The Grannery

The Grannery has been renamed The Clubhouse Bar & Brasserie. After eating there the other day I donated a pack of mushrooms. Why? Well it seems the credit crunch / economic downturn has taken its toll on the menu.

The menu declares mushrooms as part of their breakfast selection but mine arrived resplendent with one solitary mushroom cap. Apparently, the restaurant uses Portobello mushrooms in the kitchen and being a â??largeâ?? species, restaurant convention is to serve a single mushroom (cap?). Even so the cap had dimensions commensurate with a 10-pence piece.

Same deal some days later, the â??full breakfastâ?? arrived accompanied by HALF a SINGLE MUSHROOM CAP! I was told the breakfast policy had changed to serving BUTTON mushrooms with breakfast, the Portobellos now being reserved to accompany steaks for evening diners. But, breakfast chef running low on supplies reverted to serving Portobellos instead and, â??Portobello mushrooms being a â??largeâ?? speciesâ??, etc, etc opted to serve half the mushroom cap in place of a portion of button mushrooms.

I might be wide of the mark, but the same place also claimed to be in short supply of tea and limited toast with breakfast to a single round due to a â??shortage of breadâ?? too, so I might be forgiven for thinking at just under £7:00 per head, their caterer just canâ??t buy enough produce to satisfy the menu.

So I gave them the carton of mushrooms with my compliments. Hopefully I can maybe anticipate something more generous than half a mushroom cap with breakfast if I visit soon. And if I donâ??t, well Iâ??m comforted by the knowledge that some other diner might not be fractionally disappointed in their portion of mushrooms.

I pointed out too that ASDA, TESCO and M&S food were all within a couple of hundred yards of the restaurant, maybe they could shop around for the best price to help solve the scarcity of tea and bread supplies.