My day in Tunbridge Wells - Smith & Western Restaurant and Hotel
Hello everyone, I'm back again for another 'My day in...' adventure and this time I went to Tunbridge Wells and stayed in the Smith & Western hotel. I love the area, my boyfriend and I have been to many different places within the area and always have an amazing time. However, for this hotel to be hidden from me for so long is astonishing. I never knew that this restaurant/hotel even existed until the day we booked, and if I had known before, then we would have visited MUCH sooner!
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| View from the outside |
Smith & Western, Tunbridge Wells
Smith and Western is an American Western themed restaurant and hotel, they also have other restaurant locations in Surrey and West Sussex. From the moment I saw the hotel, I fell in love, from the large sign, to the words 'Howdy Partner' displayed on the doors, I knew that this would be the perfect place for me. It is decorated like a Western saloon bar and as soon as you are inside of the building, you are transported to America. They also have the best country music playing, so I couldn't help but sing along. We were taken to our room, we got ready for dinner and waited for our table. The price of the night was £115, including breakfast.
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| Restaurant Decor |
Dinner
When seated, we noticed that we were surrounded by lots of themed decorations; American flags, old western film posters, red indian statues, saddles and so on, and were given a large menu with all of my favourites foods! Apart from the typical starter, main and dessert menus, they also offer gluten free, vegan, kids and breakfast menus. They offer a deal for lunchtimes between Monday-Friday 12-4pm, where you get a main and a drink for £12 from their Pony Express Lunch menu.
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| S&W Special Cocktail |
Let's start with cocktails, their selection at the moment may be limited due to COVID-19, but their S&W Special that contained Absolut Vodka, Archers, Blue Bols, pineapple juice & lemonade was divine! I ordered 2 and it came in a beautiful glass (yes, I am easily pleased), with the most eye-catching blue/green colour. The taste was just strong enough, where I could taste the sweet citrus flavours with a hint of vodka, which reassured me that there was sufficient alcohol content inside, so I know that I was getting my money's worth. My boyfriend had the Long Island Iced Tea, which isn't personally my type of drink, but he had never had that cocktail before either and he informed me that he was really pleased with his choice.
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| Starters: [top to bottom] S&W Ribs with Southern Comfort glaze, Loaded Skins with Crispy Bacon |
For starters/sides, I had the best 'Loaded Skins' that I have ever tasted! They were just the right amount of crispy and came with the most delicious dip, which complimented the flavours perfectly (I actually don't know what the dip was called). My boyfriend had the S&W Ribs which came with a choice of sauces 'Tangy BBQ sauce', 'Southern Comfort glaze' or 'Explosive TNT' and they also came with a hand wipe as it can easily get messy. He chose the 'Southern Comfort' glaze but felt that even though the ribs tasted delicious, he couldn't taste much flavour from the glaze. However, he still thoroughly enjoyed them! Another starter/side option were the 'S&W Famous Nacho Platter' to share, which is a massive plate of 'home-fried corn chips smothered in melted cheese' with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. You had a choice to add either the: 'House Chilli', 'BBQ pulled pork', 'Texan five bean chilli' or 'Cajun pulled chicken'. This looked so dreamy, but we decided to go for a smaller starter as we wanted to make sure we were able to eat our mains!
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| Mains: [top to bottom] Mississippi Melt Burger, New Yorker Burger, both with curly fries and a side of tomato sauce |
For mains, I chose the 'New Yorker' burger which had bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, creamy burger sauce and tangy BBQ sauce, served with a choice of either fries, curly fries or baked potato. I chose the curly fries and the meal was just mouth-wateringly good, I didn't manage to finish it all as I was too full. My eyes are way bigger than my belly, so seeing that there was still food remaining on my plate was a sad moment. My boyfriend chose the 'Mississippi melt', which came with pulled pork, caramelised onions, Monterey Jack cheese and tangy BBQ sauce.
We were too full for dessert but I would have definitely gone for the 'Cookie and Mallow Melt' which was a 'Warm cookie dough & marshmallow topped with hot salted caramel sauce & salted caramel ice cream'. I would also love to give a special mention to 'The Ultimate Birthday Buster' as I saw someone receive it on the table next to us. It is a sharer dessert (but you obviously don't have to share), a 'chocolate fudge cake with M&M's and marshmallows, smothered in hot chocolate sauce, topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.' As you are celebrating, you also get a cowboy hat, a balloon and the waiters sing Happy Birthday to you. This is more for children, but if you've been following me for a while, you know for a fact that I will be coming back on my birthday!
Hotel
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| Hotel Room: [left to right] Inside of our 'Cherokee' room, description of the Cherokee tribe |
We stayed in the Cherokee room, which was named after a Native American tribe, they included a frame [pictured] which included information on the tribe and their history. I am such a history buff so really loved this extra special touch to the room. The rooms are fairly small, but nonetheless it felt cosy and was just the right size for a quick overnight stay, and I adored the really unique features to the room. There was a light shade with moose on them, two lamps with antlers horns and a large cowboy boot lamp on the desk. The room offered a TV, coffee machine, bottled water and you could order drinks to your room. At the moment, they shut the reception at 10pm due to the new COVID-19 rules, so if you wanted to order drinks to your room then make sure to do it before then. The beds were really comfortable, I had a great nights sleep and the 12pm check out time is fabulous for non-morning people like us who don't just want to get up and leave straight away. We usually book a hotel with spa facilities and a pool, but I actually really appreciated that there wasn't any here, as we got the chance to just fully relax rather than using up our time getting ready and ensuring that we used the pool. All of the staff were really friendly and helpful, all masks had to be worn throughout the hotel, and I felt that they had enough safety measures in place to make us feel at ease.
Breakfast
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| Breakfast: [top to bottom] Ranchers Breakfast, American Pancakes with Banana and Nutella, both drinking Apple Juice |
Usually I am not a massive fan of breakfast food, as it's always so filling and I don't really enjoy eating too much in the morning, butttttttttt....pancakes are another story. It's the only acceptable way that I can have dessert in the morning, apart from with a Christmas Advent Calendar! These pancakes were not only soft and scrumptious, they were smothered in chocolate! My boyfriend said that he really enjoyed his Ranchers Breakfast, he chose to have his with a poached egg. We both chose to have Apple Juice, which was surprisingly so cold, which was refreshing.
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