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Review: Lunch at The Cold Harbour

Old Town tends to be the go-to area for lunch dates and meetings, however, there is a strong contender in town - and you no longer have to travel to the Town Centre or Old Town for a decent and well priced lunch!

While booking in a business lunch with a client, we were keen to find somewhere closer to our offices in Stratton and one venue came to our attention which is ideally located just off the A419 in Blunsdon - The Cold Harbour, so we thought we'd give it a try.

The immediate benefit for being outside of the town centre was that there was plentiful free parking right outside the pub. 

Upon arrival you could be forgiven for thinking you were visiting a country pub thanks to the characterful old building and gorgeous pub garden. It wasn't quite the weather to dine in the garden so we chose to sit in the cosy bar area (there is also a dining area).

We were warmly greeted and handed the menu and the waitress took the time to explain the lunch menu; you have a choice of selecting any main, sandwich or jacket potato and you can add a starter or pudding for just £3 each.

There is a great selection of dishes, including good old British pub grub such as Fish and Chips and Sausage and Mash but also some lighter seasonal dishes including Sea Bass and Caesar Salad. We decided to skip the starter and go straight in to mains. My guest chose the Sea Bass Florentine (£7.49) and I ordered the Gourmet Chicken sandwich (£8.49).

After a short wait our meals arrived. I was astounded by the Sea Bass - I wasn't expecting much with it being priced just £7.49 but the portion was very generous and the fillets were beautifully presented on a bed of roasted baby potatoes, wilted spinach, free-range poached egg and smoked hollandaise sauce. My guest said the sea bass tasted really fresh and melted in the mouth and all the flavours of the accompanying ingredients really made for a delicious and satisfying lunch.

My sandwich was also much more than you'd expect from 'pub grub', as well as succellent chicken breast, it was generously filled with grilled back bacon, slices of hard-boiled egg, gem lettuce, tomatoes and mayo on really flavoursome and soft sun-dried tomato bread with sweet potato fries (there was a choice of standard or sweet potato) and garlic and rosemary mayo.

Following our large mains, we were almost too full to take advantage of the £3 pudding offer but wanted to extend our meeting (and sample the temting desserts!) so decided to share one and take one back to the office for the team. 

We decided on the apple pie with cream which was a perfect pudding after our mains; apple pies can be too heavy and stodgy but this was really light and fresh with generous helpings of apples and not all pastry.

Our lucky colleagues got to share the Choclate Fudge Cake which was extremelly moist and not too rich.

Our lunch bill came in under £20 and had we wanted to have a quick lunch we most definitely would have been in and out within an hour (the staff are clearly used to catering for those on there lunch break or having business lunches and are on the ball to make sure you get quick service but without making you feel rushed).

The Cold Harbour will most definitely be a regular for client lunches but I will also be trying it out for dinner and weekend lunches. It's a great option for anyone and the food is incredible value for money and the pub itself has a really lovely atmosphere.

 

Cold Harbour

Ermin Street, Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 8DJ

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