East Lodge, Derbyshire - Restaurant Review

East Lodge, Rowsley, Derbyshire

http://www.eastlodge.com/

East Lodge had the honour of hosting a lunch on Saturday in celebration of my Grandfather-in-law’s (does such a title exist?) 90^th birthday. First impressions were that it was an attractive building with nice grounds. We were warmly greeted and shown to the conservatory where we joined the rest of our party, had an aperitif and perused the menus.

We decided against starters - the rather hopelessly laid out menu failed to make it clear that a starter was even an option. Between the seven of us we ordered one fish and chips, one beef fillet, three steak and kidney pies and two turkey breasts which were poached and seared “a la plancha” which came with a fried sage and onion sandwich, fondant potatoes and braised celery. I opted for the turkey, though it was not without fear that they may think my choice influenced by the appalling advert with Marco Pierre White and Martin Kemp which can currently be seen on TVs irritating viewers around the country.

We were invited into our private dining room just before the food arrived. We weren’t aware we were to have use of a private dining room, and while it got a few ‘oohs’ and ‘isn’t this nice’s from our party I am actually not a fan of the private dining room experience.  I am people watcher, and am endlessly interested in what other tables order and how they respond to their experience, I like seeing the staff in action and getting a proper ‘feel’ for the place.  And every time I have been in a private room I have found that the waiting staff have underestimated the speed at which I can drain a wine glass, so I have often been left to stare woefully at my empty glass hoping someone will come check on us, East Lodge was no different.

The food arrived and first impression on my dish: ‘weird, they are using my slate placemats as a plate, what’s the bloody point in that?’ and then slightly sad that my fondant potato was so very teeny. The ‘fried sage and onion sandwich’ which I was very intrigued to sample turned out to be a small disc of baguette with some stuffing on it.  Tasty yes, but I had hoped for something more inspired. The turkey was very moist, the teeny fondant potato and celery complimented the dish well, as did the elaborately swirled sauce (somebody has been watching too much Masterchef).

It didn’t seem appropriate for me to taste the entire table’s food but I did steal a forkful of the lovely fiancés beef which was very tasty and perfectly met the request of being cooked medium-rare. 

For dessert we had one Gateau Marjolaine (layers of hazelnut meringue with vanilla, chocolate and praline butter cream), one bakled Alaska “flambé” and five chocolate fondants. The chocolate fondants were all cooked to perfection as I expected, just the right amount of ooze. Judging by the contented noises coming from across the table seems the other desserts were good too. We followed dessert with a birthday cake and coffees. The cake was very tasty, the coffee not as strong as I like.

Unfortunately, the mean portion size was not limited to the fondant potato, I felt all of us would have preferred 50% more grub for our buck. I appreciate it is meant to be fine dining but if you order a pie, you want a proper sized pie, damnit.

The food was very good but unadventurous, the service was very friendly and polite. A pleasant place that was very well suited to a 90^th birthday lunch but I wouldn’t return with a younger crowd.  The coffee rather sums up the feel of the place, very pleasant, with good flavour but lacking balls. 

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And I should say a big thank you to the lovely in-laws for picking up the bill, thank you lovely in-laws, you are most lovely xx