Brickmakers Arms, Newton Solney, DE15 0SJ.

I don't know what's suffered most lately, my wallet or waistband? I've eaten out four days in a row and my cooker's starting to wonder if it's done something to upset me?
Today we've stepped over the Derbyshire border a couple of miles south of Willington, to the Brickmakers Arms in Newton Solney. I'd been hearing that this was "the" pub for Decent Grub.

The disproportionaly small bar made a tight holding area for customers waiting to be seated. It was a struggle to get served and I was overlooked a couple of times by the stretched barman. It certainly isn’t somewhere I'd suggest popping into for a pint.
Once seated I perused the menu which was obviously their Sunday lunch menu so it consisted of the usual suspects, roast beef, pork or lamb, scampi or cod and a couple of pies. We settled on the two courses for £10.95 option, three courses at £13.95 being far too much food for a lunch, but seemingly good value.
Bec had the chicken liver pate with Cumberland sauce. Definitely home made, it was smooth & buttery, but as usual the quantity of pate far outweighed the habitual morsel of bread. The superfluous garnish of apple, orange and kiwi, was unneccesary and seemed dated.
I had a punt at the black pudding with bubble & squeak with red wine & onion gravy. Two large discs of pudding, a pan fried potato cake and an ocean of slippery gravy. It was far too much for a starter. As my old man used to say "My eyes are bigger than my belly". He wouldn't say that if he could see my rapidly expanding mid-rif!

The mains were nothing to write home about, roast lamb for Bec and roast beef with Yorkshire pudding for myself. Two plates of slightly over cooked meat, with a large bowl of seasonal veg to share. The highlight was my mountainous Yorkshire, large and crunchy. Just like mother used to make (and still does).
It was a very average Sunday lunch, certainly not worth the drive, but for the locals I'm sure it hits the spot. It was chock-a-block today and almost claustrophobic.
I noted there was nothing in the main course selection for vegetarians.

Food 5/10
Venue 5/10
Service 4/10

Tel: 01283 702330

"Hey little rich boy.Take a good look at me.Why should I let it worry me.I'll never believe your better than me" (Hey Little Rich Boy, Sham 69, 1978)

Darley's, Darley Abbey, Derby

Perched next to the water and overlooking a weir is Darley's, arguably Derby's no.1 restaurant. It certainly holds the a premier location, unfortunately in the dark it's difficult to see the view and at this time of year the terrace is obviously closed. A table for four was booked for 7.30 (a bit early if you ask me) Bec et moi didn't turn up till 8.15, not a problem, but our companion's had polished off the olives and hand made crisps. The bar area is a good size with ample compact seating, and the roundhouse shaped room was resonant with the level of chit-chat & glass clinking you'd hope to find. More crisps were eventually provided (how much salt!) and companion #1 stole the olives from the next table. I tried one, it was bitter.
Down to business. The young man that took our orders gave me the creeps, I'm sure he's related to the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Seared scallops, with potato blinis & lemon dressing (£8.50) for two of us, Salad of roast quail with pomegranate dressing (£7.30) for the other two. No complaints, but I couldn't help thinking they were a bit too elementary and lacking a bit of "wow". Gressingham duck with creamed potato, winter veg & blackberry sauce for Bec (£18.20) The plate was an attractive & ample meal, but where did those enormous blackberries come from? Black pudding stuffed loin of lamb, confit potato & pearl barley ragout (£19.50) for companion #1. A well presented, seasonal (& hopefully locally sourced) winter plate. Last but not least two portions of Turbot, squid ink linguine, saffron & mussel chowder (£18.95) Looked good, tasted fresh, but I was hoping for more of a seafood 'kick' from the squid ink linguine. I wasn't happy with the smear that ran the full circumference of my plate, at this level, attention to detail should be precise. We mumbled amongst ourselves for a couple of minutes that there was no extra veg. In the end we didn't need it, but it was on the menu and maybe should have been suggested by the Child Catcher. Still, on the plus side we've got room for desert, well the two blokes did. The plastic laminated dessert menu was more akin to Little Chef, it's these little things that let it down. Chocolate fondant & strawberry daiquiri sorbet for companion#1, assiette of seasonal deserts pour moi (both £6.25). My large white plate was a picturesque mixture of sorbets, pastries and the like. However the shot of Aftershock in the middle of my plate didn't go down well with my desert wine. All in all it was a pleasant experience, but it could definitely add more "wow" factor to it's food, and further effort should be given to detail (clean plates, attractive desert menus, etc) When booking ask for a window seat.
Food 7/10
Service 7/10
Venue 7.5/10
Tel: 01332 364987
www.darleys.com

"I see all my dreams come tumbling down" (Train in vain, The Clash, 1979)
Martin, Friday 26th January 2007