Rediscovered an old favourite

This was somewhere we used to go all the time a few years back, but then stopped going after a few average visits.I found myself in there last night tagging along to the girlfriend's work do, arriving late to find the group in the restaurant well on their merry way but just in time to get my order in. The ambience was great with aged tables and strong, warming colours on the wall.The staff appear to be the daughters and sons of local toffs, but really quite relaxed and efficient - this has been a bit of a problem in the past with some of the staff acting a little aloof, but not tonight.A couple of organic lagers later and the food arrived. I don't think this is the sort of place you want to rush your meal, but for our party on that evening the timing was just fine. I opted for pork belly which was a great hunk of meat sat on some mash, while most of the group ordered sirloins (unadventurous lot). The steaks all looked well cooked but I'm quite fussy about the flavour of steak and this didn't offer much in that department. Most of the dishes came with veg in the chunky, rustic style which were all pretty tasty - I managed to proff quite a few roasted parsnips off the girlfriend!One of our party who shall only be known as "Dave", is very particular and took exception to his bream being sat on top of some sautéed new potatoes. From what I could tell it was nicely done, but there's no pleasing some people. He was raving about the £15.40 Chenin Blanc, we he said was the best bottle you can get in that price range - I did agree that is was a nice bottle, but I know of some bottles which really are great for only a few quid more. Anyhow, it was nice to see a decent selection rather than the type you see in Tesco's wine rack.By the end of the meal we were all getting pretty rowdy, fortunately we were the only ones left in the dining room! I seem to remember we were all trying to wear the wine cooler on our heads as it looked like a great piece of bondage gear. I hope we didn't cause too much offence.All in all a great re-discovery (if we're allowed back that is).

A User - 11/03/2008 | report this review