As we were already being decadent we decided to go the whole hog and have a full 3 course meal.  Here is the menu:

Homemade Onion Bread Rolls

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Smoked Donnington Trout with Herb Blinis and Chive Crème Fraiche

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Lamb and Apricot Casserole with Lamb from Home Farm Bredons Norton
Dauphinoise Potato
French Beans in Red Onion
Glazed Chantenay Carrots

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Caramelised Lemon Tart with Raspberry Sorbet and Raspberry Coulis

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Homemade Chocolates

Everything came neatly packaged with clear instructions for heating and serving up. Despite being quite a complex meal it was really easy and fun to serve up.

For the starter we arranged the blinis on plates…

Added the smoked trout which we drizzled with lemon oil…

And finally topped it off with chive creme fraiche and parsley. Despite being a simple, and quite traditional starter, this was absolutely delicious and a cut above any similar dishes I’ve had in the past.

The main was even simpler. Our appetites had been whetted now and I’m afraid it wasn’t restaurant quality presentation – the potatoes, carrots, beans and casserole were just heaped onto our plates.

James tries to use local ingredients wherever possible, and this lamb was from the nearby Home Farm at Overbury. All the dishes were really tasty, but I felt the rich potatoes and carrots were slightly over the top for my taste. However, the casserole was gorgeous, with the lamb just melting in your mouth.

The quantities of food were very generous and there was enough casserole left for another 2-3 meals. After a big main course, my parents wondered about splitting the desserts and just having half a lemon tart each.

Matt and I quickly squashed that idea though as the tarts looked so good.

There were little cases to serve the raspberry sorbet in, with spares in case we messed up, or anyone was feeling greedy!

I love making lemon tart (and eating it!) as it is surprisingly simple but looks very fancy. I don’t think mine will taste the same now though, and I might need to invest in a blow torch so I can get the top nicely caramelised. The best thing about the dessert though was the sorbet, which was fantastic. I never tend to eat sorbet as it doesn’t seem like value for money in a dessert to me, but it was the perfect way to finish the meal – light but very intense raspberry flavours.

At about £25 a head for a 3 course meal, this was very good value for the amount and quality of food provided, and a nice alternative to eating out or getting takeaway.

James also has a great blog where he posts some of his latests experiments and inventions.

I was really impressed with the selection of drinks – some nice local ales, good standard beers/lagers and a decent wine list. I ended up starting with a strong Traquiar House ale, which was quite malty and slightly acidic – good to warm up with. The house wine I tried later was pretty good, easily drinkable.

The menu offered traditional european food (Cassoulet, Tagine, Meatballs, Pasta) with a contemporary twist, often with local ingredients. As well as the usual starters and main meals they also served Tapas dishes which would be perfect for the cafe bar area.

I opted for the Yorkshire Black Pudding & Apple Salad for starter which was probably the best black pud I’ve had – nice and moist without being mushy, the appleness seemed to have infused throughout the pud too. For main course I chose a Medley of North Sea Fish, Trout & Mussels, which again was nicely cooked. The mussels probably weren’t the best I’d had, but the fish made up for it. The main meals others had looked good and had a favourable response. I was slightly disappointed with our limited dessert choice (because of the group meal), since everything was too sweet/rich for me – stick toffee pudding, warmed chocolate brownie or panna cotta – something others agreed with later. I could appreciate however, that to a chocolate lover the warmed brownie looked pretty amazing.

I found the atmosphere quite relaxed and staff very friendly, there was however quite a delay for desserts.