Crouchers Hotel & Restaurant, Chichester

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Crouchers Restaurant

Crouchers Hotel & Restaurant is in Chichester, West Sussex, but not in the centre, they are on the road to the yacht basin and eventually West Wittering. Years ago I remember going past ‘Crouchers Bottom’ – as it was named back then – with big plaster casts of bare bottoms on the wall. I appear to be the only one in my family who remembers this…perhaps I dreamt it.

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Spiced tomato & cumin soup

We had a warm and friendly welcome and were shown to a table in a lovely airy and light room where several other people were enjoying their lunch. A set menu was available, two courses for £15.50 or three for £21.50. We were given some fresh home-made bread. Salted white and walnut & raisin.

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Stilton creme brulee

Geoff, as per usual, went for the soup. Spiced Tomato & Cumin soup with red pepper salsa & crème fraîche which he said was very tasty with a little kick from the cumin.

I had the Stilton Crème Brûlée served with parmesan espuma, apple jelly & Stilton biscuit which was absolutely divine! The soft Stilton base wasn’t too strong with a lovely burnt sugar crust. Placed upon this was a wonderful crisp and fresh parmesan biscuit. The espuma wasn’t quite foamy, more of a whipped cream texture but was still very tasty. Upon the plate were circles of bright green apple jelly and some sprigs of basil (?). Whatever it was was very fragrant.

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SO good!

Lots of textures in this dish. I loved it!

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Corn fed chicken

Geoff had the Corn-fed chicken with crispy bacon and parmentier potatoes, spring vegetables with a warm confit chicken leg supreme, which was a little like pulled pork. I had a taste of Geoff’s chicken which was very tender.

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Pan fried calves liver

I thought I’d go for something a little different, a bit more adventurous for me anyway. Pan fried calves liver with pancetta crisp, wholegrain mustard mash and a red wine jus. I don’t have liver much at home, I find that once I’ve cut out all those horrible tubes I’m left with hardly anything at all. This, however was very tender (no tubes) and so many flavours. I found some onion in a creamy sauce hiding underneath the liver. The only thing I didn’t like – and nor did Geoff when he tried some – was the mustard mash. Neither of us are fans of mustard but we do have it in sauces when we dine out but there was a little too much in this for our liking and it seemed to dry the mash out.

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Beans with peppers and red onion

We ordered a side dish of beans – at an extra cost – which came with peppers and red onion. The beans were crisp and crunchy and the pepper and onions really made the dish.

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Set orange rice pudding

For dessert Geoff went for the Set orange rice pudding, confit plums, poppy seed tuile and a coriander gel. He enjoyed his rice pudding but wasn’t overly keen on the coriander gel, although I thought it was lovely. The poppy seed tuile reminded us of the desserts we had at The Kitchen in Southsea.

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White chocolate & caramel fondant

My dessert was ordered from the À la carte menu so I had to pay a couple of pounds extra. It was worth it though. It was SO good I’ve had to show you three photos of it. This is White chocolate & caramel fondant served with chocolate ganache, raspberry pieces & raspberry sorbet. The sorbet was deliciously rich, the ganache too and very thick with a sprinkle of chocolate soil.

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My gorgeous dessert

The fondant was similar to those ‘melt in the middle’ puds you get from M&S etc., but so much better. The centre was hot and runny and a little like dulce de leche, quite rich and thankfully lots of it.

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Hot, smooth rich liquid centre

Oh my goodness, you will not believe how wonderful this was! I didn’t want it to end. The best dessert I’ve had for a while.

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Petit fours

I just had to finish this lovely meal off with a coffee as it was served with petit fours. I’ve often said that more places need to serve these and finally I’ve found a place which does. These were all home-made, a rich chocolate, a crisp shortbread and an apple jelly.

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The room we were sat in

The room we were sat in overlooked a well-kept garden, in fact all the grounds looked up-together and well looked after. We didn’t get to look around too much outside as it was raining, so no photo of the front of the hotel & restaurant either I’m sorry to say but it is sign posted so you shouldn’t miss it.

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There were several rooms which went into one another, all a little different as you can see by the photos. Whilst we were there some people came in to have Afternoon Tea.

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Easy listening music played softly in the background. We felt so comfortable and peaceful sitting there we didn’t want to leave.

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We thought Crouchers Restaurant was top-notch and thoroughly enjoyed our meals. There’s no doubt that we shall return very soon.

Ambience 9
Value 8
Quality 8
Service 8
Return? YES!

Living life, absolutely loving Crouchers!

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3 Comment

  1. […] ← Crouchers Hotel & Restaurant, Chichester […]

  2. […] work (on a well known search engine) I see that the head chef, Craig Mustard comes from Crouchers (which is also in Chichester, on the Birdham Road). The name ‘Purchases’ comes from […]

  3. […] most restaurants around the area (and good ones at that) are all relatively cheaper, for example Crouchers just up the road from the Crab & Lobster which we visited only last week, priced at 2 for […]

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