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OK, I have to admit to being a little biased toward this Good Beer Guide pub – I probably visit this establishment more than any other in the county, helped by a usually superb pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord. I also like their creative approach to running a pub – not only do they have a dog run and childrens play area outside, but they also boast a mini farm with eggs from the chickens and ducks available for sale inside the pub. If diversification is the name of the game in these credit crunch times, then the Hazel Pear is surely up there at the top of the list!

However, today’s visit was about the food. There is a separate Dining Room at the Hazel Pear, although meals can be eaten throughout the pub. At the time of our visit, the dining room was surprisingly empty with just a couple of other tables taken – a shame really as a full pub generally adds to the overall ambience and experience.

For starter, I opted for the Black-Pudding Tower, served with bacon in a mustard sauce for £4.75. Delicious, the superb mustard sauce complete with peppercorns complemented the black pudding perfectly. The bacon and the black pudding were cooked just right (I always find it is very easy to over-cook these)

For the main course, having enjoyed the mustard sauce from the starter so much, I opted for the Chicken Breast, filled with mushrooms and wrapped in bacon served in a pepper sauce at £10.85. Servied with this was a choice of homemade chips, jacket potato, mashed potato or seasonal potatoes of the day (I had the chips), and a choice of either crisp salad or seasonal vegetables (I opted for the veg).

When the main course arrived the main body of the mean was served on your plate, with the chips (not quite enough) and the seasonal vegetables (which turned out to be peas, broccoli and cauliflower) served in side bowls.

The chicken was nice and tender, complemented well by the bacon and mushrooms. The sauce was a little disappointing though after the delights of the starter – for some reason it was different (no peppercorns) and not quite as nice which was a shame. The vegetables were nice, and the chips good – always good to see a pub making the effort to serve home-made chips.

I didn’t really fancy anything on the pudding menu (I’m not really a sweet fan), however the Cheshire Dairy Ice Cream caught my eye in the bar. Generally sold to eat out in the beer garden on hot days, I really fancied some ice cream. This was served up in those little paper tubs (of the kind you may remember from going to the cinema), with spoon built into the lid. The ice cream was very nice, but perhaps didn’t quite go with the meal served in the way that it was.

All together, an enjoyable dining experience with good tasty food. Some things could be improved, but I’d definitely return for another meal and some more of the delicious Landlord.

Acton Bridge, Maypole

The Maypole is a delightful country pub on the "top road" at Acton Bridge, and consists of a small tap room and a much larger lounge that is predominantly given over to dining these days, in that place mats are a permanent feature on most of the tables. The place still considers itself primarily a pub though as the range of four cask ales testifies - Black Sheep Best Bitter, Jennings Cumberland Ale, Tetley Bitter and Tetley Dark Mild were on offer at the time of my visit. How nice it is to see a pub still selling a mild these days.

Food was the primary reason for my visit however, and as well as a good sized menu, there are fish, vegetarian and specials boards for extras. For starters I opted for the home-made pate with toast at £6.50. I have to say that most of the starters appeared very expensive, and this was no exception. There is however an extensive sweet trolley, and it may be that they are just trying to persuade people to have a sweet rather than a starter if restricting themselves to two courses. The pate was serves with salad and toast, with a pot of chutney. I have to say that I would have preferred some butter as well as the chutney as the pate was quite dry and crumbly. That said, you certainly got plenty of it.

For main course I made a choice from the specials board. I opted for fillet steak with pepper sauce, served with vegetables or salad and a choice of roast, boiled, chipped, or jacket potatoes. The fillet steak when it arrived was served with delicious mushrooms and a huge pot of pepper sauce was provided letting you add as much or as little as you wanted. The steak was divine - one of the best I have tasted, and the chips were proper home-made chips, again cooked to perfection. This was a fantastic choice for a main course, and one that I wouldn't hesitate to have again if I were to spot it on the specials board. £15.95 is about right for fillet steak in min-Cheshire.

Acton Bridge, Riverside

If you can judge a pub by its car park, the Riverside is obviously a fully fledged success story – both the main car park and the overspill area are inevitably full when you drive past on the A49 at Acton Bridge. Time to find out why.

The two-for-one deal at this Marston’s-owned establishment is perhaps as good a place as any to try and understand the success here. Incredibly, taking the deal into account (where if two adults each enjoy a main course, the cheapest one is free), by both of us having a similarly priced main course, each one was effectively half price.

So what did I have? First up I chose the loaded potato boats – crispy deep-fried skins filled with either bacon and melted cheese or cheese and onion (I opted for the former) served with either barbeque or sourcream & chive dip (here I chose the latter). £3.25 for the starter meant that this pub hadn’t followed the pathway of so many other “premium” pubs by selling starters for almost the same cost as their main courses, sometimes approaching £10. What arrived was very tasty – two generous sized potato boats as described, and accompanied by a side salad of crispy iceberg lettuce, tomato and red-cabbage. The dip arrived in a small paper cup half-filled, and whilst not being over generous, ensured that little was wasted. Taste was good, even if one of the boats had been cooked in the deep fat frier a little too long.

Main course was the 10oz gammon steak, served with chips, a fried egg (my choice) or pineapple and with some more of the side salad. £8.95 was the menu price for this dish, and I have to say that the gammon really was delicious – not salty like many and really thick and juicy – one of the best gammon steaks I have had. The salad was fine as were the chips – no pretence here to home made but they were tasty enough.

So that was my mean – starter for £3.25 and main course for £4.48 when you take into account the offer. A total of £7.73 for two courses – now I understand why this place is so popular especially as we enter a period of belt-tightening with the economy seemingly in the early throes of meltdown.

No frills here – just damn good value, with the food of surprisingly high quality. Sit in the enormous conservatory area that enjoys views straight onto the River Weaver and you can enjoy the ducks, swans and leisure craft on the river as you dine. Not a place for much privacy though – there are plenty of tables crammed in here to cater for demand – none of which stay empty for very long. And there is table service here too – none of this ordering food at the bar nonsense.

Beer is important too, and although predominantly a dining pub, the Riverside boasts three handpumps for beers from the Marston’s stable. Tonight they had on a reasonable Jennings Cumberland Ale, and a very good Banks’s Bitter. How nice it is to see real ale of this quality being served in this sort of establishment – please note all you Wacky Warehouse and Brewers Fayre type places out there – it can be done!

I expected this to be a one off visit for the purposes of this article, but I’m afraid it’s going to become a regular on my circuit of food pubs. I’ll be back!

Anderton, Stanley Arms

Known locally as the “Tip”, the Stanley Arms is slightly off the beaten track but the closest pub to the Anderton Boat Lift, once described as one of the wonders of the modern world, now fully restored and lifting & lowering boats between the River Weaver and Trent & Mersey Canal.

Beer in here was John Smiths Bitter and Greene King IPA both served very well, with the John Smiths just having the edge over the Greene King (I never thought I’d hear myself saying that!).

The pub has a large dining area to the rear with a lounge to the front of the pub and a public bar to the right. There is an extensive beer garden with excellent views of the Brunner Mond (old ICI) works!

