Wednesday 21 December 2011

The Butcher's Arms: Abbotskerswell: Devon.



Having been very remiss about remembering my duty as a roving reporter, I thought today was a good day to make amends. (Note the use of alliteration!)
So on a lovely mild and sunny day in December, the week leading to Xmas, it was time to visit and review the other local establishment in the village of Abbotskerswell, “The Butcher’s Arms”.
On first moving to this village over 5 years ago, we were warned that “The Butcher’s” wasn’t a great place for food, but in the last couple of years, with a new chef, it has improved by leaps and bounds…or so we were told!
It did not disappoint. The food is all cooked on the premises and the chef actually brings the food out to the tables when not too busy.
Four of us enjoyed a good meal. All four plates were well presented and there was plenty of quality food on the plate to fill even the emptiest of tums.

Sue had a board special of Meat Lasagne, chips and salad, which was well presented and equally good in the tasting.

Colin had one of his favourite dishes: a Fish Bake , which was equally good and again well presented.








John plumped for the Cod in Beer Batter with new potatoes which he polished off with no hesitation.

I was so very tempted to have the Steak with Stilton and Walnut sauce, but as my tummy hadn’t been so good this week decided to have a Rare Rump Steak with new potatoes, salad and coleslaw and onion rings. The steak was almost perfect, but lacked a crisp outer coat to cover the lovely juicy centre.

We decided against a desert as we were quite full and decided that a mince pie and coffee at Greystone (our place) would just finish things off nicely.
We dressed casually.
We drank J2O, beer, and fizzy water.
The cost was £41:75....not bad for a pub lunch !

General rating for: -
Presentation 4/5
Food 4/5
Ambience 3/5 sadly there were few people in at the height of lunchtime
maybe due to their being no Xmas lunch menu????
Service 4/5 

It is lovely to have two such good local pubs with excellent food in a small village like Abbotskerswell. We are, indeed, blessed.

Monday 19 December 2011

Stann & Olly's, Belfast

Black Friday in Belfast is generally the last Friday before Christmas. This is when 90% of business Christmas parties are held and as a result, the city centre is thronged. Despite being booked into another restaurant on the trendy Lisburn Road, we spotted the eyecatching Stann and Olly's diner on the Dublin road when parking the car. We were running slightly late anyway so decided to kill two birds with one stone by letting our intended fellow diners begin without us and trying out the diner!

As Laurel and Hardy fans both, we found it hard to suppress a smile as we walked to the US style diner. The walls are covered with pictures of the famous comedy duo and large screens run their silent movies non stop. We were immediately brought to a large booth and the charming waiter decided that Leo would like a pint of beer whilst I was to apparently have one of his home made Strawberry Daiquiris! The Daiquiri, which was made in my view, was wonderful!

From the extensive menu we selected Cheesy Nachos (£4.25) and Ribs with home made BBQ sauce (£4.05) for starters, with Leo opting for the Bacon and Cheese Burger (£8.75) whilst I chose The Marilyn Monroe, a wonderfully described BBQ chicken burger. The food arrived promptly and was far better than one would expect for the archetypal US diner. Both starter plates were completely cleared but the portions were so big that I did not quite manage to polish off the Marilyn, not for the lack of effort though- it was superb!


The bill came to a reasonable €34.55.

Whist chatting with Richard, he told us that they were only open for three weeks and that this was a “soft opening” before the proper launch in January sometime. If they manage to keep up these great standards, expect Stann and Olly’s to be a roaring success!

Stann & Olly's
18 Dublin Road
Belfast BT2 7HN

028 9023 1213