The Court farm Inn: Abbotskerswell: Devon

Before I get down to writing the important review of my recent lunch quest, here is a little about the Village of Abbotskerswell in Devon where you will find two very good Inns: The Butcher's Arms and the Court Farm Inn.

Abbotskerswell was once owned by Ethelhilda, one of King Alfred's daughters. She owned the main manor house in Saxon times. During this time the area that is now known as Abbotskerswell, was known as Cress Springs in the Abbot of Sherborne. In 1806, Abbotskerswell was recorded in the Doomsday book under the name of 'Carswelle'. From this the name Abbotskerswell derived some years later. So there is your potted history lesson of a village you have probably never heard of in Devon.

The Court Farm Inn is where we decided to celebrate our friend, Dave's, 65th birthday. On arrival we were greeted with warm, friendly smiles and were directed to our table. The main menus were already on the table, but we were given an A4 sheet with the specials of the day, which saved us from having to go to the other side of the bar and try and memorize all that was on the special's board.

The birthday "boy" decided on the Smoked Haddock Fish Cakes “A combination of smoked haddock, mozzarella cheese, potato and spring onion in a crispy crumb coating, served with chipped potatoes and a crisp salad” It was beautifully presented and he thoroughly enjoyed this, but he wasn’t keen on the salad. In hindsight he should have asked for vegetables instead, but that was really his own fault!

His partner, Sue, decided on the Chicken Supreme.
“Butterfly breast of chicken topped with a creamy smocked bacon & parmesan sauce, served with sauté potatoes and fresh vegetables” Sue was surprised, at first, the chicken was in one piece as she had eaten the same dish in other places, and it had always been made with small chicken pieces. Also, she had not realized that it came in a bacon and parmesan sauce. She shared a healthy looking bowl of vegetables with Colin. She also enjoyed her meal.

Colin chose a Lamb Shank, “slowly braised in red wine and rosemary, served on a bed of creamed mashed potato” He shared a bowl of vegetables with Sue. Again, the presentation was very good and Colin said it was delicious. The meat was cooked beautifully and simply fell off the bone!

I was the only one who chose from the specials menu and I selected the Half a Roast Duck “in Plum and sweet chilli sauce on bed of stir fried vegetables, new potatoes and topped with parsnip crisps.

The Duck was beautifully cooked in its sauce and the stir- fried veggies were very tasty!

And so to the puddings…all made by Debbie on the premises...

Sue ordered a Fruit Pavlova Meringue.

I ordered a Lemon, Ginger Crunch.

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Both deserts were beautifully presented and absolutely delicious, but Sue’s Pavlova was HUGE!!!! She couldn’t finish it all.

A successful meal and a very enjoyable evening.

Scores

Food 4/5
Presentation 4/5
Service 5/5
Setting 5/5
Giving an overall 18/20

Lunch Questers were :Dave, Sue, Mel and Colin

We drank: red wine, white wine, local beer.

The Total Bill came to: £69.25

The Claycutters, Chudleigh Knighton

Where to lunch is a very important decision that one needs to make carefully, especially in retirement. The reason is that we are older and wiser (or so we believe) and have had good, bad and indifferent experiences of dining in various eateries all over the country and indeed in many far away places too.

Today we were going out to lunch with friends who are Devonians: John is a retired farmer, who hasn’t quite retired and he and his wife Sue run a B&B in Teigngrace, Devon. Maybe there should be a B&B Quest (great idea - Ed)

Being born and bred in Devon they know many local people and it is through the “word of mouth” wire that eateries are praised and recommended or, alas, bow down and die.

Neil and Julie, formerly of The Highwayman’s Haunt at Chudleigh have recently taken over the management of this pub and John had heard some good things about the menu and the staff, so we decided to try it out for ourselves.

The place came across as a traditional yet quaint (in the good sense of the word) pub with a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff. There are many seating areas to choose from with the addition of a patio area.

