Lunch at the Fisherman's Haunt, Winkton

You may recall my saying in last week's rundown of the menu's (*gasp*, I haven't done one for this week yet - and it's Thursday tomorrow! Darn you Christmas, you're getting in my way! lol) that we were going for lunch with my parents at the Fisherman's Haunt at Winkton.

Well, in all fairness to what happened there this last weekend, I don't feel it would be right to do a proper review as such, but I'm sure you'd be interested to know what happened.

We (five in all) rolled up at the Pub and all appeared to be peace and tranquillity.  Upon entering the bar, I noticed a particularly surly-looking fellow behind the bar and a large chap who appeared to be in charge, but who also appeared to have lost any sense of customer service and good manners while he was speaking to my Dad.  Not a good start.  However, the large fellow took us to a very pleasant table and took our drink order, albeit looking a trifle distracted throughout.  Little did we know, just what was going on behind the scenes to cause such surliness and distraction!

Our waitress arrived to take our orders and she turned out to be very smiley and pleasant.  We ordered two melon dishes, a red pepper soup, a prawn cocktail and a chicken liver parfait for our starters and two beer battered fish with chips, a roast beef, a roast pork and a confit duck leg for our main course.  Thus began the wait.  So we waited, and chatted, and waited, and chatted, and got a little fidgety, and waited some more.  After a wait of around 45 minutes the starters arrived and were unremarkable but pleasant.

Then, a chap who appeared to be the restaurant manager (or some such) appeared and apologised for the wait, asking whether we'd been told "what was going on there, today?".  "No!", we all chorused, our curiosity having been seriously piqued.  It turned out that their Head Chef had fallen the day before and cracked two ribs and hence was off sick.  Thus, the responsibility for the kitchen had fallen to the second chef - who couldn't cope with the stress and had walked out!  Picture the poor old third chef, who really hadn't bargained for what he got, that day, doing all the prep and cooking for the entire restaurant - which was heaving with people.  Poor soul!

So, it appeared that because of the lack of people doing prep, the vegetables were dwindling and they only had broccoli and brussels sprouts available.  That was fine by us, as we all ate those - and the two that didn't were having Fish & Chips anyway.

With the promise of 20% off the final bill, we resumed our wait whilst feeling terribly sorry for the poor old third chef, who must have been wondering what he'd done to deserve such treatment.

Eventually our main courses arrived.  The battered fish was so huge it looked like it was preparing for a swift getaway, but was declared extremely good by its recipients.  The chips weren't so good, being common-or-garden freezer chips.  However, in the circumstances, who would have complained?  Not us.  The two roast meals - beef and pork - were absolutely enormous and excellent value for money.  The duck leg, however, was a bit of a tragedy.  The skin was suitably crisp and tasty and the best thing about it.  The meat was a little on the dry side, which was quite an achievement considering it was supposed to be a confit duck leg.  It was served with mashed potato and a duchesse potato (which seemed an odd combination, being mashed potato x 2) and with a light but extremely vinegary jus that was probably quite adequate in quantity bearing in mind its acidity, but did nothing to help the mountain of mashed potato go down.  The bowls of vegetables were completely mullered - think school sprouts and broccoli, but again in the circumstances we were just glad to get some food!

The menu set out for the day was the £9.95 for two courses version, when we'd been expecting the Table D'Hote menu, however I feel that the change in menu was probably essential, to save the third chef from abandoning ship, too.

Not one to be put off by horrendous service, we ordered dessert and were suitably impressed.  Well, all except for the "cinnamon ice cream" which most disappointingly, turned out to be vanilla.  A nice vanilla - but vanilla nonetheless.  The profiteroles were cushiony and filled with cream, the "hokey pokey cheesecake" was sweet enough to make your teeth fall out and the Pecan pie was so enormous, it proved impossible to finish.

All in all, the Fisherman's Haunt showed signs of being a very acceptable lunch venue.  It was quite obvious that we caught it on a spectacularly bad day and I would very much like to return and have another go!  Maybe we'll ring beforehand and make sure the kitchen staff are all assembled, this time.

This coming week's meals - better late than never.

When I left you last, I believe it was Sunday and we'd just had a lovely Gammon pot roast.

