Bluebells Café, Briddlesford Lodge Farm
In these times of economic hardship, people are thinking creatively about how to make money. Sunday supplements (a necessity if ever there was one) bulge with suggestions about how to get the cheapest cuts from Waitrose, whilst getting the Volvo to go a few extra miles. This, of course, is nothing new to our farmers, who have been diversifying their businesses for years.
The latest to do this on the Island has been the Griffin family, at the award-winning Briddlesford Lodge Farm; who have been adding strings to their collective bow with holiday accommodation and now a café.
Matt and Cat had heard that this new venture was very popular. The farm café market is really taking off on the Island, and M & C are always keen to be part of the zeitgeist. So, one lunchtime, they offered to take a little old lady to the new Briddlesford café as a special treat - only to discover that she had already been! She praised the place highly and didn't take much persuading to go again; so off they all went.
Review continues:
Approaching the farm made M & C recall a very different café that they visited some years ago. Also at a big Island dairy farm, this establishment (now no longer serving food) really had some difficulty in reconciling the needs of an active dairy herd with the customer experience. Problems there included flies, dust, farm machinery and noise. Could the Bluebells Café overcome what is undoubtedly a tricky compromise - integrating visitors and a café into the working farm? Pleasingly, they appeared to do just that with considerable success. Visitors can drive right into the farmyard and park in amongst the sheds and silage clamps, giving a real taste of the less glamorous bits of an actual farm; and yet careful arrangement of the space means that there's no danger of getting muddled up with all this stuff. A few steps from the neat parking area the new café awaits in what appears to be an old milking parlour, beautifully converted. As if to emphasise the point, a big viewing window at the end of the dining area looks out onto a line of stalls where appealingly-arranged calves gaze doe-eyed at the diners. You can even go out later and pet them if you're so inclined. A remarkably well-integrated visitor and farm experience.
Matt and Cat, with their friend, chose a table and looked through the extensive menu. Breakfast, light meals, sandwiches and main courses were all on offer. All areas of the menu included - and specified explicitly - local ingredients, often very local indeed. A specials board added even more choice. Matt soon made his: a simple Isle of Wight beef casserole served with chips took his fancy. Cat went for one of the several veggie options: stuffed field mushroom served on toasted focaccia bread filled with sautéed spinach and a blue cheese rarebit. The aged guest was content with the traditional and wholesome-sounding homemade cottage pie. An impressive range of cold drinks tempted M & C from their usual lunchtime cuppa: Matt had Isle of Wight tomato juice, and Cat had Sharon orchard apple juice, from nearby Ryde.
It turned out that the calves were a welcome diversion, as the food was obviously being well-prepared, taking over twenty minutes to arrive. When the very friendly waitress finally rolled up with the plates, the diners were more than ready for their lunches. The waitress coped gracefully when M & C's friend recoiled in horror at her cottage pie - this lady won't eat cheese, and had forgotten to say so. The cottage pie came with a copious cheesy hat. Within a few moments and with good grace the meal was whisked away, and returned shortly minus the cheese - although looking a little the worse for wear.
At this point the now cheeseless lady also noticed that the generous salad which came alongside her meal lacked a dressing. She asked if any such thing could be found, and this time the waitress looked troubled. It wasn't clear what the problem was - was there supposed to be dressing, and it had been missed? Or was there just none to be had? The waitress went off and eventually returned with a small jug of balsamic vinegar that, she confided, she'd filled herself rather than bother chef. Perhaps the débácle of the cheesy cottage pie had upset chef to such an extent that she didn't dare trouble him further. Anyway, vinegar isn't entirely a dressing but it's a good approximation, and also served to supplement Matt's chips. So the diners accepted it without demurral.
So, to the food. Matt's casserole looked a bit the worse for wear. The photo above shows it just as it came. Had it been ladled into the bowl from a great height, or did the well-encrusted streaks of casserole down the outside of the bowl mean that it had - surely not - just come from the microwave? Nothing garnished the meal - just a bowl of casserole and a similar bowl of chips, although to be fair there had been the options of veg or salad. Still, any concern about the presentation was dispelled when the first mouthful was eaten. This really was a very good casserole indeed, and the huge, chunky chips fresh from the fryer were perfect to soak up the rich and flavoursome sauce. A real traditional treat. Matt was satisfied.
