My husband and I went to The Bird In Hand in Lovedean last night to celebrate my birthday.  We had booked a few weeks in advance, knowing that it's popular and was likely to be busy due to the fact that it was a bank holiday weekend.

When we got there the pub was very busy, but we were made to feel welcome and got the same great service that we had received on all the other occasions that we've eaten there.

To start with guests are served home made bread with flavoured butter.  A word of advice, this is scrummy but don't eat too much because the rest of the menu is delicious too.

As a starter my husband had scallops wrapped in bacon with rosemary skewers and I had tempura battered king praws with noodles and chilli jam.

 For main courses we both chose something from the specials board; I had shark steak with a chilli risotto, and hubby had rib eye of pork with green beans and dauphinoise potatoes.  The flavours were delicious and the portions were a decent size.

Dessert was a sharing platter which consisted of a chocolate brownie, sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake and vanilla ice cream.  The cheesecake was very light, almost like a mousse.  There were separate pots of chocolate sauce and caramel sauce so you could decide exactly how much you wanted on the brownie or sticky toffee pudding.  The dessert board was heavenly, but after all the other lovely food we had eaten we couldn't manage to finish the brownie.

We both had a drink before dinner, a bottle of wine with the meal, and double espresso afterwards.  The total bill was £74, which I think was excellent value for the food and service that we received.

We have been there a couple of times before and I would happily recommend it to anybody.

I have just found you after considering whether to return to The Hogget as our first visit was an unmitigated disaster from service through to food so I hope it has improved?Our initial visit was my son's birthday that was ruined by terrible dry food and service worthy of 'Fawlty Towers' but we managed to rescue it by stopping at the local kebab van next door!! that's how bad the food was the kebab was an improvement! It was also very poor value for money.We were not the only ones to receive poor service but we were the only ones to complain and we received two free hersheys kisses as compensation but instead walked out after our mains - we didn't have starters.

As to ZUT aka The Pour House, the menu was enough to put me off there with appalling combinations of ingredients so I hope that it has improved since, although they did do nice handmade chocolates

When you first walk in, the bar area is nice with big sofas & a hotel feel.  We were given menus to look at while we had our drinks.  The menu is a bit odd as it offers '3 course dinner' dishes down one side and snacks on the other - We assume you can mix & match.  We were shown to our table which was extreamly wonky, but luckily my husband got down with a bit of old envelope to stick under one leg!

As foor the food, I had Sausage & mash with onion rings.  No veg came with this & none were offered.  One had pie of the day with chips, again no veg.  One chicken dish - enjoyed! One Trout - overcooked, one lamb - tasty but not very tender - again, had to pay extra for potatoes to go with it & finally one rib-eye steak at £19.95.  The guest asked for rare but it was overcooked & the meat was tough.  We thought for nearly £20 this would be much better!

Wines were good & average prices. 

The actual restaurant is a very eclectic mix of styles combining rustic pub/nightclub/boudoir/& teenagers bedroom.. I would imagine not to everyones taste! 

The parking is good & the staff were pleasant & efficient. 

After our recent visit to the wonderful Crown Inn at Everton, my parents took my auntie there for a mid week lunch.

They told me that everything was just as perfect as our previous visit and now some friend of ours are going to visit this wonderful place.

All I can say is once again the Crown Inn is more than worth a visit and seems  to score 25/25 everytime.

Please,please consider reviewing this restaurant again soon. I was there yesterday, my 3rd visit this year, not enough possibly, but I do have to travel from Stockbridge to get there,and we all know the roads to Lyndhurst and beyond are jammed solid at this time. The effort however was well worth it. We started with the 2 course lunch special but ended up with 3, as the  desserts were so inviting.

My friend chose Melon and ham as a starter,not just any old melon, but prepared to look like a waterlily, and accompanied with chutney,I had warm king prawns.Mains were plaice on spinach with a light basil sauce and Lamb fillet in delightful sauce.So busy eating my fish I didnt ask what the sauce with the lamb was !!Puddings were summer pudding in a fantastic blackcurrant sauce,ice cream and toffee strawberry.I had creme brulee, the best Ive tasted for a long time.The bill with 2 glasses of wine came to approx £ 42.00. It was outstanding and we cannot fault it at all. The chef and his wife who runs the restaurant deserve the highest praise. So please consider a visit soon .

