Royale Establishment Restaurant and Bar: New restaurant opens in Stratford

Dave Sampson says the grand opening of Royale Establishment Restaurant and Bar went well.

A new restaurant is open in Stratford.

Royale Establishment Restaurant and Bar opened their doors to the public on Thursday evening and staff member Dave Sampson says he's pleased the site is open.

"It's been a long time coming. It's exciting to be open to the public. I really hope they like what we're offering. The building was brought in a family trust and I've helped to set up the establishment."

Dave says the site was meant to open in September, but due to the Covid-19 lockdown they had to postpone.

"We're happy to be open now. We have all the precautions in place to follow alert level 2 rules and regulations."

He says a number of people came to the opening to see the new restaurant.

"We've had a lot of interest from people about the opening. We served our entrées as bar snacks. We had halloumi cheese with cherry tomato and toasted focaccia, and seafood chowder. It went down a treat."

Riccardo Goddard was one of the people who attended the opening.

"I like to support new local businesses. This is a nice place, it's well presented and I'm sure it will be successful."

Dave says he has over 30 years of hospitality experience.

"We're very passionate about food. What we make is real food, using natural ingredients. We make our bread, everything is made on the premises."

Dave expects the steak to be a popular item from the menu.

"We put in a new char grill. It's an awesome machine. I can guarantee you no one will be disappointed with the steak. We will have rib eye flintstone, scotch, and eye fillets.

"It will be chargrilled to people's liking served with potato, vegetables, red wine jus, and their choice of whole roasted garlic or mushroom sauce. I think it's going to be very popular."

The cheddar-melt chicken and duck confit will also be popular, he says.

"For the cheddar melt chicken, we have a crumbed chicken thigh and top it with cheddar cheese and creamy mushroom sauce with fries or salad. Our confit of duck is crispy skin duck served with couscous, seasoned vegetables and royale chutney."

The restaurant will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5pm.

"We want to ease into it at first to make sure we get it perfect. I recommend people call to book their tables in advance."