The Orange Tree, Thornham

Set in the beautiful seaside village of Thornham on the North Norfolk coast, The Orange Tree has always been a favourite foodie haunt of my family. The building itself comprises a large rustic bar, 6 en suite bedrooms and the restaurant which is the self proclaimed 'jewel of their crown'. The most recent award this restaurant and it's very talented chefs have received is the 'Norfolk dining pub of the year' and after numerous evenings sampling the delights to leave their kitchen I can definitely understand why.



Outdoor seating at Orange Tree
  

The evening I shall be commenting on in this blog is in fact my Father's 50th Birthday meal and the photographs were both the dishes I ordered, and also had a little sample of - the perks of writing a restaurant blog hey! For the starter I opted for 'Slow cooked shoulder of lamb, with mezze garnish (a course kind of hummus), and harissa yoghurt.'

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb

I have to admit when I saw a few of the other starters being put down I had a little bit of food envy, however when I started eating the dish it was packed full of great Greek flavours. My only slight remark would be that the lamb and chickpea dip were both fairly dry (although delicious) so I'd have loved some extra creamy harissa dip to moisten the dish a little more.

Scorched King Scallops and Pork belly

When I put my starter order into the kitchen I spent a good while humming and haring about whether I should have chosen the scallop dish instead and when it arrived it looked and smelt absolutely fantastic. Served alongside a crispy smoked pork belly, homemade pork scratchings, sweetcorn panacotta and maple popcorn puree on paper I thought the sweetness of the other components would over power the delicate scallops, but I was wrong, it was absolutely divine; being a restaurant by the sea these chefs really know how to do their fish!

Broad bean fritters

Another starter I was really tempted by was the broad bean fritters, which was served with a bright green pea veloute, wasabi peanuts and heritage tomato salad. Being a bit of a carnivore I went for the meat option over this choice, however I was lucky enough to try a bit of the dish and I have to say out of all of the starters I'd tried that night this far surpassed them all in terms of flavour. The sweet pea veloute was amazing and the broad bean fritters were so tasty I could have easily eaten this plate of food every day for the rest of my life!

The OT Prawn cocktail

The final starter pictured above is a fail safe dish at the Orange Tree if you're ever unsure of what to order! It has been on the menu ever since we have started visiting years ago and it never fails to impress with three different types of prawns, including wonderful local brown shrimp sourced incredibly locally.

After some incredible starters we were all eager for our main courses to arrive and (knowing how wonderful their fish dishes were) I opted for the Pan fried hake fillet, with chorizo and brown shrimp orzo, tempura soft shell crab and local samphire.


 

Hake with Chorizo and Brown shrimp orzo

I hadn't ever tried orzo before but aside from the perfectly cooked hake, the mini sauce pan of risotto like pasta was the stand out component of the dish. The sweet creamy dish was made even tastier with the mini chunks of chorizo and shrimp, as well as sweet peas and tomato. What made the dish even better was the crunch of the tempura crab, and the salty local samphire (a personal favourite of mine at the right time of year).

Blythburgh pork - three ways

My Father ordered the Blythburgh pork which came three different ways, as a wonderfully moist loin, a slow roasted belly and a ham hock terrine. This was also served alongside a pina colada salad and tenderstem broccoli. The pork (as it should be) was the star of this plate of food, cooked absolutely brilliantly in the loin, and equally tasty but completely different, terrine.

Aberdeen Angus fillet with king prawn

Many of the people within our party ordered the main dish pictured last on this blog which was a Aberdeen Angus fillet steak, served with a smoked poacher and pancetta potato terrine, fresh water king prawn, and flavours of tomato, almonds and cauliflower. As you can see it looked pretty as a picture, and according to my Brother and Grandpa tasted just as awesome too!

For dessert I couldn't resist ordering an OT classic, residing on the menu for as long as I have been dining there The Fairground is a wonderfully executed dish bursting with flavour and is a real treat to share with someone.

