Romantic Riverside Restaurant (The Cherwell Boathouse)

Member Name: zebra

Product:	The Cherwell Boathouse
Date:	01/12/03 (318 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value fixed price menu and gorgeous location

Disadvantages: A few excusable problems

The Cherwell Boathouse is located in a picturesque setting in the quiet North Oxford
suburbs, a few minutes from the city centre. In summer you can hire a punt from the
boathouse and return to a meal at the restaurant which is open all year.

One of the things I like about the Cherwell boathouse is that it has a set price 3 course
with coffee or tisane menu in the evening £22.50. There is a good selection of nine
starters and eight main courses from the main and 'special' menus. It was my own
fault that I didn't realise until too late that it was completely mix and match and I had
assumed that you had to stick to one or the other.

We were shown to a small table for two which was rather cramped. I sat facing a wall
which I don't like and my husband was seated at right angles which I don't like either.
I looked with envy at the two tables situated outside the open French windows on the
patio. I asked if we could sit somewhere else but was told all the other tables were
reserved. (At least I will know in future to try and specify a nice table when we
book)We were offered still or sparkling water but I said tap water would be fine.
Four smallish slices of white bread were served in a basket adding to the
claustrophobic feeling of table. It may have been home made but it wasn't very
special. It was rather dry and dense textured and I certainly wouldn't have paid £2 for
extra bread of that standard.

The starters, however, were excellent. I chose home cured gravadlax with coriander
and lemon coleslaw. There was only one slice of gravadlax but it was a large slice and
was also probably one of the nicest I have ever tasted. It was served on a bed of mixed
leaves with a tasty dressing. The coleslaw flavouring was very subtle which was a
relief because coriander can be very overpowering. A drizzle of some olive oil round
the



edge of the plate completed a very nice ensemble. This got a clean plate from me.

My husband selected a warm salad of boudin blanc with crispy pancetta which he
chose because be remembered enoying boudin blanc elsewhere. He said it was even
better than before so we were off to a very good start. (If he could be more descriptive
I'm sure he would be writing a review for himself)

The main course, for me, was disappointing. I would probably have chosen monkfish
if I had known that I could mix and match but lured by the tantalising aroma of
chargrilled steak that had greeted us outside on arrival I went for sirloin steak with
wild mushroom sauce from the specials menu.

The main courses were served on what looked like large pasta dishes more akin to
bowls than plates and food was of course in heaps. My steak, sitting on top of its
vegetable heap which included leeks, potatoes and courgettes did not, I afraid, live up
to the tempting smell. The appearance suggested to me that it been battered to
tenderise it and the texture when I tasted it told me that this had not really succeeded.
There was also a very large lump of fat in addition to the usual gristle found in sirloin.
I had to leave quite a lot of it. There was also a rather bitter taste to the sauce and I
couldn't quite determine what was responsible for this. So all in all I certainly didn't
think it was worth the £1 surcharge. Why is it always me who gets the grotty bit of
meat?

However, my husband was quite happy with his Breast of duck with roast pear, red
cabbage and blackcurrant jus and didn't have any complaints at all. (I'm afraid this
doesn't really mean much though - he eats anything and everything put in front of
him and never complains).

Pudding should be in some respect the highlight of a meal and waited for with
anticipation.
Well I'm sorry not at the Cherwell boathouse it isn't if our selection was
typical.
There were a total of six desserts on the combined menu: ice cream, raisin and vanilla
cheesecake, chocolate and ginger tart, three British cheeses Raspberry & cointreau jelly
with creme Anglais, and Apple & blackberry crumble. We had the last two on the list.

They were both served in small white ramekin dishes and I thought how much nicer the jelly
could have looked if served in a glass dish. I had to play an interesting game of 'how to tackle the jelly' because it was covered almost completely in a large slice of pear and any attempt to dislodge it resulted in bounce back from the jelly underneath and splats of crème Anglais everywhere. I resorted to delving in with my fingers to remove this rather annoying and superfluous decoration. Having finally got to my pudding it was so small that it disappeared all too quickly as did I - to the terrace.

As is more and more the case these days the restaurant is non smoking but for me coffee
without a cigarette is unthinkable. Luckily it was a warm, balmy summer evening and it was
no hardship to sit outside on the attractive terrace to partake of my addiction. I sat admiring
the view of swans and cygnets gliding tranquilly on the river with the odd interlude of learner
punters crash landing their boats as they returned. It was a wonderfully romantic setting but
the problem was that I sat there alone. My husband had remained at the table to order coffee but had not managed to attract a waiter (to be fair the restaurant it was full and busy) and he eventually appeared about fifteen minutes later.

Quite soon after his return a rather small amount of coffee was served in large cups and
although I did draw attention to this no offer was made to add any more to the half full cups.

Although we had to wait along time to order coffee the bill wa
s very prompt. The total was just over £60 as we had splashed out a bit on a very nice bottle of wine(the name of which
escapes me at the moment) but wine is available from a very reasonable £9 per bottle.

Although I have been rather critical I think the Cherwell Boathouse offers an interesting menu and good value for money especially considering the very pleasant location which could command far higher prices and we will certainly return there. I know that it occasionally has special offers of the evening meal for £18 if booked through http://www.5pm.co.uk


http://www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk/

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