I visited this hotel with 3 other friends on the 21st December for a Christmas dinner. Unlike other places I have visited, it was not necessary to choose the menu in advance.
For starters, I had Ham Hock Roulade with soused carrot purée, piccalilli and poppy seed toast
This was a reasonably generous portion and the quality was good. It came served on a wooden board but the food was quite easy to eat so this was not a problem. I found the soused carrot purée a bit on the strong side for me but then I don’t always like overpowering vinegar. The piccalilli was absolutely beautiful however. it was homemade, it had enough vinegar to give it bite and it was full of crunchy vegetables. The extra toast went well with the ham hock roulade which bulked out the starter nicely. I would also say that the ham hock was a bit on the salty side even though ham generally is quite salty anyway
Debbie had the Pan Seared Scallops with fennel puree and crisp Parma ham. This was a nice dish but there were only about 4 scallops which I thought was a little bit on the mean side especially as they were served on a large dinner plate.
Roy had the winter vegetable soup and this had a lot of different chunky winter vegetables in it and it was of good quality.
Martin had the Baked Camembert with Garlic, Rosemary & Thyme with crusty bread
He particularly enjoyed this and thought it was a decent sized starter.
For my main I had the Country Beef with Yorkshire pudding, a rich red wine jus and honey shallots
This turned out to be a cut of top side of beef which was tender and really flavoursome. I felt however that the roast potatoes were a little soggy and generally a bit underwhelming.
Roy had the Traditional Roasted Devonshire Turkey with an orange, cranberry and
chestnut stuffing, bacon roll and a turkey jus
this was also a reasonable portion and he said it was quite well cooked.
Martin went for Roasted Cod Fillet with a pea and parmesan risotto and bacon lardons. He was recovering from a stomach bug though he got no vegetables with his meal (see below). He said it was well cooked and quite easy on the stomach which is what he wanted.
Debbie had the Grilled Fillets of Sea Bass with crab risotto and shellfish bisque. She felt there could have been more of it and gain she had no veg but she said the food was of generally good quality.
When we got the main courses delivered, a dish of vegetables arrived separately consisting of broccoli, carrots and parsnips. These were fine with roast dinners but I’m not sure they were the best choices for Martin and Debbie. Roy and me therefore ate the vegetables. There was probably enough vegetables for 3 decent portions so we did eat plenty but there was no way enough for 4 people.
I think that each person should be given a bowl of vegetables or the fact that one bowl is for 4 should be explained. It may be that if we had asked, more veg would have been given.
For pudding, Debbie and myself had the cheese and biscuits which came with celery, apple and quince jelly. This was quite nice but there was only a brie and a cheddar cheese. I’d have liked a blue cheese as well and in general it came on a big plate but it was quite a small portion even though the quality was quite acceptable.
Roy had the Christmas pud which he said was quite good and Martin had the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and baileys anglaise I believe. He said this was pretty good but baileys anglaise is really Baileys custard and it would probably be clearer if they stuck to that rather than trying to be pretentious. If I’m wrong here I’m happy for there to be comments posted!
In general we all thought the food was of reasonable quality. Staff took our orders while we were in the bar and called us through to the restaurant when the starters were ready. I thought this was a nice touch that got the evening off to a good start. We thought that the portions were perhaps on the small side as the meal cost £22 for 3 courses, but Christmas meals often do not represent best value. I would have to give mine a 7 out of 10. Poor slightly soggy roast potatoes and a rather limited selection of cheese were my only real complaints though the quantity would probably not have been enough if the veg had been divided up between 4 people rather than 2.
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