Red Lounge, Cowplain
Enjoyable eating out experiences have been found wanting in recent weeks, as regular readers will testify.
The area's dining choices have, regrettably, not hit any heights – medium or high. Low is the new game in town, the cash till still ringing though, despite poor quality food, drink and service.
Why do we put up with it? We go to restaurants, cafes and pubs on trust, hoping that the mantra – good food, well-sourced and cooked with a modicum of understanding, a pleasing atmosphere and, golly, even good service – might be the outcome.
The proliferation of chain venues in the area has meant a downshift in all the above categories in my long experience of eating out on your behalf. Central buying of the factory-manufactured type has created cheap food which many privately-owned businesses can't compete with, so they emulate the big boys.
Red Lounge, a new steak house in Cowplain opened a few weeks ago. Its owners also run the nearby Pasha and Pure and have decided to take on those big steak boy eateries by a neat throw of the lasso. They tightened the sourcing rope securely around Hampshire beef with the steaks including the usual suspects – fillet, ribeye, sirloin.
Service here is remarkable. The highly pleasant waitresses are well-trained and on the ball – superstars of the genre. The music, crooning band numbers, is ace. The place was packed, the atmosphere genial.
The menu, apart from all those steaks, has a clutch of burgers, sticky chicken wings, soup (but why heavy leek and potato in August?), haddock fishcakes, pasta and one lonely fish dish, plaice.
OK, it's giving off mixed messages: are we a traditional steakhouse of the American kind or are we a British version, sticking some familiar dishes which can be found on many a menu locally? If you're going all American do it with conviction. Desserts include a raspberry Devon clotted cream charlotte and a vanilla cheesecake. Steaks are around 14.
The haddock fishcakes with an excellent salad were crunchy but too potato-laden, more fish needed. And why the chilli sauce? They're not Thai fishcakes.
A ribeye, large enough for that proverbial family of four, loomed up next. The beautifully cooked meat sat magisterial, with a tomato on top of a field mushroom and some onion rings, A separate bowl of the best twice-cooked chips in town was also part of the generous deal – and impossible to finish.
An excellent glass of Merlot but no dessert added up to a highly reasonable bill of just over 23.
Finally, after a drought in eating out, along comes a good 'un in the making. And taking on the big boys at their own game in style.
Carol is a chef, former restaurateur and editor of Savour, the Guild of Food Writers magazine
Red Lounge, 47 London Road, Cowplain PO8 8UJ (023) 9225 5100.
Open: Seven days a week from 5pm – 11pm.
Food: ****
Service: *****
Atmosphere: *****
Disabled access: Plenty of space for wheelchair users.
How to get there: Exit on the A3M at junction 3, turn left onto Hulbert Road (B2150) then right at the traffic lights onto London Road, the restaurant is on the left up a way. Parking on-street.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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