Showing posts with label pub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pub. Show all posts

The Strawberry... sorry... Strawbury Duck really is in the middle of nowhere! You have to drive up a single-berth road to get up to it, and then its just suddenly there. It's full of age and character, big chunky wooden beams, flagstone floors, rooms jutting off into different directions headed with various names in Olde English lettering, and comfortable tables and chairs scattered throughout and in cosy corners.





It's also nice to see that the pub is dog friendly, and various happy and well behaved dogs can be found lounging around in front of open fireplaces, curled up under tables, or hoping their respective owners might drop a bit of sausage. What's really nice is that there is even a small section on the menu offering various doggy treats, so your canine companions don't feel left out! That's a lovely touch.

As we walked in, we noticed most of the currently empty candlelit tables had 'reserved' signs on, showing the popularity and notoriety of the Strawbury Duck, and necessity of booking in advance. We were pointed to our tables, and given a couple of menus including the specials menu. A large chalk board on one wall proclaimed that the pie of the week was lamb and mint. Meanwhile another table next to us arrived, and their adorable greymuzzled dog curled up and relaxed on the floor. The decor is cosy, traditional, and a little rough and ready in parts. The bowls crammed full of plastic sachets of sauces and condiments on the tables I feel let the style down a little bit, reminding me a bit of a greasy spoon cafe, but with how popular they are, I assume this is a necessity.



From the menu we opted to try the starters of garlic butter mushrooms, and the rare breed chipolata sausages. I would describe service as friendly but basic, seeming to comprise of a no nonsense barman (owner?) and two young waitresses dashing about. As I say, service was friendly, but we were never given any names, nor did we feel anyone particularly went out of their way to look after us, but they did their job well, and with a smile.

The starters arrived. The mushrooms were cream and delicious, served with a wedge of bread, and the chipolatas were full of flavour, and came with a mild mustard mayonnaise which was a very tasty coupling.



After enjoying our starters, and chatting to the table next to us for a while, our mains arrived. We ordered the pie of the week, and the Strawbury Duck pan fried Goosnargh duck breast. Both were well presented, looking very appetising against the candlelight as the darkness drew in outside, and candled dotted around the pub flickered cheerfully.

The pie was the definition of a proper home-made pie, in a tin, with a good pastry lid. The filling was hot, perfectly seasoned, tender, and comforting. It came with fantastic big chunky chips which were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and a side of buttered peas. Very tasty indeed.

The duck breast was really excellent, full of great flavour and a glaze/jus that would make anyone's eyes sparkle! The dauphinois potatoes and vegetables served with it were the perfect accompaniment.



The food in general really was superb. It was nice to read on the menu that they are dedicated to locally sourced produce, and even list their local suppliers.

For once, we decided that as the food was so good, even though we were pretty full, we were going to take a breather and go for a dessert! We ordered a chocolate fudge brownie and a sticky toffee pudding respectively. Both arrived in good time, were deliciously presented, and were a pleasing size each, not being a disappointing mini-dessert as so many places seem to offer now when offering hot puddings.


The sticky toffee pudding was rich, sweet and comforting, and the chocolate brownie was delicious and had just the right amount of chewiness to it. Both were really good.

The bill wasn't the cheapest we've had, but the quality of food really merited it, and they do have various special offers on through the week where you can get things like two for one on fish and chips, and two for one on a steak and grill night too. I think if they just added a little polish to certain aspects, such as service, and things like those plastic sachets of sauces on the tables, they could really add another layer of quality and service on top of their already popular and pleasant offerings.

What's certain though is that we will be back! If I didn't take my mum for sunday dinner at this place I think she'd disown me!




The Strawbury Duck
Overshores Road
Turton
Bolton
BL7 0LU
(01204) 852 013
www.thestrawburyduck.co.uk

The Strawbury Duck

by on 17:14
The Strawberry... sorry... Strawbury Duck really is in the middle of nowhere! You have to drive up a single-berth road to get up to it, ...
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

We spent a couple of days in Brontë Country, and on looking online, one of the most popular and highly rated places to eat in the area is The Grouse Inn. I mention this because it's quite an achievement to earn that, as so many of the places to eat in and around Keighley and Haworth offer wonderful food.



The most striking thing about The Grouse as you enter the car park is the breathtaking views it has across the moors! A good 180 degree view of pure natural beauty, with a classic British food pub in the centre. Marvellous.

