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Stranded Bar and Restaurant, Southsea
Where the Stranded Bar and Restaurant now operates has had a number of reincarnations.
Where the Stranded Bar and Restaurant now operates has had a number of reincarnations.
The pub, then he Jolly Sailor, moved upmarket when the owners of Hayling Island's Marina Jaks converted its upper floor into a restaurant.
Now along has come a new owner who has renamed the premises Stranded Bar and Restaurant. It has been done up to a higher standard and reverses the layout, with the bar now upstairs and the restaurant below.
Very nice it is too, contemporary grey-green painted wood in keeping with the rather splendid old flooring which used to be hidden by lino.
Modern art – love it or hate it – hangs on the walls and plants and flowers liven it up even further.
It's a pleasing space with very welcoming, genuine staff, the owner's charming, all-seeing presence keeping up standards.
They sensibly go in for fish – the place does, after all, face the sea – and the menu is stacked with the likes of sea bass, mussels, halibut, salmon and prawns. Meat eaters are given surf and turf and slow-cooked pork belly.
There's pasta for non-carnivores and salads, a starter including a raw vegetable and avocado one with a chilli dressing.
Modern British-Med uncomplicated combos are some of the dishes on offer, salmon twinned with roasted vegetables, spinach and a pesto sauce, halibut with capers and a tomato and olive salsa. The menu is mercifully short and diners are told everything is fresh and cooked to order. Prices range from around a fiver for a starter to around 14 for a fish dish, less for the meat and pasta ones.
Take them at their word when they say they cook from scratch.
My halibut took a good 25 minutes to pass the kitchen threshold to my smartly-dressed table by the long bar. But my likeable barman-waiter was good company.
Well-presented – the fish was artfully draped over the salsa – it looked the biz. The halibut, however, was rather overcooked.
But the salsa, with its piquant cargo of good olives, capers and garlic, married well with strips of firm, well-seasoned tomato.
Desserts (3.50) are home-made and might include apple tart, crme brulee or chocolate mousse, which was my choice. Served in a shallow white bowl, it was the real thing but marred by some '80s-style dusting of icing sugar.
There's a small selection of wine over beers and spirits, the sauvignon blanc doing little to raise the pulse and served in a hot glass (straight out of the dishwasher?) A no-no. But overall Stranded has got what it takes. My bill came to 20.75 not including a tip.
Carol is a chef, former restaurateur and editor of Savour, the Guild of Food Writers magazine.
Stranded Bar & Restaurant, 54 Clarence Parade, Southsea PO5 2EU
(023) 9229 5195
Open: Noon-2.30pm and 6pm- 10.30pm for last orders all week.
Food: ***
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Steps up to bar and down to restaurant.
How to get there: Clarence Parade overlooks Southsea Common. Stranded is on the corner of Lennox Road South and Clarence Parade.
On-street parking.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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