Lounge, Largs - Restaurants in Largs | s1play.com

Style in spades

Review published on 29/06/2009 © Sunday Herald

Largs figures prominently in my happy childhood souvenirs. Sitting on a bench with my grandmother eating a generously proportioned Nardini’s ice cream and admiring the sparkle of the Firth of Clyde; sailing to Cumbrae with Caledonian MacBrayne; cycling round the island and staying with friends in Millport.

So when I went back recently, it was a trip down memory lane – a risky activity lest you are bitterly disappointed. But bang on cue, Largs was everything I remembered. The sun was shining, the palm trees were swaying (well, almost), Nardini’s gleaming white Art Deco ice cream emporium was even more striking than I had recalled, and the whole place had that carefree recreational feel that is so infectious and intoxicating – the bustle of people on holiday, on a weekend, having fun.

There was a bonus too. I found somewhere good to eat with aspirations beyond fish and chips. I had thought that Lounge, a bar, restaurant and club in the heart of the main street, sounded promising, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the reality. To say that the decor is rather special is something of an understatement. It’s amazing. The original Victorian tearoom premises were rebuilt in 1900 and have been most sympathetically restored and refurbished by the current management.

Underneath the woodchip, Artex, carpets, pigeon droppings and feathers they found stunning original features. So Lounge has mosaics on the floor, detailed oak wood panelling, an oak staircase with a fabulous blue glass dome, elaborate cornicing, sweeping oak panelled bay windows with bevelled panes. Last but not least, there is a fireplace that measures five square metres, and – wait for this – actually works. Visit Lounge on a cold winter’s day and you can have breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner beside the positively baronial log fire. There’s going to be no keeping me away.

For the sake of being in an environment like this, I would tolerate indifferent food, but the edible offerings were infinitely better than I had expected. Cullen Skink was well executed, avoiding the common pitfalls: too much potato and a heavy hand with the cream. It was a safe bet, but our other starter of roasted butternut squash with spiced puy lentil salsa was a wild card, and one that paid off, with a pile of warm, smooth, firm lentils that had been intriguingly flavoured (perhaps with duck fat?) supporting boldly caramelised squash.

A main course “Goan” monkfish curry was nothing like a Goan curry, or even a curry – more like nuggets of fish in a gingery tomato sauce. That said, the fish was bouncy and fresh and the sauce full-flavoured and invigorating. Its “fragrant” rice was disappointingly of the par-boiled “easy-cook” sort, but the bonus here was that it wasn’t mushy (as can be the case with overcooked basmati) and it was aromatised with cloves. The fish also came with rather strange things called “piri” breads, which tasted like glazed savoury scones with caraway seeds in the dough. Odd, but not unpleasant.

I wasn’t unhappy either with my prawn and crab cakes. They were light on crustacea, certainly, the mass made up with potato, but they were ably seasoned and so not at all dull to eat. They were let down by their sauce, an anonymously creamy offering that lacked a strong presence of the lemon and chilli promised by the menu and accompanying buttery spinach that was gritty from inadequate washing. Asparagus spears, though, were cooked to silky perfection.

I am sending a memo to myself to stop choosing lemon tart. This effort was plucky but even trained patissiers can’t stop the pastry going floppy once it’s filled. A deep dark chocolate pot with berries, compote and shortbread biscuits, however, definitely hit the spot.

It’s worth mentioning that the kitchen was under extreme pressure, dealing with a table of 18. Lots of restaurants won’t accept parties this big because it’s hell for the chef. Even though we tipped up 30 minutes late, our table was obligingly kept for us, although we were warned to expect a delay of a further half hour. In the event, our food arrived with perfect timing and the front of house staff were exceptionally affable throughout, not at all spooked by all the demands put on them. That’s impressive.