Monday, 09 November 2015 00:00

Restaurant Review: Renoufs in Westbourne

Restaurant Review: Renoufs in Westbourne

On Poole Road in Westbourne you'll find a large selection of eateries. One of the newer faces is Renoufs, opened in 2015. Their offering is a little different and could be described as a cheese and wine bar, or also it could be a wine and cheese restaurant, but then again again is it a well stocked charcuterie?

Visiting for a lunch in November, we picked a table near the bar and a wonderful wine rack wall. The extensive drinks menu, including their 3 wine tasting menus or 'Wine Flights' were on the tables. The main food menus only appear on blackboards on the walls which can involve some awkwardness as you peer across whoever is sitting underneath the menus.

Ideal for lunch or a light dinner is Renoufs Mini Mezze for 1. At £7.50 per head you get to choose a cheese and a charcutie meat, served with olives, humous, breadsticks, stuffed sweet-peppers, crackers and grapes. I picked one of the specials, the Red Devil cheese, a spicy little number made with chilli flecks in a Red Leicester. With this I ordered Pancette as the charcutie meat, this was ingeniously served twisled around breadsticks (see the photos below). We also had a Mini Mezze with generous cuts of Prosciutto and a creamy Brie. The Mezze's were served a decent bread basket. All very tasty and well portioned.

Renoufs boast a superb selection of drinks with over 30 wines to enjoy by the glass and an extensive range of wine, Champagne, spirits and boutique beers - most you won't find on the shelves in the supermarket so a great chance to try something new. Pilsner Urquell is the draft beer on tap.

We also enjoyed a well made cappuccino and latte. A welcome jug of iced water was also delivered and wasn't charged for (please take note other restaurants, you will get a black mark charging for water).

We had a delicious lunch at Renoufs and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, chilled music and friendly staff. They get very busy in the evening and booking a table is recommended.

Unsolicited review November 2015.
We paid for our meal.