My son suggested to me that I should use this column
to write restaurant reviews. I read quite a number of these reviews and think
that it is possibly one of the most difficult forms of journalism that there
is. I think that it is very difficult to write originally week in week out
about food. Some of the best critics have elevated to this writing to an art
form. So here is my humble attempt that certainly will not be a high art form!
So today with our friends Barbara and Iain we visited
the Pipe and Glass at South Dalton a small village near Beverley. The
restaurant is situated in a fairly traditional pub. There is a traditional bar,
but most of the building is given over to the restaurant. Although some of the
extensions are quite new the restaurant has a rustic ambience with bare wooden
tables. Pre-dinner drinks are taken in a lounge area where an extensive list of
specials is listed on a blackboard. In all there are about eight to nine
options for each course. There is an emphasis on local ingredients and original
cooking, although there are some traditional staples like sausage & mash
and fish pie.
There were a number of starters that took my fancy
but I settled on thinly sliced smoked duck accompanied by a duck rissole and
blood orange. The contrast between the acidity of the blood orange and the smokiness
of the duck was excellent. I felt that the rissole however was a little bit of
an after thought adding little to taste or presentation..
I took a good deal of pondering over my main course
put plumped for a breast of guinea fowl cooked on a bed of crispy kale. The
accompanying jus accentuated the taste of the bird giving the whole dish a
subtle sweet and sour taste. A sort of sausage meat croquet accompanied this.
The table shared a generous portion of vegetables; the roast potatoes were top
notch, really crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. This dish, which
seems simple is very difficult for a restaurant to get right. Too often they
are soft and lacking in texture.
For sweet I felt that I made a mediocre choice, the
treacle tart with nutmeg ice cream was an excellent example of the genre but
was not really innovative. The lemon and thyme pudding with orange granite that
Marion ate looked far more interesting.
All in all the service was very relaxed and over
three hours passed until we left. As I was driving I had not partaken of the
excellent wine list, so really cannot comment but Marion enjoyed her glass of
Albarino. One small hitch the bill did not include our wine. We pointed out
this to the waiter and there was no apology. But all in all a lovely meal, with
good company. We eat here about there times a year, and as with all really good
restaurants the quality is consistently good.
So now over to you Thomas.
You are doing fine, Nigel, I am ready to partake! I think a food tour of Yorkshire should be our " holiday booking" for 2016!
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