The Fairground 

The Fairground itself is a pretty complex array of all things you would imagine receiving at a fun fair; flavoured candyfloss, sweets and bubblegum treats, popcorn and marshmallows and although these really add to the wonderful effect of the dish as a whole none of these components, I felt were completely necessary. The real stars of the plate, and indeed where the praise is required were the mini toffee apples, the jam filled doughnuts and most of all the bubblegum panacotta. The toffee apples had a crisp caramel outer layer but were filled with the intense sweetness of an apple pie like filling and the doughnuts were perfectly sweet and soft. The bubblegum panacotta to me was outstanding though, it really bought back childhood memories of playing in the sunshine and running to the ice cream van to pick up a screwball after school.



The Brick

The last dish I will mention was ordered by a number of my family members, and it was aptly named 'The Brick'...for no other reason than it is served on top of a real, clay (and very heavy) brick - not really sure why! The components were a flour less chocolate cake, a mandarin and chocolate lollipop and honey roast parsnip ice cream. My brother said that this was really a dessert for a chocolate fan, he enjoyed the lollipop but felt the cake was a little heavy and rich for the dish with all the bits combined as one - didn't stop him finishing the whole lot though! The thing I was most intrigued about however was the honey roast parsnip ice cream, and it really split our group into two camps. Many thought it was a step too far, or didn't really understand the concept, I on the other hand absolutely adored it, the earthy yet profoundly sweet ice cream screamed parsnip to me, yet it worked absolutely brilliantly in my opinion, and I will most definitely order a whole bowl full on my next visit (which undoubtedly will be in the very near future).


This meal was really excellent, the staff (especially our main waitress who I annoyingly didn't catch the name of) were efficient and (despite waiting a little longer for our table than we expected) did absolutely everything they could to make it a special evening for my Dad. This meal especially taught me the power of food, in bringing people together and evoking strong memories, both old, and new. The Orange Tree in Thornham is a real gem - you only have to look at all its accolades, I definitely suggest you visit, even if it means taking a bit of a detour (the surrounding villages are as picture perfect as the food!).


http://www.theorangetreethornham.co.uk/

CanTina Supper Club, Brighton

Knowing I was visiting Brighton when all things foodie was going on I hoped that I'd find myself a supper club for my empty Friday evening, and much to my delight my dreams came true! When scouring through the Food and Drink Festival brochure I saw CanTina staring back at me, and after a little more research I knew I had to get myself booked in due to the glowing reviews from internationally acclaimed magazines such as Olive and Grazia.

The name of the club itself,  'CanTina', is a lovely play on words combining the Spanish term for canteen and the patron of the clubs name, Tina. The night I attended was in fact it's 2nd birthday (Hoorah!) and there was a really nice mixture of those who were regular attenders, and others (like myself) who were visiting for the first time.

Tina's sitting room is beautiful, perfect to fit a long table to seat 20 people (cosily!) and the welcome I received was so friendly I knew I was in for a fantastic evening of spectacular food and company.

Mini Cuppa Soup

After a beautiful welcome from the host including a delicious Rhubarb Fizz cocktail, we weren't kept waiting long before our soup course arrived - a delightfully cute mini cuppa soup of Tomato, Roasted Pepper and coconut sambal was placed in front of the extremely peckish diners! The aroma filling the room from these tiny cups was unbelievable, and as soon as I tried it I could understand why. The wonderful fresh flavour of vine tomatoes and that smokey flavour of the roasted peppers really complimented the coconut and cream on top: it certainly left us wanting more!

Carrot Fritter

Next to follow was our starter of carrot fritters with mung beans, peppers and saffron labneh. This was a course I was extremely looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. I won't even begin to predict the different spices in this dish as I am positively sure I wouldn't be able to, but they just danced on your tongue in an unexpectedly sweet rather than savoury way.

Spiced local mackerel

Being a fish fanatic the fish course of spiced local mackerel with pickled pumpkin and cucumber, and walnuts was an absolute delight. I loved the contrast of the warm smokey fish with the tang of the pickled vegetables and the earthy crunch of those walnuts. This course was also served with Nick Beddows' sour dough baguette, this was also so yummy and the sour taste really went well with another relatively sweet dish. I am also told it is a mean feat of culinary genius to get sour dough baguette shaped so all credit goes to Nick for his achievement!

