The restaurant is kind of old fashioned in a nice way with
a fairly dark intimate feel and small lamps on the tables. The young serving staff seemed well trained
and reasonably efficient. We had spiced tiger prawns with garlic mayonnaise for one
starter and potted pork for the other. Both
were good but slightly disappointing, although the garlic mayonnaise was very
good as was the complementary warm bread and butter. There are several 'main' menus: described as the main, grill and set
menus, but all could be described as European. We went for items off the main menu: the
signature dish of slow roasted belly of pork with apple sauce which was a huge
portion, very flavoursome and tender with great crackling. I had the Beef Wellington which was described
as fillet of beef with a wild mushroom duxelle wrapped in a tarragon pancake
and puff pastry: the beef wasn't the most tender piece of meat, but it had a
pleasing earthy flavour (presumably from the mushrooms) and was quite nice. We chose sautéed potatoes and seasonal vegetables to accompany
them: the beans, cabbage and broccoli were well cooked and had a nice amount of
'crunch', but the carrots were over cooked and over-buttered. The sautéed potatoes looked nice, but tasted
odd. We think the potatoes had been
standing around for a day or two, certainly they weren't fresh: they had an odd
taste similar to baked potatoes when they are warmed up on the second day. The pricing is good value for the standard of food
presented. Starters cost around £3-8 each,
mains £10-20, deserts £4-6 and the set menu (Tuesday to Thursday evenings) is
£17 for two courses and £20 for three. Overall it was a good experience, but it could have been an
outstanding experience which is a little disappointing. We'll probably be back to try it again, but
not soon. read more