The
Dining Room
10
Queen's Road, Hersham, Surrey
This
restaurant opened in the mid-1980s
and seems to have gone from strength
to strength. No short cuts and a
welcome attention to detail have
ensured that laurels have not been
rested upon. The decor is hugely
mauve, but mellow with it, and applied
with a knowing sense of self deprecation
and irony. Comfort is not exactly
a priority, tables are squashed together
and chairs are hard, but that doesn't
put off the punters, who would rather
have good food on the table than
posh napery and cushions. In summer,
the terrace is a most attractive
area in which to dine.
The
cooking is eclectic with starters
from various traditions, but the
essential main courses are typically
substantial British pies. Starters
ranged from goat's cheese tartlets
- good and with a rich red onion
marmalade, to filo parcels filled
with "tiny prawns", -
the pastry a bit oily, but tasty
nevertheless. Grilled sardines from
the daily specials board came on
a bed of cous cous with preserved
lemon. The fish were good but the
cous cous was rather too soggy and
the lemon was too finely shredded.
Sardines need an even bigger hit
of lemon. Best of all was the bacon
wrapped around spiced pieces of banana,
so simple yet so effective!
The
lamb and mint pie showed how good
they are at this sort of thing. The
smoked haddock with a cheesy gratin
was deemed a success and the stincotto -
braised pork hock was enough to ensure
that you wouldn't go hungry over
the next couple of days.
Puddings
are a real triumph here - even the
ice creams are just that bit more
special than usual Proper puddings
include spotted dick (couldn't manage
that after the stincotto!) but my
pal raved about his lemon pudding.
The wobbly trifle was good, but needed
more custard and less aggressive
almond rataffia biscuits which overpowered
the other flavours.
There's
a well thought out children's menu
(present were some very well behaved
kids, nice to see the whole family
out for an early evening dinner),
so look out for dishes from the Worm
Department! For grown ups there's
a useful and fairly priced wine list.
Our
three course dinner for four with
four bottles of wine came to £160
(Food: £88.95, Beverages £54.35)
The
Dining Room
10 Queen's Road, Hersham, Surrey Tel: 01932 231686
Open Mon-Fri Lunch & Dinner
Saturday Dinner only
Sunday Lunch only
www.the-dining-room.co.uk
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