For starter, I had the Black Pudding with a creamy garlic mustard mayonnaise and salad at £3.95. This was very tasty, although the black pudding was perhaps slightly overcooked (a common mistake with this item in my experience).

Main course was battered fish, chips and mushy peas at £6.95. A great British favourite. Very tasty again, good wholesome food at a no-nonsense price. You will find better in other pubs, but generally pay twice the money for it, and in these days of the credit crunch, the Stanley Arms makes eating out affordable once again.

Comberbach, Spinner & Bergamot

The Spinner and Bergamot in Comberbach owes its name to two racehorses owned by the first Lord de Tabley which goes someway to explaining the strange sounding name of the pub. Little to do with racing these days, the reason for our visit was primarily to sample the food and also (or course) to try some of their real ale.

So beer first on this review – three beers were available, the ubiquitous Greene King IPA, and Black Sheep Best Bitter which were both in good form, and also a beer seen less often these days, but which once held the title (by a considerable margin) of being the biggest selling cask beer in the UK – draught Bass. OK, this isn’t really the same beer as it was (in fact CAMRA coined the phrase “a pale shadow of its former self” for this beer) and it is no longer brewed using the famous Burton Union system – but I have to say this was the nicest drop of this particular beer I have had in many years.

For dining, we were shown into the dining room at the side of the pub – fairly empty at first, but it soon filled up. Very pleasantly laid out was the room – not too many covers, but enough to give it some atmosphere in what is essentially a rectangular room. Eventually we got hold of a menu (we had to ask, but this may be that we were a little early).

For starters I chose the Grilled Bury Black Pudding with caramelized apples, grain mustard and Irish whiskey cream, all set on a bed of green salad. £5.25 was the price for a really superb choice of starter. Pretty much perfect, although if I was to be picky there was perhaps a little too much for a starter.

Looking to build on the excellence of the starter, I opted for the freshly Beer Battered Fish of the day served with home made tartar sauce, petit pois and hand-cut chips. £10.95 is perhaps on the top side for fish and chips (haddock was the fish of the day in this instance), but I have to say that this was the best fish and chips I have ever eaten in a pub. The batter melted in your mouth, the fish was flaky and bone free, the peas sweet and delicious and the chips excellent. A superb dish and highly recommended.

Glutton that I am when a meal is particularly good, I decided to have a sweet, and opted for the Wild Berry Mess with raspberry coulis at £5.50. Again, not particularly cheap, but wild berries (black berry, raspberry and strawberry were all spotted) ina cream mixed with broken meringue and served with a delicious raspberry coulis was the perfect way to finish the meal.

Excellent food, highly recommended. If I had one minor criticism, it would be that the menu could perhaps do with being a little more extensive, but it really is a minor point – I certainly found food to keep me more than happy.

Cotebrook, Alvanley Arms

Along the busy A49 at a particularly bendy section of this trunk road sits a superb 16th century coaching inn, the Alvanley Arms, right next to the Shire Horse Centre. Shire horses feature big at this pub, and in fact the Shire Horse Centre is owned Alistair and Janet King who also run the pub. Throughout the warren of rooms inside, you will find photographs, harnesses, horseshoes and rosettes from their horses.

They boast that their food is homecooked, and admirably advertise that their suppliers are mainly local businesses including Littlers Butchers and Ian Watson’s Fruit and Vegetable Merchant. Fresh fish is delivered daily from the seaports, and when available home reared pork, lamb and Aberdeen angus beef are offered on the menu.

For starter, I opted for the trio of woodland creamed mushrooms on thick granary toast set with deep fried spring cabbage at £6.50. This was superb. Delicious in taste, just the right quantity and the salad that it was set on was excellent. Yes, that wasn’t a mistake – it was set on salad, not deep fried spring cabbage as advertised. In fact, so good was the salad, that this was probably an improvement to the overall taste. I did, however, query the fact that a change had been made with no notice. The polite waiter didn’t know the answer, promised to find out what the situation was and I’ve never spoken to him again. Food was great, but that level of customer service is frankly not acceptable.

Main course was next (served by a different waiter). I opted for the 12oz gammon steak served with a farm fresh egg or pineapple (I opted for the former) and a choice of mashed potatoes, new potatoes or chips (I opted for the latter here), all served with fresh market vegetables at £10.95.

The gammon was very tasty, however there was a small pool of fat in which it was sat on the plate which was not ideal. The egg was disappointing as the yolk was hard, and I really like a runny yolk. The chips were OK as were the vegetables, and I have to say that following the promise of the starter, OK perhaps just sums up the overall impression of the meal. For the price, I’m afraid I want a little more than just OK. Two beers on offer, both from Robinsons – Unicorn which was good, and Double Hop, a pleasant surprise being something of a rarity these days which was OK. Kind of sums up the meal really.

Cotebrook, Fox and Barrel

This pub closed unexpectedly just before Christmas last year, only to reopen again in the Summer of 2008 having had quite an extensive makeover and refurbishment, that have nonetheless managed to retain the good qualities of its previous incarnation.

A very relaxed and casual atmosphere in here, report in to the bar to pick up your first drink and a copy of the menu and be shown to your table. This is the first sign of difference between this and many gastro pubs – menus are collected from the bar, and all food and drinks are ordered from the bar rather than a waiter. Their casual dress means you probably wouldn’t recognise them anyway. The menus are printed up freshly each day on A4 paper.

For starter, I opted for the slow roasted belly pork with black pudding, poached egg and mustard cream at £5.95. I have to say that this was simply one of the best starters I have ever had. A very unusual combination that worked superbly. If I had one very minor criticism, it would be that the menu suggested that the main focus was the pork, where in fact it was the black pudding, but that is just being picky.

Main course was Roast partridge with creamy parsnips and savoy cabbage. Again I wasn’t disappointed one bit. The partridge arrived looking like a whole mini chicken and was cooked to perfectly. Creamy parsnips were a good accompaniment, but just a little to “clacky” for me. The savoy cabbage was perfect and also on the plate was a generous portion of mashed potato. The whole event was set in a most delightful sauce with a generous spread of mushrooms. Superb at £12.95.

For drinks, there were four cask ales available, Flowers IPA, Caledonian Deuchars IPA, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Butcombe Bitter. The Black Sheep was the best of the offering, and the Flowers the worst. Here is a hint – buy your beer from the front bar where there is a greater throughput meaning the beer is less likely to be served too warm due to it standing in the line.

The Fox & Barrel is just down the road from the Cabbage Hall, which no longer sells cask beers, but which serves excellent food. For a number of years, the food quality in the Cabbage Hall was pretty much unbeaten in my opinion, but as well as not selling cask beers it is also expensive. A recent visit set me back nearly £100 for two courses and drinks for two people! The Fox & Barrel has stolen the crown in my opinion – fantastic food, and less than half the price of the Cabbage Hall, and you can enjoy cask ale to boot. Well done to the new team there – you are now the ones to beat

Crowton, Hare and Hounds

The Hare & Hounds is a special pub. Not only did it win the North Cheshire Community Pub of the Year award for 2007, but it also serves some of the best food for miles around. And it is consistently good – due perhaps to the fact that all the food is prepared and cooked by the landlord Joe. No hired hands here – on his day off (Tuesday), they don’t serve food – simple, but effective in ensuring standards are maintained. Book ahead though – the quality of food and reputation it has means that it sometimes fills up to two weeks in advance!

