The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 13/12/14
Yum! (Again)
Just a word about yesterday. Yum!
It was the team Christmas lunch and - Sue our 'social sec' having moved to another team - we had a change of venue from the last two years, when we had gone to The Grosvenor in Pulford.
This time, we didn't travel quite as far, and went to the Pant Yr Ochain, a former manor house situated on the old Wrexham Road in Gresford.
We were in what I suppose what be called The Library (eighth photo down on the page I've linked to above), and the whole place was busy and - it has to be said - noisy.
The food would - I thought - have to go some to match what I'd had in The Grosvenor. So, here's what I had chosen from their Christmas Party menu:
- Starter: Venison 'Shepherd's pie' fritter with carrot purée and red wine and rosemary jus
- Main Course: Grilled sea bass fillets with saffron potato, mussel and clam broth
- Pudding: White and dark chocolate truffle torte with Amaretto ice cream.
I'd never tasted venison before - due entirely to lack of opportunity rather than any sense of delicacy over the source of it - and I tried to figure out what the taste reminded me of. But the nearest I could come to it - and this only remotely - was savoury duck. A pleasant experience.
Then came the main course. Oh, wow! The bass was perfectly grilled, with just that hint of crispness to the skin. I - having forgotten what I had actually ordered a few weeks ago - was surprised by the presence of the mussels and clams. I'm slightly wary of seafood, having been the victim of some substandard stuff a few years ago, but these were cooked superbly, the flesh firm and not rubbery. An absolute five-star recommendation from me here.
The torte was superb, set off nicely by the ice cream. A good finish.
All in all? absolutely top-notch stuff. At least a match for The Grosvenor.
So, many thanks to all at Pant Yr Ochain, and to the assembled cast of Julie (The Boss), Paul (chauffeur par excellence as ever), Nikki, Claire, Karen, Helen, Sharon, Siân, Moira and Charlene for the conviviality, and a 'get well soon' to Paula, who was unable to join us.