Cottage pie £7.95
Stuffed mushroom £5.95
Beef casserole £7.95
Tomato juice £2.20
Apple juice £2.00
Total £26.05
The cottage pie, once the offending cheese had been removed, proved to be a success. M & C's friend ate it with pleasure. Cat's stuffed mushroom was also an enjoyable morsel. The promised toasted focaccia appeared to be nothing more than a slice of white farmhouse loaf, although toasted it certainly was. A generous dollop of the sautéed spinach filled the mushroom, and the 'blue cheese rarebit' topping it was certainly creamy, but if it had any blue cheese - or indeed any cheese at all - this was subtle enough to be almost undetectable to Cat's tongue.
Having eaten up, it was time to get back to daily life, and leave this oasis of agricultural charm behind. As they left, Matt and Cat could not help but pay a visit to the wistful-looking calves who suffered themselves to be patted and petted in the cause of agricultural diversification. Let's hope they couldn't look through the window and see the next steaming bowl of beef casserole arriving...
Tweet
Visit the website: http://www.briddlesfordlodgefarm.co.uk
Published: 16th May 20096752 views
Categories: We like, Cafes, Family friendly, Newport, Local produce
24 comments
Matt says: bring it on!!
Thumbs up
This brings me straight onto their excellent farm shop and the question if this would not warrant an own category here(local food suppliers...)
interest would be there...
Matt and Cat respond: Thanks for all of your comments, OC. We do have a local produce category for the venues that we review, including Bluebell Cafe. Find out here which venues have local produce. Some places have a generic statement such as 'local produce where available'; we usually use the local produce tag for eateries that specify exactly where their ingredients come from eg. Dunsbury lamb.
Half-hour wait for food was flagged up when we ordered as it was lunchtime peak, but sped past while the kids happily stroked the calves in the barn alongside.
Slightly disappointed that the "milk Vicky the cow" model was out of action - one udder currently missing. But visiting family all thought the place fantastic and full of character. A hit.
Ah! And the washrooms are first-class!
Despite being good in general we were somewhat not as impressed as normal, may it be that the place was too quiet without the usual hutle and bustle, the decoration too much cafe (no cloth napkins/table sets or indeed cloths) and the same synthetic bluebells..., service was prompt and friendly as ever but again no wine was poured, not even the first glass, good that it was a screwtop and we could open it ourselves...
The food was good - starter of chicken skewers on salad, lamb and pork for mains, however not good enough to elevate the whole experience
Value for money was good as well, possibly we just expected too much as the place is so excellent in everything else - we will just keep it as our favourite farmshop and weekend breakfast hangout....
For the price of £27.00 per person (3 course)we were really looking forward to it.
Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down, service was slow, and the food over cooked.
With so many places to choose from on the island, I'm afraid we won't be going back...sorry Bluebell!
The farmyardy smell and views is all part of the genuine farm cafe experience. No problem. And I spent more in the shop than intended... good sign!
But the cafe itself was disappointing.
I wasn't the only one to be confused by the layout... and there was no clear information on a board or similar re tea and coffee... ie the basics to go with a light bight. They seemed surprised that this is all I wanted at 3.00pm on a Sunday. Lots of tacky paper signs about meals etc though. And bottles of ketchup and mustard on the table is similarly naff.
The coffee and shortbread, however, were excellent.
They need to work on the presentation and customer flow to and at the serving area and till. Maybe worth a second try... but not if I'm trying to impress.
to the Island. I had a burger & chips which was lovely.. The chips were huge and very
tasty. The burger was delicious. My husband had toad in the hole and mash. The toad in
the hole was nice but flat! The vegetables that came with it were very nice.
We are looking forward to returning to the island in June and we shall be visiting for lunch
again. And we loved the farm setting.
