The Cricketers Inn, Westcliff on Sea

This pub has been through various incarnations. The latest enterprise aims for a 'warehouse' look which is an improvement in some ways, if a little pretentious, but the Thai restaurant establishment in the corner, an obvious partnership hoping to draw in a new crowd, is an abject failure judging by this evening's experience.

The restaurant staff were insincerely interested in waiting, the first choice of wine menu was poor - you'll need to delve further for something more palatable than a Merlot - and the food is at best disappointing, at worst stomach churning. Fish cakes are rubbery with just a nod of what could have been, suggesting the easy option of bought in freeze-thaw-serve, vegetable tempura is american-tan over-fried and greasy, and the stir fried chicken ought to have given up any pretence of chunks by going straight through the mincer and reincarnating in the form of Dim Sum. Worst of all was the steamed sea bass, a watery dish spiced with chilli flakes, that may have just made the starting line had it been filleted properly. In a dark and dingy corner of the restaurant it seemed, at first, that some parts had missed the steamer. Unfortunately, with the help of some extra light, it turned out that the jelly bits were in fact the belly bits. Gross. To be fair, when the bill arrived, the waitress said that we would not be charged for the seabass. Unfortunately, the jelly belly fish and the chicken bits, along with the halfway decent noodles and economically egg fried rice, are not enough to entince a second outing to this new venture in Westcliff.

1 Dec 2011 00:06