It was one of those chilly and damp Wednesday evenings when there’s not much on the telly and you can’t get out in the garden, so I called my friend Karen and suggested a girlie night out.
As we are both mums with pre-schoolers (and she is in the process of creating a second one), we don’t often get the chance to put on our gladrags for a night out, and as my Food For Thought venue was in the town centre it seemed a great place to go. I had drawn the Lion and Pheasant Hotel in Wyle Cop, where I had not been before – but I had heard on the grapevine that their Sunday lunch was pretty good.
Anyway, we made our way down the Cop on our high heels looking forward to a bit of food and a good natter.
The menu was prominently displayed in the window with a proviso – only some of the items are available at any given time.
We went in to be welcomed to a small hotel reception area, then ushered into the bar/dining room, which is to the side, and given our menus. Karen should be eating for two, but has a list of ‘banned’ food as long as your arm – soft fried eggs, stilton cheese, paté – so her choice was a little limited starter-wise.
In the end she went for the warm potato and bacon salad with French dressing, and I chose the mushrooms stuffed with home-made chicken liver and pork paté.
Both were very tasty – Karen was especially pleased with the dressing on hers – and the portions were generous, so much so that she left some behind to make sure she had space for her main course.
The menu is split into several sections for the main course – fish, from the grill, and a set menu.
I chose to have a sirloin steak with chips and veg, and after a false start with the chicken, which had run out, Karen went for two pork chops, again with chips and veg. We then added sauce – I had stilton and she had barbecue.
The steak was cooked just the way I asked for, the chips were a delight – really handmade, not out of a freezer bag – and the vegetables were cooked well, not soggy.
Karen had to admit defeat with the second pork chop and got it bagged up to take home.
There was a small selection of desserts, and in the end we chose an apple pie and ice cream (Karen) and a mandarin cheesecake and cream (me). Both were finished off in double quick time.
Fully replete we wobbled back up the Cop and into town for some window shopping on the way back to the car. Good food and virtual shopping – a perfect night out for two (and a half).