The place itself as you walk in has that fantastic feel and decoration of the classic Northern English pub, with warm colours, a slate floored bar, a classic busy pub carpet, and dark wood furniture. Also good nods to the countryside element with taxidermy deer heads (and duck heads!), foxes, and artwork of the moors. It feels warm, friendly, and welcoming.






As we're seated, again we are treated to that amazing view from any window you look out of. Truly the most amazing view I've had with my dinner in this country!

The service is welcoming and friendly, menus are handed out with smiles and genuine interest in the customer. The menu itself is modern in design, but boasts some truly wonderful classic British foods, from liver and onions and fish and chips to sausage and mash and cottage pie, as well as other staple choices like pizza, pasta, steak, and salads.

We decided not to have a starter... we've learned the hard way before that if we have a starter in this sort of place we won't have room for pudding... not this time!

So for our mains, I ordered the trio of classic home-made sausages with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas, and my partner ordered from the specials board, and went for the steak wellington with Stilton and pate.



Here is where I gush. The food was absolutely phenomenal! Delicious home-made food, fresh, rich, and bursting with flavours. The sausages were rich and juicy, the mashed potatoes was creamy and so very comforting, the steak wellington was an explosion of flavours, and we both agreed the gravy was the real deal, and absolutely sublime.

We had room for dessert. The dessert menu (given to us as the "pudding menu" as it should be!), was extremely tempting, and after a while deliberating over what to have, and changing our minds four or five times, we opted for that British pub classic... sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and ice cream.


THIS is what should win The Grouse awards. My partner, Phil orders sticky toffee pudding whenever the opportunity arises, but actually stated that this is one of the best sticky toffee puddings he's ever had in his life; hot, rich, gooey and comforting. On the way home the following day, he was genuinely mulling over the idea of popping back into The Grouse JUST for that sticky toffee pudding on the way home!

The service was great, the views and decor were wonderful, and the food was absolutely fantastic. We will most definitely be returning to The Grouse, even if we're not in the area... it's only 57 minutes away... we checked!

Well done, The Grouse! See you again soon! :)

The Grouse Inn
Harehills Lane
Oldfield
Keighley
West Yorkshire
BD22 0RX
(01535) 643 073
www.thegrouse.co.uk

The Grouse

by on 14:36
We spent a couple of days in Brontë Country , and on looking online, one of the most popular and highly rated places to eat in the area i...
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This is an interesting review in that it's a twofer... two-for-one... I decided to visit The Old Forge at Bob's Smithy Inn as I'd been hearing great things about it, and the reviews online were very positive, plus the menu looked hearty and traditional, so I popped along one weekday afternoon.

The outside is a traditional rural English pub, with car park to the rear, and a large outdoor seating area. On a blustery and damp February day, walking inside was a really pleasant experience.



As I walked inside, it was warm and comfortable as a real log fire burned happily in the middle of the room. I saw a room on the far side signposted as "restaurant" but it was in darkness, so I asked about ordering food, as I saw others around eating. The staff member told me that there is a lunch-time bar food menu, but that as it had just turned 2:30pm, that they could only just squeeze my order in, as the kitchen closes for the afternoon until the restaurant opens at 6pm. This was a bit of a surprise as I hadn't seen food serving times on the website, but this was fair enough, I ordered a glass of Coke and sat by the warm fire and had a read through the bar menu.



In fairness the menu was actually pretty good, with a good few tasty offerings. I decided to order the traditional beef burger with chips. During my wait I was able to chat to the very friendly bar staff, who made me feel very welcome.

My food arrived... albeit on a "serving plank" rather than a plate. This is a bit of a modern fad I'm not much of a fan of... I don't see what's wrong with a normal plate! However, the food arrived well presented (aside said plank), and looked very appetising.



Although the burger is cooked through as standard and so not pink inside, this burger was by no means dry or tough, but very juicy, and packed with flavour which genuinely surprised me as I took a bite. A really delicious and unctuous burger. Likewise, the home made chips which accompanied (in a little galvanised bucket) were perfectly hot, crispy on the outside and fluffy and hot inside with a great crunch.

However, it was so filling that even though the friendly bar staff showed me the desserts board, I just had no room to attempt it! One that caught my eye was a sticky toffee sundae! Yum! 

I paid up (very reasonably so!) and said that I'd have to visit again soon, and definitely try that sundae!

