What could be better on a sunny summers day than a long al fresco lunch, served in a great location in the company of friends. Whilst the weather may not always be a reliable companion, the Bar & Canteen on the waterfront always guarantees a varied menu, great service and a fantastic bright and spacious revamped al fresco area, for when the sun does decide to shine.
On a delightful sunny Wednesday lunchtime my friend and I popped along to the Bar & Canteen to dine from their Summer Seafood menu, a small but perfectly formed medley of dishes perfect for all appetites and lovers of the island’s bounty.
To start we ordered up a couple of large glasses of the well recommended Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand, which was chilled to perfection and the ideal accompaniment to our seafood choices and at £15.80 a bottle it’s a bargain too After perusing the menu we opted for starters of devilled whitebait, served with garlic and herb mayonnaise and a salad garnish. Whitebait isn’t something you see on many menus here in Jersey, so they were a welcome option and much enjoyed by my friend. I opted for the caramelised scallops, which were wrapped in crisp smoked bacon and had been cooked in garlic butter, they also came served with a salad garnish and were delicious. Both starters were the perfect size and whet our appetites for what was to come next.
Upon advice from Dan, who looked after us during our visit, we opted to share the seafood platter for our main course. Thank goodness we took his advice, as I’m not sure that either one of us would have been able to conquer this on our own, although I suspect if we hadn’t got plans for the afternoon we would have happily tried. The local seafood platter really was massive and excellent value too. With plenty of fresh Jersey crab and a half of a large lobster, this would have been enough alone, but it didn’t stop there, there were also plenty of large and small prawns and mussels too. This was all served with a salad garnish and came accompanied by fresh aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and plenty of granary bread and Jersey butter.
Of course the Bar & Canteen doesn’t just have a seafood menu to dine from, they also have a full menu of imaginative food at reasonable prices, be it a snack, an express lunch or evening supper before you head to the cinema. If you’ve got children, then be sure to take advantage of the Bar family meal deal, available Monday to Sunday between 5pm and 7pm when each child accompanied by an adult eats free!
Oh and did we mention, as we’d gone along on a Wednesday and we have an Inndulgence Club card we were able to get 25% off our food bill too. If you haven’t already got a card then it’s easy to get one, head to their website www.inndulgenceclub.com and register for one, it’s free and they’ll even credit you with 500 points straight away, which amounts to £5 of credit which you can use in any of their participating pubs, bars & eateries. •
