The Old Granary Restaurant Wareham

I visited The Old Granary Restaurant for some lunch after shopping in Wareham market this Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and we love to buy our fresh fruit and veg from the market as you get some great deals.

The Old Granary restaurant is situated right by the river and enjoys some stunning views, especially from the open rooftop terrace seated area.

We had our children with us aged 6 and 10 and unfortunately they had no children’s menu at all and not an awful lot on the menu that kids would find attractive.

In the end we ordered sandwiches for the children with a request to have nothing but the actual meat inside as we knew the kids would’nt go potato salad etc. Unfortunately despite being very clear about this to the waitress the sandwhiches turned up exactly as they are on the menu so had to be taken back.

Our dinners had already arrived and I had a Chicken and ham pie and my wife went for a seafood pie. I wasn’t that keen on the way the food was presented in terms of practicality. The pie was in it’s own dish (which is common) but so was the mash potato and gravy – BUT the 3 separate dishes were served on a flat wooden board!

A plate would have been far better as I could have actually poured my gravy over everything but never mind.
The actual food clearly had quality ingredients in terms of the vegetables and meat but for the whopping £11.00 at the time of writing I didn’t feel I had a good value meal and neither did my wife – hers was a £14 pie!

The childrens food eventually came corrected with an apology and apart from this error the staff service was fine.

The actual premises is really nice, it’s like a maze inside with lots of little rooms and separate dining areas which gives it a lot of character.

Overall I would say that you are most definitely paying for the privilege of being right by the river here and although the food is pretty good, it is overpriced in my opinion and the lack of any consideration for children’s meals in this day an age is a shame.

If you visit the Old Granary in Wareham let us know and make sure you take a nice trip down the river in one of the boats you can hire and if you go on a Saturday check out the market.

The Canteen Restaurant Review, Poole

I’m going to enjoy doing this review because it’s going to be a good one.

We went for lunch here a couple of weeks ago and were very impressed with the quality of food and the fact that it is pretty much all homemade including the bread and ice cream! I also like the fact that they try to use locally sourced ingredients too including fresh fish from Poole fish market.

So last night we decided to try their A La Carte evening meals out and were nothing less that impressed once again.

The Canteen is owned by Mike and Thamar Wilson, Mike has been a chef for 20 years and Thamar does a great job of making you feel welcome, so they work well together.

When I went for lunch last time I had the slow roasted pork belly with bubble & squeak and tamarind sauce which was stunning so I decided to have it once again only this time as a starter.

I can honestly say that I was genuinely excited about coming here again just to eat this dish – it is gorgeous and a very reasonably priced starter at just £4.95.

For my mains I went for a good old fashioned Sirloin steak with chasseur sauce, medium to well done. My wife went for her favourite salmon dish which as you will see in the photo looked fantastic.

Both our meals came with a selection of vegetables that were full of flavour and were clearly very fresh.
My steak was first class, simple as that and went down beautifully with a glass of Pino Grigio Rose.

It’s such a nice change to come to a place that just serves fantastic food at very reasonable prices.

For desert I went for some chocolate sponge with homemade caramel ice cream which really topped off the experience.

I would highly recommend visiting The Canteen both during the daytime and evening as we have now tried both and loved it. You just have the satisfaction of knowing you are eating good quality food and not the processed, reheated rubbish many places churn out these days.

It’s also in a nice location being only a stones through away from Poole quay which makes for a nice romantic walk in the evening or there is plently to do for the kids during the day.

You can also hire the restaurant for special occassions such as a birthday party or other celebration and choose from a variety of menu packages.

The Canteen has not been open long but already is establishing itself as a little gem of a restaurant in Poole so give it a try and let us know what you thought of it below.

For more information on the Canteen and to see their menus visit: http://www.thecanteenpoole.co.uk

TJ’s Fish & Chips Lilliput, Poole

This Monday I decided it might be nice as the sun was actually out, to have some fish and chips looking over Sandbanks an Brownsea Island.

We stopped off at TJ’s fish and chip shop on Sandbanks Road in Lilliput as we had been there before and enjoyed it.

They sell some pretty fancy fish for a chippy such as Barramundi, Sea Bass, Skate Wings, Rock/Huss and Calamari! Of course they have the usual Cod and Haddock for the less adventurous too.

Actually as fish and chip shops go I think these guys have one of the best menus for extras too, mushy peas, pea fritters, onion rings, curry sauce, pickled onion,gherkins and eggs, you name it!

Our order of Cod and Chips for me (hey, I’m the traditional type), Lemon Sole & Chips for my wife and good old chicken nuggets for our lad. All was cooked freshly to order in about 10 minutes.

