|
This review was undertaken on
Sunday 09th March 2008.
 As someone who
hates Sundays but loves Sunday Roasts, this was the day I chose
to review The George Inn, Little Brickhill. Feeling little
generous I decided to take a party of eight on me, and see how
this award winning restaurant would cater for a family gathering
containing 3 young children.
On arrival the
large car park was three-parts full. It is always reassuring when
you see a restaurant is busy. We decided to take our seats
immediately although guests are more than welcome to have a
drink at the main bar before eating. On arrival at our table
there was another sign that we were in for a treat. Two parties,
both of four people each, were leaving the restaurant. Every
single person was smiling.
The menu changes
every Sunday at The George, but there is a varied selection of
food to cater for most tastes. They are also flexible in their
dishes. One of my guests was a vegetarian and ordering the roast
beef without the beef, but with extra potatoes and vegetables
was not a problem. A 3 course meal is available at just £16.95
and on this day there was a selection of 4 starters, 8 mains and
6 deserts.
The main restaurant
is set in a conservatory. At night this can be fine, as most
conservatories have a cosy, homely feel to them. In daylight
however, many can seem too bright and consequently cold. Here,
the blinds were pulled halfway to stem some of the light, and
with a restaurant packed with seemingly happy customers, you
immediately felt relaxed.
 My own starter was
the Ardenne Pate, served with a toasted rutic. The bread was
ever so slightly toasted but still warm, and more importantly,
fresh and crunchy. There were two half slices of lemon on the
pate to add some colour to the dish, but I was more interested
to see how it tasted. After all, it’s great tasting food we’re
all after. I wasn’t disappointed. The pate was soft and almost
creamy and this was certainly a satisfactory start.
The best seller of
wine at The George is the Pinot Grigilo, available at £3.50 by
the glass or £13.95 by the bottle. I gave this a try as my
choice of main course was the Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Apple
Sauce but once my dish arrived, it was so outstandingly
delicious that I forgot my wine was there. I was also impressed
that our one waiter had turned into two on arrival of our food.
This meant that all the dishes arrived very quickly and there
was none of this “Shall I start?” or “Can I start before it
starts to go cold?”
The pork was not
what I was expecting for a Sunday Roast. A very long white
rectangular plate arrived, with on the left, some tender red
cabbage, in the middle the pork lashed with an amazing thick,
homemade apple sauce, and on the right, was a stack of sliced
potatoes cooked to perfection and drizzled in a subtle garlic
sauce. This dish would be a very strong recommendation to anyone
visiting on a Sunday as the three portions of food combined to
perfection.
I had little room
left for a desert but once again, for you the reader, the choice
was the Crème Brule. Chocolate, rather surprisingly, was not on
the menu, and one of my guests, a young girl aged just five, was
bitterly disappointed. However, on politely requesting whether
the Chef would be able to work outside of the menu, we were told
a chocolate fudge pudding with ice cream would not be a problem.
The deserts arrived but the young girl in question turned and
said, “Mummy. I cannot eat this.” I panicked and wondered why
but need not have worried. “It looks so, so nice” she added
before mopping the dish clean. My Crème Brule was light with a
think caramelised sugar coating making this a pleasant end to
the meal. |
