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Area 33 – Sunday Lunch - July 27th- The Boathouse, Dedham |
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By the banks of the
river Stour at Dedham nestles The Boathouse; known to many
locals and visitors as the place to hire a rowing boat or enjoy
an ice cream it has seen many changes since it changed hands in
March 2002. Its popularity was immediately evident as the car park was overflowing at 12.10pm as we arrived followed by Everett and Alan and Margaret. Double parking the Jaguars was necessary; no-one was going to leave early anyway! At the previous BBQ night eight members, including Terry & Veronica; Larry; Tony, Alan & Margaret and Eric & Linda had signed in for Sunday lunch but by Thursday evening that had increased to thirteen with Terry & Trish; Reg & Ronnie & Everett; I was subsequently advised that we had to take a table outside in order to accommodate us. |
| Fortunately the weather had continued to bless us with temperatures probably around 26 deg C although rain was “in the air” according to the weather-men. An interesting selection of starters included Shredded Duck with Chilli Noodles, Butternut Squash Risotto and Mixed Fishcake. Tony & I decided to share a Boathouse Hors D’oeuvres which included Goats cheese, Cold Meat selection, Olives and Tomatoes, very tasty. Mains received a mixed reception however; my Tuna steak with Salsa was excellent as was the Roasted Garlic & Lemon Chicken and Chump of Lamb, Braised Red Cabbage & Potato Rosti; but the Sliced Roast Ham with Colcannon Mash and the Char grilled Ribeye Steak with Hand Cut Chips were declared “boring”. Ronnie’s Steak was well done and not medium, however that was changed, whilst Alan got the medium instead of the well done! |
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Why don’t Chefs put a
label on them as they are cooked because the waiters
always arrive either without knowing which is which or
inventing suitable words like “yes madam this is your
medium steak” which at worst is a blatant lie! Anyway,
puds semi-redeemed the lunch followed by coffee and
chatter. No-one was in a hurry to leave as we sat under the parasol in the afternoon glow feeding the ducks and putting all things Jaguar to rights as always. An enjoyable lunch but could do better. I must not finish without mention of Alan, dressed in an excellent Stripped Blazer, escorting Margaret from the open topped white E-type to really cut a dash on the day! Fantastic! Also of mention was the musical accompaniment throughout the afternoon which started as Excellent Soul Music but somehow gets a bit tedious after two hours of similar tempo, very nice touch though.
See you next time. |