Telephone number: 01491 874464

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 12 August 2010

Approximate cost per head: Around £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Wine and beer by the glass (only!)

Opening time: Tue-Fri 8.00-16.00. Sat 9.00-17.00 and Sun 10.00-16.00

Summary:

This is a café/restaurant managed by the Pierreponts – they used to manage a pub in the area called the White Lion. It is sited by the bridge as you cross from Streatley into Goring.

Inside a smallish room, there are over 10 tables, all reasonably spaced apart. .There is a counter that sells rolls and cakes for takeaways.

The day I went, the place was full and new diners kept arriving whilst we had lunch. Most people seemed to order tea/coffee and sandwiches.

There is a drinks menu on the table – coffee, tea, juices, beer and wine. The food menu is chalked up on 2 blackboards.

They offered a variety of dishes. For example: cooked breakfast @ £7.50; boiled egg with marmite solders @ £2; sandwiches with various fillings @ £4.5, Various toppings on toasts @ £7. Main courses on offer included risotto @ £13, sea bass @ £10 and sausages and mash with onions @£10 etc. Desserts were priced at £4.75 per item.

I had the sausages and mash whilst my friend B had the sea bass. The sausages were quite meaty – butchers cut rather than Walls or Richmond. The mash was fine but there were too few onions and there was no gravy. Instead I had what looked and tasted like a pool of butter at the bottom of the dish. My friend’s sea bass was served with new potatoes in a curry flavoured yogurt. I had a glass of the Spanish red (£3.75) with my meal. By the way, they only offer 2 types of red and white by the glass.

My meal was not bad but it was nothing special. I noticed that the Miller of Mansfield (further down the road) offered a 2 course lunch for £10 – Rebellion and West Berkshire on tap.

E

Location: Les Cotis, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GU1 1UT

Web site: http://www.lafregatehotel.com/Restaurant/

Telephone number: 01481 724624

Date of visit: 12 October 2009

Approx. cost per head: £15.00

Comments on wine list/beer: drank water

Review:

Ate at Le Fregate during the pan- Channel Islands “Tennerfest”.  Excellent lunch, with an unbelievably clear and spectacular view from the restaurant across the rooftops of St Peter Port,  the harbour across to Herm and Sark set clear in a sparkling deep turquoise sea.

The room is all cool cream with black trim, simple but well furnished, leaving the wonderful view to make the statement.  Tennerfest lunch was great – main course of wild mushroom risotto with a simple poached egg and chervil garnish stood out as the texture and flavours were well judged.  First course of seafood fritters nearly hit the mark but the flavours were a little too backward.  Would definately eat there again, and imagine the night  time view would be spectacular too.

aliciaandrews@gmail.com

Location: 88 Chesil St, Winchester, SO23 0HX

Web site: http://theblackrat.co.uk/

Telephone number: 01962 844465

Date of visit: 6 October 2009

Approx. cost per head: £25 plus

Comments on wine list/beer: Interesting list with a few gems. Mark up slightly below average

Review:

On a dark and windy wednesday night in Winchester when other restaurants and pubs are nearly empty, this place is half full.

The restaurant is owned by the same people as the Black Boy and it used to be a gay pub – so I was told.

The Black Rat is mainly open for dinner and weekend lunches. The cooking is “continental” english i.e. its multiple ingredients with a slight twist.

We had the Pollock Croquttes which were moist and plum and an interesting dish of pork with rillettes and pate en croute or a sausage roll filled with pate (thats what I think it should be called) which I liked very much.

Main courses was duck, onglet steak (I always thought that this is a skirt steak but Tony of Vicars in Reading told me that this is the muscle wrapped around  the bladder –  to squeeze the bladder) and Tuscan vegetarian platter. The steak and duck were cooked pink with ample side vegetables. The Tuscan platter was disappointing – it tasted of the ingredients (bread, mushroom, red cabbage and cheese) with no “special come together effect”.

The deserts were very visual and according to my friends excellent.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com