The pub itself is a very pleasant affair with one main room and bar as you enter the building, with an additional room to the left. Order a pint of Good Beer Guide standard ale when you enter (there are four to choose from, all from the Punch list, with Greene King IPA being a regular), then move toward the rear of the pub where you can peruse the extensive specials menu including a range of fresh fish.

Dining is in the large dining extension to the rear of the pub, with fine views out onto the garden and stream (where the annual charity plastic duck race is held). A warm and welcoming room, the tables are intelligently arranged to ensure you don’t feel that you are crowding other diners. You are presented with an extensive menu by friendly and efficient staff.

For starter, I opted for the scallops served in a cream and white wine sauce, served on a bed of mashed potato at £5.95. A good choice, superbly presented and tasting delicious. One thing to always remember here is the size of the starters – they certainly accommodate a healthy appetite!

For the main course, I opted for the Hare & Hounds signature steak. 10oz of sirloin filled with mushrooms and onions served in a red wine sauce at £17.50. All the food comes with a choice of boiled, chipped, jacket or dauphinoise potatoes with a choice of either vegetables or a side salad. I opted for the chips and vegetables. The menu states that to ensure this dish if properly cooked, the steak has to be cooked at least medium. I like my steak rare, so asked for it to be done as close to rare as medium could get!

The main course arrived, again superbly presented on the plate (and looking enormous as the steak had been cut laterally and really was filled with mushrooms and onions). The sauce was divine, the steak tender and juicy and the mushrooms and onions really adding to the overall flavour experience. Superb. The chipped potatoes arrived in a separate bowl as did the vegetables. What an excellent choice of perfectly cooked vegetables – carrots and other mixed vegetables in butter, and wonderful cauliflower cheese.

I do have a confession to make at this point, in that I have had this particular dish before. In fact I first had it over ten years ago (and a number of times since) – and it was as delicious now as it was then. So good that I have just never found any dish in any pub in Cheshire better than this one! This surely has to be a candidate for CAMRA’s Good Pub Food Guide.

Hatchmere, Carriers

Not long ago, I wrote a review of the Fox & Barrel at Cotebrook, and I mentioned that I felt that they were the ones to beat. Well, no sooner had I made that statement, than I came across the finest dining experience that I have had to date in Cheshire – this time at the Carriers Inn, by the lakeside at Hatchmere. It has the additional accolade of being awarded the Gastro Pub of the Year 2008 By its pubco – Marstons.

Booking is essential here – not surprising given the quality of the offer. The pub is intelligently laid out, although I have to say here that the main focus of the pub is dining. If you just want to call for a drink, you’ll be made to feel most welcome, but the area set aside for drinking is comparatively small.

For starter, I opted for the Pan Seared King Scallops served with warm bacon-wrapped dates on a bed of wilted spinach which at £7.95 was one of the most expensive starters on the menu. The starter arrived beautifully presented, with each individual scallop and bacon-wrapped date on an individual dish contained within a larger outer one. The scallops were cooked to perfection, and the whole dish was worth every penny of the price – simply one of the best starters I have had anywhere.

Main course had a lot to live up to, and I had initially chosen the Fish & Chips, advertised as only available on a Friday delivered in the morning straight from Fleetwood Docks and served with home made tartar sauce, mushy peas and hand-cut chips at £10.95. As it was a Friday, this seemed too good to miss, but alas I was disappointed as by 8pm when I was dining, they had simply run out! I had to choose another main course, but made a mental note to return as anything that sells out so fast must be a bit special.

Eventually I settled on the Chicken and Herb Roulade described as a rolled chicken breast filled with herb seasoning and served with winter root vegetables and a Madeira wine gravy at £13.95. Faultless – everything was cooked perfectly, the gravy was a superb accompaniment to the chicken as was the herb seasoning.

Such was the quality of the starter and main course, I just had to have a dessert – usually a course I miss out, and on this occasion I was already feeling quite full. I couldn’t resist the Chocolate and Raspberry Torte, served with whipped cream and made especially for the Carriers. £5.25, and like the rest of the meal quite delicious, even if I was more than full by the time I had finished it.

Drinks are not overlooked here either. This being a Marstons pub, beers are restricted to their portfolio, although it has to be said that this is not quite extensive. On the night I had Marstons Burton Bitter, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Marstons Wicked Wytch – all of which were good pints of beer.

In summary, if you are looking for gastronomic perfection in a pub, you could do a lot worse than visiting the Carriers. Dare I say that they are now the ones to beat?

Higher Whitley, Birch & Bottle

A pleasant little pub situated on the A559 Northwich road, not too far from Junction 10 of the M56, this pub is the second of three down this stretch of road. We had booked a table, and on arrival on a Friday evening found an almost deserted car park – something that doesn’t always bode well in my experience. Inside however, the pub is spotlessly clean, and warmed in the lounge with a real fire – such a shame there weren’t more customers in to enjoy it. Décor is a little old fashioned these days, having a very eighties feel to it, but that said this period often produced a warmer more welcoming feel – similar to the difference between fully fitted carpet and laminate flooring.

We took our seat in the lounge, with just one other couple there neither of whom were eating, and perused the menu. The menu was extensive enough supplemented by a specials board. For starter, I opted for the Egg & Prawn Marie Rose served with brown bread and butter at £4.50. The starter was, perhaps unsurprisingly, fairly quick to arrive, and you got exactly what it said on the tin – hard boiled egg with prawns and a marie rose sauce, with some bread to mop any excess sauce up. Taste was OK, but I felt the price was a tad expensive for what you got.

Main course was Deep Fried Scampi, described as wholetail breaded scampi served with tartare sauce and a wedge of lemon. With this you had a choice of chips, jacket potato or boiled potatoes (I chose the chips), and either veg or salad. I chose the vegetables. Price for this was £7.95 which at today’s prices was fairly reasonable. That said, the meal wasn’t particularly inspiring – the analogy of the 80’s décor probably works well for the food too. Frozen chips and scampi, basic veg and bought tartare sauce. It was pleasant enough and filling, but these days certainly in mid-Cheshire you expect more when eating out at a pub.

The beer I chose was Greene King IPA, which gave the impression it had been sat too long before serving as it had very little condition left in it. The other beer on offer (which I didn’t try) was Morland Old Speckled Hen.

All in all, I’m afraid this one was more miss than hit I’m afraid.

Kingsley, Red Bull

North Cheshire’s Pub of the Year for 2008 and having been runner up the previous two years, this pub was well overdue for a food review.

The beers almost need no introduction, and are the main reason that the pub won its coveted award this year. On the night, I tried Boggart Brew, Hornbeam Bitter, Thwaites Wainwright and Hornbeam Coral Stout. All were excellent.

