Millstone Inn at Mellor

We've been exploring the Lancashire countryside and have finally made our way to The Millstone at Mellor, a delightful country style hotel / inn with a reputation for great local food lovingly produced by the team lead by Anson Bolton.

I follow Anson on Twitter but he didn't know I was visiting until after the visit and we paid for our food, just in case you were wondering and also I haven't been requested to carry out a review.

The Millstone at Mellor is a village inn and restaurant serving the local community and visitors from near and far, housed in a lovely old coaching house the Millstone features both formal and informal dining areas. The emphasis is on hearty freshly produced food which features lots of local seasonal produce. Beef from the Trough of Bowland lamb from Pendle, poultry from Goosnargh and seasonal fruit and vegetables.

The menu is imaginative and extensive enough to have something for everyone, yet not too long that you worry about the freshness of the produce. Anson works with local suppliers to ensure that his "Inn season" specials menu features the freshest local seasonal produce.

Millstone at Mellor is situated in the Ribble Valley (just) and should definately feature on any food lovers list of must visits  if in the area. Another plus point is that this is a Thwaites house, so they have some wonderful lovely locally produced beers on tap, such as Wainwright ( Mr Lancashire Food's favourite) amongst others.

                             

So on to our visit, we arrived for lunch and were warmly greeted and seated in our choice of the informal bar area, the millstone has a lovely homely ambiance and we were soon joined by other diners, in fact by the time we were leaving things were pretty busy.

Having never visited and a little unsure of portion sizes we decided to dive straight into the mains on the daytime menu, although we were sorely tempted by the "Inn season" specials menu which sounded delicious. Intrigued by the fish finger bap on the menu,  I ordered this as my main course, where as Mr Lancashire Food plumped by the Bowland steak, kidney and Thwaites Wainwright ale pudding.

I loved my fish finger bap, homemade golden battered goujons of fish served on a soft bun,with little gem lettuce and Caesar dressing and capers ,with a wrapped lemon on the side, the dish was also served with thick cut chips and a dinky little dish of homemade potato salad. £7.95

Mr Lancashire Food's pudding was accompanied by chunky chips, proper mushy peas and ample quantities of gravy . £11.95

We both loved our mains, proper chips and great tasting fresh British food, I was particularly impressed by the potato salad, the best I have had in a long time. For afters we initially had decided to share, but on reading the tempting sweets menu, I ordered the apple and plum crumble which was served with local Huntley's ice cream and double cream. Mr Lancashire Food ordered the ice cream sundae, when it arrived he was taken back to his childhood, this was a proper sundae, three flavours of ice cream, whipped cream, toffee sauce and all topped off with a billowing marshmellowly meringue.Both £5.95 a portion.

What a great experience we had and good value too for the quality of food we received, I would whole heartily recommend a visit.

Royal Oak at Riley Green

                            

STOP PRESS - Updated article 9th March 2013

The pub has now been fully re-furbished and has a full menu featuring some great local produce, we were kindly invited to attend the re-launch and to meet the Thwaites Shire horses too, who came out to celebrate the re-launch. We  were treated to some lovely Lancashire nibbles all washed down with some of Thwaites fine ales, of special note was the Wainwright caviar !

As you may have gathered here at Lancashire Food, we enjoy eating out and were excited to here that the team behind our favourite restaurant were taking on the tenancy of the Royal Oak at Riley Green.  This country inn is situated on the main road to Blackburn from Preston and Chorley, not far from Hoghton Tower, so its easy to find.

To the delight of Mr Lancashire Food this is a Thwaites house so the beers are good and his favourite brew "Wainwright" is available on draught. Chris and Mike  have introduced a menu which  focuses on quality , consistency and freshness, from local suppliers. The menu is currently shorter than they would like as they are planning alterations to the kitchen and dining areas in the very near future, but their is still plenty of choice.

Our visit was on a Saturday lunchtime and we were pleased to see that several other parties were already dining on entering the pub. We were warmly welcomed by the knowledgeable and polite front of house team and seated near the fireplace. 

