Crathorne Arms

I’m back at home (Aka Teesside) so as it was my lady friend’s birthday I took her to the Crathorne Arms in Crathorne village, North Yorkshire.

The Crathorne arms is under new management as of 6ish months ago and has had a refurb and new menu to boot.  I decided to go here based on the amazing pictures of the food on the restaurants new website. They’ve obviously spent a bit of money of food photography here because the dishes all look great and seeing as this is the only reason I went, I’d say its money well spent.

The venue has a rustic farmhouse appeal with polished dark wood floors, high beamed ceilings and plenty of country charm in a formal setting.

We skipped a starter with dessert in mind and ordered our mains, (once the waitress had stopped talking to another table across the dining room).

First up I had fillet of cod with gnocchi, battered muscles, cockles, samphire and creamy caper sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly as was everything else on the plate except the cockles which were like bullets. The dish was very rich and missing a squeeze of lemon or some more acidity, perhaps a little on the salty side as well, or is that just the sea I can taste?

 The second dish was Pork with black pudding and vanilla sauce. This was a woeful effort, dry pork, burnt caramel on the apple and an overly sweet very strong vanilla sauce. Pork and black pudding ice cream anyone?  . . . . . . . No? I didn’t think so. We called the waitress over to let her know about the burnt caramel and she said that is how the chef cooks this dish. Once we got the waitress away from her table of friends, we paid the bill and left.

This place has classic Tees valley syndrome when it comes to fine dining in the area. Just because the food offered is considered fairly up market it must be delicious by right and the clientele must be gob smacked by the occasion even if the food is shoddy and the service crap.

There are some decent venues to eat out in Teesside but they’re few and far between when it comes to exciting food. This place highlights the problem with many independent restaurants in the area.

5/10

Crathorne Village
North Yorkshire

TS15 0BA

http://www.crathorne-arms.co.uk/

In other news Brew Dog’s new Leeds bar is open WOOO! It’s tucked in behind the corn exchange next to Pizza express, I walked past last week and had a peer in and things looked far from finished but low and behold it opened last night. I shall be visiting in the next few days and let you know how it goes.

Chadwicks Inn, Maltby, Teesside

A few weeks ago I was back in the North East and decided to visit Chadwicks Inn in Maltby village for lunch. Allegedly “the only 2 AA Rosette Gastro pub in the Tees Valley” or so it says on their website. Chadwicks used to be found on Yarm high street but moved about 2 years ago to Maltby site a few miles away.

The restaurant has a country pub vibe tastefully decorated with dark wood furniture and a log burning stove in the corner. This owes to the fact that it used to be pub not so long ago, but I wouldn’t come here for a cheeky pint nowadays.

We booked in advance and were promptly shown to our table and offered the menus. We both picked off the set lunch menu which was 3 courses for around £15-20, I forget the exact price.

First up was Pea soup with a poached egg and smoked bacon dressing. The soup was delicious, velvety smooth and fresh and the egg beautifully runny in the middle. However I didn’t get any smoked bacon from the dish, to be honest id be quite happy to just put two crispy pieces on the top. Bring on the bacon!!

My partner opted for the smoked salmon with quail’s egg and young onions. Which I’m told was very good, the young broad beans scattered about the place were a nice touch. This course also came on a slate which is pretty edgy for the Tees Valley. I bet the locals weren’t impressed? So far so good.

The final course was Pan fried sea trout with orange and fennel salad. The trout was cooked perfectly soft and moist in the middle with a lovely crispy skin but the salad seemed to have been dressed in water and there was no appearance from Mr Fennel, maybe they’d ran out? This really let the dish down. I love fennel but could have dealt with just a mixed leaf salad if it had some form of dressing to tie the dish together. Anyway the fennel was gone so I made do and quenched my thirst on my moist salad.

All in all I like this place, it’s about 1 mile from my parents and the lunch menu really is reasonably priced. I’d recommend it for those in the area that are after more than a trip to Frankie’s and Bennie’s, it’s probably slightly cheaper than most of the other “fine dining” alternatives around as well.

7/10

High Ln, Maltby
Middlesbrough

TS8 0BG

www.chadwicksinnmaltby.co.uk