Where have Google Earth's maps of St Austell Gone?

Something is amiss with Google’s map data for St Austell. It has never been as good as Truro's but it used to be that you could at least make out house roofs and streets. Compare the two images taken from Google Maps, they are both at the highest resolution for the respective areas:

You can see this for yourself here:

Repeat - Thats the same resolution in the St Austell and Truro Map images.
See for yourself at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/

Great Restormel Roast Review: The Britannia Inn, St Austell. GRRR#4

So it's the Sunday after the night before, and what better way to follow Saturday's brief encounter than with a beef encounter; Great Restormel Roast Review style.

Nursing hangovers, guilt and the occasional flashback, the normal gaggle of co-reviewers were not available. My domestic assistant and the little people had to attend a function at Ben's Play World and so I had the following dilemma:

1. Spend my Sunday with dozens of screaming little people eatings crisps.
2. Go for a solo roasting (the last time I went for a solo roasting was on Hampstead Heath. The gravy was superb).
   

Forgoing family ties and memories of wonderful times together, I chose option 2. For reasons of proximity to the aforementioned Play World, I went to The Britannia Inn.

The Britannia Inn


When I told my friend Dave that I was going to the "The Brit" for a roast he said something very close to "No No No No ..No". I was kind of with him, but in the name of the GRRR it had to be done. We have eaten there a few times, especially in the Summer, as it has the best outdoor area in the area by a long way. It's practically Disneyland. But the food has never been great and one or two times it has been pretty yuck- I think it's a law or Cornish nature that the quality of pub food is inversely proportionate to the quantity of tourists.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Brit is a bad pub, it's just not in the same league as a lot of local pubs -especially in the ambiance/charm/atmosphere stakes.


The Meal

Pros

• The beef - was pretty good. Nice "pure meat" slices and not overcooked. Defo the second best beef in the GRRR so far.
  
• Gravy - This was top notch. Beefy and thick. The kind of gravy that makes you take stock of your Sunday, and, perhaps in a wider sense, your life.
  
• Roasties - Beauties! Couldn't fault them: crispy and yummy.
  
• Veggies - Not bad. Savoy cabbage was good. The carrots were really thinly sliced which again, was a welcome new twist to what is an oft maligned root vegetable.
  

Cons

1. The price - It was £8.95 for the roast and a dessert. I didn't want a dessert and yet I was forced to pay full price. This "forced free price hike" is a rubbish idea. When I voiced my concerns the waitress, who was very nice, made out like I had just declared Jihad on the pub.
   

Score and Conclusions


Unless you're eating outside, the Brit Its not really a very nice pub for a eating. It's big and a bit Harvestery and is a far cry in location from the area's better situated hostelries. But the roast was good, no mistake.



Official GRRR score for The Britannia Inn: 7/10

Telephone: 01726 812889

The GRRR Charts

1^st The Western Inn, St Austell – 8/10

2^nd The Britannia Inn, St Austell – 7/10

3^rd The Polgooth Inn, Polgooth – 6/10

4th The Ship Inn, Lerynn – 4/10

Review: One Eyed Cat Restaurant, Truro.

As far as I'm concerned, the name 'One Eyed Cat' ranks alongside 'Pink Taco' in its cringeworthy tawdriness. Thus I hadn't been tempted by the bar/restaurant in Truro of the same name until yesterday, when I went there to meet a friend for lunch. And I can now reveal that the smutty monicker is in no way representative of the quality of the eaterie itself.

The venue is fantastic: a tiny gothic church conversion with a trendy red and rococo interior. The chilled out sounds that accompanied my lunch are replaced in the evening, I'm told, by something more upbeat, and more in keeping with the extensive cocktail list, from £4. The bistro style food menu is dominated by fresh fish and pizza, with starters from £3.95 and mains from around £6, with a good range of specials on the board with a similar vibe. Which is why I was taken aback to note that the most expensive item on the menu was a staggering £13.50 for a pizza, would you believe (Thai king prawn, since you ask, but still- a pizza).



No condiments appeared on the table but otherwise the service was good and the server most presentable.

