Thursday 27 May 2010

The Lobster Pot – revisited!

I say 'revisited' but the truth of the matter is that I often drive down to Felpham in West Sussex because, as I've probably said before, it's the place where I spent my childhood holidays in the days when the summers were hot and seemingly endless and the perils of adulthood were simply unreal.

I took a drive down there recently and took a look at what appeared to be the new order of the place. It's now a little more 'culinary', a little more 'foody' in its approach – which is a good thing – but it still retains (thank heavens) the caff element during the day, although evidence of it's new 'cheffyness' was everywhere; well, on a couple of blackboards. There was, for example, a seafood weekend being advertised. It's over now and I couldn't get there, but it seemed like a great idea and I'm sure they did well out of it. 

The thing is, the place now opens at night and the prices are pretty much 'up there' in terms of 'posh restaurant' levels. Main courses range from £9.95 to £12.95. Huss served with hand-made chips and sugar snap peas is £9.95, there's talk of 'port reduction'  and crispy fried squid with roasted chorizo and salad. Things are certainly looking up and the blackboards mean that the food is fresh.

If I say so myself, I make a pretty decent cottage pie so when I saw that the Lobster Pot was offering, as a set lunchtime special, home-made cottage pie, well, I just had to dive in and order it. Was it better than mine? To be honest, no, it wasn't. It was nice, but I'd love to put mine up in a head-to-head contest and see who wins.  Also on the lunchtime specials was home-made mushroom soup with crusty bread and something called a lamb and lentil 'ravine', which, I admit, might be an error on my part. What the hell is a lamb and lentil ravine? Should that be 'tagine', perhaps, who knows? 

But look at the other menu items: veal schnitzel, grilled huss fillet, vegetable and puy lentil burgers, whole roasted rainbow trout. The Lobster Pot isn't the Lobster Pot anymore – a quote that might be used in a film entitled The Lobster Pot Story, should such a film ever be made.

Anyway, it's still a great place and the fact that it's open at night makes it even better. I really do want to spend a night there and when I do I'll report back immediately.

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