Restaurant Spy - Cumbria

The Wild Daffodil, Stock Lane, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SL

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:00:37 +0000

Address:
Stock Lane, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SL

Review:

Having had a disastrous meal at the Ash Cottage restaurant the previous, and our first night during a week long stay in Grasmere, it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we entered the Wild Daffodil.

On a lovely sunny evening we were happy to wait the 45 minutes for our table in a busy, (always a good sign), little restaurant. Boy was it worth the wait. The restaurant is a family run affair and dad is head chef, mum and son are the hosts and young daughter is the table clearing technician. The food is made and served with a passion and all cooked to perfection. On our visit I had the prawn cocktail to start whilst my partner tried the black pudding with wild mushrooms served with a delicious suace. My prawn cocktail was delicious and served in a colourful display that matched the scenery of our surroundings whilst my partner's starter was so tasty that I managed to talk her into parting with half of one of her two black puddings, a task in itself as it was in her mouth at the time.

Avanti, 57 Main Street Kirkby Londsdale Cumbria LA6 2AH

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:18:45 +0000

Address:
57 Main Street Kirkby Londsdale Cumbria LA6 2AH

Review:

Avanti is a real find! A very stylish restaurant serving excellent food in a friendly manner in Kirkby Lonsdale, among some stunning scenery on the border of Cumbria and North Yorkshire. It’s upstairs from a bar and has a small ‘gallery’ opening above the bar so it can be very noisy and unpleasant when the bar is busy. On a wet Sunday night in October it was just fine. The first thing you notice is the artwork – on the walls and on the surfaces. Then the cutlery (Sea Drift by Robert Welch). Then the crockery – including sensationally shaped bowls and saucers, all from a local Cumbrian pottery.

The Drunken Duck Inn, Barn Gates, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0NG

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:18:45 +0000

Address:
Barn Gates, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0NG

Review:
OVERHYPED & OVERPRICED. First visit to this place after reading many good reviews. I booked for 6.30pm being told that they fully booked on that night, only two other people entered the place until 8pm! The reviewers are taken with the place's setting (Beautiful Lake District) rather than what's on the plate. Described as a 'Gastropub' it just another overpriced restaurant pretentious menu which promises more than it delivers. Much emphasis is placed on local sourced ingredients, fine if you can cook, but the Chef seems unable to have grasped the basics of how to make basic sauces. My starter Moules Marinaire was ruined by the sauce lacking in both taste & texture. Main course Fillet Steak (medium) was drier than Ghandi's Flip Flop! The Roast veg consisted of 3 tiny Roast Spuds 3 RAW Carrots and an insipid blanched Courgette, I requested Mustard and was informed that none was available in any shape or form. The Fillet Steak main course was £22.50 West End Prices! I wrote to them asking if the lack of Mustard was an oversight or the Chef's philosophy I am still awaiting a reply 2 months after.