River Cottage Canteen, Bath

One of the restaurants set up by Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall, as offshoots of his River Cottage enterprise (the other one is in Axminster). The idea is a cheap and cheerful environment in which to serve quailty food, locally sourced, at low prices. The Bath one is part of the Komedia theatre in Westgate Street. We went there close to Christmas and it was nearly empty because of the snow. The manager said Bath was a ghost town. But we weren't very impressed by this restaurant. The tables are plywood, a bit like decorating tables, the chairs are fold away stools. One wouldn't mind if the food was in stark contrast, but my wife's ham baguette with mustard dressing was a sad looking thing on stale bread, the salad looked limp, everything a bit bleak. My pheasant, leek and bacon stew was luke warm, the mash too stodgy, the white sauce of the stew a bit gloopy, the pheasant disconcertingly pink (had thought it a dark meat). My daughter's cream tea came with a scone like a brick, no butter (the saltiness of which is an essential ingredient of a cream tea), and vey runny jam. And it cost a fiver. The whole lot cam to thirty quid. My half pint of cider was also luke warm, served in a very plain glass. It looked like a phial of piss. The hot chocolate was very good, however. But it was all rather drab. Wouldn't go there again in a hurry.