The Swan — Restaurant in Rushmoor

I’m in the area for the night and feeling like a curry, but it’s been a long hot day and a beer is in order. The Swan is just a three minute walk from my hotel, and despite the inclement weather I go there to slake my thirst.

There were a lot of people coming in for dinner so I asked for a menu. One gentleman near me had already ordered the steak. A 12 oz rump.

I could see food coming out of the kitchen that looked pretty good and decided to forego the curry.

Well, this is the way steaks should always be presented, a cut with some thickness. It was like I was back in the Riverina in far west New South Wales, Australia, where eighteen months working remotely gave me the opportunity to live my dream - a steak a night, night after night.

Well, back to The Swan. The steak had a perfect crunch and burn on the outside, still a nice blue pink inside. The pepper sauce came in adequate quantity, with a delicious side salad not overpowering the dish in vinegar. And the grilled shallot was a pleasant change from the tomato that one always gets.

The meal was washed down with a bottle of Argentinian Malbec, from San Juan province which seems to be competing well with wines from the cooler Mendoza region. Wednesday is Wine Offer night - £19.50 a bottle, and tonight was Wednesday.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable meal, one that reinforced one’s decision to eat here.

And my usual final comment, would I return? Most definitely. To miss the opportunity of such a brilliant steak is not on the agenda. I...

Took my disabled mother here for lunch after visiting an exhibition at farnborugh exhibition center. We googled nearest food to us, with disabled access car park, and the swan came up. We went, parked in their car park, enjoyed the beer garden, ate and left within an hour. A week later we recieved a parking penalty charge notice saying we didnt have permission to use their car park. We got in touch, sent a photo of us in their beer garden, with our food, and a photo of my credit card with the transaction on the day we went- and they said all we can do is appeal and hope it works. Its £100 charge if we loose appeal- we have proof we were there- and shouldn't have to be fighting a fee when we were paying customers using their car park. Don't go- not worth the risk! Absolutely ridiculous. Its really upset my mother, as it was her car we used for the day- shes elderly and doesn't understand and now doesn't want to go out again for the day because shes frightened it will happen again she can't afford it. She shouldn't be having to go...

I keep giving this place one more chance and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a lost cause. The food’s okay, if you can get any (more on that later), but nothing special.

Unfortunately since its refit The Swan is almost always mostly empty, so there’s very little atmosphere. But it’s local and handy hence the multiple last chances.

On Monday I popped in and thought I’d have some food, I tried to order food at 8:20pm (served until 9:30pm according to the website) but was told by the barman that he thought they’d decided to shut the kitchen early. He went off to check and confirmed they’d shut. This despite a few people eating around me.

When you choose a venue and travel there based on advertised services and they randomly change the terms, it’s a massive frustration. Even more outrageously exactly the same thing happened a couple of months earlier when I went there with friends. On that occasion we persuaded the kitchen to re-open, but it’s not really...