The Assheton Arms, Downham, Lancashire

Downham is an improbably pretty village below the brooding presence of Pendle Hill near Clitheroe.  Many improbably pretty villages are described as unspoiled: Downham really is, as virtually all outward signs of modern life (TV aerials, satellite dishes, double yellow lines, overhead cables etc) are banned by the Assheton family, lords of the manor since 1558.

The Assheton Arms had a good name for food, and a bit of a leaning towards seafood, for many years, though it had started to go downhill and was looking a bit uncared for until it was put on the market.  There was talk that Marco Pierre White was buying it, but towards the end of 2011 it was Jocelyn Neve's Seafood Pub Company that took on the lease, opening briefly for Christmas before embarking on a major (and much overdue) refurbishment.

The Assheton Arms, Downham

 The exterior is, of course, unchanged, and I was surprised how much of the interior layout remained recognisable from its previous reincarnation. There is still the tiny bar opposite the door as you go in, but the dining area around the central chimney breast has yielded to a presumably extended kitchen.  More seating has been added (?) over two floors of the adjacent building (clearly distinct on the right in the photograph above), including a private dining room.  This building has been linked to the Assheton Arms for as long as I can remember, but I do not recall it ever being used; the door through to it being marked merely as the ladies' toilets.

The decor shows the same hand as their sister pub-restaurant, the Oyster & Otter in Feniscowles, though it feels much less sterile here.  I also thought service too, from the welcome and throughout, was markedly better here than at the Oyster & Otter.

On the way to our table I noticed some blackboards with a handful of specials, and lots of room for more, presumably at busier times.  The waiter then reeled off the specials at the table: we had to ask him to repeat them twice, and still don't think we could have said what they were all.  Laser printers are so cheap these days, and cheap to run, that I don't know why more restaurants don't print specials menus on a daily basis. If you've more than three or four specials, it would make life so much easier, and I suspect you'd sell more of them.

We had a mixed platter of seafood items to start with, which conveniently included many of the starters on the main menu.

Seafood Platter

King prawn sesame soldiers were ok, but the prawn flavour was a little overpowered: I'm not sure if there is a particular benefit to using king prawns over regular cold water prawns on prawn toasts. The salt and pepper squid  was certainly salt and pepper, though again, I thought there was too much emphasis on the crispy coating, leaving the squid as merely a carrier.  I have had more tender squid, but there was nothing to complain about on that count.  The rice wine and radish dipping sauce that came with the squid was terrific with well-nigh perfect balance.  The lemon mayo that came with the shell-on king prawns was also very good, and the prawns themselves were good quality.  Some herby fish fingers were also very good, but were a third deep-fried element on the platter, which seemed maybe one too many to me.  There were a couple of pieces of good smoked salmon on the board too.  But for me, the highlights (besides the dipping sauce for the squid) was some really good devilled crab and some gorgeous cockles in a very light, possibly gently spiced vinegar.  I would have really appreciated more of the cockles.

From the specials menu, we had a second starter of mackerel, which I think the waiter had said came with an oriental dressing.

What was supposed to be oriental seemed to me to be more of a Moroccan-spiced tomato fondue, and was absolutely delicious. I thought it would be great on potatoes, like patatas bravas, though it worked very well with the mackerel, which itself was clearly good and fresh and also nicely cooked.  You'll see in the picture above that the mackerel came on some salad: this contained some pomegranate and some raw carrot that was just a bit too chunky.  There were also a couple of small black things that didn't look like pebbles, but had all the digestibility of pebbles. I asked the waiter to point them out to the kitchen and ask what they were: the response was that the kitchen hadn't a clue what they were.  Glad that was sorted then.

Lobster and chips

Grilled lobster with garlic butter and chips was good but avoided being great, as the lobster itself could have been a little more tender.  The chips were much better than at the Oyster and Otter.

Veal cutlets

Also from the specials menu came two superb veal cutlets.  Beautiful rose veal, neatly trimmed, perfectly cooked, with a hint of flavour from - presumably - the robata grill.  A nice, light meat jus set the chops off well, though I thought the accompanying heap of mashed potatoes with vegetables blended into it was a bit clumsy, and there was just a bit too much of it.  The mash didn't really work with the veal for me.

The desserts didn't offer much of interest (and I'd had a few of them at the Oyster & Otter, without being impressed), so we skipped them.

Double espresso was good and huge, both of which are rare, and generally in inverse proportion (that is, the larger they are, the worse they usually are). 

The wine list is good for a village pub, and avoids the usual clichés.  We drank a pleasant, uncomplicated Portuguese Alvarinho.

I enjoyed this meal, and am pleased to see the Assheton Arms back in action and very busy again, though I'm not sure it really merits the unqualified, almost adoring praise it seems to get in many quarters.

Parkers Arms Good Friday Fish Festival

Good Friday means fish-heavy menus for restaurants in the Ribble Valley, the heart of the Lancashire Catholic recusancy way back when. I'd usually avoid eating out on bank holidays, especially at Easter, a time when not only is everywhere (one hopes) very busy, but a lot of the customers are the type who only eat out on special occasions like Easter Sunday and Mother's Day, meaning that restaurants have to pitch down to such customers.

