Dinner at the Hare and Hounds

The Hare and Hounds in Bath is up the road from my old school, it used to be a bit rough and ready as far as pubs go but years down the line with a fancy makeover it seems to be quite the place to go for dinner. Mum and I were meeting up with my cousin Luke and Auntie Sue and the Hare and Hounds was suggested. It was pretty busy inside but we found a table in the conservatory area next to a noisy table of ten. The view from the Hare and Hounds is wonderful you can see out across Bath which is rather pleasant whilst you eat.  Luckily the noisy table vacated pretty soon after we sat down, leaving a paltry tip which included coppers, if you are going to leave a tip do it properly and don't be insulting by leaving pocket lint type change.

First things first, what astonished me most was the prices of the food. The cheapest main item on the menu was £12, yes that isn't a lot really in the grand scheme of things but it was for a burger, add £1 for any additional toppings. This is probably where people chime in with, their food is locally sourced, of course this is a good thing but there is a line surely between offering locally sourced pub food at competitive prices and charging high prices because of the area the venue is placed  in.  Lansdown might be Bath's Clifton (house price wise) but still I believe a lot of the items on their menu could have their prices addressed.

All their desserts for example are £6.50, including one described as macerated strawberries and cream, really Hare and Hounds, really? Not to mention £2.50 for a blue cheese glaze to go with your steak. or £12 for a baked Camembert. Anyway prices aside, what did I order? I went for the burger with added blue cheese and mum ordered the beer battered cod with chunky chips and minty pea puree. There was a bit of a wait for the food but being that it was pretty busy this was to be expected.

burger with blue cheese

fish and chunky chips

And now the verdict on my £13 burger. Tasty. Was it the best burger I've ever had? No. Was it worth £13? No. However I would really rate the seeded bun plus the burger patty was chunky, however it could done with more seasoning. The portion of fries was a little scanty for the price but the tomato and chili jam was pretty tasty. Mum's fish was wonderfully fresh and was coated in an ultra crisp batter that was great. I wanted the food to match the price and it didn't quite hit the mark. The service was fairly friendly though so I would recommend it for that.

There is no doubt though that the Hare and Hounds is a nice looking pub with a fantastic view, but maybe they should stop relying on pretty so much and either make the food match the price or bring the price down a notch to match pub food prices. Although it could be that there are some people that think £16 for a pub Sunday roast is a good deal. To check out what the Hare and Hounds has to offer check out their website. 

Saturday Grazing at Gascoyne Place

The most recent bank holiday weekend Rich and I were in Bath looking after my mum's three cats, cute when they weren't hankering for food, which in the case of the ginger one, Bobo, was about 90% of the time. Saturday was at least a really beautifully warm day so we walked into town to bask in Spring.  Once we had come to grips with the extremely slow walking speed of Bathonians (as one born and bred I can judge) we decided to look for somewhere to snack. Rather craving a tapas/snack like option we scooted round the centre, and stopped at Gascoyne Place. I had not been to Gascoyne Place for quite some time, probably years if I am honest but I remember the food being rather good. 

We sat up in the William Morris clad mezzanine area, mainly because I love the aforementioned wallpaper and because it was lovely and light.  A cheerful man came to bring us some menus, even though it was inbetween lunch and dinner he didn't bat an eyelid so we quickly ordered some drinks and pondered our choices.

Erdinger, one of Rich's favourite beers

We decided to opt for the charcuterie platter as it came with toasted sourdough bread, slow roasted tomatoes, cornichons and horseradish sour cream. Plus some recommended triple cooked chips and a bowl of olives. By this point I was pretty hungry so was glad that we didn't order anything too complicated that would take longer to prepare.  Luckily were weren't waiting too long and the sight of the charcuterie was a sight for sore eyes.

All the meat in it's glory

all the meats

charcuterie yummies

A selection of salami, chorizo and lashings of Parma ham greeted us all folded up neatly which then revealed their true size when selected. The parma ham was particularly tasty and worked well with the horseradish sour cream and those tomatoes, really were well roasted, the flavour of the tomatoes was pure Summer, I could have eaten a bowl full of them.

triple cooked chips with garlic mayo

Just look at those chips. They were more like mini roast potatoes, so crunchy and delicious and a wonderful rapeseed oil garlic mayonnaise to go with it, which was perfect. Probably the most well judged garlic ratio ever in a garlic mayo, I think the garlic was slightly smoked as it had a lovely sweet edge to it. We were nicely full after our snacking but Rich had spied the sticky toffee pudding with caramelised bananas and banana ice cream, and as he adores banana flavoured anything, he went ahead and ordered it.

Sticky toffee pudding with banana ice cream

Great dessert, the fresh banana ice cream was really creamy without being synthetic tasting and sponge itself was light but sticky, a perfect finish to a lovely graze. Gascoyne Place do live music nights and a pre theatre menu with two courses for £14.50, I definitely recommend giving this place a visit the service was very good it had a lovely vibe and very tasty food.  To find out more visit their website.  Next blogs are likely to contain a review of The Clifton and a minimoon food photo blog, including our trip to Masterchef featured restaurant Caxton Grill run by the very lovely Adam Handling. In the mean time here is a photo of the ever hungry Bobo.

Bobo sun bathing