The Bear, Devizes

Last Sunday I went for a meal to celebrate my Grandad's birthday with my dad's side of the family. We went to a restaurant which is part of a hotel in Devizes, where we had been for one of his previous birthdays too.

It was a pub style place, but with a menu which was trying to be slightly more upmarket than the usual pub food; you can see the menu here.

Luckily other people wanted starters so I wasn't alone (always a risk when eating out with people with unknown appetites)!

My dad and I both went for game pâté with chutney and crostini

It was a really good pâté - rich but not overly so, and I really liked the crunch of the crostini and the acidity of the chutney to complement it.

My mum had a salmon and crayfish parcel, and Uncle Francis had breaded brie with caramelised onion and cranberry marmalade.

Yummy oozy cheese

For main I took a risk and went for the burger - this was probably a mistake however, as this is the burger experience to which I referred in my post about The Bull. I asked the waitress if I could have it medium rare, to which she said I could have it medium, but they were not allowed to cook it medium rare (I never understand this as a steak can be cooked rare?! But never mind). Anyway, the burger arrived and was definitely more towards well done...

It was quite flavoursome and had a lot of cheese which is great, but because it was so overcooked (in my opinion) it was nowhere near juicy enough and when eaten with the bread roll it became far too dry. The chips took chip fatness to a new level but were very nice and fluffy on the inside.

My mum, Gill (my step granny), Aunty Nicky and Uncle Francis all chose sea bass with thai king prawn curry and rice, while Grandad went for pie and dauphinoise potatoes and my dad chose the steak sandwich

If I were to go again I would definitely have the steak sandwich - despite not asking my dad how he wanted the steak cooked, it came looking quite pink which I would have liked, and the chutney with it was delicious! My dad said it was very tender steak and I instantly regretted my burger decision ever more!

I was actually really full after all the bread and chips in my main, but decided to soldier on and get a pudding, and chose the lemon and lime crème brûlée. Uncle Francis had the same, as did Gill; Aunty Nicky had the bread and butter pudding and everyone else was too full! (Pathetic!)

The bread and butter pudding actually looked really good and hearty; my crème brûlée was okay but I would have preferred the lemon and lime to be a stronger flavour and cut through the creamyness more. I love a normal crème brûlée but because this one had been advertised to have lemon and lime in I wanted to taste it more!

Overall I thought the meal was good, but it probably could have been a lot better had I chosen something different for the main - still, at least I have learnt to never again order a burger from a place which won't cook it how I want it!