Food is served throughout the pub, and for starter I opted for the Chicken Goujons with a Barbeque dip at £3.65. The starter arrived with a generous portion of six pieces of chicken in breadcrumbs accompanied by a side salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Very pleasant although the goujons were perhaps a tad overcooked.

For main course, I opted for the Red Bull Chicken Poulet at £8.25. Dishes that incorporate the pub name always attract me, as I think that if they are going to associate the establishment with a particular dish, it must be something they are particularly proud of. I was asked if I wanted salad or vegetables, and I asked for straightforward peas, for which they were happy to oblige.

The meal was delicious. A generous portion of moist and tender chicken pieces was served with onions in a superb creamy sauce. The peas were excellent and the chips were excellent proper home-made ones of the sort that every pub should be forced to sell.

A most enjoyable visit (as it always is here). And now something else to return for – good food as well as fantastic beer.

Little Leigh, Holly Bush

Situated on the main A49, the Holly Bush is a Grade II listed building with thatched roof that dates from the 16^th Century. A one-time candidate for CAMRA’s National Inventory, it was substantially altered some years ago to add a dining room and convert some of the buildings from what had been a working farm to accommodation. Before the changes, the drinks were brought from the cellar in jugs, only in latter years was there a proper bar added, although even today this is little more than a glorified cupboard. In the main pub, there remain rooms of character, that continue to host patrons of character, and is still very much worth a visit as well as possible inclusion on a Regional Inventory for these rooms and the bar.

Dining was the main adventure today though, and it was actually with some trepidation that I booked a table for the evening. I have eaten here before and found the quality variable – one visit it would be superb and the next not so good. The almost constant adverts for new chefs on roadside boards perhaps provide some clues. I wondered what I would find on the night.

As we perused the menu, it was a surprise to see items specifically marked as being home made or being gluten free – certainly if anyone is gluten intolerant this would be a good place to come. For starter I opted for the Black pudding and back bacon topped with cheese sauce and served with a salad garnish at £4.95. This was very good and quite filling, the ingredients all working well together.

For the main course, I am afraid it was a bit of a horror story. I opted for chicken pieces in a Dijon mustard, cream and black pepper sauce at £8.25. There was a wonderful choice of potato (chipped, roast, jacket, mashed or boiled) or rice or salad, with a further choice of vegetables or a salad garnish. I opted for the chips (no surprise there) and salad garnish.

When the main course arrived, the chicken pieces looked as though they had been individually pasted with a thick yellow paste. In fact, this was the Dijon mustard – no sign of the cream and black pepper ingredients in the “sauce”. Frankly, it tasted horrible. About 10 minutes later, a bowl of sauce arrived with an apology that they had forgotten to bring it out. I presume this was the cream and black pepper part of the sauce, so I gamely poured it over the chicken. This really didn’t improve things too much, and for one of the first times I was unable to finish my main course.

For beer, they had two cask ales on offer, Jennings Cumberland Ale, and the slightly better Tetley Cask.

Little Leigh, Leigh Arms

Situated on the A49 on the right next to the swing bridge over the River Weaver, this large white building with ample parking in front has been in the hands of Robinson’s brewery for just over a year now, selling good quality Unicorn, plus usually two other beers from the Robinson’s stable (at the time of my visit there was Hartley’s Cumbria Way, and Wards Best Bitter – both brewed at Robinson’s brewery in Stockport).

Good as the beer was the main purpose of my visit was to try their food. The area toward the back of the pub is designated for diners, although food can be eaten throughout. Despite seating around 55 people, booking is essential at busy times if you want to sit in the dining area – usually a sign of good quality food. Although a single area, seating arrangements vary from two person tables to twelve or more, and are arranged intelligently so that you never feel as though other diners are intruding on your “space”. Similarly you never feel as though you are intruding on a conversation from another table!

To start I chose the Piri-Piri Chicken Kebabs marinated in medium Portugese spices from the menu. These were well presented on a 10” plate with two wooden skewers supporting generous portions of the chicken, served on a mixed salad bed with three different lettuce types, tiny tomatoes, onions and spring onions, green & yellow peppers, cucumber and their delicious salad dressing. The chicken was tender, and the spice coating was just enough to leave a little tingle on the tip of the tongue without being overpowering. At £4.75 this was an excellent choice for a starter.

Next came the main event. This time I made a choice from the enormous specials blackboard. Tempted though I was by the mixed sausages sourced from Minshulls, the local butcher in nearby Weaverham, I instead went for the Whole Grilled Seabass, rubbed with aromatic spices, served with egg noodles and drizzled with a chilli-infused cream. I should remember perhaps that “whole” means something other than “filleted” as I was presented with a fish complete with tail and head on my plate. Undeterred, I deftly dispensed with the aforementioned appendages and found the most delightfully tasting fish where the meat just fell from the bones. The spices on the fish again were not overpowering, and complemented the tip-of-tongue spiciness from the starter perfectly. Personally, I think I would have preferred Cheshire new potatoes to the egg noodles, but to be honest that’s just being a bit picky. £12.95.

Finally, the dessert. All the sweets here are £3.50, and I have to confess to not being a real fan of the third course. However, strictly for the purposes of research, I opted for the Lemon Sorbet Bruleé. After the hints of spiciness that accompanied the other two courses, I figured this may well be a way of redressing the balance. The bruleé arrived served in its own earthenware dish, with hot caramelised sugar on the top of the lemon ice-cream sorbet. The combination of hot and cold with sweet and sharp provided a perfect finish to the meal.

Would I go back? The answer is a definite “YES”

Lower Whitley, Chetwode Arms

Tucked away, just off the A49 the Chetwode Arms is a delightful country pub with interesting nic-nacks in the entrance area and a warren of small cosy rooms around the building. How good it is to see a traditional pub that hasn’t all been opened out into a single large room.

On entry we were shown to our table in one of the many rooms, and the smells of the cooking wafting from the plates of other diners in rooms that we passed certainly got my mouth watering. We were served our drinks at the table, and I was delighted to see three very good cask ales available (Adnams Broadside, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Jennings Cumberland) together with one hand pump dedicated to a real cider (something of a rarity in these parts) in the form of Weston’s Old Rosie. All the beers were in good form (as you would expect in a Cask Marque accredited pub), although they were a little on the cool side, and benefitted from warming on the table for 10 minutes or so before drinking.

Main reason for the visit was the food, and for starters I opted for the hand-cut smoked salmon with crème fraîche at a staggering £8.95. The starter was well presented on white square plates with five quite thickly cut strips of delicious smoked salmon, with a small pot of crème fraîche and a small bowl of mixed dressed salad. Service was good too, and I was particularly impressed by the way that the waitress served from the left and cleared from the right, a bit of etiquette that has been overlooked in so many places these days.

For main course, I opted for something a little different. One of the specialities here is the Hot Rock. Basically the Hot Rock is a polished slab of volcanic granite heated to 440°C on which your choice of food is cooked without the use of oils or fats. The rock is presented to you in a specially designed dish on your table, replete with your chosen food for you to cook yourself on the Hot Rock.