But a post on twitter from Stosie Madi, the chef at the Parkers Arms at Newton in Bowland, advertising their Good Friday Fish Fest menu, called out like the siren call of Lorelei enticing gastronauts (well, this one) onto the rocks of Newton. £23.50 for the 3-3-3 menu was also very attractive. The only problem with the menu was that it was well nigh impossible to choose. This was, however, solved by the whispered suggestion that they could put it all together as a tasting menu, if we had the time. On the one hand, this solved the problem; on the other there was a certain trepidation at the amount of food we were likely to be facing, even if some of the dishes were going to be reduced in size.

The starting pistol for this marathon was one of my favourites: Muncaster crab parfait with crispbreads.

Muncaster crab parfait, Parkers crisp breads

I have had this a few times before at the Parkers Arms. The presentation this time (in the little pot, as you can see) is new, and unfortunately this wasn't the best, as they'd sold out a lunchtime and quickly knocked up a new batch, and mine hadn't quite had long enough to set, and was a little too liquid. But the creamy richness and intense crab flavours were there in force, and it's much better to be a bit runny than overset. One thing that always impresses me at the Parkers Arms is that even a small garnish of watercress, such as came with the crab parfait, is nicely dressed. So many restaurants still omit to dress salad leaves.

Next was a dish which had attracted me when I first saw the menu: herby crispy squid with sweet chilli sauce.

Herbed crispy squid, Parkers sweet chilli sauce

Little baby squid, in a light, remarkably herby crisp crumb. The squid was very tender, and the crumb at once light and crispy. The accompanying sweet chilli sauce was homemade and nicely balanced some fiery chillis with sweetness.  But I wondered if it was really necessary, and whether some herb mayonnaise, or an aioli, might have matched the herby squid better.

The next dish (the last of the starters) was Smoked Dunsop trout risotto and Slaidburn “Scotch egg” wild garlic mayonnaise. I was expecting some trout risotto, topped with a trout Scotch egg for textural contrast and dressed with the wild garlic mayonnaise. So it was a surprise to find that the first two elements were combined into what were effectively trout risotto arancini, with an egg in the middle.

Q: When is a scotch egg not a scotch egg? A: When it's a trout risotto arancino with an egg in the middle.

I'd hope that if I'd ordered this as a starter, that I would have been told it wasnt actually a risotto, as I could see that some might be a little disappointed if they were expecting a risotto. But I liked the re-working and the surprise, though I'm sure the surprise works better in a tasting menu format.  But who could not be won over by that perfectly cooked egg? Just enough trout in the risotto to taste it and all accurately seasoned. The wild garlic mayonnaise would fly off the shelves if it were available to take away.

Our next dish was another play on the words of the menu description: "smoked haddock and Southport shrimp chowder and new season asparagus tart, tossed salad," said the menu.  Would it be a bowl of chowder with a little asparagus tart on the side? Nope.

Smoked haddock and Southport shrimp chowder and new season asparagus tart, tossed salad

This was where culinary madness meets inspired genius. A beautiful 'chowder' topped with some asparagus, and cooked in a tart case with the sort of thin, crackly pastry you would usually only ever find in those lovely little Portuguese custard tarts, pasteis de nata. This was a triumph.  The pastry was utterly delectable, and the filling was just gorgeous: very lightly set, with a baveuse centre, and no one element dominating the others.  In London, this would have bloggers and the twittersphere going mad and long queues round the block.
Here's the money shot of the tart:

Flantastic

Next came something that was a little more straightforward, but no less accomplished in conception or execution.  Some gently, perfectly cooked salmon was the centrepiece, but curiously could easily have been left off without making it any less of a dish.

Confit Loch Duart salmon, Isle of Man queen scallops and broth, braised fennel, wild garlic pappardelle

Alongside the salmon (which looks a little over-cooked in the picture for some reason: it wasn't), some excellent, neatly caramelised queenies, almost unctuous braised fennel and a truly delicious, delicate light cream were, for me, the supporting cast for the real star, some home-made wild garlic pappardelle that was as thin as gossamer silk, yet still had a subtle taste of ramsons.

Gossamer thin wild garlic pappardelle

If this is beginning to sound like it was a set of discrete yet delicious ingredients that just happened to be on a plate together, that wasn't the case: it all worked really well together.

The final main course was a simple classic: lemon sole with beurre noisette.

A really simple preparation and presentation, with nowhere to hide. It was a small sole, yet remarkably plump.  You couldn't criticise either the neatness of the preparation or the spot-on cooking of the fish. The beurre noisette was bang on too. Served with some simple new potatoes, spinach (fully shelled) broad beans and peas. Faultless.  Better than the 3* baby sole starter that I had in the final days of Chez Nico on Park Lane: better fish to start with, and better cooked.

The first dessert to arrive was a very grown-up, adults-only chocolate and espresso trifle.

Dark Chocolate espresso and Kahlua trifle

It sounds heavy, and looks a bit heavy too, but surprised me by being much lighter than I'd expected, helped by really not being very sweet at all.  It made me think of an inverted tiramisu, with the coffee and chocolate to the fore, and a little quenelle of chantilly cream, rather than the mascarpone mix that makes up the main element of tiramisu.

At this point, we waved the white flag, passing on the lemon posset with damson jelly and the cheese.  Well, that was the intention.  The cheese still came, and the posset was packaged up to take away!

The cheese was in good nick, served with some iced grapes and homemade water-biscuits. Who makes their own water biscuits, you might well ask. They're quite different to any you might buy, and much tastier.

All in all a really good lunch which turned into dinner.