Le Blaireau Brasserie & Bar
Careys Manor Hotel Lyndhurst Road Brockenhurst Hampshire SO42 7RH
Set in the grounds of Brockenhurst's Careys Manor Hotel and Spa, Le Blaireau is a pretty good stab at establishing a little piece of Montmartre in the heart of the New Forest. Open seven days a week and serving food at almost all times of the day, it's as perfect for a mid-morning croissant as it is for an evening meal, with a menu that is as unashamedly as French as the decor, with lots of classics like soup a l'oignon, beef bourguignon, steak-frites and confit duck, all authentically made and delicious, and produced using locally sourced Hampshire produce. Like all good brasseries it's as good for a light bite as a large meal, with filled baguettes, salads and omelettes at lunchtime on an extensive menu that covers all corners of France. As for the decor, you can sit outside or on a covered terrace, and the interior is French to the nth-degree, with walls covered with murals of the streets of Paris in the private dining room at the back and the front end of a Citroen 2 CV parked in the corner. Happily, the quality and authenticity of the food more than delivers.