Now here's where it gets interesting. A few days later, after a day out with my partner, I suggested trying the Old Forge on a whim, and after phoning them, I found that the restaurant itself was open during the day on a sunday, so we booked a table and drove over. We entered what was now a very busy and popular pub, with families and friends sat around drinking, eating and chatting, as well behaved dogs sat by their feet, hoping for the occasional end of a bit of sausage to be thrown their way. We walked through to the restaurant.



The Old Forge feels considerably different to the bar area, and is more modern bistro than rural pub. The restaurant is decorated in shades of green, black, and cream, with dark wooden modern furniture, but whilst retaining the traditional Italian Restaurant style candle-in-a-wine-bottle on each table.

We read through the menu, which was also reasonably priced at either two or three courses for a set price. A young staff member offered to take our coats, and took our drinks order as she told us the specials and specifics of that day's menu. For our starters, my partner ordered chicken pâté, and I opted for the cod goujons with tartare sauce.



The pâté arrived on one of those bloody serving boards again, but the pâté itself was tasty, and served with a simple side salad and relish. The cod goujons were delicious. The fish itself was delicious, and the batter was perfectly crisp. I couldn't fault a single thing with it... it even came on a plate! Huzzah!

For our mains, we both realised we were in a "pie mood" and chose the cheese and onion pie and steak pie respectively. 


Both pies were really enjoyable with a good crust, and felt truly home-made. They came with a carrot and mash puree and vegetables in the form of cabbage, green beans, and cauliflower. They were also accompanied by the same big chunky chips I mentioned earlier! Lovely! The steak pie that I ordered also came with a really sumptuous gravy, the kind with a proper sheen on top letting you KNOW it's going to be good!

For dessert my partner ordered an apple tart with custard, and I ordered the classic jam roly poly (with custard, of course!). Both arrived well presented, but we realised that the apple tart had come with ice cream instead of custard, however this wasn't anything to kick up a fuss about, as we both agreed the desserts were delicious. The apple tart was tasty but perhaps could've been a little bigger, wheras the jam roly poly had that real comfort food feel to it, and rounded the meal off absolutely perfectly.

Throughout the meal we were taken good care of by attentive but not overbearing staff, the food was excellent in all regards, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, pledging to very much do so again, and to bring friends and family along as well, especially considering they proved themselves equally capable with a lunch bar menu and an evening restaurant menu, without compromising on quality or service. Well done! :)

The Old Forge Restaurant at Bob's Smithy Inn
Chorley New Road
Bolton
BL1 7PX
(01204) 842 622
http://www.bobssmithy.co.uk/
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
I only ever drove past The Blundell Arms. It's very near where I live, so I drive past it a lot! It just looked like another pub, and not very popular, as I never saw anyone parked outside. But in recent times I noticed A-boards outside mentioning food, so after a long time of realising this, I decided to look online, and lo and behold, it's not just a pub that has "food available", but a full on food-centric pub! Hoorah!


When I drove there, I realised that the reason it looked so quiet and lacking in cars is because there's actually a sizeable car park BEHIND it, and that in turn is the entrance people tend to use to access it.

When I walked in, I was very pleasantly surprised, this pub was not only very expansive in side (perhaps not in terms of headroom in some of the older parts!) but was wonderfully traditional, with beautiful rustic beams running throughout, and many nods to its past as a court house, showing the old stone placard, and a window showing the traditional wattle and daub construction.





The other thing I noticed is that this was a very bright space. The winter sunshine truly cascades through the windows, giving a wonderfully comfortable feeling. This place had a 'good' feeling as soon as I entered. 

I was greeted by a friendly staff member who took me to a table nestled amongst the rustic beams, where I was given the menus, and had chance to also peruse the lunch menu. The lunch menu was really good value, and I'd happily order from it, but in this instance I noticed on the main menu, amongst all the delicious traditional and classic pub food offerings, and "chef's inspired dishes"  was a gourmet burger. So I opted for that!





I took the time waiting to have a look round at the rest of the place, which is where Ashleigh, the staff member, told me about the building's previous uses, and how pleasant the place looks at night with all the lights lighting up the corners of this old building. 

When my burger arrived, I was quite pleased. The presentation was simple but that's all it needed to be, as it was a big burger, and a pot of triple-cooked chips. The chips were great, crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. The burger was tasty, but I wouldn't call it 'gourmet', as it was quite a standard burger, but grilled fully through rather than pink (due to health and safety demands usually), so it wasn't juicy, but was still tasty, regardless. The bacon on the burger was a bit fatty though, I had to pull strands of it off, but that's merely my personal preference. For the price, it was a good burger, and a tasty lunch. I'd certainly order it again.



