Tomato Penne Pasta
The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End

The Bull at Blackmore End Braintree, Essex CM7 4DD, United Kingdom

Beer • Pubs • English • American


"Disappointing experience! Invited friends there who had not been before wanted them to like it, BUT ... On the menu was Cromer Crab on main menu at £13.95, but a special on the night at much less. Also chilli crab cakes as a special . The two ladies ordered the dressed crab salad. When servered, the crab meat was BLACK, smelled decidedly off and tasted foul! The new potatoes were cold. No self respecting chef would have served the dish in this condition! The waitress kindly offered to exchange the two crab dishes for some other dish, thereby delaying the whole meal for the four of us. We were told the cost of the two crab salads would be taken off our bill really! Admittedly, the replacement steak was good but my wife 's replacement fish and chips was poor. Again, the fish was not fresh and was undercooked no doubt in haste! The chips were cold and tasted stale (as did mine with the Bull burger)! Our bill was approx £100 a significant amount for a disappointing eating experience. On the positive side, the place itself is lovely and the staff very helpful with good service. We suspect that the crab, and fish, had been in stock for some while and was being off loaded as specials , the chilli in the crab cake there to mask the off taste. This is dangerous practice with crab in particular. The problem is probably in the kitchen and needs addressing urgently."

The Chancery

The Chancery

90 Bromley Rd, Beckenham United Kingdom, United Kingdom, BR3 5NP

Wine • Pubs • Steak • European


"This is a pub with a bit of an identity crisis. The restaurants area is still sharing space with the pub and you’re not quite sure where you are. The staff were really friendly. However I’m a bit disappointed that when booking 3 days prior, we weren’t offered the Christmas menu, but instead found out it was preorder only when we arrived on Boxing Day. To be honest, we wouldn’t have booked if we had known that. Sadly the food was rather a let down. The beef croquettes were quite honestly the strangest and least appetising thing I’ve ever seen on a plate. They seemed to be just puréed beef, deep fried. A croquette should be mainly potato. These had none. They were really quite awful. Mains. Chunky chips seems like an easy thing to muster up? Nope. My partner and friend received a bowl of about 6 mammoth potatoes each. I don’t think you could even describe them as wedges. They were stupidly large chunks which inevitably where undercooked in the centre. My salmon was actually cooked quite nicely! However the strange imbalance of overly thick cream sauce and raw cherry tomatoes left it pretty much inedible. Finally, the acoustics in the dining room really were the nail in the coffin. A large table with multiple screaming children behind us meant that we literally couldn’t have a conversation with each other, despite being face to face. Such a disappointing experience."