El ob ! or also know as The Black Bull, Mawdsley

I know the name is strange but this Pub is locally know as "El Ob", something to do with a large poker by the fire. Google it if you are interested in knowing more.

On to the food, hubby and myself decided we would have a relaxed Sunday lunch, the pub looks to be a popular local , very traditional inside, perhaps a bit over decorated in the country style. We ordered 2 typical pub dishes, scampi and pie, both with chips. The food arrived well cooked and with fresh vegetables, the pie and chips looked home made. Alll in all not bad , nice selection of real ales as well.

POND

The team that brought you DUK in Preston, how now opened a bar/bodega also in Preston town centre. My first visit to POND was for a good friends leaving celebration, as she is foolishly relocating down south. A group of 22 ordered a banquet for £16 ahead, the party was on a Friday night so the bar was very busy and noisy, I am quite sure if you visit during the week the atomosphere would be very different.

We weren't disappointed, the food was excellent despite being a little slow to initially appear. In all we shared 11 different types of tapa's , served in little dishes and pots distributed across the long table we shared. Of particular merit were the garlic butter king prawns and the sticky spicy chicken strips.

Great time had by all

DUK

Hey, every find yourself in Preston town centre and have a craving for fab tapas , then try DUK. This tiny basement restaurant serves excellent freshly prepared dishes. The menu is lengthy but covers all tastes . Give it a try you won't be disappointed. Its sister bar / bodega is POND

Railway at Euxton

I have know this pub under various names, The Railway, then The Ordnance, now we are back to The Railway and being advertised as the new gastro pub. We had to try it out.

So one Thursday after work Hubby and I ventured for our evening meal. Firstly the decor was different than last time and also the layout, the emphasis is now very much food.

On the evening we visited they had a special of two courses for £10.95, not bad. We were greeted an seated and pleased to see that at 6.30pm there were already half a dozen tables occupied.

I order the local chicken with creamy wild mushroom sauce, baby roasted pots and green beans, hubby ordered the pea and bean risotto. If you are on the special offer you have a choice of 3 dishes for each course. The food arrive after about 15mins and we were pleasantly impressed, hot, flavourful and well presented in large white bowls. No compliants on the mains.

We then went on to puddings, we both chose the egg custard with berries. The custard was everything we expected wobbly and good, the berry accompanying more of a berry mush, main problem was the chef trying to look funky and including toffee shards, which were to crunchy and hard to eat without fear of loosing a tooth.

All in all a good meal and have since recommended to friends how had much the same experience.

Jerry's or the Plough, Euxton

Technical I suppose this is my local, however probably only visit once every couple of years. Last visit was for lunch with friends, menu is extensive , i.e covers several walls and always makes me think how can one kitchen have all that ready to serve, frozen food must play a part. If you want average pub grub . Then Jerry's is your place.

Chorley Market and Taylor's Cafe

Lancashire in the sunshine, today we visited Chorley Market to introduce a friend from the other side ( I mean Yorkshire) to the delights of Lancashire. She actually lives locally and was wondering where I bought all my lovely produce from, so off we ventured to Chorley. After a quick round of Tyrers Fruit and Veg, so much cheaper and fresher than the supermarket, Pat's cheese stall, and fish stall. We were a little peckish, we had been recommended to try Taylors Cafe , near the town hall, a cut above most other cafes in Chorley which are of the greasy spoon variety. This one is more healthy and Eco in approach. The smoothies were particularly good, the food didn't arrive all at once but other than that pretty good. So if you in Chorley and wish for a healthy bite to eat try Taylors. We will visiting again I am sure.

Volcanic Elderflower champagne

We have always been fortunate to live in a house with a Elder tree in the garden. Guaranteeing pesticide and pollution free blooms for making elderflower cordial. So most summers when the tree is in full bloom I make cordial. A delightful summer treat which normally lasts into early autumn.

This year I thought we would give Elderflower champagne a try as it was my nephew's 21st ( by the way the celebration meal was at the Red cat - as usual fantastic food, service ).

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall had the same idea and also made some on his tv programme. For the first fortnight nothing happened, the recipe for "champagne" is slightly different to the cordial in that you add vinegar so I didn't know what to expect. Then doing the 3rd week we saw small bubbles in one of the bottles, so tentatively we opened this bottle. WOW , POP , its a good job we opened the bottle outside as half the contents exploded out of the bottle. Once things calmed down we tasted the "elixir". It was fantastic a little warm as at this point we hadn't chilled the bottle. We quickly checked the other 4 bottles, still nothing happening with those, so later the same week, once we had go the the dregs of the fizzy bottle , we put a couple of drops in to the other bottles. This did the trick 1 week later all bottles fizzy and having to be tamed by de gassing periodically and chilled.

Try making some its great, friends, neighbour and relations suitably impressed. Next year we are making more ! hick !

Huntleys - Samlesbury

If you have every travelled along the A59 past BAe Systems at Samlesbury you will have seen the signs for this establishment. We first visited a couple of years ago and it was already shaping up as a good local food venue. However a rainy Lancashire summer day, saw 3 friends meet for lunch on a Saturday. Phew was it busy, after fighting our way on to the car park we had a quick look around and were all pleasantly impressed with the new food hall , so now not only can you sample Huntleys Ice cream, you can purchase made on the site bread and cakes and meat, fish , cheese, veg, wines from local suppliers. However we had come to lunch, we grabbed a table quickly as the large homey restaurant started to fill quickly. Hubby ordered the pie ( he's becoming a connoisseur of pies !), I ordered the roast beef and Zoe the Lancashire ploughman's.

Very impressed , all homemade by the look of things, the gravy with hubby's pie was amazing. And portions ample, especially the ploughman's, Zoe had to eat over half a pound of 2 types of Lancashire cheese. Recommend you visit and get there early as it gets very busy.

Newsflash - Clog & Billycock

The team behind the Three Fishes see earlier blogs is to open a 3rd pub in Pleasington, Blackburn. The Clog & Billycock is due to open late August 2008 .

Moonlight Walk Lunches

Firstly apologies for not posting for a while, I have been collecting new foody hot spots whilst training for the Moonlight Walk for St Catherines Hospice, a 13 1/2 mile walk to raise funds. I have completed this now but whilst training it was often the highlight of the training walk to visit a local pub / cafe for lunch.

Robin Hood Inn, Mawdsley - arrived on spec on a Sunday lunchtime and was pleasantly surprised to be able to get a table for 5 despite being a popular pub for Sunday lunch. Some of the party ordered snack type food , some full meal. Food was plentiful and well cooked, suspect most wasn't made on the premises but that's what you get in a lot of pubs now a days. 6/10

Ley Inn, Whittle le Woods - Visited this establishment a couple of times for lunch on both Saturday and Sunday, the ley inn is a large pub / restaurant so you shouldn't really need to book. Food in pub is very reasonably priced and pretty good portions, but on one visit did have a problem with sloppy service and a kitchen to professing to have run out of eggs !! 5/10

Malt House Farm, Whittle - Part of popular chain of food pubs, slight cut above basic pub grub. Particularly impressed with serving mash with a pie instead of the obiquitous chips with everything. British slant to menu, with Mediterranean influences. Prices slightly above some other local establishments, but I am great believer in you get what you pay for. 7/10