A week into my paternity leave I thought it was good opportunity to take my lovely wife and gorgeous little boy out for some lunch. Obviously we timed it so the young man was fed and asleep so his parents could enjoy a long overdue meal out together. We weren't sure where to go but combined it with a walk and ended up wandering passed "the Mitre". I can remember when it was an extremely large but shabby pub called the Raj. We would occasionally watch football there but it wasn't the greatest and when it was renovated there were few tears. In it's current incarnation "The Mitre" is a far classier affair. A big bar with plenty of choice, lots of seating and an mezzanine dining area. They also had some wicker seats outside which despite the traffic noise looked pretty comfy.
We were somewhat apprehensive on entering with a pram as some bars can be a bit sniffy but they were happy to have our custom here. We were given our choice of tables and promptly bought over our ordered drinks. After a few weeks of taking it slow my pint of Bitburger tasted great. The menu looked good, the usual gastro pub fayre but maybe paired down a bit. My wife ordered gamon duck egg and chips which she loved. Nice gammon not too salty and a nice runny egg (she really missed those when she was pregnant). I went for a starter portion of mussels and a side of chips. The waitress recommended I go for creamy bisque sauce instead of the mariniere version and it was a good choice. For a starter the portion was huge and the fat Scottish mussels when well with the rich creamy sauce. Dessert was a bit of a disappointment we were intrigued by the tart of the day "tart tatin" so ordered one to share. However it was undercooked with clumpy pastry which was a shame as the sauce and apples tasted great. It was an example of a kitchen overeaching itself. However we weren't too disappointed as the rest of the meal had been so nice.
We were impressed with the Mitre, it was pretty quiet the lunchtime we went but it still had a nice feel. Their service we had was friendly and efficient, the food of a generally good standard and at a reasonable price. Our little one clearly enjoyed himself as he slept through the whole lunch. I noticed they do weekend Brunch so we will return for another family outing.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8