All in all, I was pleased I came to The Blundell Arms! I didn't realise it was such a lovely building, and didn't realise they had such a large offering to eat, so I'll definitely be back to try some more of the menu, especially the dessert menu... there were a few things on there I very much liked the look of, but as the burger was so filling, I didn't quite have the room. Maybe next time I'll go for the lunch menu instead of my eyes being bigger than my belly!

Next time, Blundell.... NEXT TIME!!!


The Blundell Arms
Chorley Old Road
Horwich
Bolton
Greater Manchester
BL6 6PY
(01204) 841 194

The Blundell Arms

by on 16:40
I only ever drove past The Blundell Arms . It's very near where I live, so I drive past it a lot! It just looked like another pub, an...
at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


 

So named after its first incarnation, The Brewhouse (formerly the Cheetham Arms) seems to be firstly billed as one of three things depending on where you look online. It's either firstly billed as a hotel, a restaurant, or a pub, and not usually a combination of the three. From what I experienced, I would suggest that (especially given the venue's past), this is more of a modern pub which also serves a good selection of food.


Adjacent to one of the lounge areas in the bar, you can look through a glass window to see the brewing area, still full of booze barrels, the tap labels of which are on display in the window outside the pub. A nice nod to its brewing past. It also proudly sells ales from its sister company, Dunscar Bridge brewery, located down the road.

The venue itself feels like a strange combination of old-school pub and modern bar, mixing neutral tones and bright woods with dark woods and studded leather couches.

Our first problem was that as we drove up to the venue, we saw nowhere to park as it's on a road. We turned left after the pub into a small yard, which obviously wasn't meant for parking, so we parked further down the road. Only on LEAVING the pub did we see a not-very-prominent sign telling us that there was in fact a car park behind the venue, accessed by turning down a road before the the pub itself.
On this occasion, a group of four of us were here for lunch, having perused the menu online. Only two of us opted for starters instead of main courses. For these, we ordered goats cheese fritters, and crispy fried whitebait. Both arrived in good time and were tasty and well prepared and presented.


The other two of us ordered from the mains menu, choosing pub classics of steak and ale pie, and fish and chips. The first thing we both noticed was that the chips were very tasty traditional chips. Always a plus! My only gripe is that my fish was lay on top of my chips, which seemed a little odd, meaning I needed to lift it up and move it to be able to get to my chips. The fish had absolutely perfect batter, although the fish itself was a little bland. Good mushy peas though, and the home-made tartare sauce was excellent. Sadly, although the pastry on the pie was quite nice, the actual contents of the pie were quite dry, and could've done with a jug of gravy on the side to add some moisture.




At this point we had agreed that the visible staff of two young girls seemed friendly with good intentions, but not overly professional at times in how they were speaking and acting, just a bit too casual, and how we were having trouble getting their attention when they were looking at their mobile phones at the bar.

When we eventually caught the attention of one to be able to order dessert, we chose to get two sticky toffee puddings with four spoons, so we could share.



The puddings arrived, and looked great (admittedly on one of those big porcelain sombrero style bowls), but as the waitress walked off, we realised we weren't given any spoons, and we had to wave her over to let her know. She responded with, "didn't she give you any? She was supposed to give you some!" and a big annoyed sigh, before marching off, presumably to get the spoons. However it took about 4 minutes until she returned with spoons, leaving us sitting looking at the blob of ice cream atop the warm pudding starting to melt into a creamy splodge, with nothing we could really do.

Happily, the sticky toffee pudding was really tasty, and the butterscotch sauce that accompanied it really hit the spot!

My verdict on The Brewhouse is a bit mixed... I enjoyed the food, but as the place was quite a loud and busy pub, (with seemingly loud boisterous regulars at the bar) and the service was a bit lacking for a weekday afternoon, I don't think I'd go out of my way to come here again, but if I was in the area, I'd probably pop in for lunch.



The Brewhouse
987 Blackburn Road
Eagley
Bolton
BL1 7LG
(01204) 301 372
www.thebrewhousebolton.co.uk

The Brewhouse

by on 13:55
  So named after its first incarnation, The Brewhouse (formerly the Cheetham Arms) seems to be firstly billed as one of three th...
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,