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Address: Wantage Road (B4494), Chieveley, BerkshireRG20 8UE Its off Junction 13 on the M4 – head north when you come off the motor way and head for Chieveley, turn left by the school in Chieveley. Go to the end and you are on the B4494.
Telephone number: 016350247550
Website: http://www.crabatchieveley.com/
Date of visit: 5 April 2010
Approximate cost per head: Set lunch: £15.90 for 2 courses, £19.9 for 3 courses. A la carte @ £30+ for 2 courses. Deserts start at £8
Comments on wine list/beer: Interesting list. Ranges from around £20 to £1250 for the 1982 Mouton Rothchild. Best value is the Mondavi 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon at £97.
Summary:
On the day before we went, AA Gill reviewed The Crab in The Sunday Times and gave it one star out of five. Please note that he also didn’t like The French Horn. I remembered that he liked The Fat duck.
The restaurant is divided into 3 connecting rooms. On the day we went, only one of the room was full. By the way, it’s also a hotel and they do a weekend package.
We ordered three set lunches and two went for the a la carte. For the a la carte, we had black pudding as a starter followed by Breast of Duck and Fish and Chips. Both the main courses had fat chips cooked in goose fat. My daughter thought that the chips were fantastic but I felt that it was not crisp – soft chips. It came unsalted – good! Both the duck and the fish were well cooked and very tasty. I was also given an expresso cup of pea puree sweetened with sugar.
From the set menu, the others had mackerel to start with followed by lamb, sea bass and salmon. They were all given good marks. The meats were served with a heavily reduced sauce.
All the above were washed down with a couple of bottles of Albarino (£30 per bottle) from the Galicia region. Albarino is a great grape with seafood. It’s light and fresh (similar to pinot grigio) but is far more fruity and comes with a citrus tang. In fact Spanish Wines are great value in most restaurants.
For desert, two of us had the assiette which gives you match box size of nearly everything on offer. It’s on the menu at £14 for 2 people and can easily feed 4. Deserts are a highlight in this place.
Also on the a la caret menu were, plateau du fruits de mer at £44.50 for 2 and lobster thermidor at £39.90 – yes they like £0.9 as a pricing strategy here.
I have been going to The Crab for a number of years and :
a) it’s the only seafood restaurant in this area. There were others but they have not survived.
b) It’s a bit hit and miss but on the whole it’s pretty good.
c) You need to order sides with your meal. The vegetable that comes with the meal is non existence.
d) Service can be a bit slow. Always go for the maitre’d and not the bread and water carriers.
I like the place. To me it’s a 3 star (out of 5) place.
E
PS They offer a nice basket of bread complete with butter , aioli and oil/balsamic vinegar – no extra charge.
Web site: http://www.livebaitrestaurants.co.uk/
Telephone number:
Date of visit: 28.01.10
Approx. cost per head: £20.00
Comments on wine list/beer: Good choice & not too many. all good with fish obviously.
Media link:
Review:
Specials looked rather homely and lovely but I opted for scallop risotto. Was gorgeous. My colleague ahd fish n chips which made me very jealous but not as many chips as I personally would have.
Wine was good.
Not at all stuffy.
Location: Station Road, Bransford WR6 5JH
Telephone number: 018886 833399
Website: www.bear.uk.com
Date of visit: 8 November 2009
Approximate cost per head: around £20
Comments on wine list/beer: Very good wine list for a pub and not a very good range of beer
Summary:
Went there with a few friends for lunch.
The first thing that struck me was that the pub was devided into two halves with a restaurant on one side and the “pub” side on the other – bar is in between. This is the first pub that I came across with “pristine white table clothes” in the restaurant.
The bar was serving only 2 types of real ales – as far as I can see – with about 4 other lagers and gassy beers. The real ales were London Pride and a“blonde” ale from Hobson. I had the “blond” ale – from a hand pump and NOT a bottle. It tasted like a “summer” ale.
