Severnshed, Bristol

I have been out and about on my summer holidays recently and have only just got round to letting you know about where I have been so, here it goes!

I'll aim to do one a day, and have vowed to better keep up with the blog, it might be more varied than just the dinners and I am iming to include some more photographs too.

So here goes....

The Severnshed, Bristol. A rather lovely building for a rainy evening. It's next to the docks in Bristol and unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it. Sorry.

The atmosphere was very lively - with an active bar and a busy restaurant side with several (well-behaved) large hen parties. The music was loud and pop music, so if you like your dinner accompanied by exquisite piano it's probably not the place for you on a Friday.

We'd booked and were glad we did as it was very busy.

The menu is pretty good, with plent of 'activity dinners' that add a bit of interest to the dining experience.

Our 'activity dinners' consisted of....

fajitas - plenty of veg and meat for the 4 or 5 tortillas, dips and nacho crisps. It was plenty to eat and very filling, and flavourful - although not quite as spicy as I was expecting.

skewers - prawn and beef. The skewers are the house speciality. Your meat comes on what can only be described as swords and is de-impaled onto a bed of salad at the table. There was plenty of meat and salad, so much so that the included chips were not really necessary.

and my husband had steak and chips, which was apparently good - but he did feel a bit left out after our interesting dinners!

I did have a pudding, but I can't remember now what it was, only that it was light and sweet and came with a burnt-caramel swirl which was fun.

The rating:

A lively Friday-night venue with great location in Bristol, I'd definitely go again.

The summary:

Food =fun food, attractively presented and good-sized portions

Price = mains £10 - £20 (skewer dinner £15)

Atmosphere =lively, busy and loud

Contact:

Severnshed http://www.severnshedrestaurant.co.uk/

The Grove

Bristol

BS1 4RB

0117 925 1212

Signature Steakhouse, West Bridgford, Nottingham

I can't believe it's my first blog post of 2012! I am going to blame it on my usual dinner partner having moved to Bristol and me therefore not having gone out to dinner. I have been out to dinner, but just not got round to writing it up! Oops. So here's an on-the-day live report.....

A special occasion calls for a special dinner and for my husband's birthday we chose a new-ish special restaurant in West Bridgford, the Signature Steakhouse. The note in the window advertised 5 local suppliers in West Bridgford's Totally Locally initiative, so all to the good.

On arrival at 6.30 there were another couple there having drinks, who left whilst we were perusing the menu. That left us as the only people there for a while, which unfortunately doesn't add to the atmosphere. We were seated in the bar to choose our drinks and to have an aperitif. It's a little odd to have a clothing boutique in a bar / restaurant, but we rolled with it, hoping we'd be moved to the dining area at the back for our meal.

We were indeed taken through to the dining area, which (still just us) had a better atmosphere as it was cosier and the music was sufficient to provide enough background to make us two feel comfortable, but so that we could still chat over it.

My husband's starter arrived very swiftly, and was unfortunately cleared away about a minute before he'd finished chewing the last morsel! The salmon starter was presented nicely and was, apparently, tasty.

The main courses arrived following hot on the heels of the cleared starter, at this point I was thinking that we'd be in, out and done in about 45 minutes! However, in chatting over the dinner and taking time over ordering dessert we had a very pleasant couple of hours.

The main courses were beautifully presented, the steak being high-quality and cooked well and my chicken stuffed with goats cheeses, sun dried tomatoes came with mash, boiled potatoes and a selection of vegetables and was filling, varied, and nicely balanced.

By now there were another couple dining, and a group in the bar - enough to give the place a warm feel.

For dessert we had eton mess and chocolate cake. The eton mess consisted of a variety of fruit (blueberries, oranges, strawberries) and was light, creamy and refreshing. The chocolate cake was served with ice-cream and was rich and an enjoyable finish.

We felt a bit exploited when it came to the bill, with a flyer advertising an 'early bird' deal available until 7pm included within the receipt folder, when we hadn't been offered that menu on our arrival at 6.30pm alongside the a-la-carte, nor was it on the collection of leaflets on the table. My husband noted this on our comment card and also mentioned this to our host, who apologised, but it was a sufficient disappointment to negate a tip (the early bird 3-courses with wine was £18, my husband's steak alone was £22 (and my chicken £14) - so a significant difference). I do wonder how long the restaurant will survive, given the lack of diners, this kind of 'oversight' which won't encourage return visits and the price point of the meal, considering its out of city location and slightly strange clothes shop / restaurant combo. Maybe I'll be surprised.

I'm out again tomorrow, so I'll double the 2012 blog posts after then :)

The rating:

A nice meal, but for broadly the same price as World Service - next time I'll go to World Service. 

The summary:

Food = Varied menu, non-steak dish was also good, presented beautifully

Price = Pricey £72 for two (one 3-course and one 2-course meal with wine) bad that they didn't offer the fixed-price menu and then had the cheek to advertise it when they brought the bill!

Atmosphere = Classy decor, laid-back, calm

Contact:

Signature Steakhouse

100 Melton Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 6EP

0115 981 6249

http://www.signaturesteakhouse.co.uk/

(and for reference - World Service http://www.worldservicerestaurant.com/ or Iberico http://www.ibericotapas.com/)