Cumberland Hotel Bournemouth Ventana Restaurant Review

Well I’ve just had a great weekend staying at The Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth watching the fantastic Bournemouth Air Festival from my hotel room balcony!

During my time there I had a BBQ outside on the Saturday and a meal on Saturday Evening and breakfast on the Monday morning so I’ll do a quick run through on all of them.

Saturday was an BBQ Air Show special deal or not so special in terms of price but the setting was excellent. The Cumberland Hotel was perfectly situated inbetween Bournemouth & Boscombe pier – exactly where the various aircraft would be doing their displays!

The BBQ was priced at £25 per person as against their normal price of just £9.95 but with over 200,000 people coming to watch the Airshow just oni the Saturday spaces were at a premium.

There were a good variety of meats on offer including Steak, Shark,Tuna steaks,Pork Kebabs and chicken together with a range of salad, cold meats, breads, new potatoes etc.

It was actually the first time I had tried shark – not bad but not as nice as a Tuna steak in my opinion, shark has quite a salty taste.

Overall the BBQ was very nice though I wouldn’t have paid £25 normally but as it was the Air Festival and it included your own table it wasn’t to bad.

For dinner I had mushroom soup to start followed by chicken pasta with tomato and basil. The soup was fine, nothing special but nice all the same. The chicken pasta however I really enjoyed as it also had a large blob of cream in the middle which really added to the dish, somehting I have never seen before.

For desert I had a mousee, strawberry and mandarin I think it was with some fruit at the bottom of the glass.  Service was fine as there was plenty of staff with dedicated staff for each service as is often the case in hotels. The meal cost £25 per person for three coarses and a coffee which wasn’t too bad I guess and the Cumberland has recently been refurbished to so the surroundings are nice – very art deco.

On the Monday morning it was time for a full English and I’m glad to say the actually had an automatic toaster that actually worked! So many hotels have those toasters you feed the toast in, wait ages and then have to put them through again because they didn’t toast your bread enough.

There were a good range of cereals and also crossiants, cold meats etc for those who like a continental breakfast but I must admit if there is a full english breakfast around I will usually go for that.

Overall breakfast was fine, a typical hotel help your self breakfast buffet and I found the staff helpful and friendly, though speaking of staff I found a mix there – some friendly and helpful others abrupt and even rude on ocassion. Perhaps they were doing to many hours and not getting enough sleep, highly possible as we saw them in the day and evening working too.

If you go to the Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth and eat on their Ventana Restaurant or Mirabelle dining room let us know below how you got on and for more information about the hotel visit: http://www.cumberlandbournemouth.co.uk

Penn Central In Lower Parkstone Review

I went to the Penn Central on Wednesday night for a birthday meal for one of our family. There was 12 of us in all and we sat upstairs in the Garret restaurant right amongst the beams of the roof.

Downstairs you’ll find a nice bar with some outdoor seating and a friendly atmosphere.
I ordered Butter nut squash and ginger soup to start and it did not disappoint, great taste, nice and hot with some crispy bread.

For my main course I went for the chicken, again very nice though I could have done with a side order to complete the meal. The chicken was laid on a bed of vegetables but I would have loved some sautéed potatoes or hand cut chips to have gone with it. Still, my fault for not reading the menu properly.

For desert I went for a warm chocolate pudding, gorgeous, so gorgeous in fact that my wife decided to dive in a steal the warm chocolate sauce in the middle leaving me with the rest. Beware of wives who say that they don’t want a desert  – what they really mean is they don’t want their own desert, they want some of yours!

We were in the Penn for some 3 hours and although normally I would have liked the dishes brought out quicker it allowed us to enjoy our time chatting etc. which is after all what we were there for. I must admit I am usually one of those people who likes to sit, down eat and go but with the courses spread out we made an evening of it and had a nice time.

If your in Bournemouth for the weekend I recommend a visit to the Penn for lunch or dinner. It’s in a nice area away from the sometimes chaotic Bournemouth night life and provides a nice venue for romantic meals for two.

If you visit the Penn in Lower Parkstone, let us know below and if you want to find out more go to: www.pennnow.co.uk