A hitch-hikers guide to Beaconsfield’s eatery’s?

My family went to Pizza Express in Beaconsfield Old Town for our daughters 21st birthday meal early in 2009 (her choice), which was OK, but nearly £80 for 3 dough ball starters, some olives, pizzas and a bottle of wine, plus a few soft drinks seemed a lot to me? The important thing was that it was what our 21 year old wanted, so fine, but in my opinion any Beaconsfield eatery needs to be on its toes because of the intense and varied competition.

The black and green olives starter I had at Pizza Express that evening turned out to be mainly rather unpleasant browny/purple olives and a few nicer larger green olives, I left the non-black olives as they tasted funny. I did not bother complaining as it was my daughters birthday, so did not want to ruin it, but on reflection have I helped Pizza Express by not telling them? Probably not, but I will next time, as how are they going to improve if they are unware of this deviation from the menu?

Beaconsfield is blessed with an excellent range of restaurants, so it is not as though us punters don’t have a wide choice and can only have bread with bits on top. Beaconsfield New Town has three eat in or take away restaurants within 50 feet of each other: Jungs bistro and delicatessen; Smiles Fish and Chips and the Jasmine Chinese Restaurant. Just round the corner is Stix Wine Bar that does Tapas and The Royal Elephant Thai Restaurant, whose Royal Elephant Banquet 3 course set menu at £21 is excellent value and very tasty.

From around 6.30pm Alex’s Kebab van parked outside Nat West Bank in Beaconsfield New Town does huge kebabs, good burgers and nice chips. On the weekend, Alex is sometimes there till 3am in the morning! Costa Coffee and Starbucks are two of three coffee shops in the New Town. There is the China Diner Chinese restaurant, a Subway, Tao Chinese takeaway, Mumbai Spice Indian take away and the Va Pensiero Italian restaurant. At the Revolution vodka bar and restaurant in Maxwell Road, the £7.95 Full English Breakfast includes a choice of tea/coffee or orange juice and toast, but more importantly comes with a sirloin steak and a portobello mushroom which is delicious. The only down side is that Revolution does not open to 11am, but the breakfast is high quality and great value.

Beaconsfield Old Town has two Chinese Restaurants (Tao and Leigh House), three Indian restaurants (Basmanti, Old Bengal and the Spice Merchant), Zizzi’s Italian, Loch Fyne, Pizza Express, five pubs (Charles Dickens, White Hart, Saracens Head, Greyhound and Swan), the Old Windsor Tea Rooms and the Crazy Bear. All the pubs do food, with the White Hart and Saracens Head having designated dining areas.

On the outskirts of Beaconsfield are the Harvester, Ho King Chinese take away, the Red Lion pub at Knotty Green and the Royal Standard of England pub at Forty Green, so within about two square miles the choice is pretty jolly good, so those eatery’s that want to survive (many have not) need to offer good value, good food, good quality and good service every time.