I went for the 230g fillet steak (that’s just over 8oz for those still using old money) and it arrived as promised sizzling away on a corner of my Hot Rock with a tomato in the other corner. The idea is that you cut of a portion, and cook it to your taste on another section of the Hot Rock. That way you only have yourself to blame if it isn’t cooked to your liking. Delicious steak and great fun too. I guess its like the 21st Century equivalent of the fondue. The meal came with a large bowl of very good homemade chips, and another bowl of new Cheshire potatoes. There were two small pots of dipping sauce (one a pepper sauce, the other home made tomato sauce. I opted as well for a side order of mushroom sauce, although to be honest it didn’t work to well with the Hot Rock. No salad or vegetables though, which to be honest was a little poor.

Now the stinger in the tail. The steak was a whopping £24.50, with the mushroom sauce an additional £2.50. That means for a starter and main course I had paid £35.95, and with three halves of beer, the total cost was just shy of £40. Unless you are very rich you probably won’t be making a trip there for food every night, but for an occasional treat it is worth it for the excellent quality of the food and great setting. I do think that a few vegetables wouldn’t be too much to ask though for the price.

Now a plea to landlords everywhere, not just the Chetwode Arms. On the night I was very pleased with the service – glasses were refreshed from the bar as soon as they were empty, plates cleared straight away and food was served promptly. All that changed however when it was time to pay. Having cleared the last of our plates away, and refused the offer of a sweet (in deference to my bank manager), we were left staring at empty drinks glasses for twenty minutes. Now I can understand perhaps not wanting to offer a bill to you containing as it does some high numbers, but simply asking if we would like another drink would have brought about the response “no thank you, can we just have the bill” or something similar. After the twenty minutes (and having put our coats on to no avail) I concluded that the only way I would be able to part with my money would be to seek down a waiter and ask him for the bill. Not good enough! I have to say this seems to almost be standard practice in pubs in Vale Royal, and as I continue to review pubs for their food offering it is really beginning to annoy me. I value my time, even if the pubs don’t. Rant over.

Norley, Tigers Head

A proper village pub this, set in an the centre of the village with post office, red telephone box and stocks outside and situated on the delightfully named road called Pytcheleys Hollow. The pub has a large car park behind the building, accessed by passing a tree in the middle of the roadway, and keeping the unusual triangular-shaped bowling green to your right.

Inside this large building, it is pleasing too say that it has retained two distinct areas – a public bar to the rear and a comfortable large lounge to the front, with a small snug up some steep-looking stairs on the left. Decoration is in the style that was very popular in the late eighties and early nineties, but is none the worse for that. It’s recent past as a Burtonwood pub can still be evidenced from the signage.

Three beers were on offer tonight – Marstons Burton Bitter and Jennings Cumberland Ale were the two regulars from the Marston’s stable, supplemented by a guest beer which tonight was Hop Back Spring Zing. All the beers were in good form, and the Spring Zing was particularly tasty – I have yet to have a beer from this excellent brewery that I don’t like.

With regard to food, we had booked ahead. This wasn’t really necessary although they will reserve a particular table of your choice if you want them to which is a nice touch. Ordering can be done at the bar, or if it isn’t too busy, someone will take an order at your table. Each table has a number on a small metal sign, which confusingly differs from the brass number fixed to the table! They seem to be able to work it all out though.

For starters, I perused the shortest list of starters I have ever come across – just four items. Usually I am stuck for choice for the first course, but the limited range made choosing somewhat easier this time. I opted for the Garlic Mushrooms, described as pan fried in a home-made creamy sauce and served with a roll. £3.95 was the price, or £2.95 if you were eating at lunchtime. The starter arrived promptly and as served in a good sized dish full of mushrooms in a rich thick creamy sauce containing plenty of garlic. So much garlic that you smelt it before you saw it arrive. Delicious. Also on the plate was a rather sad-looking flat roll that had been warmed before serving. It certainly tasted better than it looked and was perfect for mopping up the remains of the sauce. The dish of mushrooms and roll were served on a plate with a paper doily – you don’t see those too often these days. It would I feel, have benefitted from a small portion of side salad, for appearance as much as taste.

For main course I opted for a dish from the specials menu, available on a separate list that is brought to your table. I had the Carbonade of Beef – tender chunks of beef slowly cooked with mushrooms, onions and French mustard in a home-made red wine sauce, served with chips and vegetables of the day at £8.95.

This arrived quickly, with all the chips and vegetables already loaded onto your plate. The beef was tender, although there was a little too much celery and carrot in the mix for my liking (not mentioned on the menu, which is strange for a “specials” menu as presumably it is drawn up to reflect the actual dishes being prepared). The sauce was tasty but quite thick with the mustard over-powering the red wine. The vegetables of peas and carrots were nice, the peas in particular being deliciously sweet. The chips looked as though I wouldn’t enjoy them – too large and too light in colour, but I was pleasantly surprised by the taste – they were actually rather good.

One aspect of the visit that really has to be mentioned though – the warmth and friendliness of the staff. No empty platitudes here a la identikit American burger chain. There was a genuine warmth and willingness to please, right from making the telephone booking, through ordering drinks at the bar to the food experience. More pubs could do with taking a leaf out of their book when it comes to customer service – some of the best I have seen in a pub, so a big well-done to everyone for helping make it a most enjoyable visit.

Oakmere, Forest View

Under New Management
Lots of “Positive” Changes
New Chef
New Specials Board
A fresh approach to Customers!

Not me saying this – this formed part of an advertisement for the Forest View in the local Buy and Sell. And adverts really do work – well for a start it enticed me to try it out for a meal, and judging by the numbers in the pub there were a good few other people who had been equally attracted.

The Forest View is tucked away well off the beaten track on Gallows Clough Lane at Oakmere (CW8 2TG for sat navvies). The pub consists of a single large room with an elevated bar area. There is an outside grassed beer garden complete with awning and evidence of barbeques in the right weather, together with a hutch containing guinea pigs and a rabbit for younger guests.

Very much a pub offering food in traditional pub food style this. All food and drinks are ordered from the bar from a menu with a choice of five starters and 14 main courses, plus sandwiches and children’s meals, supplemented by a specials board above the bar.

For starter, I strayed from the menu and opted for the Chicken Fillet Bites at £3.95, cheaper than any starter on the menu except the soup. You got nine good-sized nougats in delicious light batter for your money, together with a hot chilli dip and a side salad of lettuce, onions, peppers, tomato and cucumber. I couldn’t help but compare this to what counts almost for a main meal at McDonalds with their nine Chicken McNuggets (Nine fair sized chicken nuggets in batter presented in a cardboard box). Now I wonder which I preferred and thought was better value?

For main course I opted for the Steak & Kidney Pie from the menu at £7.45, described in the menu as “tender beef and kidney in a homemade rich sauce and served with garden peas”. All meals are served with a choice of chips, baked potato or (unusually) salad. As always, I opted for chips.

