by Author Name Withheld 125

Created on: June 17, 2010

The Longboat restaurant is in the foyer of the brand new Premier Inn hotel located on Blossom Street in York.  Confusingly, there is a second Premier Inn right next door that has nothing to do with this one.  Go figure.

Visiting on a sunny Wednesday lunchtime, the place wasn't exactly buzzing but then, Blossom Street is well away from the massing throngs of York city center.  The Longboat would have to be good to draw the punters in from a mile away.  Saying that, there's a fair amount of foot-fall and those all-important office workers also have to be wooed.

The decor is certainly appealing with an expensive look to it and the carpets feel lush underfoot.  Obviously there hasn't been time to bed them in, as it were.  Strangely, there was a bookcase of logs surrounding a glass-encased TV screen (that wasn't turned on).  The motives behind the design were discussed, considering the lack of an actual fireplace to put the logs into.  The best we could come up with was that it was an attempt at quirkiness by a committee of straight-laced bean counters.  Or, off-the-shelf, flat-pack antiques from Ikea.  Whichever, you choose.

We were dining as part of a departmental celebratory occasion and the waiter took our eleven-strong party in his stride, directing us to a table overlooking busy Blossom Street.  Admittedly, business lunches are not our usual forte and to be honest, it was the alluring 2 meals for a tenner that drew us in.  

The menu had plenty of options and even the meal deal section that we all plumbed-for offered a decent selection with a couple of nods to the veggie-orientated.  Sausages and mash, fish and chips, chicken and lamb burgers, scampi and chips, Quorn chili.  Yes, it's typical chain-pub fayre and while probably no different to any other ping and ding outfit throughout this green and pleasant land, the imaginative surroundings were raising our expectations.

You can kind of guess what happened can't you?

I went for the minute steak with chips, watercress, mushroom and roasted tomatoes.  There was a sound reasoning behind my decision as the title of the dish also contains the cooking instructions.  A minute steak only has to be cooked for a minute.  Any longer and it's considered nuclear.  Fish and chips was a popular choice and both veggie options were also chosen by various members of our party.

40 minutes into our lunch hour and food was gratefully received, even

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