Black Lion, Firbeck

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love to see chefs tweeting. I love to see their pictures of their work and what they've just put on the specials board. Their passion for food comes through loud and clear as does their pride for their work and although PR agencies and the like can be pretty savvy when it comes to marketing their clients, for me, personally, I like to see a tweeting chef. See a chef who tweets the odd  picture of a dish on the pass, who is keen to engage with others in the food industry and their customers will encourage me to want to try his/her food.

And it's not just me who responds well to tweeting chefs. I know a few others in my little group of followers who also go all weak at the knees when they see a juicy duck breast or a pretty scallop dish in their timeline. And once you get a few people from Twitter through the doors, they too may take a few pictures and tweet a few nice words, or even get a blog review out there.

Of course, tweeting chefs are not the be all and end all and I do not intend on casting any doubt on the benefit of employing a PR company, but the importance of getting chefs interested in social media cannot be ignored. Aside from promoting their restaurant/pub etc, each will be promoting themselves and their own skill set. It must surely also help instil some pride in each chef; you ain't gonna tweet a picture of your dish and put your name to it if it looks shit, are you?

Anyhoo, there are some chefs and restaurants in Sheffield that do this really well and I've either been to, or plan to go to, each and every one of them. Some examples that spring to mind include The Wig & Pen, The Milestone, Thyme Cafe and Devonshire Arms.

One chef that recently popped up in my timeline is Karim Maoui (or @KMaoui). Based in Firbeck, the Black Lion is somewhere so far off my radar that there was no way I would have known about it but for Karim and his tweets. The pub doesn't have a website, so I was totally in Karim's hands in terms of what to expect. Kindly, he sent me a copy of the menu, which sealed the deal and we booked ourselves in.

Although I knew what to expect food wise, I had no idea what the venue was going to be like. I had visions of a replica of the Devonshire Arms in Middle Handley, another country pub set in the 'middle of nowhere', but instead we were welcomed by a more traditional pub, or a 'proper pub' if you like. You know the type, beer mats on tables, patterned thick pile carpets, tankards for decoration and original beams. It kind of reminded me of the Samuel Fox in Bradwell, except it was busier. Locals were at the bar supping, out of towners were seated down for dinner.

We made our presence known at the bar and were shown to a table by the window; it was a great spot, perfect for surveying the whole pub. Gav was driving so he ordered a pint of something from Rotherham (yes this place was that far off my radar) and I had a large glass of shiraz for a very reasonable price of £4.10. To start we decided to share the sharing platter. Expecting it to be a selection of the starters on the menu, we were surprised to be served a large selection of some really interesting food including prosciutto  chorizo, field mushroom with blue cheese, smoked salmon, a crayfish and cucumber cannelini, chicken liver parfait, a sweet onion jelly (I think), a walnut chutney, a tomato pesto, some olives, fish crackling and bread with oil. It was all pretty amazing to be honest; I love this kind of food and there was more than enough for us to share!

Highlights were the fish crackling (honestly, this was amazing) and the crayfish canneloni which was beautifully fresh with juicy pieces of crayfish packed into a cucumber roll. The three varieties of breads, including two focaccias were pretty impressive too. It was the kind of platter that you could pick at whilst working your way through a bottle of wine with friends and this is how the menu suggests it should be served. But at just over a tenner a pop, I just didn't think it would be that big!

On to mains and I went with the venison. Perfectly pink meat was served on a bed of spinach cooked with pancetta and a fondant potato the dish was a good size... but we were in a pub... in Firbeck... and that meant that we had a side order of veg. Hardly the end of the world especially as it was well cooked, just a sign of where we were and an opportunity to help me towards those 5 a day. The dish also came with a glass of port jus and I was really pleased to be able to decide how much sauce I wanted on the plate, especially as too much sauce is one of my bugbears.

Gav fancied something lighter and went for the snapper with chorizo mash. It also came with a selection of seafood; mussels and crayfish. Again, it was another nice sized dish and Gav enjoyed it.

Time for desserts. We were feeling pretty stuffed by this point so we decided to share one between us. Lemon drizzle cake is a real favourite of mine, and probably the one cake I bake the most at home, so we gave Karim's a try. It came served with a lemon thyme syrup and an incredibly zesty lemon rind sorbet. The cake itself was perfectly formed. Light as anything, it packed a lemony punch and although we were both quite full, we cleared the plate pretty quickly.