Beef Kofte with Broad beans

Again the smells wafting from the kitchen had us all dying to sample another one of Tina's inventive dishes, and the next was her main of Beef kofte and broad beans with herbed freekah and chopped salad with tahini sauce. I had never tried freekah before, but to me it was similar to quinoa in its cereal like taste but had a much nicer chunkier texture which suited the fresh pop of flavour from the broad beans. The beef was also amazing, again, perfectly spiced and cooked pink and juicy in the middle - as it should be.

Blackberry, Honey and Polenta cake

I have to say when the first plates of dessert were bought out I was a little sad that the evening had drawn to a close (seemingly) so quickly, but I suppose time flies when you're having fun! In my opinion she had saved the show stopper course until last: Blackberry, honey and polenta cake with poached blackberries and ginger cream. This was incredible (and I'm not usually a dessert person at all)! It was served warm so the ginger cream melted onto the crisp sugary shell and the sweet sticky cake went perfectly with the poached blackberries which added a much needed tartness.
This was served with the most divine dessert wine, (I wish I had taken down the name) which rounded off the fabulous meal absolutely perfectly.


Dessert Wine

Nick with his Raspberry choccies!

The thing I love about this supper club (and, in fact the one I attend in Norwich) is that people of all generations, cultures and backgrounds can come together and maintain in depth conversations over our joint interest in great food.

Another reason I love supper clubs is that you are pushed to try things you wouldn't usually try and you are exposed to flavour combinations you would have never usually considered. This was incredibly true of this dining experience in particular. The herb and spice combinations in all of the dishes we tried were so different to anything that I have ever tasted before, and, true to form, I enjoyed all of them!

At £35 I think this supper club was outstanding value, five courses, plus a welcome cocktail, a pudding tipple, coffee and handmade raspberry chocolates.
The excellent reviews for this supper club are well deserved and seriously I advise anyone in the area to book yourself (well in advance) into this club which happens twice a month on a Friday evening. Tina is a wonderful host, and the night went down an absolute treat, managed like a well oiled machine...I just wish I could visit every month!

Worth also mentioning is that Tina can cater for large parties with unique and inspired dishes, as well as sizable dinner parties (if you don't feel like working yourself too hard in the kitchen!)...her website http://cantinabrighton.wordpress.com/ has all of the details you will need!

Terre a Terre, Brighton

As part of my conference programme I had a choice of ten or so Brighton restaurants I could put my name down to eat in on the Wednesday evening. After much deliberation I decided to opt for something out of my comfort zone however a restaurant I was absolutely dying to try after hearing such glowing reviews.

'Terre a Terre' is an iconic Brighton restaurant which has been feeding locals are tourists alike (as well as a number of acclaimed reviewers) for 20 years. It is a restaurant which embraces vegetarianism to the highest degree, by not including any meat on the menu at all, however speaking as a fully fledged carnivore I can completely agree with their mantra to for treat vegetable dishes with an air of 'indulgence rather than abstinence'.

Exterior of the Restaurant

Located just a few minutes walk from the Brighton Pier within the beautiful Lanes area of the town centre it means the restaurant is extremely easy to find. Upon our arrival we were welcomed with a warm and friendly smile, which was lovely considering the rain didn't seem to have the same sentiments when we walked over from Horatio's Bar on the Pier!

Being a non-vegetarian I have to say I was completely overwhelmed by the huge descriptions following each of the dishes. I have to admit I kind of just went for the first couple which took my fancy immediately, and asked the waiter - who was extremely helpful, if they were a good choice!

N.B. I have to admit, the lighting within the restaurant was perfect to create a romantic ambiance, but absolutely terrible for taking photos so I do apologise for the quality of the images, they really do not do the meal justice at all...