The food menu was extensive and although it was a Monday, it had a whole blackboard devoted to fish – sole, salmon, sea bass etc. I had the non-gluten fish and chips with mushy peas. Again, it’s the first time that I had a batter that had no gluten.
The batter was very crisp and the whole dish was priced at £10.75.
My friends has sea bass and the sole. I was pleased to see that it came with a large side dish full of vegetables and potatoes.
On the whole a nice experience but is this really a pub?
Eddie
Location: Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
Web site: www.zoocafe.com.au
Telephone number: 08 91936200
Date of visit: October 2009
Approx. cost per head: 65 Aussie $
Comments on wine list/beer: Excellent wine – deep creek, WA (sav blanc / semillion blend / Corona, Pure Blonde, Little Creatures
Review:
Went to try this very famous restuarant in Broome, in Northern tip of Western Australia
Very busy – booking essential
Starters excellent – grilled salt and pepper squid caught fresh that day / sweet chilli chicken salad with paw paw, pine nuts with balsalmic glaze
Mains – good size
Barramundi Steak with Cashew nuts and roasted pumpkin
Dukkah coated tuna on bed of spinach and egg plant (abourgine)
Service was slow but worth the wait as meals were cooked fresh
Extremely busy, even on week night, excellent bubbly atmosphere.
Fairly Expensive but reflects isolated location.
Location: 1661 Granville St, Vancouver, Canada, V6Z 1N3. (Just under the bridge, north shore of False Creek)
Telephone number: +(1) 604 637 0388
Website: www.stonegrillvancouver.com
Date of visit: 30 October 2009
Approximate cost per head (2 courses): C$ 45
Comments on wine list/beer: Ok list, mainly American (North and South) and Canadian wines. Interesting list of bottle beers.
Summary:
This is a “new” restaurant with a fantastic view over False Crook.
The idea is that you have your main course cooked in front of you (by you) on a piece of super heated granite whilst you eat.
The granite came on a dish separated into 3 compartments. The stone was in the middle with the fish or meat on it and the side compartments had the potato and veg.
I had the Scallops and Prawns and with it came 2 super size chips, a single cauliflower, broccoli floret and a piece of pepper.
The meal came sizzling (yes, think Chinese or Indian sizzling dishes but with a stone in stead of a cast iron dish). However, the materials were raw and the stone retained its heat for over 30 minutes. I had to wait about 2 minutes for the food to cook but then here was the rub, the food will continue to cook so by the end of the meal, I had rubbery (over cooked) scallops and prawns. My companion had the steak which was a slab of 2 inch thick fillet. Again, the meat was raw to start with and was well done by the end of the meal.
I really don’t see the point of this style of cooking – it’s just a gimmick! The portions were over generous re the protein part and the “meats” came au nature – unmarinated or seasoned. On the night we went (Friday), the place was less than 20% full. I doubt very much as to whether it will still be here when I next visit Vancouver.
Name of restaurant or pub: Le Fregate
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.
Name of restaurant or pub: Zilli Fish
Location: 36-40 Brewer St, London, W1F 9TA
Web site: http://www.zillialdo.com/
Telephone number: 020 7734 8649
Date of visit: 8 October 2009
Approx. cost per head: £19.90
Comments on wine list/beer: Run of the mill London list and prices
Review:
I was looking forward to this as I have seen Aldo a lot on TV.
However, I was disappointed. The food was par for a Soho restaurant before the 8pm performance (theatre).
We had the set meal, mussels and sardines to start with. The sardines were in my humble view previously frozen. The mussels had a chilli kick which was unusual but pleasant. Main courses were sea beam on a bed of ratatouille and a sea food tagliatelle in a lobster bisque. The ratatouille turned out to be the highlight of the evening – perfectly cooked and not mushy. I wasn’t mad about the seafood ratatouille as it only had bits of tuna in it and no other fish.
We also had a bottle of house champagne (ok) and the poached pear for desert. The pear was poached in mulled wine – very acceptable.
The service was excellent but overall, the food didn’t give me a I want to come back feeling.
Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com