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All Saints Lane, Bristol. BS1 1JH 01179294243 |
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Tuesday 11th August 2009 Atmosphere: 8 / 10. Food and drink: 8 / 10. On the stroke of 8pm, the elegant grandfather clock chimed but where was everybody? On Thursday evening, The Rummer was empty apart from a handful of post-work drinkers. The only other diners had long gone, leaving just me to keep the kitchen busy after 7.30pm. What a crying shame. The problem with The Rummer is that it’s simply too good at being a bar that people tend to overlook the fact that it also serves food. Along with The Woods, Hausbar and Hotel du Vin, I would put money on The Rummer being the best bar in Bristol in terms of both choice and quality. It has an exceptional range of drinks, served by staff who really know their stuff. Of course, being a great bar doesn’t always mean it will be matched by the food, but The Rummer is the exception to the rule. In fact, the food here gets better each time I visit the place, and the meal I had last week was easily the best I have had since it reopened in 2005. Located in the heart of St Nicholas Market, The Rummer dates back to 1241 and it is steeped in history. When it was a grand hotel, famous visitors included Elizabeth I, Charles I and II, William III and Oliver Cromwell. By the 1990s, it went down hill, closed and stood boarded up and sad, until new owners took over in 2005. Since then, it has ticked along as an all-day cafe/bar making most of its money at weekends as a cocktail bar. But it’s about time The Rummer was taken seriously as a dining destination because the new head chef is a force to be reckoned with. Richard Marshall arrives here with an impressive CV that includes three of my favourite eateries – Robin Hood’s Retreat in Bristol and London establishments The Blueprint Cafe and The Cow. I didn’t know this until a day after my dinner at The Rummer, but one look at the menu and I knew there must be a chef in the kitchen who speaks my language because the menu was packed with bold, seasonal dishes with my name on them. It’s a short menu – four starters, five main courses and three desserts – but I would have gladly ordered any of them. There was Cornish crab cakes with mango salsa; slow-cooked pork belly with new potatoes, courgettes, apple-smoked bacon and sorrel; poached organic salmon with beetroot and horseradish salad and mustard dressing… need I go on? I’m not a salad sort of guy. At least, I rarely order them in restaurants because there is usually something else winking at me from the menu, and very few chefs can make a decent salad that isn’t simply a bag of supermarket leaves with a few extra ingredients thrown in. But I threw the dice on red and ordered the Tymsboro goat’s cheese salad (£5.50) even though they had spelt it wrong (“Tymsborough”). This was mainly because I love this soft, white cheese made by the legendary cheese maker Mary Holbrook at Timsbury, near Bath, but also because it read so well on the menu. I was not disappointed. The slices of cheese were generous and arranged artfully among a medley of broad beans (which had been taken out of their leathery skins – a laborious job for a chef but one that’s so worth the extra time and effort), rocket, mint leaves, croutons, black olive tapenade and a tangy dressing of aged balsamic vinegar and fruity olive oil. It was a simple salad singing with the vibrant flavours of summer and I wiped the plate clean. Just as I rarely order salads, I also get very nervous whenever I order beef because it’s often overcooked or so rare that it’s got a pulse. Marshall gets his beef from Gatcombe Farm in Seaton, Devon. It’s free-range and organic and clearly hung for a long time. My peppered rump of beef (£12.75) was faultlessly cooked. I would go as far as saying it was the most beautifully cooked piece of meat I’ve encountered this year. Rosy pink in the middle and dark and peppery on the outside, it was exceptional. The beef had been sliced into six lozenges of meat and served with a piquant and mossy salsa verde, squeaky sugar snap peas, roasted baby shallots and a wedge of pommes Anna which, if I was to be hypercritical, could have done with a tad more seasoning. Still, a cracking main course for under £13. A long lunch earlier in the day meant that I didn’t have room for dessert, but I could have ordered lemon tart with mascarpone (£4.50) or elderflower granita (£4) and I would have been very surprised if they weren’t plucked from the top drawer of puddings. But I didn’t need dessert to test the kitchen any further. After the preceding two courses, it was evident that there was a very steady hand on the tiller here, and how refreshing is that? Richard Marshall is cooking some of the best food to be found in central Bristol at the moment and more people need to experience it. I really don’t want to be the only person eating it next time I pop in. MARK TAYLOR - EVENING POST 11th August |
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