We (a party of four adults) booked lunch here to celebrate my mum-in-laws' 79th birthday.
Our first impresions were very pleasant indeed. The restaurant (and hotel) itself is very nicely situated in the countryside with beautiful views. The car parking facilities are ample. Before entering, we noticed that there is seating outside the restaurant for those who might wish to take after-dins coffee in the sun and to enjoy the view.
On entering, we found the staff to be courteous and cheerful. The lounge area was nice, leather sofas and a lovely warm real fire - good place to peruse the menu and wine list. The interior decor is nice and light with lovely roof beams and a spacious unfussy and unpretentious layout. Very relaxing and informal.
There were four of us for lunch, i.e. my two parents in law, my wife and myself. Three of us had starters, we all had main courses, and three of us had desert.
For starters we chose goats cheese, spicy parsnip and honey soup and the prawn cocktail - all delicious. I was blown away by my soup - I could have devoured bowl after bowl. Our choices for main course were pot roasted shoulder of lamb x 2, individual sirloin of beef + Yorkshire pud + trimmings, and chicken breast stuffed with spinach + ham + Shropshire Blue cheese. All were magnificent. Other main courses on the menu included sea bream on a risotto of seafood and a veg dish.
For desert we chose the lemon torte I think it was plus 2 x sticky toffee pud + organic ice cream. I had the latter and it was without doubt the best pud I've ever had in a restaurant.
While we're on superlatives, my wife's chicken was the best we had ever tasted in a restaurant. And the lamb was also in that kind of reckoning too. Pretty impressive all round we thought.
Lunch pricing is as follows: 20 GB pounds for two courses or 24 GB pounds for three courses.
Did we enjoy the meal? Yes - it was fabulous - one of the best we've had out in a restaurant anywhere.
Was it good value? Kind of depends on what your budget is so this is a personal answer, but yes - we thought so.
Would we go again? Definitely. Before we had even finished our meal we were already talking about coming back again.
What about the wine list? We didn't order wine but that was just because of a combination of driving, it being lunchtime and some of us not being wine drinkers as such. What I can say however, is that the wine list looked excellent and included a good variety of very reasonably priced choices from Chile and Argentina. These countries are producing fantastic exciting wines at very good prices. I just wish other restaurants would follow suit and stock more wines from Chile and Argentina. Perhaps I can report on that front on my next visit.
In a nutshell? Excellent. A great place to celebrate my mum-in-laws' 79th birthday. Highly recommended !!!





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