Other half ordered Salmon en Croute from the Christmas menu and I went for the Pie of the Day from the specials board, this being minced beef, onion and potato.
After about 45 mins, the waitress informed us that the salmon took a long time, which would have been nice to know a bit earlier, as fish isn't usually slow to cook, unless you have to catch it first, I suppose. Anyway, when it all arrived a few minutes later, we were ready to eat anything, and I'm afraid I suspended my critical faculties for a few minutes, otherwise I'd have sent the 'pie' back. For one thing, it was presented as a bowl of filling with a square of puff pastry on top. This is NOT a pie, and since the mince and pastry had only just met, there was no combination of flavour or texture between them. I know it's harder work to make a proper pie, but I've had very good ones in far less pretentious establishments (the Travellers in Northwood, for instance) where you get a big slice from a round dish with pastry above and below.
Still, I was hungry and what I initially mistook for beefy flavour turned out to be very salty stock (cube?) which spoiled what was very probably good quality mince. AFAIK, their beef is from the same butcher who operates in the farm shop, and he is excellent, so it's a double crime to over-season a product that doesn't need extra flavour, and to spoil it at the same time.
In the event, I couldn't eat all of it, which as OH will tell you, is a rare event, especially if I'm paying.
Her salmon, thankfully, was rather better, and at least it had pastry all the way round. The Bearnaise sauce had split
slightly, but was otherwise OK. However, her roast potatoes (no choice of boiled, curiously) had been reheated in the deep fryer, which might have passed muster for a £5 carvery, but not for a £13.50 main dish. The vegetables looked rather tired, and the carrots and red cabbage had shared the same dish for long enough to exchange colour schemes.
Perhaps I should cut Bluebells some slack for the stresses and strains of Christmas, but I think their real problem is that they they are trying to satisfy too many people. And as Bill Cosby said, when asked the secret of success, "I don't know, but the secret of failure is to try and please everyone".
It is excellent if all you require is a coffee and cake but for anything more substantial, I suggest you go elsewhere.
Today Hubby and i decided to go for our Sunday Lunch, I had the traditional Roast beef dinner, Well... its was adequate but not fantastic, beef was possibly pot roasted as lost alot of the flavour, but was very tender. 10/10 - Lack of Veggies, small spoonful of carrotts and brocolli, that was it, and 2 roast spuds. Not really what you would expect for the price, one very soggy yorkshire pud, and gravy already placed onto meat when presented, Gravy was not Simply Beef Gravy it has a rich unusual undertone, which became to much to endure,. I would say overall for the cost of the meal, unsatisfactory.
Here comes the worse part of Sunday lunch There! .... Hubby decided to order from the blackboard a mouthwatering sounding mince Beef and Potatoe pie. Before i get started there came seperately a few boiled potatoes and again carrotts and brocolli. The so called Pie - was a huge BOWL of Mince meat strongly flavoured with white wine, no mention of wine on menu!!! Placed precariously on top of this was a slice of puff pastry!! This meal was not even presented in a nice small oval dish with equally shaped and well fitted pastry. Husband face dropped when it was presented to him, he is a connoiseur in Pies! This looked like enough mince for a whole family and was DEFINETLY not a pie in any sense of the word. My hubby reckons it is a huge pot of mince boiling away on the stove, that is the basis for all mince based meals, be it, pie, chilli con carne, bolognaise, and extra ingredients added when required, the potatoe was miniscule and hardly noticeable. Hubby at quarter of the bowl of sloppy mincemeat, and left the rest. I went to the counter after our meal and explained this to the waitresses, at which they protected their chef, with oh yes that is how we serve all our pies!!!! IT WAS NOT A PIE!! - Final opinion from opening and up to this date, big downgrade in presentation and quality, and Will not be visiting their again. I know good food when i see and eat it, and choose to speak up when i feel i felt a higher price than most places for a meal, no problem with paying more if food is excellent. p.s also saw a breakfast come out, scrambled eggs were very scrambled and chipolatas were not browned!! rant over.
Comment feed for this post
Recent comments