If I remember correctly, the bill came to less than £60. Considering this included a pint and a couple of large glasses of wine, I thought this was perfectly reasonable. Service throughout had been friendly and chatty and the food had been spot on. Sadly, for me, the location is not the best and given the true pub atmosphere it's not somewhere I would travel for a romantic meal for two, but if I was out that way then I would certainly return.

You'll find the Black Lion at 9 New Road, Firbeck, Rotherham S81 8JY.

Jineen Cafe, Sheffield

We get a lot of junk mail; a hell of a lot. Thankfully most of it is food related; sadly most of it is cheap & nasty pizza takeaway menus, or vouchers for McDonalds. However a couple of days ago one leaflet really caught my eye...

Jineen promised mezze, Palestinian specialities & Shisha at very reasonable prices, all within a location (The Wicker) just five minutes walk from my office. I was meeting a friend for lunch the next day, and although I was initially thinking of taking him to La Perle, I knew that I had to give this place a go as soon as I saw the menu. With popular mezze dishes such as humous, falafel and stuffed vine leaves, sandwiches of chicken liver and a few things I'd never heard of (Maqluba for instance) this was a menu for me; especially as no main course is over £6.50.

Apologies - Blogger is playing up & won't let me rotate this.

Anyone who knows Sheffield will know that The Wicker is far from the most salubrious part of town, and it's a bit dodgy at night, but there's a decent array of curry houses, kebab shops and Caribbean food stores making it well worth a trip for any foodie. Jineen was pretty easy to find, being quite close to Kebabish and La Perle.

As we entered we found the cafe relatively welcoming. I say relatively because we had clearly disturbed some bloke who was taking advantage of the free wi-fi (yes there is free wi-fi). He huffed and puffed about us yapping away and when I confronted him and told him that, yes, my friend and I would be enjoying a conversation, he upped and left declaring that us 'stupid people' had 'come in and ruined it' for him. It's a good job he left as we were soon joined by a couple more groups who also intended on chatting over lunch.

Hmmm, an awkward start to any meal I'm sure you'll agree! The chap at the counter (the owner?) was clearly embarrassed and apologised on behalf of his rude customer. Awkwardness over, we perused the menu. I say peruse, but to be fair, it was more of a glance for me, and for my friend it was a series of questions as he didn't know what a lot of it was, and although I am more than happy picking something from a menu purely on the basis that I don't know what it is, I can understand why some people wouldn't! Being the 'foodie' it was my job to enquire at the counter as to what certain things were and a few minutes later we put our orders in; a chicken liver sandwich and Turkish coffee for me, a chicken shawarma sandwich and freshly squeezed orange juice for him.

I had fancied the maqluba, a traditional Palestinian dish, which is on special on Wednesdays. The internet tells me it's a dish made up of layers of aubergine, tomatoes, meat and rice cooked in a casserole dish and tipped out onto a plate; served upside down (which is what maqluba means). Anyhoo, I decided that I didn't really need a full main dish and that a sandwich would more than suffice.

I ought to tell you a little about the cafe's interior... well there's a few solid wooden tables and chairs; maybe enough for four small groups. A couple of refrigerated counters with the salad and mezze goods in one and some rather pretty cakes in the other sit in the corner and behind these lies the kitchen. Towards the front of the cafe is a small room with a few sofas in it and this is the shisha lounge. The dining area is a small and compact space but I didn't feel cramped, even as a few more customers popped in for their lunches. Jineen opens 7 days a week 10-4 and then runs as a takeaway from 5-midnight. You'll find them on Just Eat and they provide a free delivery service on all orders over £12 (within a three miles radius).

When my sandwich arrived I was glad to have gone for it rather than a main as it was actually a decent sized plate of chicken offal (there were hearts/kidneys, or both, as well as livers), a large flatbread and a selection of dips. The offal was delicious. Cooked in a range of spices it was really tasty and the meat was cooked through but good and tender. There were also some pickles on the plate and I wasn't overly bothered by these, although the sweet and mild banana chillies went down pretty well. The dips were fine; I'm not overly sure what one of them was, maybe a garlic and yoghurt mix. The chilli dip was good, but the third tasted a bit like ketchup (which isn't a bad thing, just not my kind of thing!).

