Meat & Barrel, Southsea

Recently opened in what used to be a Chinese restaurant, this single story corner building is open, airy and has the feel of a school canteen, with its parquet floors and tubular canteen dining tables. The image ends there, though. The décor is centred around exposed brickwork and iron columns, glazed tiles and painted render, while a couple of Chesterfields allow a more relaxed seating style. To obtain food, you order from a clipboarded menu collected from the entrance – a bit naff, and doesn’t really add to the experience. The fare is trendy, over-priced burgers. The real strength of this place is its beer, which is superb. I counted thirteen beers available on tap, a mix of real ales and quality imported beers – no rubbish. There were more choices in bottles but I lost count of how many. The best beer of the evening was Vibrant’s Nova Forresta which really was in excellent condition, while none of the beers we sampled disappointed in any way. Music was a sedate background hum, quite relaxing in a way. The clientele was a mixture of humans, students and bearded trolls, and the overall atmosphere was pleasant, nostalgic and amiable. This novel, lively business is well worth revisiting, and it’s a must for a town crawl.