Dinner at The Newmarket, Ayr, Ayrshire

So it was the start of September and just to welcome the autumn in we had a wet miserable day in Ayrshire. I had been away for a few days and had no food in the house but instead of going to the grocery shop I decided that I needed the warmth and comfort of a restaurant (I really don't ever need much convincing to go restaurant but I feel the need to justify it). We decided to stay local and try out a really new restaurant in Ayr, The Newmarket. At the time of my visit it had only been open for a few weeks. I have been following it on social media and thought it looked very nice. 

My first impression was of a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We had come in from the rain & cold and as soon as I walked in the door I felt relaxed. The restaurant wasn't overly busy so we had the pick of seats and choose a booth. We were given our menus and a drinks order was taken. 

Food
There is a wide variety of dishes on the menu which caters for all tastes. For starter you can get dishes such as soup; cullen skink; a chickpea dish; scallops and rabbit to name but a few. For mains you can choose from tikka marinated chicken; coley; beef burger; pork and a veg curry etc. For dessert you can have cheesecake, sticky toffee pudding, cheese plate and ice cream. There was also a market menu but we didn't actually look at it, we just picked off the a la carte menu.

For starters I went for chickpea, tomato, broad bean and beetroot cassoulet. Mr EmmaEats went for pressed ham hough, cheddar bon bons and piccalilli. My dish was lovely and it really had a good kick to it, however there wasn't anything overly special about it. Mr EE really liked his starter, in particular the ham hough. 

For mains I went for the veg curry which is described as broccoli, cauliflower, & kohlarabi red curry, rice and coconut naan. It was a pretty dish and I did feel that maybe the portion was a bit on the small side (but I always feel in restaurants that a vegetarian dish is nearly always on the small side - clearly vegetarians have smaller stomachs - right??) however, the portion was actually perfect and I was pretty full after it. I did feel however that it was a bit bland - my starter had more of a kick to it. Don't get me wrong it was fine but just bland. 

Mr EE loved his dinner. He went for the 8oz ribeye, hand cut chips, roast tomato, flat cap mushroom and peppercorn. He said the meat was a really good piece of meat. It may not look it from the photo but the portion was actually huge - the chips were hidden under the fine portion of meat. It was also cooked to Mr EE's liking. 

We decided to share a dessert as the both of us were pretty full. We went for the sticky toffee pudding. I just had two bites and to be honest I really wanted to go for more but I refrained. Mr EE quiet happily finished off the dessert, clearly loving every bite. Food rating: 3/5. 

Service
The staff were very attentive here and there was also plenty of staff on. Food came out pretty quickly but we did get a break between each course. Service rating: 5/5.

Atmosphere
As I said earlier, the moment I walked in the door I just got a warm and welcoming feeling. It was a Thursday night and to be honest I did expect to see more people there, but as I said above, they are only open a few weeks so hopefully over time it will fill up. The restaurant is beautifully decorated with lovely glass features on the roof and lovely wall features - which you can see in the photo below. Atmosphere rating: 4/5.

Price
The total cost of our meal was £47.80 which included 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 dessert, 2 bottles of sparlking water, a large glass of wine and 2 coffees. This I thought was really good value. When I studied the receipt it turned out that our starters and mains must have been on the market menu (with a £3 supplement for the steak) as were only charged for 2 market menu's with the supplement and a dessert. Price rating: 4/5.

Last Words
I really liked my visit here - whilst my dishes may not have blown me away I think that this place is very promising. It must be borne in mind that this restaurant is only in it's infancy and will need time to find it's groove. It is certainly a great addition to the food scene in Ayr and I really hope that they do well. We will certainly be back. Total rating: 16 out of 20. 

Date Visited: Thursday, 1 September 2016.

Restaurant Details:
The Newmarket,
48 Newmarket Street,
KA7 1LH,
Ayr.

Website: none
Telephone no: 01292 268519

If there is anywhere you think I should try next I would love to hear from you. You can either comment below or email me at emma@emmaeats.co.uk 

Thanks a mil for reading.

Emma mai xx