My dining companion had the Thai fishcakes for lunch, and I the roasted vegetable ciabatta, accompanied by nothing stronger than a sparkling water. The ciabatta, at £6.95, was piping hot and stuffed with good fresh vegetables and goats' cheese: a little oily, bland, but enjoyable. It was served with a salad which wasn't exactly in Prada but was, at least, dressed. My dining companion's creme fraiche and chili sauce were in short supply but otherwise her fishcakes were good.

Verdict: great to look at and filling if not exactly thrilling to eat.


Food: 7/10
Decor: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Value: 7/10

Overall:

7/10 Betty

Great Restormel Roast Review: The Polgooth Inn, GRRR#3

The Polgooth is the pub I have eaten more Sunday roasts in than any other pub on the planet. So in this sense, I knew what to expect, as did the rest of us who went for the Great Restormel Roast Review of The Polgooth Inn.

Location-wise the Polgooth Inn is delightful, situated on the side of the little valley that runs into the Pentewean valley. For those who like walking, it's a nice 40 minutes walk from town via two varied routes.

If you ring the pub up they will tell you need to book well in advance. We have never booked and in general we have found that apart from in the summer you can get in easy. Even more so with the new extension.

We found a table for all six of us, took a sip of our respective drinks and then revvvved up the reviewing for the third in the Great Restormal Roast Reviews. Hold tight, here it comes…

Pros:

• The service - The food came promptly and all at the same time. Nice staff and as always, good service.
• The price – £6.95 for the roast. ((But the veggie alternative is a very expensive £8.95)).
• The dessert – Profiteroles jacked up with extra yum.
• The pub – It’s a lovely pub, great atmosphere and location.
• Mashed parsnip – Unusual and very tasty.

Cons:

• The gravy – This was the worst we have had so far. I should say that the Polgooth gravy is normally much better but today it was watery and flavourless.
• The roast potatoes - Stodgy and more boiled than roasted. Not a smidgen of crispiness on any of them. The worst roasties so far in the GRRR.
• The meat - This was a bit scraggly and over cooked.
• "Canteeny" - That's a new word invented just for the GRRR. It means that there is something about the roast that makes you think it was cooked in a big canteen by machines rather than by a ninja roaster or your gran. All of our roasts were quite canteeny.
  

Score and Conclusions

The Polgooth Inn is a renowned and successful pub for a Sunday roast. With its pedigree and our previous experience we expected it to be top of the league, but we all felt that it's cutting very close to being a victim of its own success. To put it simply, it is teetering on a roast precipice the other side of which is a chasm of scraggly beef. At the bottom of this chasm is a watery mire of disgraced gravy dotted by the occasional pallid and under roasted spud. There are two ways to go: back upwards, providing the area with continued high quality Sunday eating, or.... there is the other way.

Official GRRR score for the Polgooth Inn: 6/10

Telephone: 01726 74089

The GRRR Charts

1^st The Western Inn, St Austell – 8/10

2^nd The Polgooth Inn, Polgooth – 6/10

3^rd The Ship Inn, Lerynn – 4/10

Robbie's fans turn to Midcornwall.com for the truth

http://www.purerobbie.com/

Rock and Roll!

Robbie Williams Probably Not Moving to Mid Cornwall

I was in the COOP today and I saw a crowd around one of the newspaper podiums. They were not reading headlines about the racist (or not) saga unfolding on Channel 4 but rather, they were reading the headline on this weeks’ St Austell Voice. The headline is reproduced here for your consideration:

This is how my thought process went:

Thinks: “What’s this!!!? … a picture of Robbie standing… where is that? Hummm… ahhh its Chapel Point, just down the road by Portmellon. Wait a minute, what’s that sub headline?”

“Superstar Robbie set to entertain us from his Meva address”.

Thinks:"Ok.. so… that seems pretty clear. Robbie Williams is moving to mid Cornwall. Fan-flippin-tastic. That is so cool. Its like, we will probably end up mates. I bet he will drink down the Wezzer. Ace!”

Coulda, shoula, woulda

This excitement wasn’t too long lived, alas. For as I read on I found some tiny clues in the text that seemed to suggest all was not as certain as initially I had thought. The bold statement of the sub-headline was undermined a tad by the use of “could be”, as in:

“Robbie Williams could be about to bring….”

