Heima

Heima (reference 2) is still up and running in Brading, albeit on a part time basis, and so last week we gave it a try, having done well enough last year (reference 1).

The food might be characterised as ladies' food. That is to say that it was very nicely, not to say fancily arranged, it tasted good - but came in rather small portions. On this occasion we did not go for the full tasting menu, settling for two and a half courses, by which I mean that I had three while BH had two, just tasting my dessert.

The bread came with compulsory cranberries, which I avoid on account of their not getting on with my warfarin.

My starter was a piece of pork loin, maybe one and a half cubic inches of it, dressed up as a starter. Rather good.

My main was cod and mash, rather fancily arranged with various bits and bobs sprinkled around. The cod was good, but there was not much of it - no more than the starting pork which it followed. While the mash was a bit overloaded with flavouring for my taste.

My dessert was a piece of yellow cake, again rather fancily arranged (including a dusting with toasted polenta), and again rather good. Taken with a fine drop of Muscat. According to the wine buff at reference 4: 'this sort of Muscat is almost certainly the grape variety with the longest history of any vine known today and was probably the most common vine imported into southern Gaul by the Romans'. So there.

The other drink was excellent. We really liked the white wine from Slovenia (illustrated above) and I really liked the brandy from I know not where. Sold in 35ml slugs rather than the usual 25ml, so a double went down rather well. We were told that they had the choice of servings at 35ml or 25ml, but I have not come across the former before. Perhaps the waiter said that that was a restaurant rather than a public house option.

He had been rather concerned that we did not want the wine from Slovenia in bucket or cooler, but we prevailed on him in the end to do it our way. Don't like ice cold white wine - or indeed ice cold anything much else. Cool from a cellar, but not cold.

Two other couples present on this Saturday evening.

Since eating, we have passed the place a number of times during opening hours and we have not seen more than one or two couples inside. That and the hours suggest to us that this is something of a hobby, run on the proceeds of some more lucrative activity. A hobby which is probably helped along by the amount of empty commercial property in Brading and the consequently low rents. Sadly, it is hard to see what can be done about this, with a reasonably busy road running through the length of the village and with no prospect of a by-pass - busy enough that we would not want to live on it, splendid place though Brading may be. Maybe the best that can be done is to let most of it revert to the housing it mostly was in the first place, social housing rather than town housing.

PS: a key word here seems to be 'foraging'. What they do when they are not open.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/07/yaverland-three.html.

Reference 2: https://www.heima-iow.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.meadowdalewines.com/. We shall see if we can visit before we go.

Reference 4: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/.