As well as the traditional bar and a la carte menus, which are packed full of local, seasonal produce, they provide a Light Lunch menu where one could select a main course for £6.95 or a main and a desert for £8.95. There are also specials on the blackboards, which change daily. I was also told that they offer an extensive wine list and choice of well-kept Real Ales.

So to the two menus, which were both good, interesting, varied and reasonably priced. We decided to order from the Light Lunch menu, as John and Sue had warned us that the portions were very generous.

Colin chose the roast of the day, which happened to be turkey. It was well presented and obviously sourced from fresh produce (I just hate frozen veggies!) The gravy was homemade. His only criticism was that the turkey was over salted, though it was nice to see chunks of turkey and not just transparent slithers.

Sue, John and I all went for the beef and onion pie with new potatoes and peas. It was a move away from my regular type of meal and I was not disappointed. It came piping hot and was absolutely delicious. Underneath the dramatic puff pastry was locally sourced, minced, rump steak blended with onions to give a tasty and satisfying kick to the palate. The potatoes were plain and sweet and I did add a touch of mayonnaise to them, which livened them a little. The peas were few, but the pie made up for that. The verdict from all was positive.


Our choice of drinks wasn’t too imaginative as we didn’t want wine at lunchtime. Sue and I had J20 apple and mango, (no ice…don’t you just hate it when your drink is watered down by melting ice!) John had an appletiser and Colin had half a pint of Otter bitter.

We all decided that we were glad we didn’t go for the full menu as having seen some of the other customer’s orders it was extremely generous and too much for us for a lunch.

The couple opposite us had the Chicken Korma option, which looked wonderful. There were beautiful big chunks of chicken on a bed of rice, served with poppadoms. When I asked her what she thought she said she was disappointed as it was rather bland and very “70’s”, with too many things like raisins and not enough spice!

And so the desserts. Colin decided that as I had made apple and blackberry crumble the night before, he wouldn’t partake, but the rest of us decided we would.

John ordered the blackberry and apple crumble and when it arrived, his heart sank. It was huge, but he managed to finish most of it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The custard on the side was a nice idea as then he could put as little or as much custard on the crumble as he wanted.

Sue and I both have a weakness for proifiteroles, so that is what we ordered, and we were not disappointed. 5 fresh profiteroles topped with clotted cream on home made chocolate sauce. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and so wonderfully presented. The waitress even came back with a longer handled and smaller spoon to make it easier to eat. Oh yes…to die for!


So that completed our lunch as we decided we didn’t have any room left for coffee! We'll be going back to sample the full menu sometime soon!


Scores

Food 4/5
Presentation 4/5
Service 5/5
Setting 5/5
Giving an overall 18/20

Lunch Questers were Sue, John, Colin and Mel

The Total Bill came to: £41.70

The Claycutters
Chudleigh Knighton
DEVON TQ13 OEY

Vice Versa, Roermond, Netherlands

I would like you to pause for a moment and think about your favourite Dutch food.

Now, I am guessing you came up with very little, at least nothing that didn’t also involve a “shmoke”. This is about to change. The town of Roermond in the southernmost Dutch province of Limburg has, in the past ten years, conjured up a couple of restaurants which are absolute gems.

Vice Versa is situated in the heart of the old town of Roermond, facing out over the Roer River with its willow-lined banks, houses straight out of a Rembrandt painting and copious amounts of well-fed ducks idly passing the time. From the outside, the restaurant looks like the 19th century warehouse it once was, complete with arched windows and covered entrance. Once inside, the diner is transported into a modern culinary world, with a large bar complete with immaculate brass finishings, elegantly lit drinks cabinets and an array of attractive barmaids and waitresses. There must be 20 to 25 tables ranging from intimate, semi-hidden away two person tables, to large ones set in plenty of space to accommodate parties of up to eight or ten people.