We ordered drinks as we browsed the menu and made our choices. After a reasonable wait ( our waiter was keen to tell us everything is cooked from fresh) our food arrived. 

Mr Lancashire Food's choice was a steak and ale pie with the days choice of vegetables and twice cooked chips. The vegetables were deliciously tender and cooked from fresh and the pie well flavoured and packed with tender steak.

My burger was delicious, served in a muffin with cheese and tomato relish , the chips were amazing and the salad fresh and well balanced, no soggy sad lettuce here.

Both were well sized portions and good examples of pub food done well. We will be back and will be bringing friends next time who we are sure will enjoy the warm friendly pub environment and the great food and ales, the pub also welcomes families.

We did not give notice of our visit to the team and we paid for our food and drinks, just in case you were wondering.

FATJAX chutneys and relishes

I have been really lucky to be given the opportunity to review some great local products from FATJAX Chutneys, who are literally a couple of miles down the road from me. Creating artisan cheeky chutneys, vinegars and  ravishing relishes produced by chefs in small batches to capture freshness of flavour. FATJAX chutneys also make addition to savoury dishes where you are looking to add that extra dimension of flavour, check out the  post for Courgettsakka.

So here goes, my delish samples (proper full sized jars mind you so I could have a good taste and share with friends too ),and its true what the say "The difference is in the taste".

Mediterranean Vegetable - A delightful vegetable chopped chutney, bit like ratatouille only nicer. I could see this being served as an alternative to a salsa or alongside fish, I think its would also make a great combo with tuna fish and mayo grilled as a toasty.

Onion and fennel seed - The outright favourite of everyone who has tried the chutneys, lovely with cheese of course and cooked meats too. A new flavour to the FATJAX stable and from the feedback I'll be giving hopefully a permanent addition to the range , its the contrasting aniseedy hum which combines superbly with the sweet onions that everyone loved.

Sweet Red Onion and  chilli - an ideal partner to meats, cold or hot with a little bit of a kick ( don't worry not too much). My brother loves it on a bacon butty ! Also I think this would be delicious stirred into a chilli to provide extra flavour depth.

Bengali Pineapple - apparently FATJAX best seller by a mile, think mango chutney but fresher and pineapply (of course), delicious with curries and poppadoms, I can see this in filo pastry with shredded cooked chicken a little creme fraiche, hey presto chicken korma parcels  !

The chutneys are available direct from FATJAX via their website or at one of the many local food markets they attend or in a number of carefully selected local food emporiums.

Thanks to the wonderful Synergy Monochrome for the great photography for this post 

Southport Market Launch

Today saw the long awaited launch of the re-furbished Southport Market Hall, which despite a few local stalwarts, Southport has been a little bereft of good opportunities to buy great local produce despite being surrounded by fantastic growing land and the Ribble estuary coast. Today changed all that, smack bang in the town centre the market hall has been brought up to date with a multi million pound project which creates a new market quarter for the town.

Visitors were welcomed with a local jazz band and demonstrations from local tv chef Simon Rimmer and a visit from peppa the pig, the market had a real buzz and was very busy for the launch and features stalls to cater for all your needs, not just food.

A couple of months ago I was pleased to hear that my ex work colleague and excellent cheese-monger Vickie @ Liverpool Cheese were to open a stall on the market. Liverpool Cheese are award winning cheese-mongers who have been purveying fine cheeses of all types since 2006, they love local produce and have a particular skill for producing some beautiful cheese wedding cakes too.

The market also features several butchers, a fishmonger, try the Southport Shrimps they are delicious,a greengrocer, deli's and many many other great stalls. There are also two  gorgeous cafe's and a italian pizzeria.

Please pay them a visit if you are in Southport and #loveyourlocalmarket , shop locally and buy local produce.In Southport you can also find lots of lovely independent shops too.

Parkers Arms - Newton in Bowland

For many months I have followed Stosi Madi of The Parkers Arms on twitter, a passionate advocate of local food. Today finally saw our first visit to the fine establishment nestled in the nook of the rolling moorland countryside of the stunning Forest of Bowland.  Just 10 minutes drive from Clitheroe but a world away, this is pub/restaurant with rooms and is everything a country pub should be, warm, welcoming with fabulous local food, lovingly prepared. On pulling up on the carpark what first strikes you is the silence, well lack of intrusive noise anyhow, all we could hear were sheep bleeting and birds singing.

