The Beech House St Albans
I love to discover a new restaurant and was very excited to be invited to try out The Beech House St Albans last week for a review of their dinner menu. St Albans is a beautiful city packed full of cool shops, bars and coffee shops. The Beech House is situated centrally on the main high street not far from M&S. Its open from breakfast through to dinner appealing to many different audiences. I went with a friend Marianne, for dinner on a Thursday evening.
A welcoming entrance
As we walked into the restaurant we immediately felt warm and welcomed. The smell of the pizza ovens first hits you and it smells good! There was lots of warm brown, beautiful lights and comfy seats creating an atmosphere where you want to sit and enjoy a beautiful meal.
We were presented with the menus and offered a bottle of the house red wine and some water whilst making our choices. The wine was lovely, a fruity and light bottle of red. The menu offered lots of choice, the food had a distinct Mediterranean influence. We could choose from the popular pizzas, the Josper grill and traditional meals. There were so many dishes that looked good and we kept changing our minds on what we wanted. Should we go for the wood-fired pizzas or the steak. The fish pie or the pork belly. We turned to our ever so helpful waiter to help us choose!
A stunning starter
The starter is always my favourite part of a meal, I am a savoury girl and the choices were plentiful. For starters we chose the anti-pasti platter to share. This did not disappoint at all. The platter was packed full of parma ham, salami, marinated vegetables, ciabatta topped with fresh cherry tomatoes and the most beautiful olives. The highlight was the accompanying bowl with a creamy ball of mozzarella and bread. The cheese was so creamy you could dip the bread in it. Such a lovely starter that we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Main course – how do we choose?!
For the main event, upon recommendation from the waiter I did opt for the rib-eye steak with a side of sweet potato fries. Marianne went for the chicken, pollo picante. I had to try both for the purpose of the review obviously! The chicken was so good, a little bit of spice and really tender and juicy. The steak was the real deal, it tasted amazing, full of flavour. I really enjoyed it. The sweet potato fries were good as well.
Dessert with a difference
We were feeling full by the end of our main course but had left a little bit of room for a dessert. The meringue came highlight recommended, so Marianne went for that dish and I chose the white chocolate cheesecake. Again, I tasted both and I have to say that Marianne’s choice of the merging was amazing, Italian soft meringue with passionfruit sauce. I think it was my favourite of the two desserts.
We both really enjoyed the dinner. Service was perfect, friendly and not at all pushy. The food timing was good as well, not being brought out too fast or too slow. As the evening progressed the restaurant got busier with a good atmosphere and always feeling relaxed.
The Beech House is an Oakmans Inn restaurant who have lots of restaurants in the South East of England, Herts, Beds, Bucks and Essex. The venues are often historic pub sites, like the Kings Arms in Berkhamsted. Other venues include the Akeman in Tring, The Anchor in Hullbridge, Banyors House in Royston along with many others. It is a perfect venue for meal with the family or with your partner or friends.
Value for money quality food
The food is really great value for high quality food sourced from the best UK small suppliers. The Oakmans group take great pride in choosing the best of suppliers for their meats, produce, fish and desserts. Our meal excluding the wine cost around £70, the rib eye steak was the most expensive part of the dinner at £15. Mostly the main dishes are prices at around £15 each.
Look at the list of venues to see if there is one near you or please do check out The Beech House in St. Albans.
This is a collaborative post with the Oakmans group and I received the meal for two free of charge.
2 Responses
My husband and son would be in heaven for that meal. It looks so well put together and it is great that the cut of meat is not stingy.
It was so good, I do love a good steak!