The South Place Hotel is a modern hotel in the centre of town that brings unashamed modernity to accommodation and this is a review of the restaurant within. It has high standards and is a great place to stay, making it rise above the mediocrity that fills the city.
3 South Place Restaurant is one of two eateries inside the hotel that offers a menu as modern as the surroundings and the quality to match. The dining room is a large, open canteen style room with huge windows at one end offering plenty of light.
The décor is modern, with lots of steel and glass, mirrors adorn the walls, blocks of black marble act as countertops and there is either a bar or traditional table dining on offer. The menu is modern British that offers all-day dining to hungry passers-by. It is from the all-day menu that we ate on our visit.
“3 South Place Restaurant is a great place to eat, day or night.”
We began with an heirloom tomato salad and prawn cocktail. The salad was served with tomatoes, mozzarella, red onion and olive oil. It was fresh, fragrant and pleasing to the eye. The ingredients were all freshly prepared and worked very well together. It was a very satisfying start to the meal.
The prawn cocktail was a modern take on the seventies classic. It was served with lettuce, cress and came with a shellfish dressing. It was fresh, well balanced and ate very well. The dressing was light, with that little bite on the tongue and worked very well indeed in its modern guise.
Main course was Devon red chicken pie and Kashmiri curry. The chicken pie was served with Penny Bun mushrooms and worked very well. It isn’t often we have a pie as they can be a little heavy, but this was a delight. The pastry was rich, but light at the same time, the chicken was perfectly cooked and still retained enough moisture to make the sauce work well.
Curry is another dish we don’t have very often, but this was great. The lamb curry was served with basmati rice and tasted great. It was the perfect level of heat, spice and flavour. The spice mix was perfectly balanced and the meat was so tender is almost melted in one’s mouth.
Dessert was raspberry ripple arctic roll and baked cheesecake. Both were rich, sweet and well prepared. They were the perfect end to a great meal.
3 South Place Restaurant is a great place to eat, day or night. We would happily return.
The Bill: £298 per night
