Out For Breakfast At The Old Smithy In Beeley
Published On Sunday 29 Jan 2023 by Sticky Beak
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Bestie Bird and her hubby, The Bolton Wanderer (TBW) had come to stay with us for the weekend; the catch up was long over-due and what better excuse than belated birthday celebrations? They’d arrived late on Friday evening and after a ruddy good (if I say so myself!) dinner of Fajitas-and-all-the-trimmings and a few bevvies we all made our ways to bed in the small hours of Saturday morning! A few hours later we woke up with a raging need for foooooooood - gotta love the effects of excessive alcohol consumption! – so His Nibs booked a table for a late breakfast at The Old Smithy in Beeley village on the Chatsworth estate. Never have I loved my mister so much than when he told me that he’d got scran sorted!
It was a crisp, frosty morning and the short walk from where we’d parked the jalopy up to The Old Smithy got our heads clear, so that by the time we walked through the door you’d never have guessed that we were feeling less-than-stellar. The warm greeting soothed our senses even more, and we were ushered into a cosy corner table adjacent to the roaring log burner and our drinks orders taken.
As you would expect, the Old Smithy is a solid stone building that previously housed (I assume) the Blacksmiths in days gone by. When you walk in you are faced with glass cabinets and a counter that are all groaning with a multitude of cakes, tarts and slices in all colours of the spectrum; now if that doesn’t put you in a good mood, nothing will!
Inside, the flooring was a mix of large dark flagstones in our corner and paler tiles further in, with a comforting shade that I would describe as ‘Jersey Cream’ on the walls that seems to accentuate the dark beams that are exposed at each side of the sloping roof. Wide windows are dressed with pinch-top curtains that have a Pheasant pattern on them, matched on the seat pads and cloth napkins laid on the tables. Other than the napkins and pleasingly weighty cutlery, the sturdy square, wooden tables just have the condiments and vases containing either flora or fauna (ours had Eucalyptus in) on them.
I would estimate that The Old Smithy seats between 30-40 people and their accompanying furry friends and it was already full when we got there! I’m ashamed to say that so late was our breakfast foray that we also qualified for the luncheon offerings – oops. There were some cracking specials on offer, as well as the scrummy regular lunch dishes, and for a moment we did contemplate them but the pull of a traditional ‘full English’ was too strong for TBW, Bestie and The Man to resist. I had spied the Crushed Avocado and Poached Eggs on Toast (£9.95, with the option to add Smoked Salmon for £2.95 extra, which I did). The hardest decision for my companions was whether to go all-in with the Friends Full English offering (£10.95) which doubles up on the Bacon, Egg, Sausage and Toast, or go for the Small Full English (£9.50) which scales down to single portions of what I consider to be the cornerstones of a fry-up.
Both me and BB are tea-bellies so we ordered pots of tea to slake our thirsts, whilst the chaps opted for coffee’s stronger caffeine hit. A bottle of Frobisher’s Orange Juice was also needed by Bestie, bless her delicate constitution! The young lady that was serving us was such a star and her smile lifted our spirits as she carefully popped the drinks before us.
All the food is cooked fresh to order by Chef at The Old Smithy so there is a small wait that you expect in such circumstances but I have to say that, given how busy it was, the wait wasn’t noticeably longer. We’d been chatting away (albeit quieter than usual!) and fussing the gorgeous dog on the next table and then, poof!, we were having laden plates of yumminess placed before us and being asked if we’d like sauces of any description: red and brown were both requested, if you’re curious.
BB is a bit picky when it comes to sausage, like me, and being honest, this was the reason I didn’t go for the Friends Full English. However, she took a tentative first bite, admitting that she was expecting to pass the thick porky morsels to TBW, but instead, was surprised to find that they were hitting the bulls’ eye. The sausages were nicely seasoned without being as bold as their Lincolnshire cousins and they had no ‘repeat factor’ to them, so I said that next time we visit (and there will be a next time) I shall try them for myself. My trio of companions loved the thick, satisfying rashers of ‘proper’ bacon and they all commented on the depth of flavour to it; His Nibs was particularly pleased when he bit into a crispy bit!
