FOOD : New Mediterranean menu at The Bridge, Rusacks Hotel, St Andrews
With high expectations, I headed to the Marine and Lawn in St Andrews for lunch at The Bridge. TartanSpoonie, Carmin had dined here a few months prior at No 18 and loved it! (read the review HERE) They have just released a new Mediterranean menu created by chef Francesco Boto and overseen by Executive Chef and Masterchef: The Professionals winner, Derek Johnstone.
Drawing culinary inspiration from the coast and hillsides of France and Italy, to the villages and mountains of Spain, Greece, the Adriatic and the Levant, the new all-day dining offer celebrates the abundant flavours of Mediterranean cookery.
With stunning views over the Old Course Golf Links and over West Sands Beach, the 70 cover family friendly restaurant, features brightly patterned fabrics with red and blue tones inspired by warmer climes, creating a warm homely feel. The Bridge at Rusacks is the informal dining restaurant. Its open for lunch and dinner and has prime viewing across St Andrews Old Course.
REVIEW OF THE BRIDGE, THE RUSACKS, ST ANDREWS
We arrived 10 minutes late due to the extreme rain that seemed to have followed us from Edinburgh, but we were still within our 15 minute grace window. On arrival at 210pm our table wasn’t ready so where ushered to an unset table. I wonder if we had turned up on time, would we have had to wait 10-15 minutes for our table?!
The staff are very friendly and soon after taking a seat, our table was set. Water, still or sparkling was offered but we are yet to get asked if we would have liked any drinks. I requested the drinks menu twice and eventually got hold of one just as dessert arrived! This was rather disappointing as the bar team have created a Mediterranean inspired wine and cocktail menu that features a House Negroni with Eden Mill red wine cask aged gin, The Rusacks Spritz with Edinburgh Gin Rhubarb and Ginger Liqueur and a Fino and Tonic with Lustu Fino de Jerez Sherry, citrus and rose tonic.
After staring out the uninterrupted windows at the full rainbow that had appeared we managed to peruse the new Meditarranean menu. Menu reads well, with dish descriptions that will get your tastebuds excited.
We ordered the Cerignola Green Olives (£4.00). These look appetising but were rock hard and very inedible.
Fresh Burrata with marinated peppers, olive oil and rosemary (£11.50). This was lovely, Spring on a plate. The peppers were sweet and silky against the creaminess of the burrata.
Fritto Misto with prawns, squid, fish, chilli and garlic aioli (£10.00). Not deep fried in traditional batter but rather a dry batter/fine light spice mix. Nice enough but nothing exceptional.
I had been hankering after a large bowl of pasta and was so excited with the thought of having the Pappadelle with slow cooked beef shin ragu unfortunately this dish wasn't ready yet and would be another 1.5 hours. I wish our server had just informed us at the start which dishes were unavailable rather then telling me that it hadn't finished cooking yet. This leads me to ask questions like : Its over 2 hours into lunchtime service with 45 minutes remaining but the ragu isn't yet cooked??? is this because the kitchen dropped the ball? did the meat delivery arrive late?
I ended up with the Scottish Mushroom Tortellini with truffle butter sauce (£18.00). Sounds lush right? Unfortunately, the pasta isn't made on site and is delivered, ready made from London which means its frozen and you could tell. The filling, although generous, was chalky and the pasta just a little too thick. The mushrooms on top where piled high making my appetite disappear, not an attractive looking dish. No truffle flavour detected and no parmesan cheese topping offered.
The Grilled Tuscan Sausage with fried onions and salsa verde (£19.00) off the Grill and Sharing menu was quite the opposite from the pasta dish. The sausage was very well seasoned and juicy, soft sweet caramelised onions caressed the sausage coil but the salsa verde was extremely scare. The flavours were there and I thought this was a very well executed dish.
The Risotto Primavera with asparagus and broad beans (£12.00) would rival any neon sign with the incredible vivid green colour. Along with the Burrata, this would make the ideal Springtime lunch. Risotta was on the right side of al dente for me and the flavours remained fresh. I wish I had ordered this as my main.
The dessert menu had five dishes available and very typical Meditereanean/Italian sweets - Tiramisu, Pannacotta, Cannolo, Affogato and Ice cream.
The Pannacotta with rhubarb (£7.00) lacked any beautiful wobble and was very well set. The rhubarb was served in long thin strips and not rendered down enough to not require a knife to cut through the long strips (which was not provided). Average dessert.
The Cannolo with ricotta, candied fruit and pistachio (£6.00) was not a dessert I would order again. The Cannolo casing was too thick and took several attempts and some brute force to crack through with a spoon. The ricotta had been over whipped and was a congealed thick mess with bits of fruit and nuts in it. Tasteless!
Three things that were fantastic - some of the food, the later part of the service from mains to coffee and the coffee itself!
I have dined and stayed at a few Marine and Lawn hotels and service and food has been exceptional. I would like to think that Rusacks St Andrews were just having a bad day and that this is not their normal level of service and food offerings.
The restaurant itself is lovely, bright and airy with views that encourage day dreaming and thoughts of golfing. For me lunch here was a 3 way split - some lovely dishes, some average and some not so good. All of these dishes and mentions re service can easily be improved and I hope that when you dine, its a more to the standard expected from Marine and Lawn.
Things to note about The Bridge:
There are some vegetarian options on the menu but they do ask that you notify them of any allergies or intolerances when booking
Disables access from the main entrance throughout the hotel and into the restaurant. Toilets are on the same level
Rusacks St Andrews, Pilmour Links, St Andrews, KY16 9JQ www.marineandlawn.com/rusacks
My Spoon Award : 7/10 Bronze
I was invited by Marine and Lawn to review their menu. Food and drink were complimentary but the views are very much my own.