We were going elsewhere but passing the Owl during the morning I noticed on their outside menu board that they had rabbit hotpot for lunch which I could not resist. We were a bit late arriving at 12.45 and to our surprise there were no spare tables. However, the waitresses were very helpful, said that one table was nearly available, so we waited in the adjacent shop.
Very soon, within about five minutes, a table for two became vacant. The restaurant is small and can cater for about two dozen people but has a very traditional style with plastic table covers and a shelf decorated with pots and pans. The whole scene was overlooked by a caged and stuffed barn owl. The local tale of an owl being detained in the Holt pound was also displayed.
The menu had half-a-dozen main meals and a range of lighter lunches with some salivating sounding desserts. The restaurant is also licensed.
Our order was taken and the service proved to be very quick and efficient. I ordered the rabbit hotpot and Gill had a vegetable pie, both were served with mash potato, carrots and calabrese. Gill quite enjoyed hers but I was very disappointed especially in the rabbit hotpot. It had been cooked in a pint-sized pot and was quite dry, lacking the natural juices and sauces of the normal rabbit hotpot cooked in a larger pot. We had glasses of the unremarkable house white and red wines and, as usual, needed to ask for glasses of water.
Somehow the meal was a bit of a let down and yet one had the feeling that the Owl can do better. We will have to return in due course to see if that is true. At least there was no musak.
Rating 13/20
