The Spread Eagle

[Andy Lynes]

Radio DJ Sean Rowley recently had the bright idea of collecting together songs from the 70's that many of us of a certain age remember fondly but wouldn’t be caught dead admitting to liking in public. His "Guilty Pleasures" compilation features such forbidden classics as January by Pilot, ELO's Sweet Talking Woman and Howzat by Sherbet. Despite the scandalous omission of Some Girls Do by Racey, the CD was an instant hit and has already spawned a sequel.

Chef Lee William's menu of "modern classics" at The Spread Eagle in Midhurst, West Sussex contains guilty pleasures of the culinary variety. While I'm as happy to eat a bowl of snail porridge or mackerel with smoked banana as the next gourmet, give me a plate of home smoked salmon with, wait for it, Russian salad and I'm really in gastronomic heaven.

There is of course an element of nostalgia to the dish - childhood memories of the Heinz version add an extra twist of delight – but fundamentally, it's just a great plate of food. Properly executed, that multi-coloured tinned gunk is transformed into a delicious mayonnaise-bound salpicon of fresh vegetables.

While they won't awards for innovation, the restrained classicism of starters like twice baked stilton soufflé with bacon and walnut salad; shellfish bisque with char-grilled garlic bread and rouille; and 6 rock oysters with shallot vinegar and Tabasco sauce make them enticing propositions.

Main courses on the £35.00 a head menu steer an equally mainstream path with the reassuringly familiar grilled Dover sole, chateaubriand and chicken breast all making an appearance. Unless you are in a restaurant with a salad cart, the words "onion rings" are always a welcome sight and a sure sign of humility in the kitchen; of a chef who wants to please his customers rather than indulge some misguided artistic urge. A nicely crisp stack of rings topped some deeply flavoured braised oxtail faggots which were served with a silken parsley mashed potato.

Hit of the night however was the grilled pork cutlet with buttered Savoy cabbage, glazed macaroni, apple sauce and black pudding. The thick cut of meat was the right side of juicy and full of good porky flavour, the pasta gratin a richly satisfying accompaniment. All this was washed down with a nice bottle Burgundy in the shape of a St Veran Domaine des Valanges 2002 Michel Paquet, fairly priced at £30.00

A rather phallic rum baba, with its decoration of piped cream and glace cherry, seemed to have been ripped from the pages of a 1970's cookery magazine. Despite its comical looks, it was an excellent example of the dish and far better then the alcohol-sodden version I was recently served in Alain Ducasse's Aux Lyonnaise restaurant in Paris. Those British stalwarts treacle tart and apple crumble were of course present and correct, while a mango syllabub with raspberry coulis and pistachio macaroons added a little French-accented élan.

Candles, original oak beams and an inglenook fireplace big enough to boil a big bad wolf in make the dining room of this 15th century coaching inn impossibly romantic. Not the ideal venue for a strategy meeting with marketing then, but perfect for weekends away with the other half, or whenever the urge to indulge in a guilty pleasure strikes you. Now, where did I put that "Best of The Rubettes" CD.

Restaurant Website

[culinary bear]

Andy, are you going for a grand slam of all Martin Hadden's places on here? :)

Lovely review.

Edited May 7, 2005 by culinary bear (log)

[Andy Lynes]

Yes. Although I'm waiting for Martin Hadden to make good his threat to get a certain Ludlow based chef down to cook at Bailiffscourt before I complete the set.

[Andy Lynes]

Looks like I may have been rather precipitate in my comments as a certain Ludlow chef has not yet been approached about this and won't be for a little while to come. However, it is a cracking idea and I hope that it happens eventually.

[appreciator]

^umm I don't get it....

Of course the old roots to jolly old are a tad week.... must read up again to figure these things out...... obviously.

I have rellys close by and am planning a trip to Sussex in the not too distant future.... will need to separate the... ummm.. witty... from the.... "chaff" so to speak.

But perhaps you are being facetious and I am just too dense.....

Or perhaps not... as they do seem to have a legit website... Just an odd name.... I suppose......

Really must do some serious research before I venture back to the relative laden land.

Edited May 10, 2005 by appreciator (log)

[Andy Lynes]

Two nations, common language and all that rot. Spread Eagle? Damn fine show, what!

[appreciator]

Two nations, common language and all that rot. Spread Eagle? Damn fine show, what!

←

Alrighty then.... I guess I'm just choosing to be dense

Edited May 11, 2005 by appreciator (log)