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Home » The Beacon, Bar Restaurant, Tea Garden Lane, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN3 9JH

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The Beacon - Rusthall

I live a stones throw from this once delightful pub/restaurant, literally, i could look out of my bedroom window and break one of theirs with a stone (if only i had the aim), so i was eager to try the food of my new neighbour. My partner and i walked down there one sunday afternoon, and as usual Tea Garden Lane was full of cars, and the inadequate, but i assume un-fixable car park was full, as expected. We walked into the bar through the garden, which on a lovely sunny sunday afternoon was full of families and couples enjoying the fantastic views across Tunbridge Wells. We went up to the bar and were greeted by a rather sour faced barman. We ordered some drinks and asked if there was anywhere we could eat. We were directed to a small, round table, right outside the gentleman's toilets. We both ordered the roast beef from the perfectly friendly waiter, at a cost of £10 each. In my opinion if you are going to charge £10 for a sunday roast, you had better deliver a fine meal. After about 20 minutes of having my shoulder smacked by people leaving the gents, and having to stand up to let people through who were polite enough to ask, i was delighted to see the people on the table next to us had left, so we promptly jumped in their graves and stole the table. After waiting about 30 minutes in total, our meals arrived, and on first impressions they looked rather good. A generous serving of meat, though it was rather over cooked, i do prefer my meat a bit pink, but over cooked meat i can deal with. There were about 4 roast potatoes, which once you attempted to eat, you felt the need to warn anybody with false teeth to avoid at any cost. They were like golf balls, solid as anything on the outside, and once you had managed to cut into one (for which you really had to use a "stabbing" action with your knife then prise the peices apart with your fork) they were dry and boring. The yorkshire pudding was no better. It had the texture of paper mache, which flaked off in layers upon cutting it, to reveal a hollow centre. The vegetables were OK (the usual carrots, broccoli and cauliflower), but how far wrong can you go with a steamer? Had the meal been any good in the first place, the gravy would have ruined it anyway. It was far too salty, and had a somewhat gloopy texture to it. Neither of us finished our meals and we had no inclination to order pudding, if it were to follow suit from the main course. We have been back since for drinks, but i would not go for a sunday roast again. One particular evening i just fancied a bowl of chips as i drank my beer, but at a cost of £3.00 for a small bowl of burnt chips, which took 50 minutes to deliver on a relatively quiet wednesday evening, i don't think i shall bother next time. Thoroughly un-impressed.
By Kate at Thu, 12/10/2006 - 00:14 |

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