A Friday night gathering was a mouth-watering evening for GILL HARRIS and her group of female friends on a rare catch-up session 

Rudi’s Bar & Kitchen
21, Regent Circus, Swindon SN1 1PR
Tel: 01793 523892    rudisbar.com

LET’S face it. It’s not about the food.

Get a group of women together who haven’t caught up in a while. Put them in the pub for a quick livener. Book them a table at a bar at the bottom of the hill and watch them cackle and natter all the way there.

We’d chosen a Friday night for our get-together at Rudi’s Bar & Kitchen in Regent Circus, perhaps not the wisest choice given this popular bar was rammed with revellers.

The staff seemed unperturbed, however, and we were cheerily shown to our table and left to peruse the menu.

Rudi’s covers all the bar classics, from chilli to burgers, steaks and salads. There is also a tapas menu boasting such treats as Caribbean jerk chicken bites, Moroccan falafel balls and butterfly Thai tiger prawns.

In between bouts of gossip and more cackling, we managed to make our selection and took the waiter up on his suggestion of a bottle of Prosecco (£19) to share.

We began with the hot seafood sharing board (£12.50), a generous selection of king prawns, calamari, battered cod goujons and whitebait. I thought it was a shame all were battered (I seem to remember having a platter of fresh seafood at Rudi’s several years ago and it was magnificent) but they were hot and tasty nonetheless.

For mains, two of our number ordered the burgers (£9.90) – a Mexican, topped with chilli con carne and served with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and chips, and a chicken avocado and bacon burger served with chips and salsa dip.

The burgers were a decent size and the chilli was not too spicy. Both agreed they were nothing spectacular but perfectly good for a busy bar on a Friday night.

Another pal had the baby broad beans and spinach risotto (£9.90), with Parmesan, mozzarella, truffle oil and garlic bread, which she said was tasty and extremely filling.

The other had pan fried salmon fillet (£12) served with new potatoes, green beans and Hollandaise sauce, an attractive looking plate which certainly seemed to hit the spot.

I went for the tuna steak Niçoise salad (£12), a plate of mixed leaves, green beans, olives, anchovies and boiled egg.

I thought the dish was a little dry, not helped by the fact that the tuna, which I’d ordered rare, came well done.

But as I said, it was more about the atmosphere and the company than the food, and Rudi’s certainly delivered.

Yes it was noisy, but the bustling bar is an attractive place to sit whether having a bite to eat or a few tipples.

The service was friendly and efficient and judging from the squawks of laughter, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

But to be fair to Rudi’s I think next time I visit I’ll choose a quieter period.