I really enjoyed my selection and my friend seemed happy with his too. The chicken sandwich came as a pretty decent sized wrap, served burrito style. His OJ was served in a big ol' pint pot and it was indeed freshly squeezed (so fresh it had the odd pip floating on top). My coffee, however was the highlight of the show. Served as a traditional Turkish coffee, it was thick with ground coffee (which remain in the pot throughout the whole cooking process and is not filtered off) and although I initially thought there was little chance of my drinking it without any milk, it had a spicy taste to it which took away some of the bitterness of the coffee (I later learnt that this was probably cardamom), and it was delicious.

The bill was £10.30 and on having the options of taking £10 in hard cash or £10.30 by card the owner (?) decided to take the cash. This left me feeling pretty embarrassed as I don't think I've ever (knowingly) left a restaurant after underpaying and I generally like to tip. However the owner (?) was still apologetic about our 'welcome' and assured me that £10 was sufficient.

Nice one.

I will return.

West 10 Wine Bar & Bistro, Sheffield

It was pay day, I'd had a blah day at work and I felt the need for a bit of pampering... and I don't know about you... but going out for dinner is exactly what I need when I'm feeling both flush and pained. As it was a Thursday night, I knew I had to act quickly as some restaurants book up quickly (including our first choice - the new Brooklyn Steak restaurant down Kelham Island). After that knock back I was tempted to go for an old favourite; The Wig & Pen, but I wanted to try somewhere new, or at least somewhere that I hadn't been to for a long while.

So our next choice was a restaurant we'd visited a while back and although we hadn't had too good an experience back then, I was keen to give it another go as I'd been hearing that things had improved. Gav called to book a table at 8 only to be told that the restaurant wasn't busy and the chefs didn't want to 'hang around'; could we make it earlier? Gav, being Gav, compromised and agreed to 7.30, but neither of us were happy. The prospect of a quiet restaurant with itchy chefs rushing us through our meal simply did not appeal and I was pleased when Gav cancelled it and booked option number three... West 10 Wine Bar & Bistro.

Trippets Wine Bar was a firm favourite of mine. Yes the toilet floors were squelchy with damp, yes it could feel a little pretentious at times, but by GOD, that wine list was amazing! We could get a decent bottle for under £15 and even the fizz was relatively reasonably priced. When it shut down, to become DADA, I didn't think much of going all the way to Ranmoor (I live in town; making a trip outside the S1 postcode takes some real effort & planning), until I saw a review in the Sheffield Telegraph.

We arrived at 8 (dinner time, yeah?) and decided to sit in the downstairs bar area. We had been offered a table upstairs but we'd never been up there and we decided that the grass might not always be greener. It was a good choice, for us. Informal & bistro style, it was perfect for a relaxing meal, although upstairs would probably be better for groups or more formal affairs.

We decided to take full advantage of that wine list and go for a few glasses of different wines, rather than a bottle, and we kicked off with a rather stunning Sauvignon Blanc. Sadly I've forgotten the name (I think it was third on the list and began with a 'B' if you want to hunt it down!), but it was so good that I drank it a bit too quickly and my glass was empty by the time the starters arrived (of course, I just ordered another).

Before out first course however, we were treated to a couple of amuse bouche; some pate on small pieces of bread and a shot of mushroom soup with truffle oil. An amuse bouche will always amuse me. How can they not? They're free nibbles and often a sign of things to come... Here our freebies were simple, but well prepared.

For starters I went for the scallops. At a tenner a go, they were the most expensive option, but with three fat and perfectly cooked samples of the shellfish along with (very) crispy bacon it was worth the price tag. But, although I enjoyed the dish, I was a little jealous of Gav's (of course I denied it at the time). As a lover of the soufflé he was happy to find a Yorkshire Blue version here (£7). I'm not a huge soufflé lover myself, but there was a good amount of blue cheese running through.

For mains I went for the lamb dish (£25). Two, pink as you like lamb cutlets were served up with a 'side' of braised lamb, a fondant potato and some crushed peas. The lamb was delicious and the fondant potato was the best I'd ever had; it was a very satisfying dish and one I would happily have again (and again).

Gav had been craving some steak and was glad to find it on the menu. An 8oz fillet (£26) was served with chips, roasted tomatoes and the most enormous onion rings I've seen in a long time. The steak was good;  rare and tasty, which, I think, is sometimes a bit of a bonus with a fillet.