Now one thing I will say is I have seen ques going onto the pavement before for this place so try to get an early tea if you can as after 6pm things can get busy. If you can, call on 01202 707691 to order over the phone and then ou can be one of those smug folks who walks right to the front to collect our food!

Our food was served in boxes rather than just bags which makes for much easier eating if your sitting in the car or outside.

I enjoyed my cod and chips, nice chunky chips and a decent portion of cod too. I even tried some mushy peas for the first time since I was a kid and there not bad actually, but I’m not sure they match KFC’s chicken gravy!

Over all I recommend TJ’s fish and chip shop and I also recommend after picking up your order and going up the road to Evening Hill just as you enter Sandbanks. You can see a photo of the view here: http://www.asmartartzphotography.co.uk/photo_1538683.html.

There are picnic benches there for you to sit and eat your chips while watching the Sunset over Brownsea island – perfect!

If you visit TJ’s Fish &  Chips then let us know below what you thought.

Prezzo Bournemouth Review

I went with my family and parents to Prezzo today in Bournemouth, opposite the Royal Bath Hotel on Westover Road.  Prezzo is a chain of Italian restaurants, operated by Prezzo PLC and there are around 60 in the UK.

There were 7 of us eating including 3 children and we went straight in with main courses perhaps hoping there would be some room for desert!

I ordered Polpette Al Forno after seing someone elses on the way in – it looked gorgeous and basically consisted of Penne pasta with Meatballs, caramelised onions, chillis, garlic, mushrooms in a tomato sauce and baked in the oven.

Food came about 20 minutes after ordering and we found the all foreign staff to be friendly and efficient complete with a few Italians!

I really enjoyed my meal as did another family member who had the same. All three children ate every last thing on their plate to which is quite rare! My wife went for one of her post night out meals – good old naughty but nice burger and fries. Again she really enjoyed it and still managed a few mouthfuls of mine!

For all 7 of us the meal came to £72 although I understand we used a cuple of vouchers which gave us 2 meals for free. One of the kids actually asked if we could come again as they really enjoyed the food – won’t be long before we have another reviewer on our hands!

For desert I went for a chocolate buiscuit cake which was quite nice – not the most generous portion size for £4.95 though.

I would certainly visit there again based on this visit. If I had one negative thing to say it would be that the tables were a little to close together.

If you vist Prezzo in Bournemouth let us know how you found it by writing a comment below or join us and become a reviewer!

For more information about Prezzo you can visit their Website at: http://www.prezzoplc.co.uk

Tiger Tiger Review – London Haymarket

A trendy Late night London Venue. Not for the posh and not for the pauper. Just about somewhere in between.

I’d booked the table for 7 at 7pm and by this point the venue was filling up and the restuarant starting to buzz. If you’re looking for a quiet intimate meal then this is definitely not the place for you but with the happy hour drinks available it promises to be an excellent night for me and my gang!

Plenty of lubrication ordered and it’s starters all round. I plump for the crispy duck pancake rolls which turned out to be bland and insignificant. Still, I never really expect a huge deal from starters. It’s the main course that really floats my boat… unfortunately at Tiger Tiger it seems the fisherman dropped my lobster back into the sea post boil and it arrives at my table stone cold upon a slightly warmer sirloin steak. To the side I expect beans as ordered but get salad. Back it goes… the waitress doesn’t bat an eyelid and whips it away. My buddies are tucking in by now with moderate ratings all round. The drinks are still happy hour so it’s not all bad!

Toilet break and I have to head down into the depths of the venue past the queue to the cloakroom and it’s one of those places where they feel the need to post some dude to hand you towels and soap, aftershave and lolipops. I hate this and sometimes feel like avoiding the handwash all together but since I’m a nice clean boy I never do. You feel obliged to tip but since I’m a rocknroll boy I rarely do.

Once my dish arives back with side salad and beans it looks to be the same lobster ‘flamed’ and another random steak that turns out to be medium/well done compared with the rare steak I ordered. I’m a bit hungry by now so can’t be bothered to send it back again. The waitress is cute and looks after us well going ‘off menu’ for the jugs of cocktail we order.

The music is a mix of pop and eighties at the moment and in the restaurant not too intrusive. We’re able to chat quite happily. The bill is reasonable based on happy hour and the special food deal I get tonight however the norm would be about £25 – 30 for 2 course and drinks.

So the moral of this story is… go to Tiger Tiger for the happy hour but if it’s food you’re after… avoid!

RnR Boy x

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