Pub website:

https://www.sailmakerpubgosport.co.uk/

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Review at a glance:

Choice of menu: Good vegetarian menu, some vegan options, gluten-free menu, not fussy-eater approved

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Next stop on our little food-sploration journey is The Sailmaker, in Gosport. In the spirit of full honesty we had a bad experience here a few years ago and haven’t been back since. But when someone told us it’d had a change we thought we’d give it another go.

And even though it was a little overpriced, it’s a really good place for vegetarians and anyone with a gluten intolerance/allergy to stop by. There were a few vegan options but if you want a burger or a sandwich, you’re out of luck.

Grub’s up – what we had:

The fussy eater ordered: Jacket potato with vegetable chilli and cheese

A buttered jacket potato with your choice of topping and served with our house side salad. Our salads consist of mixed leaves with slices of cucumber, tomato, red onion, red pepper, quinoa, kale, brown rice and soya beans. Tossed in a French dressing and topped with crispy onions.

– From The Sailmaker menu

The chilli itself had a little heat, a good level if you’re someone who isn’t a fan of spice. It’s a real shame, then, that there only seemed to be a table spoonful of it on the plate to go with the fluffy potato.

At first the cheese didn’t arrive and when we asked about it she tried to say it didn’t come with the order (despite the name of the dish). Don’t get us wrong, she was very friendly but the back and forth wasn’t something we were expecting.

When the cheese did arrive it actually didn’t add much to the dish, which might be because the jacket potato and chilli weren’t hot and just on the right side of lukewarm.

The veggie ordered: The ultimate veggie burger

A deep-fried sweetcorn and Croxton Manor Cheddar cheese burger. Topped with BBQ sauce and BBQ cauliflower wings, smothered in a nacho cheese sauce. Served with skin-on fries and a dip pot of BBQ sauce.

– From The Sailmaker menu

There’s a lot of veggie burgers out there and, to be honest, a lot of them are a much of a muchness. No flavour, no imagination, and a lot to be desired on the texture front. But this burger from The Sailmaker had plenty of flavour, was definitely the idea of someone with imagination, and delivered with every mouthful.

There was a lot of crunch with the patty, softness with the cheese and sweetcorn, and those BBQ cauliflower wings added a burst of smokey, almost salty flavour that made them the star of the show.

‘Ultimate’ might be a bit of a stretch, but it’s a damn good burger that any veggie should try if they come across it.

For the second pub in a row, ice was added to our drinks when asked for none.

Overall

It’s another friendly pub with service happening at a decent speed. The staff were really nice, letting us claim a big table despite the guests we were supposed to meet getting there (really) late.

The Sailmaker was a very comfortable place to be, with a family lounge to keep it a friendly place for everyone, and a playground outside to keep the kids entertained. It also offered an order on the app service.

It was a far cry from the terrible experience we had before, a lot of improvement in the menu and the service. And, aside from one not-so-great experience for the fussy eater, there were lots of compliments all round.