MARQUESS REDUX

Thought it worthwhile one of the DH revisiting The Marquess to see how it was shaping up, also reviews had told of a BIG steak, and I was well up for a BIG steak.

Unfortunately, when I turned up, not only had they lost my res (not a problem as the place was sparsely populated for most of my stay) but they weren’t doing the BIG steak either. To compound the disappointment the great chips weren’t available.

It may have been my imagination but the number of choices seemed smaller than on my last visit or it just may have been because I was in a meaty mood and apart from a couple of main courses the menu was mostly composed of fish/veg dishes.

I started with some mussels cooked in Perry with parsley and fennel. The mussels were small and didn’t particularly taste of anything. Also, the portion was a bit parsimonious for seven quid.

This was followed pretty rapidly by wild venison with runner beans. This came as two thinnish slices of haunch. Although I was told it was served rare, the bottom half of the slices were well cooked and the upper half rare. The rare part was quite good but the well-cooked bit was not great.

My dessert was a small blackcurrant fool which although not oversweet lacked any punch and lacked any ‘blackcurrantness’.

They seemed to have admitted that there is a problem with their coffee machine as complementary stuff was offered instead. It tasted like not great cafetiere stuff and I left most of it.

Overall, a disappointment. The service seemed to be a lot more on the ball but the food side has weakened in execution and choice and the prices are too high for this level of food. A touch of the St John’s perhaps ?