Antons Restaurant

This place has been open only five weeks. It is sited in the converted
Bethel chapel on Sandside and I love the look of the place. The ground
floor has a long bar on one side with open seating opposite. Then up a
short flight of stairs is a Mezzanine open kitchen whih I think is
great. The staircase then splits with one fork leading to an open eating
area with great views to the harbour and the other leading to the
toilets and a further small, sechluded seating area. The toilets by the
way are bright, modern and spotless. The lighting throughout is just
right neither too bright or too dark.
I came with a friend who
recommended the place to me. I immediately warmed to the owner and we
were very well looked after. I am told that they do intend to expand the
menu with the emphasis on Tapas style eating and traditional Spanish
cuisine. At the moment the menu is rather limited but what they do they
do very well. I think the best way to describe the food style is
Meditteranean bistro.
There are four choices of starter and Garlic
bread. The starters are Calamares a la Romana, which we both had, crisp
golden battered squid with a salad garnish and a delightful aioli with
paprika. This is the first time I have had squid where the batter was
actually crisp. Very, very nice. The squid was £7 which I thought was
reasonable. Other starters on offer are smoked salmon and prawns in a
lemon and pepepr dressing with salad also at £7. Then at £6 there is
avocado and bacon salad and a tomato and mozzarella salad. Garlic bread
£4.50 and with tomato an extra 50p.
For mains the options are from
the grill or pizza. There are five different types of pizza on offer,
all cooked the proper way (thin and crispy in an Italian pizza oven).
These range in price from £6.50 for a basic Margherita to £9.50 for
Antons special which sounds fantastic with Jamon, chorizo and peppers.
(having that next time!)
On the grill one has a choice of
sirloin, fillet, rump steak burger, chicken breast. All served with fries
and a salad. The fillet steak is £19. I had this and asked for it blue.
It was cooked perfectly for me and virtually fell to pieces. It came
with a little pot of Bearnaise sauce. All the beef is sourced locally at
Stepney Hill farm and matured for 21 days minimum. It oozed quality.
There
are three desserts on offer, fudge cake, coffee and walnut cake and ice
cream. I had the fudge cake which was a delightful end to the meal.
With
our food we had a good bottle of Rioja at £18 and two espressos with
brandy at the end. The total bill was £83 which I thought was very good.
Service was friendly, fast and efficient.
All
in all I enjoyed this place very much and I shall definitely be back.
They have placed their emphasis on quality and not quantity. So although
I was still hungry I was very happy and not uncomfortably full. I think
they’ve got the balance just right. In the future if they can truly
hold on to their ideals and bring in a range of Tapas as well this would
be fantastic. One other major bonus for this place is that they are
injecting life and quality back into a tired and dog eared sea front. If
we happen to get some sun this summer this will be the place I will
want to relax in and watch the sun go down. Bravo I wish you every
sucess.