One sunny Sunday afternoon a group of us decided to head to Wokingham for relaxing lunch. We pre-booked a table of 9 for 2 pm; Wokingham is a 1 hour drive from Croydon. As soon as we arrived we were seated in the lounge restaurant upstairs. You can hear the relaxing music of bossa nova tracks filling the room. Bossa nova is my favourite type of music to lounge on a beach; it was instantly smoothing and therapeutic.
I was told a little history about the place, before it was a lighting shop and it took a while for them to fit gas pipes etc into the building.
As we waited for the rest of the party to arrive I looked at the menu, I knew I wanted some rump steak and chips and the Wokingham mess. I wasn’t going to get starters but the crispy prawn salsa cocktail was very tempting. Some of the party ordered coffee and I thought why not get one for myself. The coffee was presented in an interesting way, coffee at the bottom, a layer of ice and a dollop of ice-cream. It was a fun interactive way to have coffee, mixing the ice-cream and coffee together.
As we waited for the starters to arrive we was given a fish cake to sample, my starter did not disappointed presented in a see-through martini style glass, 3 scrumptious breaded crispy prawns was layered on top of a bed of salad. The salsa sauce was nice and tangy but there was only a small tea spoon of the stuff in my portion. The juicy prawns with the outer breaded coating satisfied my savoury taste buds.
I ordered a medium – well done rump steak, the food was presented nicely on a glass plate, with a spoon of condiments and the chips came in a cute mini fryer. The steak was nice and juicy a little inconsistent with the way it’s been cooked; the best part was near the fat. The chips, was cooked golden brown and not an inch of grease on the grease paper.
My favourite from the meal shortly arrived, the “Wokingham mess” looked like a homespun masterpiece, it was divine, the perfect balance of whipped cream, meringue and strawberries and sauce. It was a very light way to finish off my meal what a delicious indulgent dessert.
Dining with a big group meant I was lucky enough to try the other dishes, the pies were GREAT, the pastry was light and crunchy and the filling was flavoursome. I also tried the cheese mushroom cup, Sunday roast, caesar salad.
The service was excellent staff came to us when we needed them, our party managed to stay at the restaurant for 5 hours time flew by very quickly. In total I paid roughly £24 including drinks, which is a tremendous value. Yes I shall return one day for the Wokingham mess!
0118 9798088 36 Finchampstead Road – Wokingham – RG40 2NN