Rick Stein Barnes

 A guest posting from a loyal Chompers follower.

KB invited me to a birthday bash at Rick Steins at Barnes last week.  He wanted something French so chose RS! 

We arrive in good time so decide to have a pre-prandial G&T at the White Hart a Youngs pub overlooking the Thames.  It was a lovely sunny day and the Bombay Sapphire and Fever Tree ...a good start to the proceedings...so good in fact we have another at RS, a short walk from the pub.

The restaurant is in a courtyard off Mortlake High Street.  I’m don’t know its previous use but the area has recently been renovated  and has a very upmarket feel in keeping with the area.

On arrival the reception desk took a few minutes to find our booking...language problem I think.  We were eventually shown to our table in the conservatory overlooking the river.  So far so good.  The restaurant is almost empty but it is a Monday.  We have 2 hours but clearly this will be ignored.

We order 2 G&Ts, KB again choosing BS, I have the Rick Stein variety.  Very good.

We get stuck in to the menu.  There’s a 2 courses option but given Rick’s reputation for quality we go a la carte.  On recommendation I opt for sea  bass with beurre blanc at £24 whilst KB goes for the pricier troncon of turbot with hollandaise sauce at £45.  We share green beans and new potatoes.  We nibble goujons of plaice as a taster.  Both of us choose the fish and shellfish soup with rouille parmesan and croutons as starter which I’ve sampled before at the branch in Sandbanks and thought to be excellent.  

KB summons the sommelier...it’s his birthday after all so he wants the expensive stuff ..and despite sauvignon being recommended and another wine he opts for an Italian Saove at £51.  I wonder about that choice...and by her looks so did the sommelier. But it’s his call.

Wine and goujons arrive promptly.  Wine is smooth, pleasant not over chilled but lacks character.  Goujons are nicely done.  The soup arrives with accompaniments which I add in full, creating what for me is a tasty thickish mix. Much better all mixed...

After a little while I note the adjacent table arrived after us but get their mains first. The 2 course set lunch I reckon. Then our seabass, turbot and sides arrive. 3 fillets of seabass on spinach bed but the beurre sauce is bland and watery looking.   KBs £45 turbot looks underwhelming and absurdly overpriced. Sides are perfectly cooked and generous.

We decline sweets.  I have a double espresso (more single than double).

The total bill including 12% service charge comes to around £180 of which about £70 is drinks.

How to sum up my 2^nd Rick Stein experience?  Delightful views of Thames,  attentive service, smart presentation.  Generally good food.  But I wonder...this is London after all, and it's a great position by the river. However I’ve recently eaten several times now at Sobofish Bournemouth, a fish  bistro half the price and in my view twice as good ...but no views of the Thames!!  In conclusion I like Rick Stein’s but if you like what’s on the menu, the 2 course option is much better value for money.

Some recent visits

 ESHER TAPAS BAR

We get the bus into Esher to visit Don Luis, a fairly new tapas bar. We have been there once before, but that was very early days. When we arrive at 2pm there is only one other table occupied. so we get a nice table by the window.

Wines are not cheap, so we go for the house white, Espeto Blanco, at £24.  As well as tapas, they do paella and steaks. We choose the paella mixta, but since this will take a while, precede it with a few tapas - sourdough with a really sharp ali-oli, squid tentacles, hot and crispy and a quite light chorizo tortilla. All very acceptable. The paella when it comes is a huge portion, mainly featuring chicken and mussels, though there are a couple of large prawns and a surprising amount of squid.  We fail to get through it, but they happily bring a pot for us to transfer the remains. 

Very chatty waiter - they're not busy. With second bottle this comes to £124 (including 12.5%). Worth a visit.

WARWICK

We have decided to break our journey to Wirral with the night in Warwick. We're staying at the Warwick Arms which is nice enough but nothing special.  It is central though, so it's easy for us to walk into the market square for a late lunch. We sit outside in the sun at the Tilted Wig. The menu looks interesting and we choose between the fish board or prawns, squid and ham croquettes, finally going for the latter.

I go in to order to find they don't have any more ham croquettes, so revert to the fish platter at £17. The Chilean SB is £17 too. We notice dishes coming out to other tables are quite large, and indeed our platter doesn't disappoint. There's chilli and garlic prawns, a pile of squid, a big dish full of whitebait, and several slices of smoked salmon.  These are accompanied by an interesting salad and several slices of attractive herby bread (which we don't touch as we're going out to dinner).  Very good value indeed.

I have booked us into 7 Square for dinner. We wander by to check on location and see it's attached to a wine bar - looks quite nice. We are shown in to a rather dull looking back room, with cheap looking tables. There's some interesting trompe d'oeil wall painting, merging into actual pictures. 

Looking at the menu, I wonder why on earth I'd booked here. It's a very limited choice of heavy-sauced French dishes. We choose a Muscat Viognier at £24, which is fine. B decides against a starter, and I have the goat's cheese bruschetta.  This is very good, with peppers, and excellent bread.

For main B has duck a l'orange. There are several slices of pink duck, but the sauce is too much. I order my rump steak medium-rare. It's a big thick chunk of steak, too tough to get through. So I ask for it to be cooked more, which does make it more tolerable, but again it is drenched in sauce - peppercorn.  Overall a disappointing experience for £100. 

BURNT TRUFFLE

We've been to the Burnt Truffle in Heswall before. It's a place for special occasions, so for this first meeting up with G&S since 2019 is a good place to go. 

It's quite a short menu, so it turns out that the girls order the same things, and G and I also have the same. 

Starters were a gorgeous terrine.

And a slightly more ordinary sea trout.

Mains were cod loin - excellent - and an equally good large portion of roast pork

Service is friendly and slick without being intrusive.  Total bill (several bottles of Viognier at £27) comes to a substantial £300 for 4, including tips, but it does feel like it was well worth it. 

PARKGATE

Lunch at The Ship in Parkgate is a last-minute decision. We'd gone in for a drink and to look at its refurbishment - including a lovely upstairs terrace.

Bur unfortunately it is a bit too chilly to sit up there. Instead we have a nice table in the window downstairs.  After last night's dinner we only want snacks so choose from the starters menu - potted salmon with sauce gribiche, and five spiced wild mushroom and water chestnut pancakes. Both VG. G&S have wild boar sausage roll and haddock arancini.