Sponsored by
The Tenth Hole, Eastern Parade, Southsea
Portsmouth and Southsea are full of hidden gems.
Is Eastney Beam Engine House known to you, have you taken a trip out to the magnificent Spitbank Fort or visited Hilsea Lines, 19th century fortifications including a moat and defensive walls?
And what about that folly in Gatcombe Gardens, a domed temple also dating back to the 19th century? Those virtuous Victorians were an ingenious lot.
Southsea Par 3 Golf Links is another hidden gem – well, it was to me.
It's had a presence by the sea since 1914, the nine-hole golf course opening less than two months before the Great War.
The 10th Hole Tea Rooms overlook the links, the large restaurant, with its three rooms and counter groaning with home-made cakes of every hue and height, also serving customers outside on their wrap-around terrace.
Come here for golf and breakfast – a mega full English will only set you back 5.50, portions of the hefty kind – or for lunch or afternoon tea, those cakes served until 7pm with plenty of time to get in a swing or two before choosing between passion fruit, chocolate, orange, cheesecake and many other sky-high filled concoctions mostly made in the on-view kitchen. This is whipped cream heaven.
You'd be hard-pushed to know of its existence however, that old euphemism – the best kept secret one – certainly a truism attached to the 10th Hole.
No signage is apparent from the road but when stumbling across it as I did, a party-like atmosphere is evident, the place heaving, all picnic-type tables full, the bash in full swing, a queue at the counter stretching out the door.
And no wonder. Looking at the sumptuous platefuls leaving the kitchen in quick succession, the value-for-money signs were evident.
Not only is there a substantial menu offering the likes of lasagne – vegetarian or traditional meat; cottage pie; chilli con carne; chicken and broccoli bake; fisherman's pie; macaroni and other bakes but sandwiches with salads, home-made soup, jacket potatoes, salad bowls and no-frill sandwiches and baguettes.
A seasonal specials board also operates a mean list including chicken teriyaki with salad. 7.50 is the order of the day for most main meals, all served with 'chunky bread,' sandwiches around the 5 mark including a Christmas one (in June). Now how's that for value?
I queued, paid, picked up a numbered spoon and sat outside by a sign suggesting flat shoe wearing is proper gear, dogs, prams or pushchairs on the course frowned upon.
Someone in that kitchen must have paid a visit to the US or Canada's West Coast judging by the unusual assembly of ingredients which turned up on the teriyaki plate.
Lashings of chicken on skewers, bacon, potatoes, cress, lettuce, cucumber, raw strands of beetroot and tomatoes found themselves surrounded by blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and kiwi fruit, a true West Coast traditional melange rarely seen in Britain.
And it was all very delicious, well-prepared and smart as all get-out (as West Coasters are apt to say).
And enough for two or three small people. Did I need the dessert, a cheesecake laden with yet more fruit?
Of course not, but I had to try one of the caf's sweet bounty.
I suspect that I chose one of the bought-in cakes, not their home-made variety, the solid, over-sweet slice covered in a gelatinous highly sugary red glaze.
'Would you like me to box that for you to take it away?' asked one of the remarkably good staff, pros all. Thanks but no thanks.
Mr and Mrs Milliam, the owners, know how to choose their staff and their produce, a tiny note by the till billing the eggs as coming from Dorset, the meat from Milton.
They run a tight ship, a very hospitable one, their hidden gem one to savour, golf or no golf.
My bill came to 10.40 for a main course and dessert. Unlicensed.
The Tenth Hole, Eastern Parade, Southsea PO4 9RF. (023) 9283 0009.
Open: Seven days a week from 9am-7pm (May 4 to September 6) and 9am-5pm (September-April).
Food: ****
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Step up to entrance, but plenty of space for wheelchairs inside and out.
How to get there: Clarence Parade, on the Southsea seafront, eventually becomes Eastern Parade after Canoe Lake, the golf course and caf at the end of the park past the tennis courts. Parking on-street.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 15 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 15 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
