Excelle Magazine| April 2004

"A family run business with a reputation for excellence"

The Tannin Level has been a family-run business for nearly 20 years and has a longestablished reputation for its excellent food and wine. Tastefully converted from the former servant’s quarters of a large Victorian family residence, the restaurant retains many of its original features including exposed brickwork, oak beams, feature fireplace and tiled floor. Bells linking the servants quarters to the upstairs rooms can still be seen above the main fireplace.

The restaurant is conveniently situated close to the town-centre and there is plenty of free (in the evening) on-street parking in the adjacent streets. There are two rooms, one of which is non-smoking. The atmosphere is both cosy and intimate and there are candles at each table. Groups can be accommodated, however, most diners appear to be couples or small parties. Background music is both tasteful and unobtrusive and there are blackboards listing the extensive and frequently changing range of specials, all of which add to the sophisticated but informal ambience. Dress is generally informal but smart.

Diners eating early can take advantage of an extensive fixed price menu available between 5.30 and 7.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. This offers two courses for £10 or three for just £12. Shoppers will love the extensive lunchtime menu available between 12 and 2 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Early booking is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.

The Tannin Level name refers not to leather but to a wine industry in-joke. And as you would expect, the restaurant has a long-established and well-deserved reputation for the extensive and everchanging range of wines on offer. The main list alone has over forty wines from £12 to £22 per bottle from France, Spain, Italy, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. In the unlikely event that this is not enough, a further list is available by request and monthly wines are available by the glass. Champagne and sparkling wine are also available.

The staff are both friendly and knowledgeable and readily share advice on the wines. There are even five - yes five - choices of house wine, all priced at £12 per bottle. The outstanding light house red - a carefully selected 2002 Pinot Noir Vin de Pays D’Oc from the South West of France was packed with the cherry flavour typical of the young Pinot Noir and would have outclassed many a Burgundy costing twice as much.

Be prepared to spend a long time choosing from the mouth-watering selection on the menu and blackboards. Starters included a tempting parfait of foie gras chicken livers with sauterne jelly, smoked chicken and parma ham salad with mango dressing or local black pudding and chorizo sausage with honey & mustard dressing and a poached egg. There were many vegetarian options too.

Mary had the crispy duck spring roll with orange and ginger sauce - succulent pieces of duck wrapped in a crispy spring roll served on a bed of mixed lettuce with a delicate lightly spiced sauce. I opted for the breaded Thai salmon and crab fishcakes - two wonderful fishcakes lightly spiced with red and green chillies served in a light fish sauce. Both were excellent.

Traditional with a twist is the theme of the main courses and choices ranged from oven roast chicken breast on honey glazed root vegetables, duck breast on a sweet potato and ginger daupuphinoiss or roast pork tenderloin on mustard crushed new potato, plus many, many more delicious sounding dishes.

Mary chose the fillet of English beef served with fondant potato and shallot & mushroom sauce - a tender carefully cooked beef fillet in a mildly caramelised sauce beautifully served on a bed of potato. I went for the fillet of lemon sole, which was stuffed with spinach, wild mushrooms, prawns and tarragon in a light fish sauce. Both were served with a selection of wonderfully cooked fresh vegetables and new potatoes.

Chocolate sticky toffee pudding with icecream and Bailey’s crème brulee were our choices from the extensive dessert menu and they were as delicious as they sounded.

Black and espresso coffees rounded off the meal perfectly.

The Tannin Level serves excellent food and wine and is perfect for lunch or dinner. All round we give it top marks for food, service and atmosphere.

So go on, top up your Tannin Level today - you won’t be disappointed!

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