We are absolutely over the moon with this review! What a great job by Yolande, Jay, Sam, et al!
When we visited last Thursday night, the outside of the pub was adorned with pretty hanging baskets and a pot plant sat at the middle of each of the outdoor tables.
We chose to dine inside and were warmly welcomed at the bar, where we admired the recently redecorated pub and chose what to drink.
The community owned and run venue has a Casque Mark and offers real ales – the special when we visited was Oscar Wilde.
And there is a wine list, supplied by Adnams, to suit a range of palates, with glasses starting at £2.50.
EADT food review, The Case is Altered, BentleyEventually my husband Phil settled on a pint of local Aspalls cyder, while I opted for half a pint of lager shandy.
We were shown the food blackboards on the walls by our friendly server and were able to sit at a table of our choice.
From the corner of the room, I perused the main menu, getting up to look at the specials on the board.
I’m afraid we had to ask our server to give us a little more time to choose when she came to take our order as we were just so spoilt for choice.
EADT food review, The Case is Altered, BentleyThe starters, all costing £4.50, included Thai fishcakes with lemon mayo, duck spring rolls with hoisin sauce and grilled halloumi with rocket and balsamic.
I could have picked something reasonably healthy in the halloumi, but the deep-fried brie with cranberry sauce was calling me.
While Phil considered the duck spring rolls, he eventually chose the chicken satay with peanut sauce.
Main dishes cost £9.50, but some of them were also available as a small portion for £7.50.
EADT food review, The Case is Altered, BentleyWe could have opted for traditional British dishes such as fish and chips, chicken, ham hock and leek pie or liver and bacon with black pudding, mash and gravy.
And on the specials board, there was even more choice, with dishes on that menu also costing £9.50.
Here there was goats’ cheese tartlet, panfried skate wing, peri peri chicken and steak and ale pie for example.
Pies seemed to be a speciality, so I chose the mushroom, spinach and white truffle oil pie from the main menu.
EADT food review, The Case is Altered, BentleySo rarely does a pie tempt me on a restaurant menu that I wasn’t sure what to have with it, but I settled on chips and salad rather than new potatoes and vegetables.
Phil decided to have the rump steak garni from the specials board. We found out from our server that the steak would come with chips, onion rings, peas, mushroom and tomatoes.
I felt rather festive when my starter arrived – lovely, not too sweet, cranberry sauce matching perfectly with the rich, gooey cheese.
I’d only just started eating when I said to Phil that we must come back for a Christmas meal!
The crispy breadcrumbed cheese came with a pot of the sauce, mixed salad leaves and a balsamic dressing.
The pieces of Brie were huge, but I must confess I ate the lot, the richness was just so moreish.
Phil’s chicken satay was served with sauce on the side, so he could add as much as he liked.
The rich sauce had a subtle heat, with chunks of peanut in, and the dish was also served with salad and balsamic dressing.
We were glad of a bit of a break before getting our main courses and we weren’t disappointed when they arrived.
I cut into thick, crisp then crumbly pastry to find a generous filling of mushrooms, spinach and white truffle oil.
I’m not sure it tasted of white truffle oil, as it’s not something I eat very regularly, but what I can tell you was that it was delicious – and not a soggy bottom in sight!
The chips were yummy – crisp on the outside and perfectly fluffy inside and Phil agreed.
And they were complemented by the large sachets of local Stokes Sauces that our server brought over – mayo for me and ketchup for Phil.
The mixed salad was nice and fresh, with leaves, red onion, red pepper, cucumber and tomato and balsamic dressing.
Phil said the rump steak was the best steak he’d had in a long time and that it was cooked just how he likes it, medium well. He enjoyed the chunky onion rings too.
After that, we probably didn’t need dessert – does anyone? But we couldn’t resist a peek at the menu.
It was really nice of the server to be refreshingly honest and say that one side of the dessert board – ‘death by waffle’, lemon meringue pie and chocolate fudge cake – were bought in, along with the local Alder Tree ice creams.
On the other side, were the homemade treats – Ameretto crème brulee, lemon and lime cheesecake, Eton mess and chocolate cheesecake. All desserts cost £4.50.
When I learned that the lemon meringue pie wasn’t homemade, I opted for the lemon and lime cheesecake instead.
And on hearing the description of ‘death by waffle’, Phil just had to go for that.
It wasn’t long before the goodies arrived.
Underneath grated lime zest lay a very thick layer of topping which tasted a bit like syllabub and was absolutely delcious. This was paired with a thick, buttery biscuit base. Yum! There was raspberry sauce and a fresh raspberry on the plate as a garnish too, but I bypassed this and enjoyed every morsel of the cheesecake on its own.
Phil’s dessert had the ‘wow’ factor in terms of how it looked and it didn’t disappoint on taste either.
Warm waffle was topped with chocolate and vanilla ice creams, cream and chocolate sauce. Delicious.
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening and pledged honestly that we would return. There’s a lovely atmosphere in this classic but updated pub, brilliant service, a little bit of background music but nothing intrusive and hearty and delicious pub food.
And for £20 for a three-course meal per person, it’s really good value for money.
We tipped our server at the end, and she told us that all tips go back into the maintenance of the pub. We’ll tip a little more next time.
01473 805575