Back in 2002, good friends Alex Reilley, Jake Bishop and David Reid spotted a big gap in the merrymaking market. Basically, they noticed the lack of neighbourhood/’third space’ café-bar affairs that they themselves would want to go to… so they decided to create one in their home town, Bristol.
Today, there are multiple Lounges across the UK (Verdetto Lounge – the landmark 200th Lounge – opening in Buckingham on the day I’m writing this review). Heck, Lounges are almost as familiar to high streets in both our small towns and big cities as McWagaFrancoNandoExpress.
But are they, really? As 20th century diarist and eroticist Anaïs Nin said, “what we are familiar with, we cease to see.” And although I’ve both seen and visited Velo Lounge on Bath’s lovely, lively Moorland Road (the first Lounge to open outside of Bristol, est. 2007) on countless occasions down the years, I believe I’m guilty of the all-too-common offence that is grant-taking.
16 years ago, the Lounge group’s artfully stylised, home-from-home vintage flourishes transformed this split-level former bike shop (Velo: bike – geddit?) into a uniquely quirky space laden with witty contemporary flair. Like, how? Like this: plenty of sofas and over-stuffed armchairs for that all-important lounging. Plenty of very solid wooden tables for those all-important “let’s eat” moments, for groups of all sizes. Fringed standard lamps and strange paintings that cause startling ‘remember-your-grandmas-house?’ flashbacks. Candles nestling up against American diner-style squeezy tomato-shaped ketchup thingies; books and board games scattered hither and thither; friendly dogs all over the place. And – get this! – you could eat wherever (and pretty much whenever) you wanted to eat, however you wanted to eat it. Gosh!
Okay, so the Brown’s chain had long since made the brasserie concept accessible to all, Pizza Express had shown us that contemporary pizzerias could indeed be upper-crust and Gourmet Burger Kitchen were keen to introduce us to burgers that didn’t come served in polystyrene boxes. But the Lounges weren’t claiming to be brasseries, or slowed-down fast food joints. The closest thing you could compare a Lounge menu to, back in the day, was probably a traditional American diner menu: all-day breakfasts, big sandwiches, burgers, chillies, steaks and sundaes. They were menus that we all wanted – and very much needed.
Those menus haven’t changed much down the years, for very good reason: who can’t find something to eat at a Lounge? There’s Tapas too, and fashionable flatbreads. And if the calorie count in the Spaghetti Carbonara (ah, modern times, eh?) shocks you out of the comfort food zone, the salads are imaginatively tempting in their own salad-y way.
We eschewed both the subtly seductive, largely candlelit room beyond the Velo Lounge bar and the cheerful first floor living room too in favour of an up-front table for two which seemed more fitting, somehow, after drinks at a pavement table facing the chippy, the Indian BYO restaurant, the vape shop and the estate agent over the road; ah, the classic, modern urban landscape, all present and correct.
First up, a Tapas Board sharer (3 for £12.95): crisp, light, Salt and Pepper Squid in big bite format with roast garlic mayo; super-plump Sesame Satay Chicken Wings; oozy, cheesy Spicy Beef Quesadillas. Good? Very good (and I love it that none of the Tapas selection has been re-marketed as the dreaded Small Plates – hoorah!).
On from that, for him, Buttermilk Fried Chicken – plump, tender, beautifully seasoned and properly crispy – with chipotle mayo, superb slaw and skin-on fries; a proper, Big Boy treat. For me, Nasi Goreng – and how often do you see that on a downhome, casual dining menu? I’m guessing that the chef behind the menu at the Lounge chain made darn sure that both the Kecap Manis and shrimp paste required to make NG the depth-charge, uniquely flavoursome fried rice dish made it into this dish – mine certainly tasted as though they did. It was laden with chicken and prawns too, and plenty of chilli, and generous smatterings of sesame seeds. My only niggle was that the all-important fried egg on top of the rice should, to my mind, have been runny. But on further research, William Wongso – Indonesia’s foremost celebrity chef, don’cha – says that’s not necessarily the case, so I stand corrected… and I’d definitely return to Velo Lounge for this dish alone, ‘cos as far as I know, there ain’t nowhere else I’m going to get a thoroughly decent Nasi Goreng in Bath.
It being a Monday evening’n’all, a glass of house wine (could’ve been a beer, or a softie) came gratis with our main courses – and bloody good wine it was too.
I am no longer going to take the British neighbourhood bistro-on-my-doorstep for granted. As the full Nin quote goes, “it is the function of the writer to renew our perception, to shake up the familiar scene and see a new meaning in it.” It’s my hope that you too will find new meaning in a familiar restaurant chain that, 21 years ago, started it’s own little revolution.
Oh, and by the way! Were you a fan of the iconic Little Chef chain of roadside diners, which were massively popular in the days when A-roads ruled the holiday routes? The Loungers have set their SatNav for a revolution along that route too. You can already visit their Brightside diners circa Exeter, Saltash and Honiton; in 21 years time, my guess is we’ll be wondering how we ever looked forward to a staycation without them – just like I’ve recently found myself wondering why I don’t go for an impromptu supper in Velo Lounge at least once a week.
“What we are familiar with, we cease to see”? If that’s true, we’re all seriously missing out.
The Prandial Playground, Bath and Beyond... 