The pie was delicious. Packed full of mostly tender chunks of beef although only a smattering of kidney, the sauce really was delicious. The pie came with a puff pastry lid, which isn’t my preferred option (to me you just can’t beat shortcut pastry on a pie) in its own pot. The chips were mass produced rather than home-made (boo), the peas were delicious and the whole was accompanied by some side salad as described in the starter.

No room for a sweet (again), but I did manage to sample the three beers on offer. Theakston Best Bitter and Courage Directors are the regular beers here (with the Theakston the better of the two on the night, although I recommend you buy your drink a good 15 minutes or more before you want to drink it as it is very cold). They also take a guest beer which tonight was a very palatable Highgate Bee Zone, a honey beer.

In all, an enjoyable evening with good food at prices that won’t break the bank.

Oakmere, Vale Royal Abbey Arms

Situated on the busy A556 at its junction with the B5152, Vale Royal Abbey Arms is a superb sandstone building built of huge blocks reputed to have been reused from the original abbey. As a Wilsons pub, it was comfortable with multi-rooms and a suit of armour welcoming people as they entered. More recently, however, the pub was opened out internally and was gradually run down. In 1997, Greene King to their credit invested a large sum of money into a substantial refurbishment of the pub.

The interior is now quite delightful with nooks and crannies everywhere in areas of different levels built around a central bar. If pubs are going to be “open plan” then this is surely the way to do it – you certainly get the feeling of being in cosy small rooms. Pleasant background music adds some ambience without drowning conversation – a balance that few pubs get right, but the Vale Royal Abbey Arms manages perfectly.

Booking isn’t necessary here – they have plenty of tables (we were sat at tale 115!). At each table is a pot of tightly wrapped knives and forks, copies of the paper menu and wine list. Obviously beer was to be my choice of drink, and two cask ales were served in good form as you would expect from a Cask Marque accredited pub. Greene King IPA and Morlands Old Speckled Hen are the usual offerings, although on the night of our visit the latter was replaced by Ruddles County due to temporary non-availability from the brewery.

The menu is supplemented by a specials board (although there wasn’t too much on it when we visited). You order your food at the bar. The starters range from £3.25 for soup to £4.95 for warm duck & walnut salad. There are also a range of starters that can be shared. I opted for the Tomato Pesto Battered Chicken Strips at £4.25. This arrived within 15 minutes of placing the order, served on a square plate and looked very attractive with the four battered chicken strips being arranged into a mini-tower with two strips per layer. They were accompanied by some dressed salad leaves and a small bowl of red pepper & chilli sauce for dipping. The taste was delicious. The chicken was juicy and tender, and the batter light and tasty. The salad leaves were crisp and the dipping sauce just the right level of heat. An excellent choice.

Main courses ranged from Chicken, sweetcure bacon and warm poached egg salad at £6.75 to Beef Wellington at £15.95. I chose the 8oz fillet steak at £13.95, asking for it to be cooked rare. This was served as described with chips (unfortunately not home made), paris brown & shiitake mushrooms, seared cherry tomatoes, onion rings and dressed mixed leaves. The steak was delicious, cooked to perfection. Mushrooms and onion rings were good and the mixed leaves tasty. I think I would have preferred an option of hot vegetables or peas to the salad though. But good value and overall an enjoyable main course.

For sweet, I opted for the Cornish Clotted Cream Ice-Cream – three scoops topped with chocolate sauce at £3.50. Again, good value, however the ice-cream was disappointing having none of the richness of flavour I would usually expect from a Cornish clotted-cream ice-cream. It also contained ice crystals which didn’t help, and overall the chocolate sauce was too rich. A shame after the rest of the meal having been so good.

I have to mention the cleanliness here though. This place excels at clean glasses (each one is checked before pouring beer into it). Cutlery was immaculate, as were the condiments, tables and plate edges. A true shining example of how a pub should operate.

Plumley, The Golden Pheasant

An enormous pub owned by Manchester brewers J W Lees, the Golden Pheasant is situated just a mile from the main A556 Manchester to Chester road, right alongside Plumley railway station. The first thing you notice on arrival is the sheer enormity of the car park.

As you enter the pub, you find a well-appointed, warm and welcoming hostelry, and you wonder to yourself why you have not visited this place more often. To the right as you enter is the separate “tap” room (although to be honest there is little to differentiate public bars from lounges in many pubs now, even where a separate room is provided). The bar is straight ahead of you.

Now to be honest, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Lees’ beers, but I decided to try them all on the night and I have to say I was delighted and surprised by the Lees Bitter scoring a 4 out of 5 on the CAMRA national scale. John Willies is their new premium beer and I was less impressed with that, but the seasonal, Dragons Teeth scored a respectable 3. Just a shame that they’ve stopped selling the excellent Brewers Dark (or GB Mild as it used to be called).

The large dining room is to your left, and whilst it is big, it is intelligently designed with screening to ensure that you don’t feel you are dining in a big shed, particularly important if a room isn’t particularly full as was the case on our visit.

Onto the food. For starters, I thought I would try the ramekin of garlic mushrooms, sautéed with crushed garlic, tarragon cream and stilton topped with breadcrumbs at £4.75. A good attempt at offering something a bit different for a starter, but I’m afraid it didn’t quite work for me. Such was the bountiful quantity of breadcrumbs, it really seemed to deaden the taste of everything else.

For the main course, I opted for the Chicken Smoky Blue, described as a breast of chicken filled with stilton and garlic butter wrapped in smoked bacon and served with chunky chips, basmati rice or half and half. This was priced at £9.95. I went for the half and half option. For this course I was not disappointed. Excellent taste, the chicken was a delight and the basmati rice a perfect accompaniment. If I had the dish again I would miss off the chips – not that there was anything wrong with them, just that the rice “goes” better. I have to mention the service here – impeccable. Just the right balance, and something that is so often hard to get right. A new team here at the Golden Pheasant – and it seems to me that they are doing all the right things to make this a venue to visit more than just occasionally.

Plumley, The Smoker

This fabulous-looking old coaching inn (apparently dating from around the reign of Queen Elizabeth I) is an unmissable feature on the A556 Manchester to Chester road situated as it is right on a set of traffic lights at the junction of Plumley Moor Road at Plumley. Originally called the Griffin, the modern name for this pub came not from the nicotine habits of its customers, but rather from the name of a race house called Smoker owned by the first Lord de Tabley. In fact two other pubs on this road are also named after horses – the Windmill at Tabley and the Blue Cap at Sandiway.

The first test when approaching this pub is how to get into the car park. From Manchester, Knutsford and the M6 it is fairly easy – just go through the aforementioned traffic lights and past the pub. The entrance to the car park is between the pub and the car-wash garage. Coming the other way from Chester or Northwich things are a little less obvious. Firstly as you get to the traffic lights, with the pub on your right you need to turn left onto the slip road for Plumley, and then take the right hand lane. When the lights are in your favour, instead of continuing on toward Plumley, turn right back onto the A556 in the opposite direction and follow the directions above.