Oh yes!!!  Ginger 2 Coffee Shop, 9 St Thomas Street, Winchester...a must.....Amazing pastries and more!! Winchester Lady just loves it.

Pretty fed up with the Zizi Restaurant in Winchester.  Twice in the past six days they've let me down. First visit, Pizza base too hard to cut (tops were delicious) and the replacement wasn't any different. To cap it all last evening, I visited with my friend of Stage, Screen and Radio. I asked if they would serve one course in a time span of 55 minutes and was given a curt answer of...... "NO".     So we repaired to Mr So, the Chinese Restaurant in Jewry Street and asked the young lady who greeted us the same question.  "Of course we can" she said with a huge smile.  We stayed and the meal was wonderful.  So no more Zizi in Winchester for me.

 As Promised to you Ladies Via Twitter.

Poped to Brighton for the weekend mainly to vist Bill's Produce Store. Been meaning to go for sometime as had heard great things about in.

The store is mainly full of tables for lunches and dinner of course but also has a great selction of veg, jams and wine along the walls which can be purchased once you have had your fill!

We both had elderflower presse which came full of summer fruits which was a nice touch.

For main course we had chicken ceaser salad which had warm chichen with a perfectly soft poached egg on top. Along with this we had spicy Moroccan cous cous again with warm chicken. Both were excellent.

Pudding was a summer fruit crumble with ice cream. Packed full of fruit and really very good indeed.

Please do visit if you have a weekend away in Brighton. There is also a Bill's Produce Store in Lewis. Would highly recommend.

http://www.billsproducestore.co.uk/

 2nd part of review:

Now I am sure many happy people go to this place an return.

However what really irritated me about this place was the fact that when I went to pay the bill I politely informed the man behind the bar that I personally thought the Duck dish was not well received and before completing my explanation a woman butted in (think she may have been the owner) and she bit my head off and I thought she was rather abrupt and rude.

So I paid my £127 bill and thought that £97 for food is fair enough but £30 for 1 Bailey's, 1 Rum and Coke, 2 Bacardi and Cokes and a pot of coffee for myself was rather dear.

So in a nutshell, I won't be returning to this restaurant.

Here is my review of the The Blue Hayes Restaurant - Shootash, near Romsey: Sunday 18/07/10

As it was my Mum's birthday we thought we would give this place a try and I personally didn't realise that this place had already been reviewed on this sight.

After an initial enquiry to the restaurant, the 4 of us had decided that we would order from the A La Carte menu.

The place is quite quaint and the car park was full.

After being shown to our table, which was slightly overdressed, we ordered a round of drinks.

After a patient wait, which is fair enough for freshly prepared food our main courses arrived.

I had the Pan Fried John Dory Fillet with a Garden Pea Risotto & a Lemon Gremolata – £14.50: 10/10

My father also had the same as me:

My mother had the  Medallions of Fillet Steak served with Dauphinoise Potatoes & a Choice of Diane, Stilton or Peppercorn Sauce – £22.50: 10/10

My partner had the Pan Fried Duck Breast with Stir Fry Noodles & a Plum Sauce – £14.95: 0/10

The duck in my opinion was overcooked, the plum sauce was runny and watery and didn't taste of plum and the stir fry noodles were awful:

Deserts were:

Parents had the Toffee & Hazelnut Pavlova – £5.95: 5/10

I had the  Summer Pudding served with Chantilly Cream – £5.7: 10/10 very tasty and well presented.

My partner had the Vanilla & Honey Panna cotta with a Rhubarb Compot – £5.95: 0/10

It was the strangest Panna Cotta I had ever seen, really resembled a creme caramel withouth the caramel. Compot was terrible.

Now I am sure many happy people go to this place an return.

However what really irritated me about this place was the fact that when I went to pay the bill I politely informed the man

Had one of the most fantastic lunches at the rockingham and was pleased to see that there was plenty on offer, including sandwiches and daily specials. this is when i decided to opt for the calamari, it was cooked perfectly and served a good helping of house salad and a herb mayo.

We thought that the lunch was so good we decided to eat later in the week for dinner and it also didnt dissapoint. we fininshed the meal with rich chocolate mousse topped with homemade honeycombe and frosted orange peices it was amazing!!!

