Tuesday 15 April 2008

Fanny Trollopes. Who's Fanny?


Pardon?

Yes. I said "Fanny" and "Trollopes" in the same sentence. This name has already gotten me into a lot of trouble already but that's another story. To find about more about Fanny click here, but enough of Fanny and onto the food!

A lot of my friends really like this place and to some extent I can see why. It's cosy (candlelit,hence the shaky photos) and intimate (read not much space between tables) and if there is a bunch of you it
can be a really fun place for a night out. The style is haphazard with a seemingly random assortment of paintings on the wall and the music, Italian opera.

The menu changes regularly and features the use of Scottish produce. Starters range from £4-6 and mains from £13-16 and it's BYOB. For this you get a lot for your money and whilst generally that's not an issue I sometimes prefer quality not quantity.
The starters seem to be better executed with a lightness of touch that makes you think, I am on to a good thing here, but then the mains come and I generally feel a bit deflated. They tend mostly to be hearty stews, with not much finesse and that's the problem. When I go out for a meal I want to eat something that I can't make at home.

But there is more to eating out in Fanny's.
There is warmth, conviviality and value for money.




The best bits were the seafood chowder which has large chunks of fish, mussels and prawns




and the 'fresh crab pancake with smoked Salmon and crayfish salad' I had was very tasty if quite rich. It almost seemed as if they had put cheese in with the crab, unlikely I know, but whatever it was it worked.



The venison stew was very generous on the meat and hearty.



My duck was cooked as I had asked but I felt the duck could have had more flavour or been marinaded more. With all this protein you get a big bowl of veg, steamed and sauteed with butter. After all of this we were pretty stuffed and didn't have room for pudding.

So all said and done, if you want a good time, head down to Fanny's.

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