Another thing that made me think the headlines were bigger than the belly of the article was that all of the story’s sources were “an insider” or “one local woman”. All in all, the evidence was on the non-existent side of scant.

The Investigation

So… with my new-found local blogger enthusiasm I decided to investigate, Scoobie Doo style. First, I rang around the pubs in Meva. I think I got them all. Nobody there believed it was the case, and many cited inconsistencies with the St Austell Voice’s story, for example that the land was owned by a local scrap merchant, not a merchant banker - as the Voice article claims.

Then I rang round anyone I know who might know. Estate agents, local snitches who operate in the grey area between truth and justice (I made that bit up) and even the farmer who owns the land leading up to the point. Nada. Nada. Not a sausage. Not one little shred of evidence to suggest the Robmesiter was leaving the city of angels and heading to pasty town.

The Nonsmoking Gun

But I wanted more. I had the journalistic bit between my teeth and I wasn’t letting go. I rang up Robbie’s PR agency in London, “Taylor Herring”. The first person I spoke to hadn’t heard of Mevagissey!!! I played it cool and made out that it didn’t matter and moved on up the ladder of command, getting closer and closer with each call to the man who was the heart of my investigation.

I ended up as close as I could go, speaking to his very friendly PR agent who I schmoozed with my yokel charms. I asked her if there was any truth in the article. I will state her reply verbatim.

“We have absolutely no reason to believe this and as far as we are concerned he is staying in LA for the foreseeable future”

Robbie probably isn’t coming. There is no evidence to suggest he is, and a fair bit to suggest he isn’t. Wipe away your tears. He could have been the pop Moses that led us through the regeneration, but he probably isn't coming.

Midcornwall.com will give one years’ free subscription to the St Austell Voice newspaper to anyone who can give us conclusive proof that any member of a boy band is moving down to Mid Cornwall. Contact us at the above email address. Please note: we will not able to award this great prize to information about Andrew Ridgley living down here.

Midcornwall.com Appologises to Matthew Taylor MP

In yesterday's notice about Cornwall loosing its most important MP, Midcornwall.com used the wrong portrait of Matthew Taylor from Google's image bank. We would like to appologise to Mr Taylor and his family for the distress caused and hope, as our lawyers hope, that it is a clear to see why such a mistake was made:

Newsflash: Two Sad Losses For Cornwall in one Week

We would like to offer our condolences to Rick Stein who lost his beloved dog Chalky today.

Chalky was a loveable dog whose many high jinxes on, and off, camera earned him the title “little scamp”.

Chalky, a ratting dog, was born in 1990 near to Padstow and has loved and worked with Mr Stein for all of his life.

Mr Stein said of his erstwhile pooch, “"He traveled all over the British Isles and Ireland... he got up to some mighty capers.”

All of Mr Stein’s eighteen establishments in Padstow, including the new petrol station, will remain closed until a suitable period of grieving is over. Chalky died in a fight with a seagull on the harbour wall.

RIP Chalky Stein 1990 -2007

Also today Cornwall looses its most important MP, Matthew Taylor who is retiring to open a Paintball park in Grampound.

Cornish DVDs rejected by Pirates

On the internet it is possible to illegally download or "pirate" any video or DVD ever made simply by visiting sites such as Piratebay.org or shareaza.com. From next summer’s blockbusters to obscure soviet era agricultural propaganda videos, no problemo. Need that Hidi epic? The one re-dubbed in Urdu that all your friends are raging about, not an issue. The internet will provide. Unless, that is, you want to pirate Cornish DVDs.

Our midcornwall.com researchers, who are very against piracy, decided to investigate this conspiracy and found that, no matter where you go online, including the freenet and metanet or any of the innumerable P2P networks, the Cornish video stock is censored to the point of totality. (We did find a copy of Blue Juice, but it turned out to be a bad cam copy).

Jethro, speaking from his home in Devon.

A number of local celebrities are starting to pick up arms against the internet pirates, many of whom come from places that are not Cornwall. Top Cornish Comedian and BNP founder Jethro has complained to the internet pirates on his website citing it as "unfair" that they wont pirate his works. He states: “’ere you *^$%*~% foreign &^%, was wrong wiv me *%^%ing DVDs hey? Proper job!”

Check back for further updates on this story.

