The Granary, Dewars lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed

i am just testing this review page to see if it is working.

Forget the pretentious, elitist and overly expensive restaurants in the area; I was privileged to have what can only be described as a most refreshing experience of customer service when I visited the restaurant at the Granary in Dewar’s Lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed. The Granary is a newly refurbished Youth Hostel, part of the international Youth Hostel Association

As someone who has travelled extensively in the UK on business over the last forty years, and has eaten in some of the best and frankly dire establishments, I have a wealth of stories about British Cuisine.

I am a retired professional engineering consultant and have the ability to see through the weasel words of the advertising world when it comes to the description of some well known restaurants and the excessively flowery language used in their menus. 

Quite by chance I visited the Granary restaurant last Thursday 26th July in an attempt to find somewhere new to eat out. I was greeted by Gary, the chef who informed me he was due to launch a new evening dinner menu on Friday 27th July. I asked him the likely content and was pleasantly surprised at the type of cuisine he proposed to offer.

I decided to book a table for Saturday 28th July for myself, my wife and our friends, a retired professional couple, both of whom enjoy eating out in the UK and worldwide. 

We arrived at the Granary in the early evening of Saturday and after usual pleasantries sat down at our table.

All four of us liked the look of the menu and decided what we would like to eat, whilst deliberating; we decided to ask if we could sample most of the items on the menu, to our absolute delight Helen, who, that evening was doubling as receptionist for the hotel element of the Granary and as waiting staff in the restaurant, agreed to our request.

The starters arrived on our table, and what struck all of us was the creative presentation of the dishes allied to a superb taste. We ordered two bottles of white wine that we thought would complement the meal. The main courses arrived and again we were all impressed at the presentation and imaginative use of ingredients, which gave a new perspective on the dishes. 

We had an excellent evening, and as the evening drew to a close, we decided we needed to settle our bill We braced ourselves in anticipation of the likely figure, and were pleasantly surprised when the bill amounted to just under sixty pounds which meant the cost per person worked out at less than fifteen pounds!!!.

We thanked Gary and Helen for an extremely enjoyable evening and we all commented how totally professional both of them had been towards us. In closing a lot of the local restaurants, bistros, wine bars need to visit the Granary to see true professionalism in action

David Luis Spencer-Barry

Retired Consulting Engineer