The Bolton Wanderer had asked for poached- rather than fried- egg with his breakfast and they were perfectly done, with no trace of snotty white at all (which is a real bug-bear of mine!). Chef uses free range eggs at The Old Smithy in Beeley and the flavour was just sublime: rich and creamy on the tongue, with a superb sunshine colour to the yolk and a good firm consistency to the white. The Man Bird passed over his whole, grilled field mushroom to me and its earthy flavour flooded my mouth. Snuggly contained in a cute, heart shaped dish were the baked beans and if you think this is a nice touch, the dinky, heart shaped pieces of fried bread will tip you over the edge into warm fuzziness.
Classy as ever, *cough, cough* His Nibs tipped out his beans onto one of the slices of golden brown, granary toast that came with his deluxe brekkie. The Man Bird surprised me by not going for white toast, although I have to say that he’s sticking to his ‘New year, New me’ health kick pretty well! I was expecting the soft grilled tomato half to wing its way over to me as well, but no, he decided that he rather fancied it himself, so I kept tucking into my own plateful of scrumminess.
In keeping with my companions, I too had opted for granary toast as the base for my crushed Avocado morsel. I had consumed my own body weight in homemade Guacamole the night before (so if there’s a shortage of this green fruit, you know why!!) but I absolutely adore the creamy texture of this treasure and never tire of it. Plus the fact, it’s healthy fats are good for you…especially after a heavy night; at least that’s what I told myself. Atop the gently verdant, textural Avocado lay a pair of wonderfully neat and tidy poached eggs with two generous slices of rose-toned Smoked Salmon to one side. I took a moment to appreciate Chef’s attention to detail and the precision with which each element had been placed on the toast,, before I tucked in with my usual enthusiasm.
The flavour of the eggs’ rich yolk washed over my tongue and I savoured its creamy texture; combined with the Avocado’s smooth texture and flavour, my senses were being treated to a wondrously comfort-rich dish. You would think that I couldn’t possibly have any more indulgence, wouldn’t you? Let me burst that bubble by saying that the silky texture and velvety oiliness of the Salmon, combined with the other two elements, pushed me into la-la-land levels of joy!
Between the four of us not a scrap of food remained! The cynical among you may well be thinking ’well, you needed to mop up the excess of alcohol’ (and you wouldn’t be wrong!), but the simple fact of the matter was that the food was just superb. Throughout our breakfast the team of lovely young servers had ensured that we wanted for nothing and that we were happy with our food; when we’d finished they came and cleared away promptly, leaving us to relax and digest our morsels.
As we were leaving and heading to the counter to pay our bill we spied those rascally sweet temptations again – there was no way on this earth that we were leaving without some of those minxes! I had Black Forest Gâteaux, TBW had Lemon tart, His Nibs and BB had possibly the gooiest, most indulgent Treacle Tart you will ever clap eyes on and then (because we are the bestest parents on the planet!) we grabbed a wodge of Rocky Road for Fledge. I won’t go into details (so you’ll just have to go to The Old Smithy and get some for yourselves), but Oh-My-Days! there was some serious lip-smacking, oohing-and-aahing, and scraping of dessert plates going on back at The Nest when we had them for lunch… which we justified by saying that we needed to keep topping up our blood sugar levels!
Just as we thought our day couldn’t get any better after such a sublime breakfast, when His Nibs came to pay the bill, the lovely owner said that they were on the house and to just pay for the cakes. How marvellous is that? Honestly, we were blown away by her generosity; it was totally unexpected – hence our blank expressions and momentary speechlessness, for which I can only apologise! I know I’ve said it before, but I do pinch myself and thank my lucky stars every day for the position I’m in; grateful doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Given how much I’ve enthused about this breakfast (and the cakes, which are all home-made and baked at The Old Smithy’s sister site in Ashbourne) it won’t surprise you when I say that Hot Wings are unreservedly awarded to this fabulous venue. Given the limited size of this quaint building on the Chatsworth Estate, I would definitely recommend that you book ahead to reserve a table; several unfortunate couples and groups were turned away whilst we were eating. Get in touch on 01629 258927 or visit the website www.theoldsmithybeeley.co.uk to view the current menu.
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