Black and white
beehive-shaped restaurant

Traditional values and generous portions at Ye Olde Toll House

Cosy bar - perfect for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles

Swooning amid the lemon and treacle
Jane Bond tackles the monolithic portions at Ye Olde Toll House

Step inside the black and white, beehive-shaped restaurant Ye Olde Toll House, and the genuinely ancient beams and low ceilings take you back to the pre-M6 days, when toll roads were commonplace, and no-one complained!

This is an eating establishment with a truly traditional atmosphere that has built its reputation on the old-fashioned values of fine food and wine, friendly service and hearty portions.

We browsed through the extensive menu in the cosy bar, enjoying pre-dinner drinks and nibbles in the form of stuffed olives and peanuts.

Choosing was the hardest part - we opted in the end for the table d'hôte menu, a four-course meal including starter, main course, sweet, cheese and biscuits, wine and liqueur coffee.

I plumped for the field mushrooms filled with oriental vegetables, topped with goats cheese and served with red pepper coulis. It made a surprisingly filling starter - the mushrooms were huge and meaty, complemented beautifully by the dry bite of the goats' cheese, with a lovely piquant sauce surrounding them.

My husband described his eggs Benedict smoked salmon and spinach topped with poached egg and hollandaise sauce garnished with asparagus spears - as "delicious." The asparagus was nice and crisp, the spinach had taken up the flavour of the salmon, and the poached egg was done to perfection.

Chris followed his eggs with shank of lamb braised and served with mashed potato and minted gravy. Another towering portion that was reportedly "just how lamb should be, with a rich, but not overpowering gravy."

I chose lemon sole Veronique served with white wine and grape sauce, a lovely combination with a distinctive and delicate flavour, though again the idea that I had chosen a light option was quickly dismissed by the three huge pieces of fish on my plate. Both main courses were served with a dish of vegetables including new potatoes, mange touts, carrots, courgettes, cauliflower and cheese topped potatoes - all excellently cooked with no soggy bits.

If ever stomachs were groaning for light puds, ours were. Still I could not resist the lemon and treacle tart, a monolithic wedge of golden, grainy gorgeousness on crumbly pastry, accompanied by a medley of fruity redcurrants, raspberries and strawberries. And Chris gave in to the home-made brandy snap basket with strawberries and ice cream. The excellent sweets put paid to our cheese and biscuits - but we had no regrets!

We washed the meal down with a bottle of Argentinean Parral chenin chardonnay from the lengthy wine list, then skipping liqueurs, we rounded off with a cup of coffee. Service was friendly and relaxed - we never felt hurried. It was also refreshing to see that Ye Olde Toll House also offers a children's menu for £12.50 serving proper "grown-up" food, including (most important this) adult puddings. No half measures at this restaurant.

Reproduced from The Journal Magazine.
(Review first featured in The Journal Magazine,
August / September 2003 issue.)