Best Western Plus Philipburn House Hotel, Jacobite Room

When we found that our preferred lunchtime spot was fully booked on Saturday, we decided to drive across to Selkirk and revisit the Philipburn. Compared to previous visits, some years ago, when I was a fairly regular visitor, our Saturday lunch was a rather disappointing affair. For one, the menu has switched from traditional Scottish fare to a fairly limited Italian style menu, and was missing some of the choices shown on their website menu. For a weekend, the restaurant and bar area was quite empty, with just one other table occupied. Our lunch order was, 1. Deep fried battered cod, served with artichokes and fennel salad and tartare sauce (I added the £2 extra for chips). 2. Cured meat board, homemade chutney, with sourdough bread. We finished off with 1. baked cheesecake with fruit compote, and 2. Meringue, strawberry coulisse and forest fruit, and a black coffee. The cod and salad portions were rather small, and the chips were very dry and over crispy. The meat platter came with insufficient bread for the amount of meat served, and although the staff noticed and returned with the missing olives, the homemade chutney never materialised. The deserts were fairly unremarkable. But, and unforgivable for an Italian menu, the coffee, despite being served in a cafetiere, was of the instant variety. On Googling up the Philipburn Hotel later, I saw that it had recently changed hands, so, to be fair, it may be that the new owners are still settling in. It certainly won't be replacing our usual local dining out venues, at least not yet.

A strange rating, as I have enjoyed each and every visit, this far. Dog friendly and great for a bar drop in. Not stayed in the rooms as live local. Wanted to utilise this place more, as Staff are great, very attentive and the food has been very nice, only thing is, they've opted for an Italian themed menu, which I personally found limiting, I like pub grub meals .. quality was very nice, but restrictive .. When I first visited here last year the menu had better variations. That said, I will continue to frequent here, always a welcoming environment.