So Bar Bistro

Hubby and I reached the end of our week last week after struggling through our working days completely jet lagged from returning from L.A. on Monday. We looked in the fridge, then looked at each other and said, «Right, we’re going out.»
Unfortunately, though we’re both cosmopolitan, fun-​loving adorable people (would I lie to you?), we live in Tamworth, which has a dire dearth of decent places to eat out — unless you love curry, then it has some of the best in the country. Furthermore, there’s nothing within walking distance except niceish pub grub.
So we googled around, then remembered we’d had a great recommendation to the So Bar Bistro by some friends and my MIL (the latter taken with a pinch of salt), so we rang up. It was 9pm, and realized we live in redneck country, so didn’t hold out hope it was still open. But the nice lady told us if we could make it by half 9, they’d keep the kitchen open for us. Lovely!
So we hot footed it over there, arriving just a few minutes late. The place was not very busy, with half a dozen people in the bar, and the same in the restaurant. Apparently the bar gets very busy later on, so thankfully we avoided that.
We were greeted by the nice woman I’d spoken to on the phone, who recognized my voice and seated us straight away. She gave us the wine menu and asked if we wanted water.
The wine menu was very good for a smallish town, and we picked a crisp, dry sparking rose, a combination of qualities one doesn’t find very often.
The menu was pretty spare, with about 6 starters and 10 mains. There’s also an evening Tapas menu, but we weren’t in faffing about food moods, so we each got mains.
Hubby got salmon and I got risotto, and nothing more needs to be said than that the food was divine — definitely a personal, home-​cooking style chef behind the grill, doing things exactly as they’re described on the menu.
The service was very friendly, and absolutely can’t fault it.
The décor is definitely trying hard, and has a certain style that isn’t to my taste (minimalist chic), but still looks rather good, and again, is a surprise in Tamworth.
All in all, we’d love to return to the So Bar Bistro, and you should go too. YOU GO NOW!