Great Restormel Roast Review: The Ship In, Lerryn GRRR#2

This is the second of the Official Great Restormel Roast Reviews and it is written by Tree and Harry who took us to The Ship for Sunday Lunch. For the recoord, we totally agree with their review and the low GRRR score - and must add that I had a main course roast pheasant so salty it took the skin off the roof of my mouth. To the review...

"Having eaten fantastic impromptu chips at the Ship Inn at Lerryn, we headed there with eager anticipation. The setting is delightful and the inviting pub was packed to the nines. We were led to our table which were actually 2, separated by a much used walkway leading to another dining area. We were told there was not a large enough table to occupy 10 although this wasn’t mentioned on the dog and bone when we booked.

So the children sat on one and the adults on the other. Then started the relentless toing and throwing to cut up food, mop up drinks, whilst trying to avoid dashing waiters with various crockery.

The menu was minimal yet varied. Beef, Lamb and pheasant & a rather disappointing veggie option of broccoli and cauliflower cheese, Rather pricey at £8.95 for an adult portion and £4.75 for a child’s, but what the hell if its scrummy.

I opted for the lamb and my hubby for the beef, all the children went for the beef slightly swayed by the wonderful aesthetics of the enormous, golden Yorkshire pud !

The waiter re-appeared after a few mins to say they had run out of adult beef but offered an alternative of last nights’ pork chops or the Lerryn pie. Hubby went for the chops.

Service was swift, but not all the meals came out together. The children’s meals varied in size: 1 potato for some 2 for others. The eldest complained that the `chunks` of beef were hard and chewy and she couldn’t cut them, between 6 children there was 1 side of veg, however when I asked for more they obliged.

It’s a shame that I can’t think of anything good to say about the meal apart from the service. My lamb was tough although a substantial amount. The Yorkshire pud was hard and doughy and did not do itself justice, the potatoes were floury and undercooked. Bland, bland, bland. When ordering I had asked what veg would accompany the meal I was told there would be cabbage, carrots, cauliflower and parsnips- much loved by myself however it was not to be.

No parsnips, overcooked carrots, soggy cabbage with brown leaves. The veggie `saving grace` was the cauli cooked to perfection. The whole meal was covered in what can only be described as dishwater, rather sparingly at that. (I do love a gravy boat!) and only momentarily palatable when washed down with a superb Cabinet Shiraz at 4 pounds a glass (it took two!)

Hubby's concerns reflected both the sprogs, and mine, with one little extra horror…RAW pork which was swiftly sent back.

‘We’ll get you another sir’ (fantastic French accent)

‘erm no thanks, a refund will suffice’

All in all the bill came to £47.65 for 2 adult mains, 4 kids meals, 2 pints, 4 cokes (reasonably priced at a pound each), two much needed vinos and a £8.95 refund,

‘As requested sir.’"

---

GRRR Score: 4/10 (3/10, 5/10, 3/10, 5/10, 4/10)

Guest Roast Review: Bowgie Inn, Crantock, Newquay

The amount you were given was MASSIVE, bigger than at most pubs. A meat sized dish filled with different things. A fair selection of veg (once again heaped on the plate rather than a side dish), roast and boiled potatoes as well as a slab of stuffing and a couple of yorkshire puddings (bit strange for pork, but there you go). Lots of gravy, can’t say if it was too salty or not, Laurence says it was just fine.. The surroundings were comfortable, lots of space seeing as we didn’t book, but the best seating area over looking the sea was in the main bar and children were not allowed in there, as well as it being fairly smokey in that section..

We think that the roast was around £8.95 which is a bit pricey, but you do get a lot of food for that. Too much for us mere mortals, but Laurence did say he could finish it if really hungry.

We think it should get 7/10 (I think closer to 6, but as Laurence tried the roast his opinion rules!).

01637 830363

Lol and Pol

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Lol and Pol are friends who were on the first GRRR. If you would like to send in a guest review of anything just email it to here:

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Review: La Scala Wine Bar and Resturant, Truro

After lusting over the handbags in the window of Via Appia, it’s all too easy to walk straight past the discreet glass door leading to La Scala. There’s nothing much there to suggest that behind it, nestled behind the cathedral on Cathedral Lane, is a rather smart Italian themed wine bar that’s the perfect place to meet your girlfriends after a hard day at work or just vexing your visa card.

