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Being a foodie means something different to everyone. While puritans will say that only small independents will do, others look for value or try to find interesting dishes in the most unlikely of places.

Tonight, I headed with Cambridge Foodies moderator Gerry to explore the recently refurbished Boathouse in Peterborough. This is part of the Chef & Brewer chain, so is popular with families.

It’s not the sort of place you would normally associate with foodies but I was interested to see what I could find, as even the most hardcore foodies end up at restaurants like these from time to time.

I was excited to visit Peterborough. It’s the biggest city in Cambridgeshire and strangely we rarely visit. This is particularly surprising considering I literally live bang in the middle between Peterborough and Cambridge. I was also intrigued, as the Boathouse has recently had a “6 figure refurbishment”, so I was looking forward to seeing what the place looked like after such an investment.

Upon entering, you immediately noticed the interior. It has a rustic yet traditional living room feel.  It’s clean, pleasant, and has a warm familiarity that you would feel comfortable bringing friends and family too. It is dog friendly, has free parking with EV charging, and a beer garden.

♿ As you would expect, the restaurant has good disabled facilities.

The beers on draft were fairly standard. Expect Birra Moretti, Peroni, and Madri. The ales were Abbot and Greene King IPA.

I was pleased to see Level Head, a session IPA (4%). This won’t wow the craft beer fans out there but it will be just enough to satisfy their discerning taste, something a lot of pubs just can’t do.

The menu was large and fairly generic. A safe bet for families and children (as you would expect from a pub chain).

As a foodie, I was looking out for things that stand out or tickle my fancy. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few interesting finds, including Korean chicken, grass-fed rib eye steak, wild boar bangers and mash, and a Keralan chickpea curry.

Keralan chickpea curry

We started off with the Keralan chickpea curry. This vegetarian dish came with naan bread, a papadum, basmati & wild rice, and spice roasted cauliflower. All of which came to just under £15.

Both Gerry and I were in agreement that this was one of the strongest dishes of the night. The toasted flatbread was pretty bleak, giving off a cardboard texture, but the papadum was a good size and nice and crispy. The chickpea curry was delicious and full of warm spicy flavour. The cauliflower was cooked well and really complimented the dish perfectly. Not bad!

Korean chicken

Next, was the “Duo of Korean chicken”. I am a big fan of Korean chicken (and Korean food in general), so I was keen to see what they could do here.

It was called “duo” because it is served with two different types of chicken. Chicken breast and chicken strips, that are both glazed in a sticky Korean sauce. This is then presented with basmati & wild rice, pickled cucumber ribbons, tangy kimchi, fresh chilli, and sesame seeds.

I was a big fan of the Korean strips. They were sweet, crispy, and had a lovely spicy kick. They could have done with a little more meat in them but were completely enjoyable.

The chicken breast looked fantastic but we both found it a little dry. Eating it on its own resulted in a serious lack of flavour, with the Korean spice failing to capture our taste buds but it was saved somewhat by the side of kimchi.

The kimchi itself was lighter than regular kimchi, with less of a punchy taste. It felt almost like a kimchi salsa but I really enjoyed it. It was not only more refreshing than kimchi I have had in the past but managed to save the chicken breast somewhat when combined together. This was an exciting dish but a mixed bag in delivery.

Rib eye steak

I was keen to try the 10oz grass-fed rib eye steak on the menu. Rib eye is my favourite cut of steak and being grass-fed is a real flex. We ordered it with peppercorn sauce with chips, a tomato, and a side salad.

Overall, the rib eye steak was good but I had a few issues with it. It was a good size and had a lovely soft and very tender texture. This was accompanied with a deep and very bold flavour in parts that would be worthy at any steak joint. Our main issue with the steak was how poorly butchered it was. The cut was 30-40% gristle and fat, leaving a lot of the steak to be inedible.

We requested the steak medium rare but both Gerry and I felt this was medium. We also found it to be inconsistently cooked throughout, with some parts well done and others medium/medium rare.

This left 60-70 of the steak to be an absolute delight to eat and the rest being left on the plate. Essentially, it was a 6-7oz steak.

The chips were thick cut with a nice crispy skin – just how I like them! They complimented the steak well and were perfectly executed.

Signature burger

The signature burger is a hand-pressed beef burger with slow-roasted beef rib braised with Merlot and beef dripping gravy. It was accompanied with Irish mature cheddar in a seeded bun with onion rings and chips.

The burger was a good size and the hand-pressed beef was thick and very juicy. It would have been nice to see some pinkage in the middle and unfortunately the taste was long absent in the patty. The beef rib was almost entirely missing until the end where I found a small chunk. To its credit, it had a lovely smokey flavour that really stood out but was only in a small corner of the burger.

I was delighted to see a seeded bun in a world dominated by brioche. It made a nice change and the bun just about managed to handle the large size of the burger.

The chips weren’t the same as the ones found with the steak. They were thinner and less crispy. I wasn’t a fan myself and found them entirely forgeable. After slathering them in sauce, they were good enough though.

The burger itself, though good value in terms of size, failed to meet the standard of my burger league table. It was by no means a terrible burger but didn’t capture our imagination either.

Dessert

We finished off the evening with an apple tart with a small dollups of coconut ice cream. This was garnished with rocket(?) and powdered sugar.

It was beautifully presented and was big enough to share between the two of us. It had a sweet yet slightly washed out apple flavour, possibly due to being over-boiled? The ice cream really saved the dish with a creamy coconut taste.

If I’m honest, I am not sure the rocket complimented the apple tart. The flavours felt a little mismatched but this was not a problem for me, as it was easily removed.

Conclusion

The Boathouse offered some interesting dishes for a family pub. I always visit places like this and expect the same old stuff but they have managed to intrigue me with a handful of options.

The dishes were all well presented and looked fantastic on the plate but they all had their niggles (with some bigger than others).

The Keralan chickpea curry and the Korean duo chicken were strong contenders out of the bunch.

If the restaurant could source steaks that have been butchered better then I would say that their rib eye would be right up there but that remains to be seen. The burger was a bit of a let down and I would have liked to have seen a better selection of beer.

In terms of food, the Boathouse may struggle to impress hardened foodies but I appreciate the effort they have made in making their menu more diverse and interesting.

Either way, you can’t complain at the value, with a mains and a few drinks averaging £20pp.

The restaurant looks fantastic and offers dishes that I would be keen to try on my next visit (wild boar bangers and mash).

I look forward to popping back when the sun is out and taking advantage of the water side beer garden.

Thanks for reading