Food and Biscuits: Stew & Oyster on a Sunday

Monday, 7 May 2012

Stew & Oyster on a Sunday

We did promise we'd revisit Stew & Oyster this weekend, to give it a real go after the opening. We made the long walk (approximately half a mile) down the road and popped in on Sunday afternoon on our return from the Wirral.

It was nicely busy, with most tables full of people relaxing with a drink and the papers. The building itself is lovely - at the front there are high ceilings and huge windows which let in tons of light. It occupies the old HSBC building and makes the most of the space. It feels light and airy and altogether good for taking it easy and whiling away the hours. As well as the tables downstairs, there's more room upstairs with comfy sofas and good people watching specs.

This time we had a proper chance to check out what is on offer drinks-wise. Apparently it had been a busy few days as they were out of one of the five white wines on offer, but I was able to try the pinot grigio rose (nice and easy drinking) while Joe made his way through some of the beers on offer. These included Stew & Oyster's own brewed ale, another ale from the Burley brewery, and a pint of Vedett. Anyone keeping their eye on twitter yesterday might have seen that the Vedett stirred up a bit of a debate - it's a bit on the pricey side! The warning that should (and wasn't) given is that a pint of Vedett in Stew & Oyster costs a slightly inflated £4.95. No worries if you really fancy a Vedett, but perhaps their beer prices should be a little clearer - it was more expensive than my wine, which was a first. This coupled with the fact that a very small plate of pistachios costs £2.00, and I was in a bit of a grumble for a while - it feels a little mean compared to what you get elsewhere in the local area. Roundhay might be affluent, but it doesn't mean that people don't value their cash. I only point these things out as constructive criticism as I like the place and want it to be a success.

Anyway, these were my only real negatives - it's a great space, the rest of the drinks are nice, and the food that we did see looked fantastic. I spotted the pork pie plate, the Sunday stew topped with an enormous Yorkshire pudding and the ploughman's platter complete with pork terrine, pork pie and cheese, as well as some tasty looking oysters. I'll have to get some more drinks in Joe before he will join me with the oysters unfortunately!