The Compass Rose, Portsmouth
The chef at The Compass Rose must be a busy man, he and his staff handling well over 85 dishes not including specials.
But his friendly face could still be seen in the kitchens off the very long bar in this newly refurbished pub, winner of a Community Pub of the Year award. I am not sure why the Enterprise-owned pub needs to offer so many dishes. No kitchen is able to handle such diverse cooked-to-order food without a whole regiment of chefs and what often happens is that chefs resort to the microwave pinger.
But first a sweep around the pub, named after the figure on nautical charts which displays cardinal – north, east, south and west – directions. The Compass Rose has a restaurant and bar with wide screen TV. When I visited, drinkers were huddled on sofas and other comfy seating to watch the golf.
The friendly, noisy pub has other attributes too – postal services, mobile topping-up, fax service and cashback just some modern necessities of life we have grown used to. There's live music too, plus recorded tunes – Dusty Springfield and Otis Redding when I called in.
You could start with a 99p cooked breakfast, a jumbo one at 2.99 or sandwiches with chips and salad. There are jackets, salads, a ploughman's, plus three types of burgers. Or there's the smoked salmon and prawn salad platter (8.95); beef Wellington; fresh Grimsby haddock; a sirloin with Bearnaise sauce (11.95); pork leg with bubble and squeak or a T-bone and trimmings at 16.95.
There's also lasagne; Cumberland sausage ring; BBQ ribs; lamb's liver and bacon; steak and kidney pudding; mushroom stroganoff and a five-cheese ravioli.
You order from one of the efficient, friendly staff at the bar. Paddy Campbell, who runs the pub, impresses with his management skills.
Portions are of the uber-large variety. Plates in the UK pub trade will soon need two staff members to carry them out. When will this practice cease? Obesity levels are at all-time high, plates at the Compass Rose not exactly shying away from this type of pile 'em high approach.
My next door neighbours gainfully ploughed their way through an enviable amount, but my duck leg with sweet chilli sauce and rice overwhelmed me. The extremely hot food took a while to get to an edible temperature, but it was good.
Despite the kitchen having to cope with all these dishes, the chef was still smiling when I went to place my dessert order at the bar. He manages to make a few of the puds, including a crme brul. Brul of course means burnt but it was taken literally here, the sugar topping zapped to an unpalatable burnt black. Less is more, a fine maxim.
However, the Compass Rose's compass is pointing in many of the right directions. My bill came to 14.30 including a pleasing glass of Shiraz.
The Compass Rose, Anchorage Park, Portsmouth PO3 5UH. 02392 67 3037.
Open: 10am-11.30 pm Monday-Saturday, 11am-11.30pm Sunday.
Food: ***
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Yes.
How to get there:
Take the Copnor Road out of Portsmouth. At the Green Farm traffic lights turn right on to Norway Road, then on to Anchorage Road.
The pub is next to Morrisons. Adjacent car parking.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
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Wind direction: North west
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