Brighton Blue Beats

After some delicious bread and dipping oils, I opted for the starter called 'Brighton Blue Beats'. The menu described this as; 'Blue cheese and Grana Padano gnocchi with pickled crimson and golden beets and carrots, raw candy beetroot, fresh Brighton blue cheese and candied walnuts finished with sage oil, apple balsamic beet dressings, butternut squash cream, blue cheese emulsion, coriander and red amaranth micro leaves and sage salt'....(told you the descriptions were a bit of a mouthful!)

The starter itself was incredible. Visually, flavour-wise and texturally it was just perfect. I can't even imagine how they balanced so many flavours together and made everything taste divine. The earthy blue cheese - sourced from the local High Weald Dairy, matched the sweetness of the apples, butternut squash and beetroot effortlessly. Another thing worth mentioning is how generous the portion size was - I shared this plate of food, and much to my joy I actually felt full at the end of the meal, so it's definitely worth considering, either way I definitely wouldn't miss out if I were you!

Elvis Jaffle

After an excellent starter my expectations were sky high, and I have to admit (due to the lengthy descriptions to each dish) I couldn't even remember what I'd ordered! The only thing which stuck with me was the name: 'Elvis Jaffle', and that was intriguing enough for me to be extremely excited! I have since learnt that a 'jaffle', is in fact a toasted sandwich which explains why the main component of the dish was a fried sandwich crammed with mozzarella, pine nut butter, caper basil hash and tomato and capsicum jam. This was served with ratatouille, fresh burrata (an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream), Cabernet confit, salt baked heritage tomatoes (with basil oil), bloody Mary gel, pine nut basil, puffed rice granola, olive sizzles - stuffed with lemon ricotta, lemon fennel, wood sorrel baby basil salad, and a teeny tomato consume with olive salt...Pheeeew!

At a risk of repeating myself there is no need to tell you how fantastic this dish was...however there were a few stand out components which were incredible. One of which was the tomato consume (not pictured), it was perfectly clear, and the flavour of fresh vine tomatoes danced off your tongue like nothing I have every tasted before! The other component I absolutely loved was the stuffed olives...the lemon and creamy cheese worked so well with the distinctively unique olive flavour and really stood out next to the perfectly nutty creamy pine nut butter.

Sweet Sixes (better than petit fours)



I was actually very full, much to my surprise, but I couldn't leave without sampling one of their desserts so I opted for their version of Petit fours called 'Sweet Sixes'. As part of the dish I had a salted caramel, and regular truffle, as well as filled meringue, almond nougat and some kind of gooey chocolate bloc!

This was a lovely idea to be served with coffee at the end of the meal, and each of the bite size treats were lovely (especially the salted caramel truffle), however I think I really should have gone with one of their beautifully presented desserts to finish the meal off with a bang...there will always be next time I suppose!

I have to say I was completely blown away with the quality of the food provided at Terre a Terre. From the presentation and portion size to the flavour combinations, and the excellent service, I only wish I lived closer to Brighton so I could take all of my friends and family! I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to taste how unbelievably unique each vegetable can taste is given love and attention - I have to say, despite being an avid meat fan, if I had the kitchen staff cooking for me day in day out, I would most definitely consider becoming a convert!

Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival

Despite being a Health Psychologist I specialise in Exercise behaviour (as opposed to healthy eating!), which incidentally means I try to exercise lots and therefore I don't have to skimp on any foodie favourite - or so I tell myself!

I timed my visit to Brighton absolutely perfectly by going the same week as the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink festival, which is now in it's 11th year. There are two times this festival runs each year, one representing the Spring Harvest at Easter, and as I was attending in September, this was the Autumn Harvest. When I looked at the programme online a few weeks prior to visiting I was actually absolutely gutted I wasn't a resident as the activities and various restaurant deals were available for the two weeks prior to the market weekend, so I definitely suggest checking it out if you haven't done before and you live locally.

I woke up on the Saturday morning and headed straight for the arches between the two piers on the Brighton seafront. After a tip off from a Brighton resident, I had my heart set on one place, and that was Jack and Linda Mills' smokehouse. I was informed that this would be the freshest smoked fish I would ever taste, and with that in mind my rubbling stomach and tingling taste buds led the way!



