The Brasserie, Hayling
Langstone Hotel's restaurant has changed its name from Harbour Lights to The Brasserie and has an AA rosette for 'serving food prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good quality ingredients.'
So did I agree with the inspectors, or find the kitchen, under the direction of Duncan Wilson, wanting?
First up was the scurrying away of staff when I went through the plush doors of the restaurant. A less-than-confident waiter finally gathered the courage to show me to a table.
Nervous laughter or a reluctance to approach a table is the order of the day with staff here, it appears - at odds with a brasserie-style restaurant.
There's no sign of a head waiter. Bread is extra, not what you might expect from an AA rosette restaurant. But you do get an on-the-house demi-tasse of excellent parsnip 'and wild chilli' soup.
The set Sunday menu is 14.95 for two course, 18.95 for three, a la carte during the week with dishes ranging from 4.95 for wild mushroom soup, guinea fowl terrine (6.50), pork belly with Madeira jus (12.95), and chicken caesar (9.50).
It includes many of the dishes found during the week alongside Sunday roasts.
The terrine arrives stone cold, the lamb's lettuce salad undressed. Maybe it's Mr Wilson's day off and he's forgotten to tell the chefs that terrines need to be a room temperature for the 'quality ingredients' to shine.
And it's overbearingly salty. The Yorkshire pudding has run out (don't chefs know how to make batter?) and someone runs around the restaurant asking who's ordered a bowl of chips. They are eventually returned to the kitchen.
There are some strange ideas about what constitute food marriages. A 'seared' salmon fillet with a sun-dried tomato and goat's cheese crust coupled with a sauce vierge (more like a dull, cheap tomato salsa in poor quality oil) and crushed potatoes topped with frozen spinach doesn't hit any AA rosette heights. Copious amounts of salt and truffle oil overwhelm the first two courses.
Desserts again mystify with ambitious combos: tiramisu, kaluha mousse, mascarpone foam and coffee granite is one mind-boggling choice, another a poached pear with cardomom panna cotta and mulled wine sorbet.
I try the simplest, a chocolate tart with espresso ice cream and orange jelly. The thick tart tastes like it is made with truly terrible fat instead of butter. The jelly tastes like cheap orange juice, but the ice cream is OK. At least there's no salt or truffle oil.
I'm afraid The Brasserie still has that anywhereville hotel feel, the food sadly mirroring the place. Does it merit that AA rosette? Regrettably not. The only reason worth crossing the bridge on to Hayling? That parsnip soup. But at 18.50 plus wine and tip nearing the 30 mark?
The Brasserie, Langstone Hotel, Northney Road, Hayling (023) 9246 5011
Open: 12.30pm-2pm and 6.30pm-9.30pm daily (Sun 7pm-9pm)
Food: **
Service: **
Atmosphere: ***
Disabled access: Yes
How to get there: Leave the A27 at Havant and follow the signs to Hayling Island. Once over the bridge, turn left at the hotel sign. It is on the right down a small road. There is a large car park.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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