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The White Star sets a new course with the addition of boutique style rooms over its existing restaurant and bar.

Jayne Stamp investigates ver the five years the White Star Tavern and Dining Rooms has made Oxford Street its home, it has left quite an impression.

In 2003 it was awarded the Les Routiers Restaurant of the Year, South & South East, and among the gastronomic competition on the bustling street it holds its own.

But business partners Matt Boyle and Mark Dodd spotted a gap in the market. While Southampton had plenty of large chain hotels, they felt the city had little to offer in the way of smaller, character guest accommodation.

So the plan was to resurrect the space above the bar and restaurant - no small feat with the exterior walls re-tied and pulled inward, while the existing floors were replaced.

All that is a distant memory now as the rooms, tastefully painted with Farrow and Ball colours, have the look of a boutique hotel.

The bathrooms are fitted out luxuriously and high threadcount bedlinen cover the comfy beds.

And yet all this style does not come at a price - the White Star team have pitched their rates well, assuring them of a well-booked hotel with happy customers. For many the draw of staying at the White Star will also lie in its location - right on the doorstep of the city's buzzing social scene.

During the extensive building work, Matt and Mark took the opportunity to rework the layout of the ground floor. Previously a large area was given over to formal dining, with a smaller bar area.

Now the funky dining area, pictured above, is tucked along the back of the building with bench seating and cosy corners for intimate meals and larger tables for lively groups. The rest of the space is peppered with tables, chairs, squashy sofas and armchairs for the bar area. Altogether it is a more relaxed and informal approach.

And the formula is extremely successful, on the Thursday evening my partner and I visited, the place was busy, and animated with a lively mixture of groups and couples.

After a drink at the bar and a peruse of the new menu, we took our table in the dining area.

As well as the starters and mains, you will find a separate heading for pub classics. Dishes such as maple roasted ham eggs and chips, beer battered fish, wild boar sausages and mash clearly mark out that the White Star's new course is set for gastro pub.

My partner went for a classic combination of smoked salmon and créme fraiche, £6.50, while I opted for the scallops, £8, served with pumpkin puree. Both dishes were a success and we continued to soak up the atmosphere over a glass of Shiraz.

The wine list offers 13 whites and another 13 reds, four of each available by the glass, giving most diners plenty of choice, and with prices between £13.75 and £31.50, very reasonably. A further three rosé wines and six sparkling complete the list.

For main course my partner went for the favourite of so many men - steak, served medium rare and with chunky potato wedges, £19. The addition of peppercorn sauce spiced it up and a generous portion of watercress helped my carnivorous chap achieve a rare credit towards his five-a-day!

My shoulder of lamb was served with colcannon potatoes and garlic kale - the garlic was a surprising addition, and battled with the subtler flavours of old-fashioned comfort food. But a gentleman on a neighbouring table declared the dish delicious, so what do I know?

The dessert made me a convert of créme brûlée, £5. Ordinarily a dish I wouldn't look twice at - but as my partner had already bagged the sticky toffee pudding, and I could hardly review the same pudding twice - créme brûlée it was.

The creamy, vanilla speckled underneath was heavenly and the crunchy sugar shell was such a satisfying texture.

Needless to say the sticky toffee pudding £5.50, with clotted cream, was glorious, a truly treacly, dark molasses confection. Or so I'm told, as I wasn't allowed near it.

Only one thing for it, we will have to go back to the White Star for round two.

The White Star Tavern and Dining Rooms, 28 Oxford Street, Southampton. Tel: 023 8082 1990 www.whitestartavern.co.uk The restaurant also serves weekend brunch, until 3pm, and a Sunday roast from 12-9pm.

Room rates: Standard from £79, superior from £89, deluxe from £99, prices include breakfast and VAT

2:58pm Thursday 13th December 2007

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