Good Friday lunch time. My good lady wife thought that as we have never been to this hotel, even though it has been just down the road for over six years it was about time we went to investigate. The hotel is on the main road between Farnborough and Aldershot and is immediately adjacent to Farnborough airport. The latter mainly handles private jet operations and whilst I will never be rich enough to use one of those this hotel is obviously designed to be suitable for the people who do.
And yet the lunch menu is very reasonable.
A drink first in the “Sky Bar”; despite the name this is only on the first floor immediately up the stairs as you enter the building. It is very purple but stylish. The sofas are low (and I am tall). It overlooks the Farnborough airport but from the normal seating you cannot see any aircraft arriving or departing and the view of the sky is hindered by the blinds. A beer for me and a glass of something fizzy for the wife enabled us to relax whilst reading the menu. In the evenings I believe there is a tasting menu but at lunchtime it was a fairly simple £25 for three courses and £19 for two. A couple of items on the menu attract supplements and all attracts a 10% service charge.
The Brasserie for dining means descending the stair case again and turning around as it is situated directly beneath the Sky Bar. Again the windows are too high to allow visibility of any passing aeroplanes, which seems a pity somehow. At one end of the dining room is a very well equipped bar and the dining area seems significantly larger than the number of diners today. There is one large group at the far end, slightly out of sight as the building is built on a curve and a couple of smaller groups closer but no-one seems particularly noisy. Very pleasant modern room as you might expect – and the toilets are back across the reception area and off to one side.
My choice to start was inevitable at this time of year – asparagus with soft boiled egg – “sparrow grass” is always my favourite spring starter; I prefer the green to the white which tends to be more common in Europe. Probably a little early for British supply but it was fresh and tasted good. The egg was colder than I had expected. A good start however.
Being Easter I opted for the lamb. Again it is the right time of year for lamb as well as being traditional. We ordered a side of triple cooked chips and a small vegetables. The latter was a large bowl and was quite capable of providing enough broccoli, carrots, green beans and baby corn for two of us (£4). A lamb chop together with some further pieces of lamb on some onions served red was delightful. A lovely Easter lunch.
Wines by the glass were not heavily priced. I had already consumed a pint, so one glass of red was my limit. My wife enjoyed a couple of glasses, one white and one red whilst eating her lunch which commenced with a lovely piece of Hampshire chalk stream trout in a a sort of broth – I feel I lost that round as it looked very good. She followed that with duck atop some leeks and I think this was probably a score draw in that we both did well.
The (shared) pudding was less appealing – a sticky toffee pudding was the description – but not the highlight of the meal (which was the lamb in my opinion).
As I was not paying I cannot comment on the final bill – about £100 so I am told – including the pre-lunch drinks and the three glasses of wine and a Tia Maria coffee and consequently compared with some of our outings actually good value for money. Not in the GFG so no rating to discuss – but I see no reason why it would not fit in around the three level were it assessed.