La Scala comprises several elegant rooms including a bar, a lounge, a conservatory and a garden over two floors. The décor is classy and understated, as is the menu. There are only seven dishes to choose from, all at a very reasonable £7.95, and all authentically Italian. My dining companion and I both plumped for the melanzane, an aubergine and courgette pasta dish. Aubergines are often underdone and woody, but La Scala’s melanzane was done to perfection, and accompanied by fresh baguette and a leaf salad- sadly undressed, my only complaint about the meal. The food was of an extremely high quality and the service excellent. I enjoyed two good, fresh tasting coffees with my lunch, but soon wished I’d left the car at home when my friend ordered a Pinot Grigio from the extensive wine list and declared it crisp and chilled to perfection.

The meal, including three coffees, one glass of wine and two main courses, came to £24, which in my view represents pretty good value for the overall dining experience. If Carrie Bradshaw ever felt like exploring Sex In This City, she’d take the weight off her Manolo’s in La Scala. And I’d join her.

Food 9/10

Ambiance 9/10

Service 10/10

Value 9/10

La Scala

15 St. Marys Street , Truro

01872 275 600

Letter to Capitol Bingo, St Austell

Dear Capitol Bingo,

It is the 14th of January and Asda is getting ready to deploy the easter eggs. Christmas is long over and yet you still have your decorations up. We, the concerned citizens of midcornwall.com, implore you to take these down or at least turn them off and stop ruining the environment for future bingo players.

Kind regards,

Charlie K Chesterton

Review: Pulse 8 Night Club, St Austell

I like writing these reviews. I generally spend a few days writing them in my head before laying them down in zeroes and ones. This period of inner review reflection, I think, gives better quality reviews at the end of the day.

But to review St Austell’s only club, Pulse 8, which last night I went to again, I don’t feel a pause for reflection is required.

Pulse 8 is a rubbish club. It is a soulless, spiritless wasteland of recreation that the Gods of Funk and the Angels of Pop never bless. I think the name is actually a reference to how exciting it is in terms of heart beats per minute.

I won’t even sit here and hurl creatively carved insults at it. I won’t lay down my clubbing credentials as some kind of justification for how bad I know this club to be. This wastes my time and, my dear reader, it wastes your time.

It’s not all negative….

Actually, it is I am afraid. Hang the DJ. Get some promoters to run the nights rather than just open the doors… yawn. This town must be full of cool bright young things who would love the opportunity to put on some club nights in what is a really super venue in a town that is desperate for some pulse.



Postscript: I have heard that there is a new night just started in town inside Grant’s Snooker club. We will be reviewing it soon.

Bitumen

This dismal town aint going down, she can't go down no more;
Her rotting flesh is starting to fresh,
Her trenches still at war.

The dogs still mess the pavement, the council mess the build,
Her gutters drip with rotting leaves,
But her spirit isn't killed.

---

Preview and Primer, Gary and Tom’s Bash 2007

It is that time of year again when people around the area are getting excited about the biggest event of the year, Gary and Tom’s Bash. This is a huge charity fancy dress party that has been running for eighteen years at various venues in Mid Cornwall, most recently Duporth Holiday Village.

As well as packing in big fun, over the years Gary and Tom’s Bash has raised many tens of thousands of pounds for Marie Curie and Cornwall Hospice Care.

This Year’s Bash


For the 2007 Bash, taking place on January 27th, the party is moving from Duporth to a venue known as Eden, which is situated near to St Austell, in a clay pit. This year the theme is the psychedelic sixties and although fancy dress isn’t compulsory, you will look a bit of a chump turning up in George Atasda jeans and shirt.

Sticking to the 60's theme, live music will be provided by Amen Corner and The Summer of Love Orchestra. This band, over four decades, has played with such greats as Meatloaf, Barry Manilow and Chris de Burgh; so everyone is in for a real treat.

Taxis and ice skating should be booked beforehand to avoid disappointment and the council are providing a range of free hedgerows as accommodation for those who can't get a taxi.

