Orange Rooms

I like the Orange Rooms.

I have only been here when it is quiet - Sunday evenings, workday afternoons and, recently, workday lunch - so I do not know what it is like when filled with people.

It has a pleasant ambience in decor of orange and brown, but it does feel odd to be inside what is ostensibly a night-time place, during the day. Very little daylight gets in. There are however comfortable retro sofas and arm chairs, as well as benches and tables and tall stools. Myriad choices of seating.

For lunch, I had a steak sandwich. The bread was delicious: soft granary bread with a great crust. The steak inside was tender and juicy, although all sliced up rather than being one slab of steak, so the steak kept falling out while I was eating. I was a little disappointed in the fries, not that they weren't crisp and well-cooked, but because they were fries, which are so much less satisfying than chips. I feel as if I am munching on crunchy, deep-fried air when eating fries.

My fellow diner's meals all looked great: the burgers, especially, were quite generous and seemed to defeat their eaters. The small serve of nachos was actually quite a pretty decent serve. Naturally, I helped my co-diner by sneaking some corn chips from her plate. They were quite bland although the guacamole was good.

I was surprised, when we got our bill, to discover that my full fat coke was complimentary with the meal, as was anyone else's soft drink with their meal. A bonus, making the meal pretty good value.


*****
Orange Rooms

1-2 Vernon Walk
Southampton
SO15 2EJ
023 8023 2333

http://www.orangerooms.co.uk/
Food Menu

Chambers / Bar Room Bar

The Chambers is a nice, up-market looking pub, which, by its name, seems to be targetting the professional set. That would be fine, but it needs to pull its socks up if it is going to have any professionals as its clientele, especially at lunch time.

I have been here twice in the one week. The first time, it was an impromptu get-together and I went merely for a sociable drink with friends at lunch. That was fine, although I did note that my friends' pizzas came a bit late. Nevertheless I got back to work on time.

I met different friends for lunch later in the week. There were five of us in total, but only four were eating. We all ordered our pizzas at the same time. By 13:45, we got agitated enough to enquire about our pizzas and were told that they would be coming shortly. At 13:55, two pizzas arrived. Neither were mine. I hesitated about whether to wait for my pizza or whether to cancel the order and rush back to work, without lunch.

The pizza oven is a large domed thing, dominating half the room. It is very impressive, but it appears to only fit two pizzas at a time, which seems strange. It looms behind a bar, where we can watch the chefs making up the pizzas and putting them into the oven. I went up to the men working near the pizzas and asked what pizzas were in the oven, as that would help me make my decision. I was informed that the pizzas were crispy duck and margharita. Given that I had ordered the Italiano pizza, I was surprised that my pizza was not immediately in the oven after my companions'. I went back to our table and asked my other companion, who also had not received her pizza, what she had ordered. She, too, had ordered the Italiano pizza.

Deciding that we needed to head back to work, I went back to the counter and spoke with the waitress (not the chef whom I had earlier spoken to). I said something along the lines of, "Our pizzas have taken too long, and we need to get back to work, so could we please have a refund. The chef has not started making our pizzas." The waitress said, rather shortly, "You want a refund?" My companion started in with, "Yes, we ordered our pizzas at 1.15 and it's now -," but before she could continue, the waitress said, rather stroppily, "Don't get shirty with me. I just take the orders." The cheek! Both my companion and I started speaking at the same time, equally riled by her manner on top of the lack of food, but she said, "Talk to my manager," and walked off without telling us who the manager was.

The manager was, at that time, quite nearby. So he came over and we explained the situation to him, both a little more angry than we had been because of the waitress' manner. I asked for a refund but the manager offered to deliver the pizzas to our place of work. I wavered and looked at my companion, inclined just to ask for a refund and deal with the hunger pangs until home time. She, however, agreed. We high-tailed it back to work.

Our pizzas were delivered, together with four vouchers for free pizzas plus contrite apologies and an offer of free drinks if we went there for lunch the next day. I snorted at the suggestion (but not to the face of the delivery person). On the basis of the manager's much better service, and attempt to rectify the disastrous situation, I decided that if the pizza was good, The Chambers would not end up on my black list of places to eat in Southampton.