Normally by this stage I would have been feeling quite full, but as service had been pretty slow (quite annoyingly slow to be honest) my waistband was still quite comfortable and it could handle a dessert. The chocolate tart (£7) caught my eye. It was rich and thick with chocolate; similar to a torte and although a side of chilli popcorn was an unnecessary extra, the little sugar spun basket it was served in was a perfect excuse for the chef to show off some skills. For me, the dish really worked thanks to some dollops of passion fruit coulis. I'm not normally a fan of this tart fruit, but it cut through the rich chocolate nicely and the combination is one that I still crave now (remarkable for me as we are just talking dessert here).

Gav had the chocolate tasting option (£10) and I'm gonna have to be honest with you... I have no idea what any of it was like. I'd had a few vinos, I was happily enjoying my own dish and I didn't give two hoots about his! He says it was 'nice' though (which I'm sure it was, I just wish I could offer a little more than that).

All in all I was pleasantly surprised by West 10. The food was spot on, as were the wines. The atmosphere was perfect bistro stylee and the service was easy and friendly (if slow). It wasn't cheap mind, and the total bill (including four glasses of wine each) was about £130. Whether this is down to West 10 being located in Ranmoor (one of the smarter ends of town) I'm not too sure, but it was a lovely treat and I will return.

P.s. sorry for the lack of pictures; it was too dark.

The Samuel Fox Country Inn, Bradwell

You may remember banging on about the Samuel Fox in the past...  For those of you who wondered what happened to the Sam Fox after Charlie left you might be interested in the newsletter that landed in my inbox today.

"My name is James Duckett and I am the new head chef and proprietor of the Samuel Fox Country Inn. The Samuel Fox underwent a complete refurbishment in 2008 and since then has gained an enviable reputation for comfortable accommodation and fine food. However, since former managers Charlie and Kelly left earlier this year standards were allowed to slip somewhat. Having taken over the helm earlier this month my commitment is to ensure that the Samuel Fox is once again a very special place to stay, dine or just enjoy a drink at the bar.

The Samuel Fox team

 I am joined in the kitchen by sous chef Rob, with whom I've worked in a previous restaurant venture, and at front of house by bar and restaurant managers, Sabrina and Gareth. Together we're dedicated to ensuring that the Samuel Fox is a superb place to stay, a focus for lovers of good food and also a place where both visitors and locals alike are welcome to pop in for a drink in convivial surroundings.

James Duckett - chef proprietor
New to the Samuel Fox and the Peak District, I was born in Lancashire and my early career was spent working in the kitchens of some of the best restaurants in the UK, France, Holland, Spain and Australia. I've worked under such celebrated Michelin starred chefs as Albert Roux, Michel Roux jnr, Marcus Wareing and Phil Howard and I've run my own restaurants in Andalucia and more recently in Devon. In between times I've cooked on super yachts in the Caribbean and headed up the kitchen at a prominent private members club. This is my first pub venture and I'm sure it will prove to be an exciting challenge.

The Restaurant and Bar
In the restaurant and bar you may now enjoy choosing from entirely new lunch and dinner à la carte menus, featuring contemporary dishes based on British and continental classical cuisine, as well as from the ‘blackboard’ offering some traditional pub dishes and specials.  And for Sunday lunch my menu also features traditional roasts.  All my dishes are prepared on the premises by Rob and me using the best of fresh local produce wherever possible.  We have a good wine list and there are always two local real ales available at the bar as well as a selection of wines by the glass.  The interlinked restaurant and bar areas are light and airy and enjoy wonderful views over the stunning Hope Valley landscape.

Accommodation 

The Samuel Fox has four beautifully appointed ensuite room each with large flat screen TV, ironing board and a welcome tray with beverages making facilities, fruit, sherry and chocolates.

Christmas and New Year at the Samuel Fox  

For the Christmas and New Year festive period we have some very tempting offers for you.  I’ve pulled together some great dishes for my menus for the pre-Christmas party season; Christmas Day lunch; Boxing Day lunch and dinner; New Year’s Eve dinner; and New Year’s Day lunch.  We’re also offering Inclusive packages for couples  wishing to ‘escape’ and enjoy a complete break over Christmas or New Year, staying in one of the our superbly appointed en suite bedrooms. 