I was dining this evening with my father who is quite the well kent face in Roermond, having lived there since 1995. We rolled up at 8.30pm on a Friday night without a reservation, and unsurprisingly were greeted by a full house. But we, and other diners, were not just turned away into the rainy Dutch night, we were invited to have a complementary drink at the bar and wait for an available table. Nice touch. My Dad had the first of what proved to be a half dozen too many glasses of a very good red wine from the extensive wine list, while I had a pint of Amstel. Can’t go wrong there. We were also offered menus (in English if we wished) so we wouldn’t have to wait long once seated. After a pleasant half hour wait, we were shown to our table.

To start I had plumped for the Truffle Carpaccio while Dad ordered the scampi. The latter appeared in a large, main-coursed sized dish and was nothing like the breaded offerings served up circa 1986 in bar suppers across the land. Picture half a dozen fresh Dutch prawns, about two inches in diameter, served upon a bed of home-made pasta with a simple herb and olive oil dressing, and surrounding a small pot of fresh chilli-tomato sauce. The portion was not too big, not too small, and Dad gave it the big thumbs up. My carpaccio was something else entirely. I am not joking that it is probably in the top five things I have ever eaten. The plate was enormous, with maybe ten or twelve slices of the freshest, thinnest cut beef carpaccio, served on a bed of crisp, peppery rocket, with fresh cracked black pepper and slices of Dutch parmesan. In the middle of the plate, hidden beneath some meat, was a small spoonful of avocado salsa, which still has me wondering what was in it that I liked so much, given that I can’t stand avocado. The piece de resistance was a drizzle of truffle sauce over the top of the meat - again, the perfect quantity - which offset all the other flavours beautifully. I truly did not want this plateful to end and would happily have had another one straight after for my main course. But I didn’t. And I’m glad.

Whilst sitting at the bar earlier, Rinus, the owner of Vice Versa, told us the specials of the day. Included on there were supposedly rather nice cuts of beef, of differing sizes, he got from a local butcher. Dad ordered one of these, with chips and a peppercorn sauce (ever the Scotsman abroad) but I thought something more Dutch was appropriate. Short of ordering a clog sandwich, I admit to being a little stuck as to what this might be, but Rinus advised me to try some of the array of game products on the menu - a Dutch speciality apparently. I chose hare fillets in a port sauce with accompanying assorted seasonal veg. Dad’s steak was massive, perfectly cooked and presented very simply (which I like). It came with a little boiled cauliflower, broccoli and carrots and with a huge portion of chips for us to share. His peppercorn sauce was served in a little milk jug type thing and was just the perfect blend of creamy and sharp. I was given a plate of four fillets of hare (they’re bigger than you think) which had the same veg. Similarly the port sauce arrived in a separate jug and was rich, sweet and had a lovely alcoholly aftertaste. The hare was a delight: tender, moist and very filling and the sauce was just enough to liberally coat the meat, with enough left over for dipping the chips in. Blimey, this was tasty.

After this we were, sadly, too full for dessert, but judging from the look of the plates going past our table some diners were in for a treat. We settled on coffees, a double espresso for Dad and a cappuccino for me, before I gallantly offered to pay the bill. Now, it was expensive, but that was more to do with the five pints of Amstel and three bottles of wine we went through. The food itself was not badly priced at all, 5-8 Euros for a starter and 12-20 for main course, and a couple of Euros each for the coffees. For this quality, I would probably have paid double.

Rinus called us a taxi and Dad and I headed off for a pint in town (bad idea) full to the brim with Dutch culinary goodness and raving about Vice Versa and their hospitality. Only one thing annoyed me, and that was the fact that Dad gets to go back every week and I had to return to Istanbul. Ah, well, good excuse for another visit.

If you ever happen to be in downtown Roermond, pop in for dinner. You won’t be disappointed.

Scores on the Doors

Food 5/5 - cracking!
Presentation 5/5 - simple but stylish
Service 5/5 - Impeccable and with free drinks!
Setting 4/5 - Picturesque Dutchness. The only drawback is having to trek
upstairs to go to the loo, and I am a lazy Scotsman.

Overall 19/20

(Ed - thanks to Patrick for this great post to get us started!)