Barings
Restaurant
Becoming
a serious destination on the outskirts
of Bournemouth
At
last we've got out of the London
area - perhaps it's the beginning
of summer and not before time.
Cousins in the New Forest alerted
us to Barings Restaurant which
is located in a somewhat undistinguished
satellite of the Bournemouth-Poole
urban sprawl. The restaurant
itself is in a commanding corner
position in the main street of
Winton; it was formerly a bank
and the conversion is most successful,
creating a really pleasant dining
room with decent sized tables
and comfortable chairs in a rather
nice clubby sort of atmosphere.
There are some chummy little
alcoves here and there, and the
occasional safe (presumably too
heavy too have been removed)
to remind us of the restaurant's
origins.
Chef Matt
Appleton's menu
is concise and well planned,
and his partner, David Tugwell's
wine list is quite a delight
- I'll come to that later.
A carpaccio of tuna came with
a light salad garnish of cucumber
and radish, but the soy dressing
wasn't quite peppy enough to
spark up the rather bland taste
of the fish. The rather good
little tartlet of creamed leek
was so tiny that it was overwhelmed
even by a carefully poached
egg and some tasty shavings
of parmesan in the salad. More
generous was the smoked duck
breast, moist and tender, with
pickled mushrooms that tweaked
the duck without overpowering.
Best of all the starters was
a 'Gazpacho of Dorset crab
with guacamole', which had
cousin Shelagh quite ecstatic
about its fresh seafood flavour.
The
main courses each had their own
carefully chosen accompaniments,
presented in typically cheffie style. I
had a moist chunk of roast salmon
on crushed Jersey Royal potatoes
with crunchy asparagus, sadly
just coming to the end of the
heart-stoppingly short English
season. The Hollandaise sauce
was beautifully done, but I didn't
really need another poached egg!
Roast corn fed chicken was good,
and its wild mushroom and spinach
risotto was a particularly nice
touch. The pan fried calve's
liver was a bit overdone, but
that was more the fault of the
diner who ordered it "cooked" -
and that's how it was! He nevertheless
heaped praised on the sauce,
which had been enhanced with
foie gras. Finally, (note that
in the interests of research
we each chose a different dish)
the chump of lamb was perfectly
pink in the middle and had quite
an Italian accent with its rich
tasting tomato and basil jus.
Time
to talk a little about the wine
list. Owner-partner David Tugwell
has chosen carefully, with two
or three wines from a good selection
of regions, including Alsace,
Portugal, Lebanon, Greece, and
even Austria - indeed we enjoyed
a deliciously lemony Grüner Veltliner
from Kamptal at a very reasonable £15.95,
having previously quaffed one
of the house whites, a sauvignon
from Chile, £12.95. There were
some intriguing bin ends at the
end of the list from which we
drank a wonderfully deep dark
2002 Zinfandel, the Ravenswood Lodi,
for a decent £19.95. But don't
get excited, that was the last
bottle!
The
puds were all excellent, the
sous chef Mark Emery has a lot
to do with that, so I was told.
The chocolate praline terrine
was suitably wicked - you need
space and a sound constitution
for this one! The full on sticky
toffee pudding would have had
the blessed Delia in saintly
ecstasies, while my wobbly panna
cotta was speckled with vanilla
seeds and refreshed by some strawberry
and rhubarb compote, that I'd
have liked even more of.
All
in all, well worth a detour as
our French tyre manufacturing
colleagues say. We all agreed
that Barings deserves to become
an established destination restaurant
for the Bournemouth area.
Clifford
Mould June 2006
BARING'S
RESTAURANT
324 Wimborne Rd, Winton Banks, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH9 2HH
Opening
times (Tues - Sat Lunch & Dinner)
Starters: £4.50 - £7.50; Mains: £12.95 - £16.95; Puds: £5.50
Lunch menu 2 courses £12.95, 3 for £15.95
(most dishes same as alc menu)
Telephone:
01202 515105
Web: www.baringsrestaurant.co.uk
Email: enquiries@baringsrestaurant.co.uk