Once inside the pub, the interior really lives up to the promise presented by the exterior. There are three connecting rooms each with open fires and comfortable seating. Diners should proceed straight ahead to the restaurant, accessed up a short flight of central stairs. The dining room itself is clearly an addition to the pub, but it has been placed in an unobtrusive way so that it doesn’t impinge on the feel of the rest of the pub. This is a seriously large dining area, feeling bigger than the rest of the pub combined and seating up to 90 people – but it is intelligently laid out with internal divisions breaking up the layout. You never get a feeling of being too cramped.

The staff here are particularly helpful and attentive, and once you have been shown to your table are left to peruse the menus. 10 starters and 19 main courses are on the menu’s and there are separate specials boards, steak boards and sandwich boards if you fancy a walk to read them. I was impressed to read that the Smoker uses fresh local produce wherever possible, including local free-range eggs and beef from Cheshire or Cumbria. They buy from independent local vegetable and fresh fish suppliers too. Most admirable.

For starter I opted for the Billini pancake, smoked salmon, cream & black pepper at £5.95. This was delicious, but what I got wasn’t what I expected. I have no idea what Billini is (the only thing I could find when I “wikid” the word was an ex-president of the Dominican Republic), but I was somehow expecting a cold pancake, with cold smoked salmon and some thick cream. I got a hot pancake, with hot thick salmon (that seemed poached) with a hint of smoke in the taste, in a sea of thin creamy sauce. But like I say, it tasted superb and that is the important thing.

For main course I opted for the 12oz griddled gammon steak served with free-range eggs, chips and garden peas at £9.95. The gammon was excellent and tasty although I must say I have had nicer peas and the chips seemed to be of a mass-produced variety and were very disappointing. The egg was cooked perfectly with a nice runny yolk, and the whole meal was garnished with a few rocket leaves. As a whole, I think “could do better” is appropriate. The main element (the gammon) was really good – I just felt that the things surrounding it didn’t quite come up to muster. No problems with the drinks though. Another Robinson’s house, the three beers on offer were Robinsons Unicorn, their seasonal Tempus Fugit and Hartleys XB brewed by Robinson’s at Stockport. All the beers were in good form.

Tarporley, Rising Sun

Having appeared in the first 26 editions of the Good Beer Guide, the Rising Sun at Tarporley still holds the branch record for the most consecutive entries in this prestigious publication and is surpassed in the overall number of entries only by last year’s Pub of the Year winner, the Railway at Heatley.

It has always had a good reputation for food, and indeed most of this old coaching inn seems to be given over to dining, although there remains a room at the rear set aside for drinking. Booking is advisable if you want a seat in the busy dining room, particularly at weekends.

Once there, the first thing that hits you is the extensive menu. So many pubs these days feature only a small selection of dishes, and sometimes you can be unlucky enough to simply not fancy anything on offer. Never the case here, there are 10 starters to choose from and 50 main courses (not including the salads, sandwiches and specials board items!).

For starters I opted for the deep fried breaded mushrooms stuffed with homemade pate at £3.75. A superb choice, the taste was divine and the whole dish was very well presented with five large mushrooms sat on a bed of salad.

For the main course, the difficulty here was in choosing from a wide array of mouth-watering choices. I was tempted by the many casserole dishes on offer – then I was drawn to the grills – the fillet steak rossini sounded delicious, and other people were eating enormous portions of yummy-looking gammon steaks. Then I was drawn to the extensive range of pies but eventually settled for something from the special’s board. Halibut steak with smoked salmon in a cheese sauce at £9.50 sounded both tasty and interesting.

You have a choice of potatoes (I opted for new potatoes) and mixed vegetables or salad (I chose the former). The vegetables were cooked perfectly and crisp and included carrot, mange-tout, beans, broccoli, cauliflower and turnip. The new potatoes were served on a side plate and consisted of one large potato and five smaller ones, let down only by a pre-wrapped portion sized piece of Lurpak butter. I do wish places would take the extra effort to serve butter without the wrapping!

The halibut and smoked salmon were delicious, although the sauce would have benefited from being a few degrees warmer. So generous were the portions that I simply didn’t have room for a sweet however I did take a look at the sweet menu and extensive doesn’t begin to do it justice!

Add to the experience real ale in the form of Robinson’s Unicorn, and you have a good night out where the pace of serving is just about right. I’ll definitely be back – there are another 49 main courses to try!

Weaverham, The Hanging Gate

Many people, myself included, hearken back to simpler times – when pubs were pubs and restaurants were places where you went to eat. If you wanted to eat in a pub, your choice was limited to crisps or nuts. Then came the pubs who daringly started selling pies – giving rise to the phrase “a pie and a pint”. Basket meals followed (scampi and chips in a basket was a popular choice) and proved to be extremely successful. It wasn’t until the mid to late eighties however that many pubs started serving proper plated meals. Nowadays of course we have the rise of the so-called gastro pub, with (sometimes) fine cuisine being offered at wallet-busting prices, often where the beer is a mere afterthought. It is often difficult to tell sometimes whether you are in a pub selling food, or a restaurant selling beer – the lines of distinction have become blurred.

In Weaverham, the Hanging Gate is still first and foremost a pub, ie a place to enjoy a pint of real ale, good company and chat. Early evenings however (until around 8pm) you can enjoy some excellent pub meals. Proper meals these – not scampi in a basket, but not “gastro” either. Honest food at honest prices that ensure the place is still first and foremost a pub rather than a restaurant selling beer. You won’t find any hired-hand chefs here either. The food is all prepared and cooked by the landlord and landlady Alan and Sheila so they have a vested interest in making sure you enjoy your meal enough to come back.

The Hanging Gate itself dates back to the early mists of time, evidenced by the water pump at the rear of the pub, and the stone mounting blocks for getting on your horse at the front! Although the pub is on West Road (the old A49 through Weaverham, pre- by-pass), there is a large car-park to the rear on Station Road. From there, entering through the back door if you turn right you pass in to the public bar complete with darts, pool table and large screen TV. Go left and you enter the very comfortable lounge with quiet and unobtrusive background music and a vast array of Toby jugs hanging from the ceiling. It was here that we were to eat.

Choosing from the reasonable selection of food from the large laminated menu’s (and how nice it is to be able to recognize everything on the menu!) I opted for a starter of Garlic Mushrooms at £3.25. These arrived about 15 minutes after ordering with nine breaded mushrooms plated with a side salad of lettuce, sweet corn, cucumber and tomato and were accompanied by a dish of garlic mayonnaise so that you could apply as much or as little as you wanted. And they were delicious.

Main course had a tempting array of food including battered fish, scampi, steak and a variety home-made plated pies that looked delicious on other customers’ plates. I opted for a 10oz gammon steak. On ordering I was asked if I wanted pineapple or egg and on choosing the latter I was asked how many I wanted – I chose two. The main course arrived and it was enormous – 10oz of locally sourced meat surmounted by two fried eggs, a side salad made up the same as the starter. A huge pile of home-made chips completed the plate, and there was an enormous bowl of superb sweetly-tasted peas and carrots at the side. Excellent value at only £6.95 (no I didn’t miss a one in front of the six). The food was very good and the chips are in my opinion the best I have tasted in any pub anywhere. They remind you of how chips used to taste when your granny made them – wonderful.