A 60’s Primer for New Millennial Party Goers

For most of us the sixties will just be that time before colour TV and the Nintendo Wii and so you might be wondering why it would be chosen as a theme for a party. Believe it or not, in the sixties people did have fun! Try this: go and find someone who is from the sixties and ask them about how great it was..... Ain’t they the lucky ones :)

On the night, Midcornwall.com will be sending out a crack team of reviewers, disguised and party goers dressed as hippies - be sure to check back here after the event for the low-down. However, in order to get the ball rolling, as a service to you, dear readers, The Midcornwall Blog is going to give a free primer on all things from those distant days, as well as some tips for fancy dress and drugs.

60's Fashion

In the sixties people didn’t really worry about things like fashion and style, instead they just went for oversized clothes, ethnic accessories and the words "love" and "peas" written on everything.


The notion of colours "clashing" wasn’t invented until 1982 and so before that time it was open season on panchromatic mixing. Red/green paisley could successfully be worn with orange/blue tie-dye, and some folk even managed to carry off striped/ chequered combinations. As a general rule of thumb for sixties attire, if it looks like it doesn’t match, it's probably close to authentic.

Hair

In the days before wax, gel, Frizz-Ease® and other products, hair was a very different beast. Luckily for party goers, with a little effort you can easily replicate the lank 60’s look by washing your hair with paint stripper and giving yourself an uneven fringe. For the fully accurate look, Eden have agreed to provide flowers for peoples hair throughout the site - these are liberally dotted around in plant pots and on trees and bushes.



Drugs

In the sixties the drug of choice was a substance known as "Mellow Yellow" which is made by processing banana skins and combining the residue with lysergic acid and cannabis. The resultant psychoactive narcotic could not only send people from the sixties into new realms of self discovery and spiritual awakening, but also had the power to remove all innate rhythm from one’s movements, especially during moments of dance.

Even though the Eden Project blatantly grows banana palms, hypocritically they will not allow the consumption of Mellow Yellow or any other drug on the premises. But have no fear, midcornwall.com researchers have found that similar effects to a free-from drug fueled psychedelic experience can be replicated by massive consumption of alcoholic beverages followed by staring at the biomes and blinking really really fast.




If this primer has really whet you appetite for the night, that’s great! It's served its purpose. What is not so great is that if you haven’t got tickets already, they are sold out. As they say in the sixties, "Bummer, maaaaan".

Great Restormel Roast Review: The Western In, St Austell GRRR#1

The Western Inn, or "wezzer" is my local pub, so what better way to start The GRRR Project than with Sunday lunch there. But before I talk about the review I do need to say as a caveat that one of the worst meals I have eaten in Cornwall was at The Western Inn. This was three or four years ago and it was just a vile kind of scampi and chips meets Frankenstein combo. Dreadful and only trumped in badness by the "cafe" at the Lappa Valley Steam Railway, which you should never grace with your presence.

The Pub

The Western Inn is at the Western side of St Austell, straddled by the COOP and the Riverside Chinese take away. It doesn't get many points for its location that's for sure, but if you are interested in ancient river crossings there is a very old bridge next to it that is mentioned in some very old texts and, more importantly, the Mid Cornwall Blog. Unlike other St Austell town centre pubs, parking isn't a problem as the pub has its own car park, or you can use the COOP's.

The Western Inn has been renovated inside and out quite recently since acquiring new management. Last year the pub won a prestigious pub trade award and this year is in the running for a second.


The Meal

There were lots of us eating today: eight adults and a countless bunch of children, some of which were even my own, allegedly. We booked at 10am and were told that we could have the top area for ourselves which would also be no smoking. A good start. The big fire in the open stove was on and the St Austell ales were flowing nicely.



I think in these GRRR Project reviews we will drop the normal highly entertaining and hilarious postmodern prose and instead jump in with pros and cons as bullet points about the meal itself, based upon all reviewers comments.


Pros

• The beef - This was just about as good a bit of beef as I have had and most of us agreed. It melted in the mouth, was tender with a crispy edge and was well portioned. One of us preferred it more rare but admits he didn’t ask for that.


• The veggies - These were fresh from the farm in the morning and were of a very high quality. Its not often you go out to a pub roast and think, “Mmm.. ya me like de carrots,” but that’s what happened with these little fellas.