You can find all my menus as well as room rates and autumn and winter break special offers on the inn website. Also, you can see some reviews we’ve received since I took over the Samuel Fox.  It seems we’re on the right track! Whether staying on business, enjoying a weekend or midweek break in the glorious Hope Valley, seeking somewhere special to dine or just wishing to enjoy a well kept pint at the bar, you’ll find a very warm welcome awaits you from us all at the Samuel Fox Country Inn."

Check out the new menus here.

It might be a while before we get to try Sam Fox again, but I will be back. In the meantime, if you get chance to visit, do let me know what you think!

Phoenix Catering, Sheffield

For most of us, the lunch hour is the most precious hour of the day. It's great to escape the office, go for a mooch, sit in the local park or feed the ducks by the canal. Thinking about it, it can be the most amazing 'me time'; no kids, no chores, no phones or emails... hell, you could even switch Twitter off too.

So, how do we feel when this precious hour is snatched away from us, sometimes without any notice, by our employers/clients? Do we jump for joy? No. Do we scream, shout and stomp? No. We just shrug our shoulders and think 'oh well, at least we'll get a free sandwich'. But is that really good enough? Giving up our one and only chance of a bit of 'me time' just for a cruddy sandwich? Afterall they do say that there's no such thing as a free lunch...

You might wonder where all this is leading... Well I was recently contacted by Phoenix Catering who wanted me to try one of their business buffets and as my colleagues and I munched our way through our lunch hour I started thinking about all the work lunches I've had in the past. My work place is pretty good as all the food is made fresh in-house but a few years ago I had the 'joy' of being subjected to ready made Iceland style sausages rolls, bland bhajis, pork pies and the like. And although I enjoy comfort food as much as the next person, a plate of beige food does not please me.

So, if our employers are stealing our precious lunch hours and we let them on the basis that we'll get a 'free' lunch then the least they can do is make sure that the lunch is tasty, right? As I've said, my place does a pretty good lunch, but with a selection of sandwiches, quiche and a variety of fried goods, it's hardly the healthiest. Yeah, there's the obligatory fruit bowl but nobody's gonna start chomping on an apple whilst mingling with colleagues and clients are they?

On taking delivery of the business lunch sample from Phoenix Catering I was impressed with the colour and vibrancy of the platters. There was a tropical fruit platter, a huge selection of crudités and a tomato and mozzarella salad along with sandwiches and brownies. Sarah, the owner of Phoenix Catering, told me that the sample was enough for four, but as I unwrapped the platters and laid them out, it was clear that this was enough for a very hungry four.

Sarah had prepared a selection of the most popular sandwiches; sweet chilli chicken, roast beef and tomato and ham salad. The use of simple sliced bread did disappoint and I think we'd have all preferred to see wraps or pittas, but the fillings pleased. Both the ham and beef were thickly sliced and my only complaint was that the beef was overcooked for my liking. Sweet chilli chicken was tasty without being too hot and there were lots of chunks of peppers in there keeping the sandwich fresh tasting.

Tomato and mozzarella salad isn't something I usually see at a working lunch and it was good to see it here. Admittedly the tomatoes were a bit bland, but as Sarah sources all her salad from the Yorkshire region, I wasn't expecting a burst of Italian favours. The basil (which is home grown), however, did have good flavour as did the slices of black olives.

A large selection of crudités was sticks of red pepper, carrot, celery and cucumber served with freshly made tomato and houmous dips. It was clear that all the veg was freshly prepared as it was all sweet tasting and juicy. Houmous packed a good garlic punch, but we all agreed that the tomato dip could have done with a bit of heat and my colleague's emergency bottle of Tabasco sauce pepped it up nicely. All in all it we were grateful to have something healthy and tasty; something we could have picked away at all afternoon without having to feel guilty.

The fruit platter was probably the highlight of the lot. Give me a fruit bowl and I won't touch any of it, give me fruit all nicely sliced up and easy to eat and I will happily scoff away. It's silly, I know, but it works. Slices of juicy orange, melon, pineapple and kiwi along with a scattering of grapes were devoured quickly and enjoyed by all.

After all that healthy food we felt that a slice of brownie wouldn't hurt and with offerings from #Brownies, they were difficult to decline. And it's good to know that Sarah's keen to use as much local produce as possible. Aside from the Brownies, meats and salads, there's dairy produce from Longley Farm and the bread is from Woodthorpe Bakery. As well as keeping things local, Sarah prepares the food fresh every day to ensure her customers get the best of the ingredients.