I didn’t have room for a sweet (but certainly had enough money for one – so far I’d only spent £10.20 for two hearty courses. Have to mention the beers here though. The Hanging Gate became free of tie recently, and features Tetley Cask and Black Sheep Best Bitter as standard offerings, with a third pump dedicated to a changing guest beer (usually from Coach House in Warrington). All the beer was fine on the night of my visit, but the Coach House Innkeepers was particularly good.

In summary, honest food in a pleasant pub served by a real landlord at fantastic prices with some of the best chips to be found in a pub. Give it a try.

Whitegate, The Plough

Right at the fringe of our branch area lies a delightful little pub that is somewhat off the beaten track. Between Northwich and Winsford, and a little out of the centre of Whitegate, the Plough is found down a tiny road called Beauty Bank. CW8 2BP is the postcode for those with sat nav.

Run by David Hughes for over 10 years, this Robinson’s pub has had work done to the highest quality when the dining room was necessarily extended to accommodate the many people who want to eat here. Definitely a big leap from the bland and unsympathetic refurbishments that Robinson’s became known for in the 80’s and 90’s. Even with the extension, it is still advisable to book a table in advance (01606 889455).

The pub is basically a pub of two halves. From the small car park, as you enter the door, to your left is the bar. A great drinking room with excellent banter and a strong local’s trade – you won’t get any food in here, this is strictly a drinking area. Congratulations to them for making that stand – it is too easy nowadays to forget the humble drinker whilst chasing the dollar from the foodies, thus sweeping away years of tradition and true raison d’être of the establishment.

Diners should carry straight on and you come to the much larger dining room, where you are efficiently and politely shown to your table. Some tables can feel a little cramped in here as they are located fairly close to adjacent tables, and the room would, in my opinion, benefit from having a few less covers.

Straight to the food then – there are two elements to the menu, the standard offerings and the specials, thoughtfully included as a loose sheet to save the inconvenience of trying to locate and then read the specials from a blackboard. There was a choice of eleven starters (with a further six on the specials menu). I opted for the mushrooms stuffed with pate and deep fried in home made batter at £5.25. Highly recommended – these were simply delicious – the batter light and crispy and the pot of home-made chutney really went well as an accompaniment.

For main course, I could have had any one of a number of tempting dishes from a choice of around 35 including the specials and salads. The old fashioned plate steak pie had come recommended to me, but I opted instead for the fresh grilled cod in batter (there was an option of batter or breadcrumbs, but the batter was so delicious on the mushrooms that I opted for the former). This was served with mushy peas and a choice of chipped, jacket, baby boiled potatoes or chunky chips. I opted for the ordinary chips, although in hindsight I wished I’d gone for the chunky chips. At £9.25 this was a little expensive I felt for fish and chips, until you realise just how expensive these are at your local chippy these days. Despite the disappointment of the chips, the fish was delightful, full of flavour and just melting in your mouth. A wise choice.

I wasn’t going to have a sweet – until I saw the sweet menu. How could I not resist an Eton Mess (chopped strawberries and raspberries mixed with raspberry coulis topped with crushed meringue and whipped cream). Mouth wateringly delicious – just way too much for one person after a hearty meal. Good value though at £4.45.

As for the beers, this being a Robinson’s house – theirs were the beers on offer. Nice to see an establishment selling a mild these days, and Robinson’s Hatters is a light version of the style, almost the same colour as their Unicorn bitter. Also on offer was the seasonal, Tempus Fugit, which is probably one of the nicest seasonals to come out of the Robinson’s stable. All three of the beers were excellent, even if I did have some trouble getting the waiter to understand what I wanted.

Would I return? A definite Yes from me.

Willington, The Boot

The Boot at Willington (or more correctly Boothsdale) is one of the most difficult to locate pubs in the Branch area, situated between Kelsall and Tarporley close to an area known as Little Switzerland. Luckily there are signs on the road which is a help. For those with sat nav, the post code is CW6 0NH. For those using the old fashioned method of a map, the OS grid reference is SJ531672. Food is available lunchtimes between 1100 and 1430 and evenings from 1800 to 2130. Fridays, weekends and bank holidays it is open right through from 1100 to 2130.

From the large car park, the pub gives the appearance of a line of cottages, rather than a single building, and this is in fact what is used to be. Now, knocked through into one, the pub still has many distinct areas, with a delightful snug to the left, the main bar in the centre and dining area to the right. There is also a further dining room to the rear. That said, their menu boasts that all food is available in the bar, restaurant or alfresco – the latter not being particularly appealing on a January night!

There is no noisy gaming machines here, nor televisions or piped music – just the hum of conversation, and I have to say that despite its location there are plenty of people who have managed to track down this gem – so many in fact that the low ceilings and stone floor made the background chatter quite noisy.

We were seated and served by very pleasant staff, and were soon browsing through the menu. We chose not to have some bread as we perused the menu – not least because it was chargeable (£1.50 for warm crusty bread and butter).

For starters, I chose the oak-smoked salmon, served with a sour cream and herb dressing and accompanied by a crisp salad garnish. At £7.50, this wasn’t the most expensive starter on the menu (it was beaten only by a pint of prawns), but it was much more than I am used to paying for a first course. When the salmon arrived, I wasn’t disappointed – a 10 inch plate covered in smoked salmon that really was delicious.

For the main course I pushed the boat out and went for the most expensive thing on the menu – a prime 80z fillet steak, with field mushrooms, grilled tomato and garlic herb butter. At £16.90, this certainly wasn’t cheap, but the steaks here had been recommended so I had to give them a try. I asked for my steak to be cooked rare and was asked whether I wanted chips or boiled potatoes. No contest really – it has to be chips with a steak for me. I ordered some peas as well instead of the offered vegetables.

When it arrived, it really was delicious stake – cooked perfectly and enhanced by the garlic herb butter. The chips, however, were a disappointment. Home cut, home cooked and chunky they definitely were, but they were just too thickly cut for me, leaving them a little dry to taste. The biggest shock came with the bill, when I discovered that chips were an optional extra and were priced at an additional £2.50, putting the cost of the main course to £19.40!

Finally came the dessert. ‘Cheshire Farm real dairy ice cream – vanilla with pod “Gold Award Winner” – a delicate natural vanilla speckled with vanilla pod seeds, leaves a fresh, clean, pure taste’ was how the menu described it. How could I resist? And delicious it was too. £3.90 was cheaper than the standard priced desserts which were £4.95.

As for the beer – it was in fine form for the evening. Tetley Cask and Greene King IPA were their standard offerings – both good, but the best beer of the evening was local brewery Weetwood’s Eastgate ale.

All together, a very enjoyable evening in a busy pub of character with good beer and food. My only criticism was the prices. Paying over £30 per head puts this place right in the upper bracket for pub food. Too expensive in my opinion for what you got, but lots of people dining there suggest otherwise.

Reviews
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