04/09/04 - Chef & Brewer Review
Chef and Brewer - love it or hate it.
It was a wet and miserable Friday night and with an empty fridge and the need for something more than a take away, we headed to our local Chef and Brewer pub The Travellers Rest in Nottingham
We arrived just after 6pm to find the pub packed of people and were told there would be at least a half an hour wait for food. We were not in a rush so were happy to wait and started looking at the menu. This is perhaps where the alarm bells started as the menu spans 2 full size black boards with at least 20 starters and even more main courses. There were also smaller boards scattered round the bar with even more dishes, making it a bit like a treasure hunt rather than a relaxing browse over a menu.
Once we had decided, I duly noted our table number and headed to the bar to order. My initial choice of starter ( Deep fried whitebait) was not available so in a panic at the thought of going through the menus again I hastily ordered the melon, peach and parma ham and the pate for my hubbie. The starters arrived promptly, but perhaps not quite as expected. The portion of melon was enormous and drizzled with a strange balsamic dressing and topped off with raw pancetta instead of parma ham. To be fair, the pate was quite tasty and served in a ramekin ( definitely hinting at being home made), and served with an enormous salad. Hubbies main course of cod and chips was your standard bought in pub meal which you could probably get for less than a fiver in many of the themed pubs around today. My chicken stir fry was fresh enough with plenty of tasty sauce, but why oh why did they have to use frozen cooked chicken breast pieces?
Overall I think its fair to say there are chained pubs serving a lot worse from their kitchens, but there are a lot of independent pubs serving a lot better. Perhaps a smaller menu would be a good starting point in perfecting the chef and Brewer experience and a menu focusing more on traditional dishes done properly rather than dabbling in dishes with parma ham (or rather raw pancetta) Certainly the décor, service and range at the bar is spot on and the classic country pub feel, though a little contrived, does work well. I wouldn’t rush back for dinner at The Travellers Rest, but would happily drop in for a drink and a sandwich.
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