Barceló Redworth Hall Hotel (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Barceló Redworth Hall Hotel

3:45pm Friday 26th June 2009

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Super surroundings, so-so lunch.

REDWORTH Hall is unquestionably a fine sight. Passing through the grand entrance, the driveway opens up before us with manicured lawns, mature trees and sculpted shrubs to either side.

There’s a satisfying scrunch under the tyres as we pull up outside the Jacobean mansion, once the family home of the Surtees family, but for many years now a hotel of some standing in an area not exactly stowed out with such establishments.

Into the entrance area for a smiley welcome from the receptionist and the comfortable minor-stately home atmosphere is maintained by the extensive wood panelling, huge fireplaces, deep-pile carpet and sumptuous upholstery.

Just to emphasise the point, there’s an abundance of glossy brochures littering every empty surfacing reminding guests they are staying at a Barceló Premium, which isn’t Sunderland’s latest signing, just an upmarketish hotel chain.

Arriving in the dining room, the change in ambience is somewhat abrupt. The 1744 restaurant is not unpleasant but think of a typically characterless hotel dining room and this is it. That might be a bit harsh because it is light and airy despite the absence of natural light. It is comfortably furnished in Barker and Stonehouse circa 1985, but the décor, from the Athena Provencal scenes on the walls to the anodyne patterned carpet, makes for a sensation that you could be anywhere.

The ambience was not improved by the evidence of previous diners’ meals – a few splashes of gravy we thought – on the wall where we were sitting.

It is Sunday lunch (three courses £17.95, two for £12.95) and perusal of the menu proves less than arduous.

It is brief with four starters and four mains, not a huge choice but just about sufficient to meet the needs of most palates. The starters are soup (vegetable), terrine (pork) and two salads (Caesar and tomato and mozzarella).

Mains consist of one roast (beef), fish (sea bream), chicken (in a wild mushroom sauce) and veggie (mushroom and asparagus risotto).

Our starters were generally underwhelming. Sylvia’s Caesar salad was classic in makeup – lettuce, Parmesan, croutons, dressing – but otherwise unimpressive. I know chicken is an optional extra in a classic Caesar salad, but a little wouldn’t have gone a miss. A little more of what was a good quality dressing might have helped too.

My tomato and mozzarella salad was similarly unexciting.

Bland tomato, OK mozzarella, “salad onion” which was manifestly the large Spanish variety, it was rescued by a good pestoflavoured dressing. Again, a little more would have been in order.

Main courses were much better.

My sea bream was pretty well perfectly cooked and the earthiness of the fish was soothed by an excellent white wine, cream and dill sauce.

Sylvia’s roast beef was impressively rosy pink in places, tender and flavoursome, the Yorkshire pudding light and crispy, the roasties nicely crunchy, and the gravy was a good colour and deeply beefy.

The other vegetables – carrots and broccoli – were certainly fresh but undercooked for most people’s tastes.

Dessert was a shared sticky toffee pudding, a return to the OK-but-dull standard set by the starters. It wasn’t very sticky and would have benefited from more of the sauce.

Chef needs to do a supply deal with Mrs Darling, just down the road at Burtree Farm. Now that’s a real ‘STP’ and she’s got a Great Taste Award to prove it.

Service from a young but well organised team was very good, the only hiccup being ignorance of what wines were available by the glass and it took quite a long time to find out. Two small glasses of house Chenin Blanc were eventually served, but at a rather steep £4.95 each. A jug of tap water was readily provided, thankfully with no invitation to upgrade to a bottled variety.

With coffee at £2.95 a head, we decided to head for home, pausing briefly to take in the undoubted beauty of the grounds. The bill had been just over £40 – middling value for a middling lunch.

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