurant or Mirabelle dining room let us know below how you got on and for more information about the hotel visit: http://www.cumberlandbournemouth.co.uk

Cranberries Restaurant & Bar Poole

We took some friends of ours from a bit of lunch at Cranberries Restaurant in Poole near the Quay on Saturday as my wife had been there before some time ago and enjoed it.

It’s a nice little kind of bar/restaurant, contemporary but lots of character due to the age of the buiding. There’s also a little courtyard out back if you fancy siting outside.

The owner took our food order and we were soon introduced to a gorgeous new resident black labrador puppy called ‘Woody’ who made us all feel very welcome.

Two of us ordered Crab with Salad, 2 of us bguesttes and a Southern Fried chicken and chips for our young lad. The crab meals came out first and looked pretty impressive with the crab meat served in the open shell.

We waited some time and eventually a baguette came out on the wrong bread so it was taken away. Then it turned out the there was some mix up with our order and we had to wait now for our baguettes and our lads chicken. 10 minutes went by and eventually the rest of the food came out whch was a shame becuae the 2 folks eating crab had almost finished.

Then the nightmare - my wife cut into our lads southern fried chicken on to see the middle was raw! None of us could beleive it so we told the owner who apologised and promptly took it away.

meanwhile I began tucking into my Tuna Mayo baguette but to be honest it wasn’t very enjoyable. The mayo tasted unusual to me, no necessarily anything wrong as such but just not that nice. Sadly another let down were the chips - everyones chips were dark brown where they had either been reheated in the oil or they used old oil. Either way they were not great and I didn’t even eat mine.

Our lads chicken came back 5 minutes later and was cooked ths time though they left the same chips on his plate. What surprises me the most with all this is I actually presented a Food Reviewed business card BEFORE we were served our food and it still came out the way it did.

On a positive note the gus who ate the crab did really enjoy it and wew were not charged for the baguettes or the lads meal. Still we would of rather have had a nice lunch and paid of course.

I can’t say I would go back after that experience and it’s a shame becuae the actual place is really nice and we were made welcome.

If you visit Cranberries, let us know how you get on and if you want to see there menu visit their Website at: http://cranberriesatno4.co.uk

The Clinton Arms, Devon Cliffs, Exmouth

We stayed at the Haven in Devon Cliffs for a week and so escaped as regularly as we could in the search of real food and good service which we quickly learned would never happen at the Haven!

The nearest pub was The Clifton Arms so we went on in and sat in the back of the pub where they have a family area complete with games room/arcade. There is also a small outdoor play area if the weather is suitable!

I ordered a steak and ale pie with chips and vegetables and the portion size was very generous to say the least as you can see in the photo. On my second visit I had vegetable lasagne and that was lovely - again a good portion size and nice and hot.
They have a very interesting menu too with such things as Kangaroo Steaks, Ostrich and Swordfish available!

My wife had southern fried chicken wraps and absolutely loved them, so much so that we returned a couple of days later so she could have them again.

I recommend a visit to the Clifton Arms as they serve good food at reasonable prices and are family friendly with plenty for the kids to do.

If you visit the Clinton Arms in Exmouth then let us know how you found it below and if you want to see more photos and information about it go to: http://www.newhols.com/clinton-arms.asp

Next Page »