The Potting Shed Hyde — Restaurant in New Forest

Friends of mine have been going to The Potting Shed for years, and thank goodness someone finally mentioned to me that I should try it out. I started going about two or three months ago, mostly for breakfast now and then, and every time I’ve been impressed with the warm, relaxed atmosphere and genuinely friendly service.

Yesterday — the 11th of September — I went for lunch there for the first time and ordered a cheeseburger. I told the lady serving me exactly how I liked it, including fried onions, and the chef delivered it flawlessly. Everything I asked for was spot-on — no shortcuts, no “close enough.”

The result? Quite simply the best burger I’ve eaten in England in the 30 years I’ve lived here. The patty was cooked to perfection, juicy and medium rather than burnt to a crisp, the cheese melted beautifully over it, and the bun held it all together without falling apart. The toppings were fresh and generous, the onions fried just right, and the chips — golden, crisp, and fluffy inside — were a proper side, not an afterthought.

Now, I don’t say this lightly: I’m a burger connoisseur from South Africa, the land of ultimate burgers, and I’ve been on the hunt for a decent one ever since I moved here. After decades of disappointment with roadside rubbish and overdone patties, dry buns, no fillings I can finally say I’ve found the real thing.

So if you’re after a proper cheeseburger — not the average fare you get elsewhere — go to The Potting Shed. Ask for everything on it, ask for the fried onions, and you’ll be treated to a burger experience you...

Wonderful place for breakfast and the cakes looked divine. Sadly, we weren’t able to sample the cakes due to the attitude of the senior member of staff.

We arrived, sat down at an empty table, ordered our food and advised the senior member of staff (possibly owner?) that we were at table 500. She took the order (and our money of course) and we waited for our food and coffee. The coffee arrived and then some time after a member of the staff put ‘reserved’ signs on the two tables connected to ours and asked the people occupying the other end of the tables to move . We were not asked to move. Then a few of the eleven persons who had reserved the tables arrived and told us that there wouldn’t be room for us as they had pre booked their meals. There were no spare tables for us to move to so I said that we would move once one did become available. Unfortunately, our food arrived before there were any spare tables. At 11.27 (and I assume the table was reserved from 11.30) whilst we were still eating, the senior member of staff (possibly owner) came over and, rather rudely in my opinion, told us that the table was reserved and tried to accuse us of sitting there knowing it was reserved. This could have been handled in a much more sympathetic way - I completely understand that mistakes happen and had the staff been up front with the issue at the start and helped us to find another table - we would have been totally accommodating but to actually accuse us of wrong doing is totally unacceptable.

On a positive -the breakfast and coffee...

Visited with friends and we were sadly disappointed. I had a veggie full breakfast, which was good and was ok for the price. Two friends had the mini brekky, which for £8.95 was very mini and basic. One friend ordered the cinnamon toast which was so dry and inedible that she had to swap it out for normal toast with butter and jam. After being in for just over an hour and enjoying our catch up, we were told by the man in charge that we only had another 15 mins left on our table. A head’s up that we were only allowed to stay for a limited amount of time when we booked or arrived would have been appreciated. We then moved outside but were reluctant to buy more drinks because we’d been rushed to leave/paid already. The cafe wasn’t overly busy and having stayed quite a long time outside trying to have our catch up, our vacated table didn’t get used by others and there continued to be others free inside. The man in charge was not very friendly or welcoming, and was heard by one of our group a couple of times talking rudely about the ‘cinnamon toast issue’. One of us was charged extra for a ‘shot’ in their coffee that they hadn’t asked for and to their knowledge therefore didn’t have. The man was not having this though and made my friend feel uncomfortable enough to make her pay the extra for this. The young waitresses were friendly however. Perhaps a struggling cafe or new/inexperienced staff member? Perhaps...