• Portions – Again, good. Some places give you way too much and you end up spending most of Sunday in a condition doctors called PRB or post-roast bloat. Here the portions were just right in our opinion.



• Sundries – The horseradish was great, not sure if it was home made or not but it had a good kick. The yorkshire puds were definitely home made and, again, really nice.


• The vegetarian option – Readers of this blog will be starting to learn about the dire state of veggie food in local restaurants. The one veggie in our party (my domestic assistant) had the same roast as us but with veggie sausages and she thought it was easily one of the best veggie meals (not just roasts) she has had out in Cornwall for a long while. She gave her meal 8 out of 10.


• Desserts - The desserts were nothing super special in terms of choice: just pancakes, local ice cream etc., but those who had them all thought they were fab.


• The price – It was only when paying I asked how much the roasts were. At £5.95 I was pretty shocked. That’s astounding value for the quality of the food, especially when other local pubs charge 50% more.

Cons

• The gravy – This wasn’t exactly bad but it wasn’t on the same level as the rest of the meal. It was a tad not thick enough and one of the reviewers complained, rightly so I think, that it lacked noticeable seasoning.


• The roast potatoes - Again, these weren’t bad at all, but they could have done with that super crispy chunky yummy exterior that the best roast roasites always have. (I have since discovered that the manageress makes expert roast potatoes normally but on this day she was preparing questions for the pub quiz. Our taste buds' loss was someone’s brain cells gain.)

Score and Conclusions

In these reviews we will list the marks out of ten from all adults in the party and then give a final "offical" score for use in comparison with other pub roasts reviews in future. Children's marks won't be recorded. None of them can really count. Also these scores are just for the food and not for the location, value for money, service etc.

Individual Reviewer Scores: 7.5/10, 8/10, 7.5/10, 7/10, 6/10, 8/10 8/10(v)

Considering this is the first review in the Great Restormel Roast Review I think its going to be a hard act to follow. In terms of location the Western Inn is probably at the bottom of the league for Mid Cornwall pubs, but in terms of the food and general homeliness of the Sunday Roast it is well worth a Sunday visit. Bravo!

Official GRRR Project score, 8/10

The Western Inn, St Austell, 01726 72797

The Great Restormal Roast Review... Grrr

One of the Rose and Crowning glories of living in Mid Cornwall is the location and quality of its public houses - we are far more spoilt for choice in pubs than we are for clubs and restaurants. Our pubs are often very old, often set in beautiful locations and many are set at one end or the other of a delightful countryside or coastal walk. What better way to spend a chunk of Sunday?

In three years of regular Sunday roasting across the area, I can honestly say I have never had a bad one. Asking around, it seems the consensus is shared: Restormel pub roasts are of great quality. By no means are all pub roasts can make the same boast. I have had a fair few that couldn't. The worst was in a pub on London's Holloway Road, consisting of dry scraggly meat, nuked 'fresh' vegetables, tinned carrots and a gravy three OXO cubes short of a watery broth. In my mind, from this roast, the only way is up.

The GRRR Project

As a service to our ever growing readership we are starting the Great Restormel Roast Review. It is a long term project that will span the area in search of great Sunday roasts. Sadly the GRRR Project is having to be privately funded. We did try to get funding from the local RDA but Tesco's blocked it on the grounds that it might cause a drop in sales of their new organic sprout range. Nonetheless, we push onwards.

Unlike the restaurant reviews written by maverick individuals on midcorwnall.com, the GRRR Project will utilise an army of gluttonous volunteers to accompany us on our expeditions. Training for these missions is extensive. We are all experienced Sunday pub roast consumers, we all know how a good home roast can be and we now have our Bible, Heston Blumenthal's "In Search of Perfection", specifically its chapter on the perfect roast. The clarion call for this monumental endeavor will be a simple "Hi such and such fancy going for a roast at...?"

So...much like Darwin's taxonomy of the Galapogos Islands or, more recently, the Human Genome Project, we are going to survey, describe and ultimately review the Sunday roasts in Restormel. A good Sunday roast isn't just about the food, the service, the pub or even the location, it is also about the nostalgia and the homeliness that the experience creates.

"From small sprouts do great Sundays grow." Unknown, Circa 2007.

