The Mill Wheel, Hartshorne, Derbyshire, DE11 7AS

The short listed entries for the sixth Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards, organised by Derbyshire County Council, were announced a couple of weeks ago. I'd hoped to try and drop in on a few of the venues before the winners are announced on Thursday 25th October.
However time has slipped by and it now looks like The Mill Wheel at Hartshorne(*), shortlisted for Pub/Bistro of the year 2007, is going to be the only establishment I'm going to have time to grace between now and the 25th. At last we're gona get a decent Sunday lunch!

So it's off for a jaunt down windy country lanes with mother and Bec (a tip: don't sit in the back when you go via the Repton route. The constantly winding roads nearly caused me to be re-introduced to my breakfast!)
The Mill Wheel is a delightfull building, with a dramatic 24ft diameter water wheel dating back to the 18th century, greeting you as you walk in. Pretty impressive. However faux pas number 1 happened within a minute of arrival. There was no record of the booking I'd made the previous day, luckily they had a spare table in the dining room. We order a round of drinks. Just a soft drink for me, my stomach still thinks we're at Alton Towers. The downstairs bar area was extremely homely, a real fire and several sofas ensured maximum 'relax' factor. The 1st floor dining room regretably didn't have the same feel. Despite the original old beams, the large rectangular room felt more canteen than cosy. It oozed busy, industrious and slightly disorganised. Nevertheless our window table did ensure a lovely view of sunny autumnal fields.

Menus printed of sheets of A4 paper were thrust upon us, why they don't print a pile of menus and give every diner a fresh one, rather than a slightly crumpled one with a gravy stain in the corner, I'll never know. The cost is negligible, but the appearance is so much sharper. The table also felt a bit disorganised, with a tired single artificial lilly in a not-too-clean glass vase.
The starters were upon us. Chicken liver pate for Bec (£4.50) and ham hock terrine for myself. Both were accompanied by onion marmalade. They'd obviously made too much! The plates were well presented, clean in appearance and with just enough peppery rocket salad to accompany.
A large queen wasp circling our table kept us entertained until the main course. First I felt queezy, now I felt uneezy. Will I ever settle? Roast top side of beef for me (£8.95), roast leg of pork for mother (£7.95) and roast leg of lamb for Bec (£9.95) and two dishes of veg to share, the usual new potatoes, carrots & cauliflower. Three oversights then occured in quick succession. The second round of drinks never arrived, the requested horseradish and mint sauce didn't either and there was what I could only describe as a blighted spud amongst my veg, uuuurgh.
My accompanying Yorkshire pudding, had the texture of.......yes pudding. The oven & cooking oil obviously weren't hot enough when it went in. Everything screams "we can't cope".
My beef was also overdone for my liking, and I certainly wasn't given a choice. However all the meat was tender and we certainly weren't going to leave any behind.
When asked "was your meal ok?", I had to say "sorry it wasn't". They did what they only could and knocked off the price of one main. I got the impression they were short staffed and over booked today.
To be honest I was quite shocked that this is supposed to be in Derbyshire's top 5 pub/bistros. I just hope for their sake that the judges visited on a worthier day.
As we left the carpark I urged Bec to go back via the main road. I don't think my stomach can go through that again!

(*) For reference, the others in this category are:

Bluebell Inn, Farnah Green
The Chequers Inn, Froggatt Edge
The Holly Bush, Church Broughton
The Devonshire Arms, Beeley (Winner: Derbyshire dinning pub of the year , 2007)

Food 5/10
Venue 6/10
Service 5/10
Tel: 01283 550335

www.themillwheel.co.uk

"I`m sick to death of everything you do. And if I’m gonna have a puke, you bet yer life I’ll puke on you. I’m gonna be, gonna be sick on you" (Sick On You, The Boys, 1977)

Thai Boran, 56 Green Lane, Derby, DE1 1RP

Yet another thai restaurant, is indicative of the cuisine types available in Derby (there's a further two thai/oriental openings planned for this month alone). A vast selection of Indian & oriental restaurants, but still no decent "pub grub" within the city centre. What I'd give for a plate of piping hot smooth buttery mash and some locally produced herby sausages and ladle of rich fruity onion gravy (decent grub)........don't get me going!

Having stayed late at my shop one Monday evening, staining one of the floors. I was ready for a beer and a quick food fix. We were just about to snap the final lock shut when a couple of friends waltzed by, en route to Thai Boran. We didn't need to be asked twice.......in fact we didn't need to be asked. We were coming!
I've always prided myself on knowing most eateries within the city centre, but Thai Boran on Green Lane, was new to me. I hadn't ventured this far up Green Lane since Alf James closed down (how I used to think it was cool to walk around Derby with one of those fake cigarettes, puffing out clouds of talcum powder!).

The Tardis size interior revealed a cluster of rooms, filled with the habitual large wood carved elephants and scenes of Thailand. A table in the main auditorium was selected by your now extremely hungry stain (floor) covered host.

Thai beers already in place, and several bowls of fiery prawn crackers later, it was the Toong Thong (isn't that what Betty Boop wears?) that arrived first (£3.99). A brass stand topped with half a dozen crispy wonton parcels, filled with minced prawn & chicken and a sweet chilli dipping sauce, was equally shared between me and Bec. Charlie Dimmock would have been proud of the accompanying floral arrangement, carefully carved from large oriental radishes and dipped in the chilli sauce, they also tasted half decent.

The extremely nervous waiter swapped our empty beer bottles for full ones and removed the rest of the flower arrangement, ensuring he kept everything at arms length (does he think I've put one of Alf James's exploding detonators in the food remnants?!)

The main event for me was Gai Yang Phoo Khao Fai (or chargrilled chicken) £7.49 and Pad Num Mun Hoi £6.79, for the Bec. Once more served up by the apprehensive looking waiter. I reckon he'd recently been reading the Firework Code. "No 4: Light the firework at arm's length, and stand well back!" I couldn't get over his unusual body language.

The chefs artistic talents had again been put to full use, with my chicken dish served up sizzling in a cleverly created tin foil chicken. It was a perfect combination of thai herbs and grilled chicken, hot, sweet and garlicky. I forgot to order rice but as usual there's always plenty of it kicking around, so I pilfered some of our companions steamed jasmine rice to absorb any remaining juices in the base of my foil bird. Bootiful! Bec's dish was her favourite combination of chicken and mushroom. Well presented again, but padded out with a few too many peppers for her liking.

All in all it was a really good discovery. If we hadn't polished off about 5 beers each the bill would have been around £20-£25, for one starter to share and a couple of mains and drinks.

I do like Thai, but let's hope that sooner than later, someone sees an opening for something different within the city centre. We shouldn't be forced to flee the city in an attempt to find some decent grub, no wonder Pizza Express and Zizzi are always busy.

Food 7/10

Service 6/10

Venue 5/10 (the toilets let it down abit)

Tel: 01332 343933

"Eighties - I'm living in the eighties, Eighties - I have to push, I have to struggle, Eighties" (Eighties, Killing Joke, 1984)

Martin, September, 2007