After a fairly standard day at work on an ordinary Monday I met up with my wife downtown for a bite…read moreto eat as we had an entirely different appointment later on that evening, but going to that hungry was entirely out of the question. Living in the small-town that we do, the dining scene is in most regards not what would qualify as "substantial" but instead more along the lines of "adequate on occasion". The franchise and gastro-pub Bishops Arms opened here fairly recent, so we decided to slip in for a bite to eat and get a feel for the place. I've eaten at Bishops Arms in other cities before, and while they haven't wowed me with their food on previous occasions, their assortment of whiskey have always been substantial and well above par. Interestingly enough, they had just switched the menu this very day so everything was brand new. It had some quite interesting dishes like starters such as seared scallops with cauliflower purée, side of pork, and burnt butter. Or why not brisket with mushroom stew, and mustard crème on toast. Being a bit pressed for time we opted for only a main course and I had duck breast with fried potato chips, gooseberry chutney, and cauliflower purée. My wife had their chuck-roll burger with dressing, onion marmalade, coleslaw, and French fries. My duck was nicely cooked, pink in the middle with the fatty side nicely scored and rendered down. However, it wasn't an entire duck breast on the plate but two larger pieces of one breast - a cheap and bad move. The cauliflower purée had nice flavor as well as texture. Gooseberry chutney was a nice and flavorsome combination both for the duck as well as the potato chips. The chips however were seriously over-seasoned with salt and cold as ice. That dish would have been so much better with hot potato chips straight from the fryer. I also seriously lacked some sort of vegetables on the plate that goes well with a bit of duck.
My wife's burger was also nicely cooked, a bit pink in the middle and juicy. Buns lightly charred/toasted and still warm, and in particular the onion marmalade was a perfect compliment. Fries nicely done (and hot) and not dripping with oil, but the amount of dressing was a bit off-putting the way it had been spread out over the plate. One thing that also was a bit off-putting not related to the food was the fact that the staff working there was standing behind the bar, giggling over their smart-phones, as well as the chefs that came out of the kitchen standing their in the bar too, instead of tending to customers and being professional about the people coming in there to spend their money. It is a quite unprofessional way to act in a restaurant.
In all it's a gastro-pub part of a franchise, and the food is acceptable. But is it worth it? No, particularly for the reasons/problems mentioned above. Had I gotten a whole breast, warm potato chips and vegetables on my dish I'd have definitely been more inclined towards coming back and try another dish. As of now, I'd rather give it a pass and go somewhere else.
