Brook
Lyndhurst
Hampshire
SO43 7HE

Tel:023 80812214

Website: www.bellinnbramshaw.co.uk

Vegetarian: Yes

Parking: Own car parks

Wheelchairs: Easy

Loos: Above average

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Visited July 2009
To celebrate being back "in business" (I took June off to celebrate my son's wedding) the four of us chose to meet at The Bell having heard good things about it on the grapevine.  We were not disappointed.  It is situated in the heart of The New Forest so an ideal venue from which to explore the UK's newest National Park.  As soon as we entered we began to appreciate the tasteful refurbishment that took place a couple of years ago, it has a comfortable country feel but we also loved the contemporary design.  (Regulars will know how strongly we believe that shabbiness and dust does not not equate olde worlde charm!)  Golfers will love it as it adjoins Bramshaw Golf Club, the oldest in the County and home to two excellent courses.... it says they are excellent in the brochure, we LWL are not qualified to comment!  So moving on to the food... Briscoe's is their 2 AA rosettes fine dining restaurant, also mentioned in the Michelin Guide, but as it was lunch time we chose to eat in the bar where they serve the full menu from noon until 9.30pm.  There is a specials board but as they have such an interesting menu have to admit we didn't even look at it.  As usual we enjoyed G & T's whist making our choices and we chose a Gavi de Gavi @ £21.50 to drink with our food.

Toasted Rosary goats cheese

Crab cake, cherry tomato & coriander salsa

Roast rump of lamb

Pan seared calves liver

Lemon tartlet, fresh raspberries

Blueberry syllabub

Our starters arrived to a chorus of WOW, presentation was delightful, all tasted delicious but the crab cake was declared our favourite.  Must mention the very sweet pea shoots that accompanied the goats cheese, such a lovely flavour, oh and the basket of mixed hot home made breads!

The mains continued the high standard set by the starters except for my Shepherd's pie which was a tad too salty.  The liver was superb!

We had three puds between us and all were very yummy.  Our very attentive waiter Maciek helped us with our choices, he's obviously a pudding expert!  We then finished with coffees that were served with large chunks of homemade shortbread, what a wonderful lunch.

We highly recommend The Bell and if you want a real treat you could always combine dinner with a stay in one of the recently refurbished boutique bedrooms.  Have a look at their website for further details.

Ladies Who Lunch Scoring:

Quality of food
Variety of menu
Staff and service
Ambience, setting and decor
Value for Money

Total Yummy Factor

Report:

5/5 = Cannot be improved upon, 4/5 = Very good, 3/5 = Good,
2/5 = Satisfactory, 1/5 = Poor, 0/5 = Terrible

The higher the "Yummy" factor, the better the food & service. The higher the number of £ signs the more expensive. (Roughly one £ sign = £5 per head)