CANNON BAR AND RESTAURANT
After spending a lovely morning wandering around Gibraltar’s bustling array of
duty free shops, Dean and I felt a little bit peckish and stumbled across a delightful
little pub just off main street.
The Cannon Bar and Restaurant is tucked away up a shady lane off Mainstreet.
It had been a very hot day and we chose to sit in a shaded outside table.
It is a typical English style pub inside. The bar propped up by a couple of locals
watching football on the television.
I asked for a couple of menus and went to wash my hands.
The toilet area was clean enough.
After a couple of minutes a waiter came to take our order. He was polite and courteous.
We both decided to eat a small ploughman’s lunch, as we were too hot for a heavier meal.
Drinks and food were served quickly and we tucked into a delightful plate of
Cheese pickles, salad and crusty bread and butter.
If I had to criticise anything, I would have liked to have had a few different types
of cheese, rather than just a HUGE chunk of cheddar.
But at £3.95 I feel that we had great value for money.
I would certainly visit the Cannon Bar and Restaurant again.
It is certainly not glamorous but it is an English Pub and serves up exactly what is promises. Looking forward to cooler months when I could order some home cooked choices, but in the extreme heat ploughman’s was
a good choice.
GIBRALTAR MONKEY GUIDE
Food. ***
Value ****
Service ***
Cleanliness **
Atmosphere **
MUMBAI CURRY HOUSE
Unit 1.0.02
Block 1
Eurotowers Gibraltar
20073711
Visits to Gibraltar always include a trip to Morrisons to stock up with all the British goodies
on offer that we cannot get here in Estepona.
As usual I was starving and Dean and I looked for somewhere close by to eat.
We had seen the Mumbai Curry House before but never went there to eat, so it was decided to give it a try.
First impressions were not great to be honest, it didn’t look like anything special.
Standing at the counter we took a look at the menu on display there.
We made our selection not sure what the quality of the food was going to be like.
A couple of business types came in chatting and walked up the wooden staircase to the upper level and we followed suit.
I was surprised, it was quite pleasant upstairs, newly decorated and clean.
In the corner of the room were copious sack of rice, piled as high as the room. I have never seen so much rice! It wasn’t off putting though, it was very neat a tidily placed.
The toilets were also situated upstairs and were immaculate.
The little dining room soon became very busy and it became evident that people working around and about had pre-ordered their lunch, probably to save time as they were on their lunch hour.
Nevertheless, we were served quickly by a friendly and attentive waiter.
The food was gorgeous. It tasted fresh and vibrant, not like other Indian meals I have had before where you can taste the commercial cooking paste.
Coming from below I could make out constant chopping going on and you could tell from the quality of the food that all the curry pastes, samosas and bhajis are homemade.
The waiter was friendly without being too pushy, he cleared dirty dishes away without his hardly even noticing.
I would certainly go there again and will take my friend Peter there, who is not too keen on Indian cuisine. I am sure he will be converted.
GIBRALTAR MONKEY GUIDE
Food ****
Value ****
Service ****
Cleanliness ***
Atmosphere ***
THE STAR BAR
Parliament lane
350 75924
The Star Bar looked busy and inside the air conditioning was on which was a nice relief from the heat.
We sat at a nice table in the corner and the waiter came across to take drinks orders and bring the menus.
So far so good. I went to wash my hands and noticed that it wasn’t the cleanest establishment I have been in, but it didn’t matter. It was an old building and I wasn’t expecting anything modern and clean. All part of the charm from a pub that is thought to be the oldest pub in Gibraltar and frequented by Christopher Columbus himself.
Dean ordered a cheese burger which was supposed to be thick and juicy and I ordered the famous Fish and Chips. The board above the bar boasted fish freshly battered in Murphy’s stout with homemade chips. My mouth was watering.
What arrived at the table took me aback immediately. My fish was bright orange as though food colouring had been put in the batter. Still, I thought never mind I will still tuck in.
The fish was a strange texture, almost like an eggy mush. It wasn’t unpleasant, just different,
but the chips were something else. They had been cooked and gone cold and re-cooked and it was impossible to bit into them without breaking a tooth. Maybe they were left over from Christopher Columbus’s plate!
Deans burger was very average, definitely not an £8 burger and it was not particularly juicy although he said the burger bun was very nice.
We paid the bill, tipped the waiter as he was very pleasant and I commented that we thought the food was diabolical.
It’s a shame as I liked the atmosphere of the pub and I bet some great times are had there, but I don’t think we will be returning any time soon.
GIBRALTAR MONKEY GUIDE
Food *
Value *
Service ***
Cleanliness **
Atmosphere ***
