The Print Room, Bournemouth

[beandork]

The gods must be smiling on me at the moment. Within a couple of weeks of moving into the town centre of Bournemouth a french brasserie has opened up only 50 metres from my front door, and having already popped in there for breakfast and lunch I can say it's not bad at all. Which is a welcome change, because the vast majority of Bournemouth dining is rubbish.

The interior is the old Echo newspaper building on Richmond Hill and it's a large space. The interior balances a chequered floor/black furniture minimalism with a row of chandeliers and candle lighting suspended from the ceiling, and the seating ranges from tables to benches and booths.

The menu is extensive, from brasserie fare to some luxurious high end stuff. If the rest of Bournemouth's dining is anything to go by, adventurous menus scare everyone away so there's plenty of usual stuff such as pastas, steaks (albeit done very well, had some of the g/f's carbonara and it was perfect). They haven't stooped to putting pizza and wok noodles on the menu, thank christ.

It's the higher end stuff which has me happy. Whenever I need my foie gras fix, the only recourse I know of around here is Jimmy's and their £35 chateubriand and foie which, although nice, is hard to struggle through alone and as it's for two I can rarely encourage anyone else to hit it with me. At the Print Room, there's three foie dishes : seared, in a ham hock terrine with truffle, and served with a beef tournedo and girolle mushroom sauce. The seared entree is £10, so I can see myself jumping into that almost weekly and dying of cholesterol related illnesses by the end of the year. I had both the foie dishes, and both were perfect, just what the doctor ordered. Or would advise against. Anyway, other dishes include pancetta wrapped scallops with cauliflower puree, lobster thermidor, turbot, sevruga and beluga caviar.

The only trouble I've had is the service is still settling in, which is understandable as they've been open for only two days. They have that damn UK trait where you sometimes have to wait for up to 15 minutes from asking for the bill to paying and leaving. Some of the staff seem a little aimless, and when I advised one of them on leaving today that we'd had a toddler at our table that had marmaladed the arms of one of the seats and that it would need a wipe before the next party, it required multiple explanations before he understood what I was saying. There needs to be a floor manager with a bullwhip stalking the floor in these opening weeks.

Anyway, main reason I post this on egullet is that it's 'training week' at this location until friday 14th this week, and all food is half price. So my seared foie was £5. Lobster thermidor at £12.50. I asked a waiter if that meant that the sevruga caviar service with vodka, blinis, quail eggs, etc, would be £35. "Technically, yes" she said wincing, obviously aware of what a brutal blow to the profit margin that would be.

I suggest anyone down in Bournemouth for this late summer checks it out, and if you're here over the next week come plunder the menu with me.

edit: interview with the interior designer and menu here

Edited September 10, 2007 by beandork (log)

[CalumC]

Quick bump, going here tomorrow night with 3 others. Will report back, hopefully a better experience than West Beach last night, which left us a little underwhelmed, mostly due to the price.