The Print Room, Bournemouth Review

Last week I visited the Print Room just off Richmond Hill in Bournemouth’s town centre for a birthday dinner around 8pm.

The Print Room used to be the Bournemouth Daily Echos newspaper printing room and as a result it’s an impressively large room with high ceilings with an Art Deco design. The building is over 100 years old and the Print room has kept many of the original features as it is a Grade II listed property.

In the main dining area there is combination of open tables and wooden American style booths for a slightly more private dining experience. We found the table a little small however for 6 of us but it did make for plenty of conversation between all guests as we could virtually touch each other!

My wife had soup to start but didn’t really like it as she said it had no flavor and was just watery really so that wasn’t an ideal start.

For the main course I had a leg of lamb which pretty much literally was just a leg of lamb in a bowl with some beans around it. The lamb was very nice and cooked perfectly however, overall the meal was pretty boring and could have done with some potatoes, vegetables and maybe some sauce or gravy.

Most of the other diners on our table all pretty much felt the same that the food was cooked well but didn’t have that great deal of flavor.

On the night we went there was a special set menu offered which did offer a considerable saving over ordering from the standard menu and many in our group felt that they would have been unhappy to have paid full price for the meals.

Al though this review doesn’t sound great I actually would go again as I have been previously and had a fantastic Sausage & Mash dinner and service has been very good on both occasions. There is a certain ambiance about eating in such an unusual building too which adds to the experience.

I think the Print Room does pride itself on high quality ingredients and service but lacks that certain ‘je ne se qua’ in the taste of food sometimes.

Try it out and see what you think and let us know in the comment section below. If you want to book or find out more about the place, see there Website at: www.theprintroom-bournemouth.co.uk

Basilica Restaurant, Westbourne, Bournemouth

Basilica in Bournemouth is a fantastic eatery in the heart of Westbourne.  As well as being superb for lunchtime and evening meals, it is also open in the morning if you fancy popping in for a coffee and Danish.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is very vibrant – as soon as you walk in there is a chill out area with sofas on the right hand side – it is there that you are greeted by one of the friendly waiters/waitresses.

The wooden floor throughout the venue makes for a very contemporary feel, and together with the stylish wall art, and the general clientele that dine here – you can tell instantly that you are eating at a place where people know their food.

Indeed, have a quick chat to the manager Niall, and you’ll realise how knowledgeable him and his staff are – he’ll pick you out an excellent bottle of wine to accompany your meal – and he will always do it with a friendly face!

I went with my partner, and we shared a bottle of Chardonnay – and started with a plateful of Mussels, some of which were huge.  The taste was incredible, and it was a good dish to get the taste buds tingling.  We also had a plate of olives – I have never been a fan of olives, but on this occasion I thought I would try one because they looked amazing.  I was very surprised, and my girlfriend assured me that they were fantastic – especially due to the nut centre.  My partner also insisted on some extra bread, which we also feasted on throughout our stay.

My main course consisted of penne pasta with bacon strips, mushrooms and chicken – all put together in a fantastically rich sauce – accompanied by some ciabatta bread and olive oil – the perfect duo.  My partner had an amazing Parma ham dish which was on a cheese and tomato pastry tarte.  This was accompanied by a side salad and a number of orange seasoned potato wedges.

As we shared our way through the next hour – there was a sincere taste explosion on the tongue which was delightful to say the least.

During the meal, the staff were very courteous, meeting our every need, and generally making sure that the meal was as good as it could be!

The dishes were deceptively filling, despite at first looking as though we might need extra side dishes to fill us up!  In the end we didn’t actually manage to squeeze in a dessert, or even coffees!

Our total bill came to £40, which is absolutely incredible considering the quality of food that we were eating

We really had an excellent Friday evening in Basilica, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of eating in Westbourne – a buzzing yet relaxing atmosphere, and a really sense of quality dining.

The Fountain Chinese Restaurant In Bournemouth

We booked a table for 9 people at The Fountain in Bournemouth for a family members birthday this Tuesday.

They work on a £14.95 all you can eat style buffet – only the buffet is brought to you and you order dishes from a menu. Our table was only booked the night before as we didn’t think they would be that busy on a Tuesday, however to their credit they had lots of diners in – couples, small groups, large groups you name it!

First to come out was a selection of starter dishes such as seaweed, sesame prawn toast, chicken in batter, ribs and lot’s of other goodies which went down a treat.

Shortly after came the beloved aromatic crispy duck! Everyone loved the duck on our table and we soon found ourselves fightning over the last pancakes.

Our table had a revolving circular server so naturally we had to have some fun waiting for someone to try taking some food and then spinning the table around to themselves instead!

By the time the main dishes had come out to be honest some of were getting full but we eat and eat on like soldiers and went through a nice array of dishes such as Chicken and Ginger, Singapore noodles, chicken sweet and sour hong kong style, beef and black bean sauce etc.

I would recommend a visit to the Fountain as the food was good, the service friendly and it offered good value overall.

If you visit the Fountain in Bournemouth then let us know what you thought below and for more information visit there website at: www.thefountainchinese.co.uk.