The Italiano is described as having Italian sausage, tomato, mozzarella and basil. The pizzas are a lovely thin base - my favourite - and the tomato sauce and mozzarella were reasonable. However, I barely had half a sausage on the entirety of my 12-inch pizza. Each slice had one slice of sausage on it, and there had been one slice of sausage placed directly in the centre of the pizza that had been sliced through. So, each pizza slice had an additional one-eighth of a slice of sausage. And absolutely no basil. When I was done, my fingers were laden with oil.

That decided it. Perhaps, the whole episode had left me with a bad taste in my mouth, not least because the pizza was rather average, but, on writing this post and investigating the website, I found that, too, to be aggravating. There's a Flash Player introduction and choosing the menu for Southampton oddly takes you to the Cambridge menu. Maybe it's teething problems, but you only get so many chances, and The Chambers gets no more from me.

Not recommended at all.

*****
The Chambers
74-76 London Road
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 2A

Phone: 023 8033 1140

http://www.barroombar.com/whatsonoffer/index.php?view=bar&display=southampton

Montagu Arms Hotel

We have taken up cycling, and the New Forest is a wonderful place to cycle in: mostly flat, with some hills to keep the cycle interesting, small roads and lots of cycling paths with no cars at all. Cycling has enabled us to not only travel further, but also enables eating to my greedy belly's delight.

Last weekend, we cycled from Brockenhurst train station to Beaulieu, a cute little town with abbey and motor museum, which clearly derives from the French for 'Beautiful Place' but is pronounced Bewley, with no French accenting, and is definitely not pronounced Bo-lee-ew (one gets corrected vociferously if one tries). Bypassing all the tourist attractions, we headed straight for the Montagu Arms (or more affectionately, The Monty, if you're a local) as it was lunch time and we have a knack of arriving at pubs minutes after they stop serving.

At the door, we found a sign directing us either to the Bistro or the Bar. We were dressed in cycling gear and hiking boots, had a wee bit of mud on the bottom of our trousers, and were perhaps a bit bedraggled from the ride. Nevertheless, I walked into the bistro and asked to see a menu, saying I wasn't sure whether we belonged in the bar or bistro. The staff were very helpful, giving me both menus and making us feel welcome, irrespective of our attire.

The bistro menu looked fantastic, so we found a seat (not very difficult, as the entire place was empty!) beside a window. Sadly, the window looks out onto the carpark. The inside of the bistro, however, was lovely: still with its Christmas decorations, and with dark wooden floors. Service was friendly, and not at all stuffy, even though the decor made us concerned it would be.

We decided to eat extravagantly, so my fellow diner and cyclist ordered crayfish and parsley risotto, for starters, and sea bass for mains. I had wanted the same things, but knew that I could try his, so ordered the soup of the day (cream of butternut squash) and Weiner schnitzel for main.

My partner's meals were excellent. The crayfish and parsley risotto was lovely, sweet and tangy, with the rice creamily perfect. His sea bass was also great: nicely cooked with the meat soft, but firm. My soup was also lovely. But the schnitzel was a bit of a disappointment: it was perfectly edible, but just a bit bland. Our accompanying vegetables were perfectly done; my brussel sprouts, in particular, were the best I had eaten out in a long time: not overcooked, al dente and wonderfully peppery.

I highly recommend the Montagu Arms - whether your cycling, walking or visiting the motor museum (we didn't!).


*****

The Montagu Arms Hotel

Beaulieu

New Forest

Hampshire

SO42 7ZL



Tel: 01590 612324

http://www.montaguarmshotel.co.uk/home.asp

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Banana Wharf

I ate here speedily prior to a movie: it is conveninently close to the excellent Harbour Lights Picture House.

I find it a real pity that what little waterfront Southampton has, that is not already covered by dockyards, is effectively just a mooring bay for a whole lot of boats. So the billed 'waterfront' is just the lots of mast poles sticking up in the air.

In any event, Banana Wharf is a perfectly competent bar / pub / restaurant. The menu is varied and interesting. I had the Thai green chicken curry with basmati rice and my companion had the eastern spiced lamb with cous cous. Service was friendly and speedy - a bonus if you have a movie deadline to make.

*****
Banana Wharf

Ocean Village
Southampton
SO14 3JF

023 8033 8866

http://www.bananawharf.co.uk/

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