Outside the shop

Upon entering the tiny space I was filled with joy about how passionate this lovely couple were about the freshest seafood and asked for their recommendation, which, as it was breakfast time, ended up being a smoked kipper sandwich...no sauce, just proper butter, in a perfectly crisp tiger bun.



Kipper bun

Whilst the kipper fillet was placed into the griddle pan, I had quick chat with both Jack and Linda who were so lovely, and despite being an absolute institution in Brighton, seemed genuinely grateful for my custom. At £3.20 this was great value for a wonderful juicy bap, and I also thought it was uniquely refreshing being just the bread and the fish, it really made you appreciate the flavour, something you can sometimes loose in the complexity of dishes available nowadays.

Herb stall

Unfortunately the weather was not on our side being very unsettled and freezing cold. Therefore with most of the stalls being outside I have to say I wish i'd brought more layers with me so I could really have taken advantage of all of the wonderful things available. There was a mixure of both produce stalls, informative and interactive tents for both adults and children, the usual live food theatre and also some of the best known brighton restaurants giving mini samplers of the food they have to offer for a small fee.

Brighton Community Food tent

Bread Salad



Tomato and Basil Soup

The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership had a tent which was cooking affordable food, and also educating on reducing food waste in the home. It is a non-profit organisation which works on all aspects of food, delivering community based projects teaching others to cook, educating on healthy eating, weight management and also food growing. I loved this tent, I could really see how this would benefit all over the country, and to make me happy there was lots of free tasting samples which were very tasty too!

 

Savoury Snack stall



Bread Stall

Fresh Seafood

As you can see there was an excellent selection of fresh produce to indulge in, and this is without mentioning the wondeful food stalls, such as meat and seafood wraps, indian curries, spanish paella, and vegetarian tapas. There was even a stall catering to gourmet canine cuisine, with treats such as beetroot flavoured biscuits and doggy popcorn.

 

Canine Cuisine

Whilst I was in Brighton I decided to attend the extremely well reviewed CanTina Supper club (blog post to follow soon), which meant I met with some lovely people, both from Brighton and further afield. Among the new friends I made was Nick Beddows who bought along his excellent sourdough for all of the guests to try. The bread was absolutely delicious, and much to my delight he mentioned he was doing an hour long masterclass during the food market the following day, which I simply couldn't miss!

Explaining the history of sourdough

Nick was very informative throughout our time in the class, and as I recall, this was purposefully done as he wanted us to really understand the background of sourdough and exactly how it works to really get an idea of why it tastes the way it does, and encourage us to make it in the future.

 

Getting our pizza dough out

Teaching us how to knead

We were all given the opportunity to have a go at getting our pizza base ready, by kneading it for a short period of time. This was great, as a complete novice to bread making it was really key I thought, to be able to be hands on in the production process. We made one veggie pizza with homemade tomato sauce, roasted peppers and mushrooms (from the foraging talk which happened just before our session), and a meat one, with smoked chorizo.

Before

The pizza was really tasty, crispy on the crust and had that distinctive sour taste which matched the sweet peppers and smokey chorizo perfectly. I can imagine it would have been even better in a proper pizza oven too as the dough would have been crispy throughout but unfortunately we were in a make shift kitchen and had an oven which didn't get much hotter than 220 degrees!

 

After - Meat Pizza

As you can probably tell, I absolutely loved my day at the Food Market in Brighton. It really was great to see all of the local produce, and restaurants come together, and also the excellent community initiatives Brighton and Hove have to give those less fortunate the opportunity to love and enjoy both growing and cooking food.

 

I recommend this food festival to anyone in the Brighton area, but also those travelling there in the hope of an Indian summer and a little taste of London by the sea, you definitely will not be disapointed.



The New Club, Brighton

When I saw the the Division of Health Psychology Conference this year was to be in Brighton, I jumped at the opportunity to visit the quirky and vibrant seaside town as I'd heard such fantastic things! I'm not sure I could have planned it better myself because the week of the conference actually feel on the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink festival which allowed me to really get stuck into some of the foodie delights Brighton has to offer!

