lives-by-the-sea's Qype profile

I think the most important and fantastic thing about the star and shadow cinema which should be bore in mind at all times is that it’s completely volunteer ran - there is no heirarchy or management. It was established by some people who met (I think at the side) and decided to put together a fantastic place - The star and shadow cinema.
If living in the area or visiting the area it certainly is worth checking out. Has a fantastic array of alcohol (by this please don’t go expecting night club / cocktail bar alch, but decent, fairtrade all good booze, juice, coffee, tea and snacks).
There are many meetings every other week where people get together and decide what to put on - what to get involved in etc… again check out their site.
It also has a very quirky market on sundays every so often.
Down the road from star and shadow is the cluny, across is the tanners and down the road and up the bank is the cumberland - all fantastic watering holed (check other reviews where available).

Went for their set sunday-lunch menu, late after noon, and what can I say? It was fantastic! Food was absolutely moreish. No dissapointments. Servings aplenty.
There have been restaurants I’ve been to where dishes haven’t arrived or have not been up to scratch, not so here, in fact they even brought a bowl of cauliflower cheese for us to share as a free extra.
I had fine fettle cheese salad with pickled fennel - yum! My other half had smoked salmon with capers, boy was the salmon piled high and the capers delicious, not the usual little pickled capers but large fresh burst in the mouth capers.
For our main, my main was shoulder of pork stuffed with black pudding and served on a bed of mash and scrumptious gravy. My other half hates black pudding but this dish converted him with its beautiful flavours that danced in the mouth and food that melted on the tongue with the bonus of being a visual pleasure.
My partner had lamb pie with mash and curly cale. The pie was a delicious buttery short crust pastry served in a beautiful little dish of its own with chunky pieces of lamb and a beautiful gravy, it also came with a small, no minature porcelain jug of gravy that he did not have to share and was just enough to cover the top of the pie that already was filled with beautiful sauce and meat.
The wine we had was a beautiful red sangiovese which filled the mouth and nose with smooth yet vibrant and very palatable berry flavours possibly with a hint of mocha, very silken and easy to drink - could have had another bottle. The bottle was one of the cheaper on the menu at just under £15.00 so you don’t have to necessarily splash out on the more expensive bottles as we were very impressed with this number.
The puddings - woweee! We both opted for an orange posset which was served in a little ramekin with a home made pistachio biscotti laid across the top. Melt in the mouth and to die for. Even the spoons to eat the desert with complemented the texture due to the shape they made the eating far more interesting and probably lasted longer.
Then we finished with a lovely little cup of coffee… no trimmings. I would have possibly liked to have been offered cream instead of milk, I probably would have opted for the milk, but nice to have the choice. But no complaints, felt comfortable, toilets clean with lovely smelling flowers, restaurant kept nicely snug and warm due to the heating being on but not so that the temperature was overbearing and did not spoil the food… I can’t stand being somewhere when it is too hot and then you have a hot meal to contest with also.
Anyway, the set sunday-lunch was £15.00 each, with the wine and the coffee just came to over £50.00 for us both and we walked away feeling very indulged.
Highly recommended! Luxurious but certainly not hoighty toighty!