Review: The Walter Hicks Resturant in The White Hart, St Austell

Many moons ago myself and about 15 other people went to eat at the White Hart in St Austell. The food was pretty good but the service was so bad we complained. The hotel, via the St Austell Brewery, could not have been more apologetic; the girl whose birthday party it was got a bottle of bubbly and substantial dining vouchers. Respect to the brewery.

Since then we have been back a few times, last night being the most recent.

The White Hart is one of St Austell’s most famous hotels, shadowed only by the Travel Lodge next to the Mevagissey roundabout. Built over 150 years ago it was the town residence of Charles Rashleigh, who built Charlestown. The Hotel bar has recently started getting pretty lively at the weekends which is great for St Austell but probably not too hot if you're staying there, unless you are on a UK Karaoke Tour. In may 2005 the hotel’s restaurant was rebranded as The Walter Hicks Restaurant. For those who are not up with the big boys of Cornwall’s past, Hicks was the man who mortgaged up his farm in the 1860’s and decided that his future lay in beer. He started off with the Seven Stars and over a short time turned his skills into what is now a world renowned brewery and collection of hostelries.

Last Nights Meal

Since myself and my domestic assistant have started these reviews, going out has changed: we pack notepads and cameras and dictaphones and that a critical eye for aspects of places we never really thought of before. The first smile when you walk in, the décor, the business. Last night, save for two elderly diners, the restaurant was empty. We certainly didn’t need to book and were shown to the table and offered drinks right away.

The restaurant does lack a certain ambiance due to the brightness of the lights, but it’s a pleasant place to sit and eat.

The Menu

The menu didn’t pack much of a wow but nonetheless it was wide ranging. Price wise it was in the same range as the Seven Stars (review) and the King's Head (review), the highest priced meal being an 8oz steak at £10.95.

We skipped starters and went straight for the culinary jugular. I ordered “Cornish Fish Trio” with lemon sole, haddock and monkfish (£8.25). There was a generous portion of the fish and it was well presented. How was it? Well, unfortunately, although the fish seemed fresh it had been overcooked so that it was dry and each of the varieties seemed to meld into one taste and texture. A bit of a shame since these fish should all stand on their own fins in terms of taste, and definitely texture. This didn’t happen here.

The salad was fresh and nice but, as so often happens in local restaurants, totally undressed. How does this happen? At what point in the process from idea to plate does someone think a salad without dressing is anything other than leaves and onions? Salads need dressings! Start the revolution! I asked the super nice waitress for some dressing, and she obliged, but I could see her vinaigrette strokes as she shook the big squeezy bottle into a little bowl. The dressing wasn’t fresh and wasn’t that nice.

Overall my meal gets a 5.5 out of 10. It could have been a 7 with a good fresh dressing and without the roasting of the fish.

My domestic assistant ordered a “Mixed Bean Bourguignon” with wild rice and garlic bread (£6.50). It looked pretty good, had a wide variety of beans and the wild rice was a good addition. Don’t forget this is veggie so it’s not really relevant to the rest of us, but her meal got a 6.5 out of 10 and she noted that it was a pretty good effort for an otherwise carnivorous eaterie.

Conclusion

The whole meal, with drinks, came to twenty two pounds, which is very reasonable.

Based on last night and other nights and people's opinions, The Walter Hicks Restaurant is never really as full as it should or could be. The experience is a couple of points better than the food, the service can’t be faulted and for a “what shall we do tonight” option it is worth trying out, for sure.

We will return. We will review.

	Seven Stars	Kings Head	The Walter Hicks
Food	6	9	6
Service	7	6	8
Ambiance	6	7	5
Setting	4	8	7
Value	5	7	8
Overall	6	8	7

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Cornish Posties Rule

This is pretty cool:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007000420,00.html

Hahaapy new yers fer you allll from snozzle

Iddd like to wersh you all a serpppr tooo thousnad and seben. Ive bern up town and wezzer.

Actually I am not as drunk as you might think. That was all for show and comedic value. I have been up town for news year eve. Was it good? Well it wasnt bad. But I came home early. mainly to see my wife, who wasn't dressed as a kinky fetish nurse or the incredible hulk. But hey, its still pretty early for NYE. There is still the option of Pulse 8 when she is asleep, or it might just be Radio 5.


XXX

Charlie