The Carvery at The Strand Palace Hotel is a carnivore’s delight with plenty to offer in the way of meat but a few of the finer details still need a little work.

The Venue
The Carvery is but one of the Strand Palace Hotel’s set of five bars and restaurants – all of which are open to guests and visitors alike. It’s open for breakfast, dinner and Sunday lunch and is surely hoping to pull in more than just those who are staying there. A marble-effect stone floor and wide pillars give The Carvery a grand appearance in-keeping with the rest of the hotel. Bright lights, excessive use of white, and a bit too much empty space, though, does little to create atmosphere and as such the restaurant is left feeling exactly what it is – a hotel restaurant.

The Atmosphere
But service is much warmer than the surroundings and is as friendly as can be, which goes a long way to making up for the lacklustre atmosphere and occasional lapses in efficiency. Meanwhile, the long carvery which runs the restaurant’s length also helps the cause. Joints of beef, turkey and lamb are appetite whetting rays of light across the lobby-style room.

The Food
There are two menus on offer at The Carvery. The first is a selective a la carte, and the second the eponymous and extensive carvery selection. Starters are a highlight of a la carte options, with inventive dishes including smoked duck with raspberry and tamarind sauce and a mango salad (£8.95), and calamari with saffron risotto (£8.95). The calamari option is an outright success – the rolls of squid succulent and smoky from chargrilling, and the risotto creamy with a strong saffron flavour. Whilst the inventiveness is commendable, the duck seems more like an experiment gone awry. Overly smoked, wafer thin pieces of duck are accompanied by what is essentially raspberry jam and a lettuce and mango salad covered in a troubling, synthetic-tasting honey and mustard dressing.

More traditional main course options are in hindsight the safer route. Fish and chips (£15.95) consists of suitably crisp and crunchy battered haddock which is moist, flaky and fresh tasting, retaining its full flavour. The chips are also good but their uniformity shouts oven chips, and it’s a shame that some vinegar is so hard to come by. Overall, though, it is perfectly enjoyable.

The carvery (£14.95 for two courses, £17.95 for three courses), as would be hoped, is a more consistent story. Those tempting hunks of meat live up to the expectation. Though carvery meat can risk being dry and over-cooked from excessive sitting under light, these are still fresh and moist by the end of the evening – and the beef and lamb are served refreshingly rare. Portions of meat are generous, and the accompaniments are free to help yourself to. Vegetables are impressively crisp and crunchy and there’s a good range of seasonal options on offer – carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach – not to mention the array of potato options. Horseradish sauce is a highlight, zingy but not burningly hot and full of fresh horseradish flavour, though the cranberry and mint sauces are aren't particularly special and the English mustard is of the far-too-yellow kind, which is disappointing.

On paper the dessert selection is impressive and they don’t come out bad. A chocolate fondant (£6.95) is genuinely unctuous with a gooey centre, and the special Strand Trifle (£6.95) ticks all the boxes with layers of boozy sponge, jelly, fruit, custard and cream. As seems to be the pattern developing, though, it’s the small (but important) things which let the side down. The fondant’s pistachio ice cream is quite pleasant but the very green colour is off-putting and the custard is rather flavourless.

The Drink
Given the hotel has its own separate bar, drinks aren’t a focus of The Carvery’s menu, but requests can be handled if necessary. For wine, though, there’s no need to get the bar involved as The Carvery has a good enough selection, spanning a fairly large price range – red and white are around the £16.50 mark and £4.95 or £5.95 a glass – and good offerings. The white is a refreshing, easy-to-drink Chardonnay which is a bit of an all-rounder good with some of the fish options but able to cope with the meat as well. The kitchen is also capable of bringing out a good coffee (£2.95) or two.

The Last Word
The Carvery at the Strand Palace Hotel is halfway to where it ought to be. The carvery selection is an impressive one which should please the carnivorous, but still the small things let it down. It’s not bad, but could be so much better.

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