How often do your trips out to country pubs for a meal start off with a trawl of the internet to suss out the menu? Thankfully ours do owing to the wife never being able to make her mind up.
She fancied the stuffed pigs trotters to start, my eye was on the individual beef wellington as a main. That's the problem when you check online; it all sounds great on screen until you actually get there.
No such problems when we visited the Pheasant Inn at Casterton near Kirkby Lonsdale. The web descriptions were more than matched by the excellent food we were served up.
Take it easy driving through the village, the entrance looms up at you pretty quick as you drive in from Devils Bridge - plenty of parking though. You are seated round the bar area overlooking the pretty village, we booked in advance as lunch is noon until two-thirty.
Plenty in as we arrived but as this is also a hotel I expect there would be more hungry diners in the evening and at weekends tucking into Jurassic portions.
After much deliberation - see, the trawl on the internet did no good - it was the chicken livers for my aunt and me (her birthday treat) with the crab and lobster tian (that's a layered dish to you and me) for the wife. We both opted for the livers pink; a great decision, they burst in the mouth with the after taste of the Madeira cream. White asparagus accompanied the dish with sponge like toasted brioche to mop up any sauce left on the plate. Lynn's tian, accompanied by pickled cucumber and peach and chili chutney perfectly brought out the seafood flavor. Too much for her - I dutifully helped to finish it off.
I did stick to my web selection and the individual beef wellington was served perfectly. Medium rare in a crispy pastry parcel all elegantly matched with a red wine sauce. The potato cake was browned on the outside with the paper thin layers bound in a creamy glue. Spring vegetables were fresh and not the soggy offerings you get in some places.
My aunt chose the spiced lamb shoulder, almost tagine style with couscous, apricots, chickpeas, almonds and coriander, it was melt in the mouth. Lynn's baked steak and kidney suet pudding was gargantuan. The huge chunks of steak were subtly pared with tender kidney, those spring vegetables with crispy confit potatoes completed the dish along with a shallot and pepper sauce.
Lynn went for the warm pecan nut brownie, white chocolate torte with chocolate ice cream. The latest fashion being chocolate soil, crunchy and sweet to finish off the dish. I was full - just the ice cream for me.
You just know when you read the head chef Duncan Wilson was trained at Sharrow Bay Hotel on Ullswater the food is going to be top notch - and it is! The service is friendly and informal and those portions are just what you want - value for money.
This family run hotel is an excellent destination venue and only thrity minutes drive up the M6 from Morecambe. Think we need to book in next time to sleep off the conquering lunch and experience what could be another admirable meal in the evening and a Herculean breakfast.
www.pheasantinn.co.uk
