Restaurant Review: House, Leamington

SET across seven rooms, the owners of House Leamington hoped to create a homely venue people of all ages and with varied interests could enjoy – and having experienced it for myself, I can confirm that is exactly what they’ve achieved.

With relaxing covers of popular songs, friendly service and a quiet lunching atmosphere, House was the ideal setting for a Saturday lunch out with a friend. And looking around it wasn’t just me that took a fancy to this dark, arty space. House Leamington

Across the length of the venue, families enjoyed good hearty food, young couples flirted over an intimate dinner and elderly friends nattered over cups of tea, a rare sight to behold in the space of one single venue. Almost as though a watering hole had opened on Leamington’s Parade, drawing in a variety of different species.

Perhaps the allure is down to the way each room is so boldly defined by its décor, offering seven differing atmospheres to choose from.Or maybe it’s the fact they do things a little differently here – bread is served in a paper bag with a branded sticker to keep the freshness inside, the urinals are made from beer barrels, your pudding comes in a cup and the quirky menu is categorised by hunger levels.

House LeamingtonAs well as offering vegan, dairy free and gluten free options, the very simplistic menu caters for those with a healthy appetite for meat and seafood too, but without bombarding you with too many options.

On the menu is a combination of casual Americanised dishes like burgers, and mac and cheese, and more upmarket late evening dining options like monkfish & mussel bouillabaisse and Asian style sea bass.

We were offered olives, bread and oil to start, setting the standard for the rest of the meal.

To start, we opted for the ‘only for the peckish’ deep fried soft shell crab, chilli and lime mayo and duck parcels with Hoi sin sauce. This very tender duck was folded inside a perfectly crisped pastry drizzled in the sweet, dark sauce.
House Leamington

There was a slight kick to the garlic chilli mayo which complemented the meaty crab.

Everything in House is made fresh in their kitchen and that was reflected in the quality taste of each dish.

You can also taste the experience behind the menu as each flavour and texture has clearly been chosen with care.

To follow, I had the smoked haddock and chive fishcake, apple and radish slaw, with smooth creamy fishcake and the slight crunch of the radish slaw and the pasty sauce surrounding it.

House LeamingtonWe also sampled the truffled mac and cheese, complete crispy onions, aptly titled the Mac Daddy.

Whilst in some dishes the muddy truffle flavour can be overpowering, this contained both the right amount of truffle and cheese.

The staff weren’t overbearing either. They didn’t try too hard to impress us and instead confidently left us to enjoy the meal.

You don’t hear what anyone is saying, even though they’re in the same room, because it’s all open plan the sound gets lost in the venue’s length.

Now to the most important part of the meal, the dessert.

Even though I was well and truly bursting, pudding is essential, especially when the menu boasts  We sampled both the salted caramel brownie – as recommended by our waitress – and the lemon meringue smash.

And even the desserts didn’t feel heavy or particularly fattening. The warm, incredibly moist brownie with salted caramel ice cream and a little slab of white chocolate was neither too rich nor too bland, but just the right accompaniment to the meal which preceded it.

The main thing I took from the afternoon at House was that though huge amounts of investment have been ploughed into this venue, there is not a single pretentious thing about it, it’s just a homely place that can be as casual or as fancy as you like it to be.

Bill: £65 – included 3 courses for two + 2 drinks each

 

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