I'd let Sarah decide what she was going to send me and I'm very happy with the choices she made. For anyone ordering it's good to know that the menu is pretty flexible with sandwiches and brownies being the staples and choices of savouries, nachos, meats and cheeses amongst other things available as add ons. Prices start at £5 a head which seems reasonable for Sheffield especially as there's free delivery included. They can deliver 7 days a week and breakfast is available too.

Maggie May's, Sheffield

Maggie May's is not somewhere I would normally venture. Located in the venue that previously housed a virtual golf course and, later, a naff bar with good cocktails but impossibly loud music, it's a little off the beaten track and somewhere that's proving popular with, er, how can I put this politely... the older crowd. It even advertises itself as somewhere to celebrate a 40th, 50th or 60th birthday, so it really doesn't sound like somewhere I'd venture for my lunch.

And it is only lunch that I've had here, midweek too, as Friday and Saturday nights are party time... and the parties start early at Maggie May's. Music is mostly 60's, 70's & 80's and it's all dancing, rather than eating, so if you're after food, keep it midweek (and note that the kitchen is closed on Sunday and Monday).

So, with such a strong focus on the music side of things, can this place stand up as a serious eatery? Well, yes, it's actually quite a nice place to be in the week. It's a smart looking bar with comfortable seating AND it's managed to get itself a decent chef! Lee Vintin, who was previously at Devonshire Arms, has come in, devised a menu  and taken charge of the kitchen. The food, in line with the music, is 'Noshtalgic' with dishes served in baskets (note - sitting at one of the high tables helps with getting your knife and fork into these things) and menus printed on old LPs.

It might all seem a bit gimmicky but Lee knows his stuff and can cook damn well so the food is absolutely for real. Organic Buffalo burgers are their speciality, but my favourites are the pulled pork sandwich and the chicken & chips. There's also wraps and pizzas on the menu, but I haven't ventured that far yet, and now that Lee's introduced a specials menu of fried chicken and bangers & mash, there's little chance I'm gonna be ordering pizza!

On an impromptu day off I took Gav here for lunch (I'd been a few times with work and he hadn't tried it yet). I'd heard about the specials and was hankering after some of their fried chicken so I was pleased to find it available. The barmaid was pushing the bangers & mash (rightly so as we're talking Moss Valley sausages, who also provide the pork for the pulled pork by the way), but I've had their sausages before and wanted to try something new. Also, I don't know about you, but I don't like ordering bangers and mash when I'm out; it's too easy, something that I'd be able to throw together at home, I'd rather go for something a bit more complex.

Now, I do have a bit of a past when it comes to fried chicken. I worked in KFC as a student and developed a love for their chicken pieces and burgers, but I haven't had it in years (yes, sometimes I do cut off my nose to spite my face with this not eating in chains lark), so I was only ever going to order the fried chicken burger (£6.95) here. It came in a Welbeck Bakery bottom baked bun with mayo, iceberg and cheese (an extra 95p) with sides of a mountain of fries, coleslaw and a small salad.

The chicken was juicy and tasty and although I know that I shouldn't compare an independent to to fast food chain (really, I shouldn't), but this did kind of take me back... except it was better. The bun was really tasty and had a good substance, the chicken fillet had been flattened so that it filled the bun nicely and the cheese had melted over the meat. Fries were perfectly seasoned. Side salad was a little over dressed for my liking, but included some of the tastier items such as cherry tomatoes, grated carrot and pepper. Coleslaw was fine, but I barely touched it; I was stuffed.

I'd recommended the pulled pork sandwich (£6.25) to Gav, who was not disappointed! The Cajun fries alone wowed just by smelling amazing and thankfully their taste lived up to the promising aromas. There was more coleslaw and an enormous strip of pork crackling... and that's before he got to the sandwich. The bottom baked bun was packed full of tasty and tender pork along with some salad leaves and I don't care that their signature dish is the buffalo burger, this is the star of the menu.

As always I was too full to even look at the dessert menu, which is a huge shame given that there's knickerbocker glory on there. Maybe next time I'll stick to a slider and salad so that I can fit one in! And of course there will be a next time; the place is a hit with my colleagues, so much so that I've booked our Christmas do here.

I highly recommend a visit; you'll love the food and the prices (especially if you go on a Tuesday as there's 25% off all food and drink!).