I thought I'd begin the first of many Brighton blogs, in 'The New Club' which coins itself as an LA Indie Coffee house, mixed with a New York bar and diner. Now having visited both of these wonderful places in the States, I have to say it had a lot to live up to!

View from the restaurant.

Being directly next to my hotel, I jumped at the opportunity to try this place out for breakfast initially, and then returned on a recommendation from a waiter for a burger the following lunchtime so I will cover both visits within this entry! As you can tell from the above picture, it really does have extremely impressive views of the seafront, and the West Pier especially (something I found really eye-catching as I took my morning walk). This prime location seemed to fit the feel of the place perfectly with it's welcoming and friendly staff (if a little too hip and trendy for me!) and its small, well formed menu.

Inside with neat feature wall.

The restaurant itself was really new, only having opened in March 2013, but it already seemed to have a nice following of tourists and locals alike all seemingly enjoying their selections from the menu. Their breakfast menu goes on until 1pm - which I think is great, especially if you've been out the night before and need some much needed breakfast grub upon waking! I opted for their 'Hash and Eggs' - which also came with some smokey bacon. I chose this for two main reasons really a) because I'd had American bacon, and was positively sure they wouldn't be able to recreate its crispness, and b) because I seriously adore a good hash brown!

Hash and Eggs

At £7.50 I thought it was quite pricey for a breakfast dish, but from the second it arrived I definitely wasn't disappointed! I was proven completely wrong on the bacon front as it was salty and perfectly crisp, and it came with three huge hash browns and runny eggs - just how I like them! The hash browns were delicious, made from tiny thin strands of potato, soft on the inside crispy on the outside, and I was really surprised at the size of the portion. Now I wouldn't go to say it beats the American diners I frequented during my travels but it's pretty close for sure, and I'd definitely recommend to any passers by!

Dirty Burger

When I went for lunch I opted for one of their burgers. As I mentioned before their menu is pretty small - which always fills me up with hope as it usually means they work hard to get the dishes exactly right! There are the options of a clean burger, a cheese burger, a veggie burger (made from butternut squash, mixed beans and cashews - thought that sounded delicious too) and my choice, 'The Dirty Burger'. This came with their standard 35 day beef (served pink and juicy) and Monterey jack cheese, but also hickory smoked bacon/onion relish, sliced pickles, shredded cabbage and a brioche bun.
As you can see the actual burger was huge, and kind of annoyingly served on a teeny plate, which made it quite difficult to eat, however it tasted really amazing. The patty was very well cooked and the mixture of all of the sides such as the sweet soft bun and tangy crisp gherkin, worked well together both texturally and flavour wise as well.

Fries

The burger itself came with a side of fries (which I was happy about...sometimes they do not include these and it makes it an extremely pricey meal!) and I have to say these absolutely made the meal for me. They were quite possibly the nicest chips I've ever eaten, so crispy, and not overly salty which I loved. Also despite the size of the bowl you got a surprisingly decent sized portion, I really couldn't find fault with them!
My only tiny gripe (and it really is so small) was that the sauce comes in a shot glass, which for me was only just enough to get through my fries (and was quite annoying to get the sauce out of! I'm sure I could have asked again and they would have happily got me another one though so it was just a small frustration on my part and nothing to worry about!

I would highly recommend The New Club, for both breakfast and lunch/dinner, the chefs really know what they are doing, and the other dishes which left the kitchen looked equally scrummy! Even if a little pricey (by my usual Norfolk standards anyway) I would say it was definitely worth the money and I wouldn't hesitate to visit again...especially for those hash browns!

The Chequers, Gedney Dyke

When I heard of a new fine dining restaurant opening it's doors in Lincolnshire a mere 6 miles from my home I couldn't turn down the opportunity to try it out for myself so initially we decided to go to celebrate the passing of a mile stone in my post graduate degree, and we enjoyed it so much we decided to go again a few months later for my brothers birthday. Therefore I will include all of the photos I have taken in both visits but only talk of the one which I tried!

