Having not been down the bay for a while, I researched what was new. Having only recently opened over the summer The club house is located in the former salt bar. With a beautiful new make over. I booked in advance to avoid disappointment but walk ins are accepted as well.
When we first arrived outside was extremely busy. We later discovered that a fire alarm had gone off and thr majority of the building had to be evacuated. The staff came rushing over to let us know. Luckily there was seating outside for us to sit and wait. As soon as we were allowed back in the staff were very prompt at getting people back in. We did have to have a seat for 10 minutes before we were able to been seeing to our table for food. This then gave them time to catch up on food for people who had previously been seated.
When our table was ready I had a text notification to let me know. We were then directed upstairs to be met by a server. The stairs are a pretty long walk and it was not clear that there was any disabled access. The ceilings are tall ,the decor blue and white with a lot of wooden features. Once we were seated our server came over to offer us drinks, but as we been in the bar area we already had them.
With food they were very egar to take our order, yet we needed time to narrow down our options. There is a selection of meats for the roast dinner as well as a vegan option. You can also have 2 courses for £21.95 or 3 courses for £26.95, fancy just a roast it will cost £15.95. We opted to get 2 starters to share between 5 of us as we did not want to overload ourselves.
The food once ordered was pretty promptly brought over. I currently have an obsession over cauliflower as its amazing what can be made with it. They had cauliflower wings that came in a Frank's hot sauce. They were so nice when they came cooked to perfection. The texture was so mouthwatering that I wish I could recreate it myself. They were a little bit spicy, but not that it was over powering. They came with a nice creamy based dipping sauce which complimented the cauliflower.
My dad loves calamari so we let him choose the other starter. These as soon as I spotted them knew that I'd seen the same dish before. I later found out that it is part of the same group as the botanist. The calamari I knew would be good and it did not disappoint. Crunchy and crispy, but not to oily.
It was then time to move on to the mains, 3 of us had beef, one chicken and my brother the vegan option. So the beef firstly it was not your normal looking beef, it had been flaked and then set into a disc. The taste though was great not dry, cooked well not over done and not too rare. You had a Yorkshire pudding that came with it which were really well made and had a great shape to them. Ian had the chicken, he felt that it was well seasoned but dry. It needed a lot of gravy to make it a but more paletteable.
So the vegan options was a celeriac, mushroom and pearl barley Wellington. When I saw it on the plate it did not look much to be desired. The filling had a great taste to it but the pastry was not great. Two little slabs of puff pastry that were very dry either side of the filling. I feel this could of been constructed a bit better and a bit bigger portion. My brother enjoyed the filling but not the tiny wafers of pastry.
With the meals you get a Yorkshire pudding included unless your vegan. This would then be £1 extra. This then comes with a few sides and also some gravy. They offer vegan gravy as well, but the jugs are small so we had to ask for a top up between 5 of us. The sides also come as maple roasted carrots , roast potatoes and minted greens. If two people were eating I feel you would get the same amount of sides if it was five of you. This meant there were not many potatoes to go around. The greens were lovely , but again there could of been a lot more of them to go around. The carrots as well mini ,but this was actually a decent portion size.
We also opted for the extras sides which worked out as 4 dishes for £10.95. The first side was a cauliflower cheese, the dish was tiny, maybe I am just a fatty, but we hardly got one bite of cauliflower each. The dish was very cheesy mind and bubbling hot. The creamed cabbage with bacon I did not try as it looked a bit dry to my liking. The stuffing balls came and were a pretty good size. The flavour combinations blended well, just wish there was more than one. The final dish was pigs in blankets, with a cranberry glaze. These were mediocre, nothing to shout about just a bit bog standard.
So I had noticed they had sticky toffee pudding on the menu, this is my go to pudding. My mum opted to share it with me as no one else really liked it. The sauce was a good consistency ,the sponge soft and well spiced. The ice cream was creamy and the pudding was gone in say 2 bites.
It's taken me a whole week to write this due to a billing error. So my dad treated us so paid, not thinking that the bill would be wrong. We contacted the restaurant on the Monday and did not hear back till Friday. Some of the diffrence is getting refunded, but bit awkward we had to chase it. I think I would go again but not for the roast dinner, more for their puddings.
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