Well, I sort of fell apart over Sunday evening and on into Monday morning, in that the sudden attack of "meh!" that had got me earlier in the week turned into stomach pain and an overwhelming desire to vomit.  Not good.  So not good, in fact, that I didn't go to work on Monday.  Bringing a sickness bug to a Hotel is not a good idea.  As it was, after I'd taken son to school and crawled back into my bed for another hour or so's nap, I took some Milk of Magnesia and almost immediately began to feel better.  After a couple of hours, I could even face a scrambled egg - and so began the climb back to the pathetic level of health that I attempt to maintain.  I'm still not quite right - I couldn't face a curry quite yet - but with some skillful  planning, I'll get there.

So, Monday's lovely prawn risotto that Hubby had planned had to be jettisoned in favour of plain old grilled sausages with vegetables and gravy.  The boys, of course, had waffles and baked beans - but I couldn't face the idea of a greasy waffle.  I opted for a medley of fresh vegetables (leftover bits from the weekend, in fact) which sat a lot more easily in my stomach!

Tuesday is the first day of our new week and, because I was still feeling a tad delicate in the tummy department, I was luckily able to plan accordingly.  So, we had a lovely Macaroni Cheese.  We should have had salad, but again, salad was a bit of a stretch for me so we opted for some garlic bread.

My Macaroni Cheese is made with mature cheddar, onion, streaky bacon, English mustard and cayenne pepper.  Now you would think that the cheese would be too heavy, or the pasta, or the bacon - but no.  Nor is the mustard or the cayenne too much.   On the schedule of "things to eat to make you feel better" - a.k.a. "comfort food" - I think you'll find that Macaroni Cheese (or Spirali Pasta Cheese, as this one was!) is around no. 2, with Shepherd's Pie at no.1.

I did manage to get out to the supermarket on Tuesday, so we are all geared up for this week's meals.

Wednesday (or tonight, as I write this), we had something we haven't been able to have for over a year.  A classic old English Beef Stew, with dumplings.  In the past, stewing beef has always come in as too expensive for us.  However, with the supermarket's special offer help, I picked up some lovely shin of beef.  I made some Parsley dumplings - with fresh Parsley - which were delightful and took the place of potato (you will recall Hubby's strange antipathy towards the humble spud) admirably.

Thursday is the night that the Prawn & Little Gem Risotto makes a comeback - and hooray for it!  I'm really looking forward to trying this - and the wait has made it all the sweeter.

Friday and we're having a blast from the past - Kedgeree.  Now I love kedgeree and it's something I've made for years, perfecting the recipe as I've gone along until we've now got a deliciously dry, spicy confection of smoked haddock, hard boiled eggs, curry and rice.  Personally, I prefer to eat it with a side salad dressed with lemon juice and olive oil - but it would seem I'm alone in that!  That's okay, however, because I can soon rustle up a little salad just for me.  Yum!

Saturday needs to be an easy meal that can be eaten whilst watching t.v.  So this Saturday - thanks to Sainsbury's marked down Springform tins - we're having an old favourite which is "Bacon & Blue Cheese Filo Pie" with salad.

We'd stopped having this one for two reasons.  Firstly, my old Springform tin fell apart and secondly, son demonstrated an allergic reaction to blue cheese.  However, this time I'll prepare the pie with a blue cheese free quarter - and have the antihistamine to hand, just in case!  It's a lovely recipe, using layered filo sheets into which you put a mixture of cream cheese, beaten eggs, ham, rocket and pine nuts.  You then sprinkle over some crushed up blue cheese (I usually use Stilton), then fold the filo in to make a crust and bake.  Gorgeous with salad.

Now, Sunday is very exciting.  We're going over to New Milton to see my Parents and they've offered to take us out for lunch at the Fisherman's Haunt in Winkton.  I've had a peek at their menus and everything looks very tempting - so I expect a review will be forthcoming, in due course!

Not one of our Cottage Pies - but it looks nice,
all the same!

Owing again to the supermarket having some very affordable lamb mince, Monday is looking like Shepherd's Pie day.  Lovely!  Hubby is in the kitchen that day - and he makes an amazing Shepherd's Pie.  It will be extra-nice to have a proper Shepherd's pie, rather than the beef version - Cottage Pie.  So, if I'm not fully recovered by Sunday - I certainly will be, by Tuesday morning!  Shepherd's Pie is akin to medicine, in our house!

Lastly - I'd just like to know whether this qualifies me as a real cook.

Circled - just in case you missed it.  :)

I burned my hand on the cooker shelf when I was retrieving the roast potatoes on Sunday.  Yes, I know it's not a BAD burn - but I'm wearing it like a badge, that says "I cook!".  *smile*