Outside of the pub

The pub itself is lovely, set in a little village with modern interior, and a beautiful fireplace by the bar area. Their aim is to provide quality cuisine using the finest local produce, for example the pork used in my main course is from the Dingley Dell farm in Suffolk and the asparagus for the soup from C Wright and Sons a local farm just behind the pub (which seems to make it all the more delicious!).

Homemade crisps and balsamic foam

On both occasions we were offered warm brown or white bread with proper butter (!) and some homemade crisps, with this deliciously addictive balsamic vinegar foam. We all also ordered a starter and I opted for the fillet of Cornish mackerel with a Waldorf and caviar salad the first time, and the brown shrimp, leek and chive risotto on my second visit.

Mackerel and Waldorf salad

The Waldorf salad with the earthy walnuts mixed with the sharp, sweet apple, and the crunch of celery and the creamy homemade mayonnaise are just like a match made in heaven! Especially coupled with the salty fish and caviar. I loved this dish...and it was a great start to the meal definitely.

Brown shrimp risotto

On my second visit I opted for the brown shrimp risotto (my mother actually had this starter on our first visit and after a sample of it I couldn't resist!). It was balanced perfectly, extremely rich and creamy, and packed full of locally sourced brown shrimps - an ingredient which is fast becoming one of my favourites!

For main course I actually opted for the same main course both times. Now I'm usually one to go for something completely different, but this choice is a real testament to how much I absolutely loved this plate of food. The description stated it was Dingley dell pork fillet wrapped in parma ham, served with black pudding, creamed cabbage, apple, shallot and cider juices.

Dingley dell pork dish

This is a dish full of flavour, and the combinations are so well thought out and absolutely perfectly executed. The pork is so tender, and cooked to perfection. The gravy is just simply incredible, and the black pudding (served as a puree) matches the sweet apple and creamy cabbage perfectly. I could rave about this dish all day and all night and it still wouldn't cover how excellent it is...and you get a great sized portion too - which is always a huge benefit!

Next it was time to order our dessert and I opted for two very different ones during my two visits. The first was a rhubarb mousse with rhubarb jelly, poached rhubarb, custard ice cream, shortbread, meringue and candied pistachios (what a mouthful!!)...and secondly I went for take on banoffee, with caramelised banana, shortbread, banana ice cream, toffee syrup, and candied walnuts.

Flavours of Rhubarb

As well as looking beautiful on the plate this was a tasty dessert too although it did feel a little disjointed with the components tasting delicious individually and not necessarily suited! The pistachios were a revelation though and I'd eat a whole bucket load if I could and I really loved the use of different textures on the plate!

Banoffee!!

This time I felt the dessert was much better - possibly because the concept of banoffee is so well loved  (by myself especially) and goes perfectly together! Again it was a dish of many parts and components but it was brilliantly executed and looked as pretty as a picture!

I think the chequers is an excellent restaurant, and an absolute asset to our area. I believe it has recently been recommended within the Michelin guide and I feel this is fully deserved, not only due to its food quality, but also the values it holds regarding using local suppliers. However, taking into account my experiences in Michelin starred restaurants in the past, I do feel there are a few tiny areas that The Chequers could improve upon to make it an absolutely incredible place worthy of it's first star. Things such as changing the menu frequently (there were only a few new dishes on our second visit, and also the prestarter was the same both times)...also at times the service felt a little forced, and not second nature as I have previously felt within some of the more established restaurants around the country. On a more positive note however the food quality and innovation is excellent and it really is an excellent place to visit for a special occasion.

Other Starters:

Asparagus soup with crispy poached egg

Ham hock terrine with homemade piccalilli

Glazed smoked haddock and herb omelette

 

Other Main courses:



Steamed fillet of sea bass with braised fennel and basil minestrone



Gilt head bream with coconut and ginger sauce and pak choi

Roasted duck breast with heritage veg and juices

Poached and roasted chicken with truffled cream sauce







Sea bass with artichoke puree and onions



Other Desserts:

 

Pineapple tarte tatin with pina colada ice cream

Three cheese plate with chutney and frozen grapes.