Lido Troon
You have to hand it to Buzzworks, the Ayrshire bar and restaurant operator: it likes to do things well. I haven't been to Elliots in Prestwick, or Scott's in Troon, but if its newest venture, Lido – also in Troon – is anything to go by, then these must be stylish outfits.
Lido, a capacious barbrasserie with 130 covers, is quite the best executed restaurant design I've come across in a long time. The nondescript street outside, with its shabby seaside vibe, does not prepare you for stepping into a space that could pass muster amongst the beautiful people bars of Miami Beach.
At its heart, there's an island bar with a towering tiered basket of fruits (for smoothies) and the compulsory espresso machine. An open kitchen with a wood-fired oven provides more theatre on the back wall. A mosaic floor, cigar brown oak detail and striking slate brick walls signify that no expense has been spared. The effect is stunning, and all the more miraculous because the space itself has no architectural features whatsoever. Three properties were knocked together and Lido was created from scratch.
On a Saturday evening, Lido was loud, positively throbbing with diners and barflies. People in these parts obviously like to go out, and they have a great sense of style. Peoplewatching is aided by an angled horizontal mirror that runs along the walls: not so low that you have to sit looking at your ugly mug if you are facing the wall, but allowing you to see what's going on behind you.
The décor was always going to be tough competition for the food. The menu's spine is grills and pizza, with a backing group of mezze tapas type offerings. Hardly taxing, but fine for the venue and not to be sniffed at if done with panache.
But going at full tilt, the kitchen's performance was slapdash. The same panicky rush seemed to characterise the service. I lost track of how many people served us. They looked a bit flustered and didn't seem anchored by any obvious maître d'.
Everything, apart from the desserts, looked and tasted less appealing than it sounded. "Quick fried calamari" turned out to be deep fried, leathery, and in a heavy batter which held the oil. Its accompanying "aioli" seemed to be little more than commercial mayo with some garlic through it, and there was the ubiquitous pile of rocket. "Seared king scallops" were meant to be cooked with chilli, garlic and wine, but just tasted like water-plumped specimens in an indefinite, anonymous sauce. They came with more rocket. This kitchen seems as dependent on this peppery green as Gordon Ramsay is on The F-word.
A gorgeous blonde at the next table sent back her pasta because the sauce was too thin. I, meanwhile, couldn't have asked for a thinner base for my artichoke, goat's cheese and black olive pizza, but the firing was a bit of a mystery. The whole point of a proper wood oven, as opposed to the new wave of Mickey Mouse, health and safety-approved "wood" ovens, is that the smoke imparts its aroma.
My pizza might just as well have come from a conventional oven for all the woody whiff it had, and the base was tough and ungiving, almost as if it had been cooked in a pan. It conspicuously lacked the crispness and pliancy produced when you bake directly on hot stones, slowly heated by wood.
A rib-eye steak was accurately cooked and tasted like a well-reared, grass-fed, well-hung bit of beef should. Its accompanying Bearnaise sauce was quite competent too. But the steak was also meant to be "wood-fired". Once again, there was not a whisper of wood about it.
What's the point of having a nominally wood-fired oven if the wood element is more or less ornamental? Puddings seemed to emanate from a different, more careful kitchen. Fresh fig tart with moist frangipane and crunchy, buttery crumb came flanked with a resinous, fragrant honey ice cream. Lightly set pannacotta with limoncello (the Amalfi lemon liqueur) poured over it made a nice clean-cut offering .
Lido may have been going full throttle since it opened. Phase Two should be about making the cooking and service tighter. It is undeniably fun, but it could be a whole lot better.