We were warmly and genuinely welcomed by front of house AJ , the fire already lit in the grate and the bar warm and cosy. We had booked but where given a choice of tables and chose to sit in the window so we could watch the  panorama of the glorious hillside outside.

Mr B ordered from a fine selection of local ales from Bowland Brewery - "Sawley Tempted" as I was driving I choose one of their soft drinks, I note they had a fine selection of mawsons traditional drinks to refresh any passing traveller, this being on the scenic route to the Ribblehead viaduct.

Whilst we perused the menu and the daily defined specials we chatted with the lovely friendly staff, the whole menu is focused on local seasonal produce, beautifully prepared to emphasise its best points and is just the right length, enough choice but not too much that you get bamboozled or doubt on the freshness of the produce.

Our choices made and we were pleased to be joined by other diners as the establishment started to fill up for lunch. Our first hints of the delights in store was the arrival of our first appetiser - crunchy roasted potato skins with tomato relish, delicious crunchy skins sprinkled with sea salt and served with a sweet smooth tomato puree, sweetened by being roasted. Delicious.

Next a tasting plate of local ( and when I say local I mean local a mile or so up the road) Dunsop bridge trout with horseradish and homemade country bread, the trout has been treated gently and was beautifully tender , the creamed horseradish just spiky enough to cut any oiliness from the fish. Then the puffy fluffy lancashire cheese souffles arrived, soft, yeilding and cheesy ( in the best way), also featuring local eggs again from the chickens at a local farm.

Next my Black pudding, egg, crispy potatoes and homemade chutney were delivered, perfectly roasted black pudding was complimented with a dippy egg and homemade chutney, a delight for the taste buds, the crispy potatoes perfectly complimented with the herb oil drizzle. My dining partner had selected the Spiced venison loin, pickled damsons and  homemade bread, I snuck a little taster of the venison which was tender and well balanced with the pickled local damsons.

By this stage we were getting a little full, AJ told to relax our mains would be with us soon, after a suitable polite pause( so grateful) ( whilst watching the other delights emerging from the kitchen) our mains were delivered, Hot-water crust pork and rabbit pasty, roasted roots, kale and thrice cooked chunky chips for my dining partner and Sole, sea vegetables, saute potatoes and lemon butter sauce for me.

WOW , all the food was beautifully presented and the portions exactly the right size, my sole was tender , cooked on the bone just how I like it , the sauce buttery lemon but not over powering , matched well by the sea vegetables which provided a nice salty edge to the dish, the potatoes were equally delicious and well matched to the rest of the plate. The cute pasty was packed with filling, moist and juicy all encased in a golden pastry crust, the chips triple cooked were a revelation and very much lived up to the recommendation of AJ, but I am sure the alternative of creamy mash would be just a good. The little dish of roasted roots and kale was great accompaniment to the pasty which needed the robust "roast dinner" flavours to meet the challenge of standing up to the slighty gamey pasty.

By this stage we were full, Mr B even leaving a couple of the chips,  however  the dessert menu looked equally scrumptious all made on the premises including the elusive local "wet nelly" !

All in all this lunch is up there with my best dining experiences and we will definately be visiting again, the food is very reasonably priced for the quality and the fact that this is real Lancashire Food and the word local really means local , I can only recommend you visit yourself very soon  for stunning food and the stunning landscape.

I'd like to apologise for the lack of photos too, the food was so good it disappeared to quickly to get many snaps. They are open Tuesday to Sunday and have a special very seasonal very local special menu on weekdays that is sourced from within either 10 or 20 miles of the pub and they serve a traditional Sunday lunch on Sunday's. I'd also to point out that the Parkers Arms did not ask me to write a feature on my blog and that I paid for my lunch. Stosi did know I was visiting as I had booked a table, at the time of my visit lots of other diners were also enjoying the same food and ambiance.