Cameron’s Kitchen

Our 2^nd visit to this restaurant for a Saturday lunch offer of 2 main dishes and sides. As we opened the door to walk in we were greeted to the smell of fish which was not very pleasant. None of the staff made any attempt to greet us until we had walked through the restaurant to the bar. I ordered a bottle of wine and olives to go with it. the wine arrived promptly but after 5 – 10 mins I had to ask for the olives. Our waitress failed to mention that they had sold out of one of the main dishes which I had heard her telling other customers about as we walked past them. I had the salmon with chorizo & caper sauce (very oily) which game with sautee potatoes and green beans (£11). My partner had the game & bacon casserole which came with mash & green beans (£11). The meat was very dry, not very warm and appeared to have an oil slick on top. We listened to the dessert menu but declined. Yet another disappointing visit, come on Dan have a word with your staff. I don’t expect to see them wiping down tables in front of the customers who are about to sit there when other tables are free & laid. One of local dining establishments that I will be avoiding in future.

The owner Dan Cameron was previously Head Chef at The Navigation Inn. We had considered trying his up-​market restaurant at the Navigation, but we never found the menu very appealing. The recently opened Brasserie menu seemed better value and more generally appealing. The location is good, in the yard behind Odell’s hardware store. In addition the main restaurant area there is some outside seating in the paved yard area.
Shortly after we arrived we benefitted from someone from the kitchen, presumably the owner, swearing to his staff asking them if they’d asked the customers if they had used the car park. We gather their had been a problem with a customer leaving their car late, at which point the car park is locked. Whilst we may have benefitted from the warning about the car park, we didn’t appreciate the language and it got the evening off to a bad start.
The meal started with a complimentary amuse-​bouche: cold courgette with some herbs and spice sprinkled on top and a small flower. Unfortunate the soup, and the heavy home-​made roll that it was served with, were both disappointing. Our first course was Brie Parcels (£6) which had rather soggy pastry and a very over-​dressed salad and scallops with cod cheeks (£9) which was much more successful.
The mains were a cap rump steak (£18), which was nicely cooked with triple-​cooked chips, and a double cooked pork dish (£11) was nice, but rather dry in the middle: the accompanying sauce was good, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough of it.
Puddings (£7) included a rather nice soufflé, but the pastry on a pear frangipan was thin at one end, thick at the other and very chewy.
Overall it was a disappointment, which seems a shame: some elements were very good, but the food was disappointing in places and at these prices that shouldn’t be the case. We’ll probably come and try it again in 6 – 12 months time, and hope it has got into its stride.