Food now on bar’s menu after chef enters kitchen
A popular Southsea bar which opened during the Covid-19 pandemic has begun serving food for the first time after appointing a head chef.
Sherlock’s Bar at 17 Clarendon Road, Southsea, opened its kitchen last month and launched a new menu featuring classic pub meals and daily specials, all cooked by an established chef.
Landlord Richard Peckham, who runs the bar with his wife Debbie, said that the dishes have proved popular with regulars, as well as attracting new customers.
Richard said: ‘Debbie and I opened the bar purely as a bar because we weren’t really foodie people.
‘Because we are so busy in the bar, and because we’ve got a very nice kitchen, we asked a local chef with a very good reputation around town if he wanted to open up our kitchen and make his own variety of food.
‘Our Sunday roasts have all sold out every week. Every single person who has eaten our Sunday roasts has commented on how lovely the crackling is and there’s plenty on the plate – nobody ever says “can I have some more?”.
‘We now do traditional pub food, like cottage pie, ham, egg and chips, and those sort of things you would expect in a bar.
‘I think there was an opening for that sort of food in Southsea.
‘We had kind of maxed out the bar – we couldn’t get any more people in. The next natural step was to introduce food into the bar.’
Earliest this year, Sherlock’s Bar, which opened in July 2020, was nominated as a finalist in the The News Business Excellence Awards for the second year running.
Richard more plans to capitalise on the business’ success and has set his sights on expanding. He is considering opening a second branch under the Sherlock’s banner in areas such as Cosham, Havant or Waterlooville.
New head chef Steve Nielson formerly owned the Italian Bar and Grill in Great Southsea Street before its closure in 2019.
Steve said: ‘I had a restaurant before which did Sunday roasts which was quite popular and I think a lot of people have come in and enjoyed it again. Everything is homemade on the premises on the Sunday morning.’