In My Backyard ! (The Bull Hotel Bridport)

Member Name: stickywicket

Product:	The Bull Hotel Bridport
Date:	30/07/09 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful Food

Disadvantages: I live too close.

All towns are diverse, a mixture of cultures, social and ethnic. Here in Bridport we have a number of names to live up to.

A market town, twice weekly the streets are lined with traders selling everything from olives and underwear to handmade furniture and dog treats.

A brewery town, home of Palmers brewery. There used to be pubs next door to pubs round here, 35 in the twon alone at one point.

A seaside holiday 'resort'. West Bay - beaches, Parkdean holiday park and many surrounding guest houses, hotels and fields for you strong willed campers !

Recently we have been labelled as Notting Hill by Sea. Mmmm caused a bit of debate that one. Added to that we do have a large elderly contingent, and hundreds of little villages dotted around the outlying rural areas.

What I'm trying to sat about this town is we have many markets to cater for. So when it comes to eating out in these parts we should have a diverse choice.

Well we do, and that's where the Bull Hotel makes it mark. Please not this review based purely on the restaurant and food not on accomodation, that I'm told is an experience in itself.

An imposing yet impressive slate blue and white building that you can't fail to miss as you drive through the usually busy town centre. The history of it is long and interesting. Been a venue of many events in my personal life, but I won't bore you with those.

So what of my experience(s) under the current management. Well I believe they took charge of this somewhat then downtrodden 17th century coaching inn in 2006. And have transformed it into an attractive and ambient place to be.

Our most recent visits are the ones I shall refer to, as we have eaten three times previously under different chefs in 2006 and 2008 and it was inconsistent, so we'll leave that by the by.

Easter 2009. Remember the sunshine ? Booked a table for six of us on Sunday afternoon. Walk towards the hotel and outside you see a board declaring Moules ad Frites nights, Crunch Lunch for £4.50 all beautifully drawn by someone who has the skill of blackboard drawing. If it sounds tacky, it's my description not doing it justice.

Enter the building and you'll see one of those impressive terracotta, black and white original tiled floors in the wide hall. If those tiles could talk....

You will be greeted by a beautiful smiling host at the bar. To your right the simply furnished dining area, to the left a long booth, some tasteful sofas a bar, a few tables nothing uniform or remotely chain style. But it's all aesthetically pleasing.

We are eating in the courtyard. Large comfortabe tables and chairs, huge umbrellas, shingle underfoot, greenery, hanging baskets, homemade bunting, nothing stands out it all fits together though.

On to the important stuff. Food. Two hungry teenagers, a Granddad that can match them, and three ladies that like their food.

Menus arrive quickly, freshly printed and clean. Anything laminated scares me, means the chef is stuck in a rut. Very judgemental but you know what I mean.

Now the beauty of the first side menu, two courses for £10. Starters, mains and desserts. There are alteratives, mains on the otherside are varying in price from £8.00 to £17. This is lunchtime, we're not in for the biggie so we all decided to choose from the two for £10. Only because we know between we will balance it with starters and desserts. My understanding is if you just order a main from this selection the charge is around £7 - £9. Mmm not sure that's too clear. There is a childrens menu available.

The choices. These are hard to make. The Bull's famous fish pie grabs my attention. Steak with bubble and squeak is being suggested to teenager that thinks his throat has been cut, haddock fishcake topped with a soft poached egg on a bed of spinach has been mentioned, vegetable roulade, John Dory... herb crusted lamb ...STOP ALREADY ! This is hard. (I can't recall all the possibilities but these menus won't have you reading mini biographies of each dish, they are short snappy to the point with minimum but effective descriptions.)

Anyway, with our orders for the main course taken the general concencus is that tapas should be ordered along with garlic bread starters and olives. Always there are olives ! A wonderful array of small stuffed peppers, a spicy dipping sauce, olives, breads and more delights arrived on wooden slabs that didn't invade the space between us.

The waiting staff are attentive, polite and nothing is too much trouble. Our orders of fishcakes, steak, Jon Dory with pea puree, bowls full of of thick handcut chips, arrive quickly. It's all good. The table falls quiet. A good sign.

All that remains afterwards are three or four chips that even teenager who eats can't finish. Another good sign.

So what now ? Up and leave ? In this family, I think not. after what seems a suitable period, the menus are returned. I know whats going to happen now, nobody really needs to look, mainly because they already looked earlier on.

Chocolate Fondant. Four of them, take longer to cook than to eat. There is no sharing here, not a chance.

This whole ritual takes around 2 hours, it's relaxing, perfectly timed and a wonderful afternoon spent with family. You could actually believe you were in a different country at times. All so civilised. Highly enjoyable.

We have returned twice this Summer, because it is a nice place to be. One weekend we attended the BBQ menu, this was post school holidays and all was quiet. Live music from a local guitarist. The BBQ was literally amazing, cooked to order in the courtyard.

Sea Trout, steaks, pork skewers, mackerel all served with the best coleslaw I've ever tasted, potato salads, green salads, just awesome. In fact I've only just started eating again.

Last week we attempted a Sunday Roast. Nice, didn't quite hit the mark as well as the other occasions but it won't put us off.

I'd recommend the Crunch Lunch. £4.50 for a such dishes as haddock goujons or local sausages, mash, onion gravy. It is forever changing.


Website http://www.thebullhotel.co.uk/

If you are ever in the area....

Summary: Caters for all, relaxed suroundings, always enjoyable.