We thought the wine list was great, and was glad to see a local ale on sale from romsey called Flacks

Good cheap food sounds better than bad expensive food to me.

We actually had a totally different experience on Saturday.  We chose it because it was cheaper and need to watch the pennies at the moment.  We ate off the two main meals for £9.95 and we were both pleasantly surprised. 

One meal was a 10oz gammon steak with chips, peas and eggs, all of it cooked well, managed soft eggs too.  I had the butter nut squash curry with mixed grain rice and poppadoms, nicely presented and tasty.  It all came out very quickly too, despite most tables eating.  We heard no complaints from other tables and plates seemed to be cleared.

I was a bit worried when I saw 3663 arrive but I’m afraid we couldn’t knock it.

In terms of the previous guests comment about lots of booze, that was a bit of a problem, the barman didn’t seem to know how to pull a pint and ended up with about a 2” head which we had to ask him to top up.      

A group of us went here recently for a celebration, food was pretty average, I had steak which, whilst it was cooked how I wanted it, the steak had lots of gristle and I ended up leaving most of it on my plate!  For starters I had prawn cocktail which was again very average and was very vinegary with a few limp lettuce leaves which looked like the bags you buy at the supermarket.  Pudding was nothing to write home about.

I suppose if you want good cheap food and lots of booze then this is the place for you, but I certainly wouldn't go again, I'd rather spend a little more and get better quality food. 

I am writing this small review following a direct request from the Ladies who lunch on Twitter.

The Corner House Winchester is a little out of the way and not on the well walked tourists path through the centre of the city. Found by chance it is now one of our current favourite haunts. The decor inside is quite a mix of gentlemans smoking lounge mixed with country kitchen large wooden tables. There is a small bar area in one corner but the pub is mainly laid with tables for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We first visited for Sunday lunch & I have to say it was fantastic. The produce is all locally sourced and the staff were more than happy to adjust one of the dishes we requested to suit our own tastes.

Our second visit was for dinner on Saturday night, the evening of the "Hat Fair". As you expect, the restaurant was packed but all our food arrived looking wonderful and promptly.

I ordered fish cakes for starters but there were other lovely things to choose from such as local wood pigion and mint pea puree.

Main course was Pork with 5 spice plumbs which was devine.

For pudding I went for the cheese board which had a great selection of cheeses to choose from.

Highly recommend a visit but would make sure you book first.

Fantastic seafood!

Every dish we saw that came out of the kitchen looked well prepared and tempting.

Locally caught fish and seafood - all very yummy.  The rest of thenon-fish menu looks tempting too.. some decisions are tooo hard to make!!

We went for the Shellfish Selection (starter and dessert NOT required!) it was a messy, tasty, fresh delight.  It was a shame we didn't have enough room for the delicious veg and potatoes provided along with it !

Menus and details can be found on line - we will DEFINATELY be going back!! 

http://www.anchorinncockwood.com/index.htm

Doen't seem all my review came out. so here's part 2

After eating such a wonderful main course we all wondered if the deserts would be just as goood?

I had pan fried pineapple with a toffee sauce and coconut ice cream.

Amazing desert with a magnificent taste 10/10

My partner had cheesecake with cream and a wonderful sauce.

Amazing desert with a magnificent taste 10/10

My Mum had Creme Brule.

Amazing desert with a magnificent taste 10/10

My Dad had apple pie with lashings of custard.

Amazing desert with a magnificent taste 10/10

How can I can conclude our visit to the Crown Inn:

Food - brilliant.

Service - brilliant, staff very clean, polite and friendly.

Decor - lovely, very clean and the place has a nice cosy atmosphere with great seating.

Toilets - Very clean.

What else is there to say?

After having a browse at the Crown Inn's evening menu we will be goingback there on a Friday or Saturday night to sample more of the wonderful food this place has on its menu.

After us all having eaten a truly well cooked. well presented 2 course lunch we can only say a massive thank you to the Ladies Who Lunch for reviewing this wonderful place.

Finally a massive thank you to  Janine and Phil, their truly amazing chef and all the other staff at The Crown Inn for a wonderful dining experience this Sunday lunch time.