Sunday Lunch At The Pear Tree Hotel, Ripley
Published On Thursday 24 Oct 2024 by Sticky Beak
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Regular followers of the blog already know this, but for those of you that don’t: a) I’m not the worlds’ best cook, and b) I’m a lazy critter, so if I can get away without being in the kitchen, I will! Point b) is particularly pertinent when there is anything vaguely different coming up in my life, be that Christmas, a Birthday, or going on holiday; and funnily enough we were going on holiday the next day to when we accepted the kind invitation from Tom, the Social Media Manager from the Pear Tree Hotel in Ripley.
Don’t judge me, but I’ve never set foot in this venue; in fact, the only pub I’ve been in in Ripley is ‘Spoons – and that was many moons ago [for breakfast] when Fledge used to go dancing at the local dance school! Anyway, glossing over my ineptitude… we parked the jalopy in the marketplace car park and strolled down to Pear Tree Hotel, bellies rumbling hungrily.
We walked in and headed over to the bar, being acknowledged shortly after by the lady behind the bar. Having said that we had got a table booked, she directed us to find one of the serving team: easily identified by the red aprons they were wearing. A lovely young lass showed us to our table and we got drinks sorted: pint of Moretti for His Nibs, glass of house red for me. Luckily for us, the board with all the details of the Sunday Roast menu was adjacent to us so we didn’t have to crane our necks!
I love the simple pricing structure: 2 courses for £19.95pp, or 3-4-£24.95pp. The choice of starters, mains and additional [cost] sides were written out, and the board said to ask your server for the desserts on offer. Taking our order, it was great to see that our server took the opportunity to up-sell us the Cauliflower Cheese; we were going to have it anyway, but we didn’t have to wait to be asked, she broached the subject first.
To start, I had the Prawn Cocktail and The Man opted for Chicken Liver Parfait, and then I chose the Derbyshire Beef for my main, whilst His Nibs fancied the Pork. Whilst we waited for the starters, I had a gander around the venue; well, specifically the dedicated dining area that we were in – the rest of the venue and bar were around the corner. Décor-wise, the Pear Tree Hotel is fairly traditional, using a palate of browns, burgundy and greys to create a relaxed feel, enhanced by the adequate privacy space between each table. Modern touches come via the huge screen (cleverly housed in a picture frame to soften the effect) that shows various sports action, and the music system that was playing at a nice, sociable level.
Both starters were nicely presented on pristine white crockery and the elements had all been carefully arranged. I had no shortage of sweet, plump Prawns to savour, bathed in a gorgeously tangy Marie-Rose sauce, and the pastel mixture was nestled on a deep bed of Mixed Leaves so the visual appeal was superb. At the side of the Cocktail were a pair of buttered slices of baguette; these soon got put to use as scoops for the last vestiges of sauce – waste not, want not, after all! The Man Bird was delighted with the depth of flavour and luxuriously rich texture of his Chicken Liver parfait and, paired with the warm, toasted baguette slices, this was a real belly-warmer for the autumn afternoon. As with my starter, Chef had accompanied the dish with a side of fresh Rocket leaves, and their vibrant peppery notes shone against the parfait’s indulgent creaminess.
As our server came to clear away the starter crockery, we noticed that Chef had come out of the kitchen to help serve another table and then took the time to have a natter with his customers: always great to see a Chef come out and garner feedback from his guests. We’d already seen a few roasts come out to various tables, so we knew that the portion size was more than generous, but we hadn’t got a close enough look to see that you got at least two large slices of your chosen meat.
I had a pair of thick, pink-in-the-middle slices of Beef that melted in my mouth, and His Nibs got lucky and had three slices of creamy tasting, moist Pork; playing nicely, we traded a slice of each across to the opposing plates, and both agreed that the meats were delicious.
On the plates with the meats were a whole Carrot, halved, a trio of charred-outered Roasties, a homemade Yorkshire Pud that cosseted a slice of Sage and Onion Stuffing. The medley of seasonal vegetables (Broccoli, Green Beans, Carrot slices, and shredded Cabbage) were contained in a separate bowl, as was the golden-crusted Cauliflower Cheese (£3.50), and a white boat housed more of the rich, meaty pan gravy.
Without exception, all of the veggies had been cooked perfectly to retain some bite and preserve all of their flavour. One of my biggest peeves is when you’re charged extra for something, only to get the piffliest, measliest portion of it – it really grinds my gears! Thankfully, there was no chance of this happening at Pear Tree Hotel’s kitchen and His Nibs and I helped ourselves to several spoonfuls of the Cauli Cheese morsel, appreciating the taste of the gorgeously unctuous sauce.
It took us a while, but we pretty much cleared our plates; The Man only left a bit of his Yorkshire Pudding. I should mention that check-backs had been done at both courses so far, and that the napkins were those thick, quality disposable ones rather than the bog-standard flimsy ones. Neither of us felt we could manage a dessert to ourselves, so we opted to share a Sticky Toffee Pudding with Custard to conclude our meal.
As the pudding was placed between us, you could see swirling plumes of steam issuing from the bowl, so no chance of a lukewarm, mediocre final course…thankfully! The sponge was a lovely texture, satisfying but not claggy, and it was topped with a wonderful layer of glossy Toffee. It looked like a bought-in pudding, but that doesn’t detract from its tastiness in any way. Accompanied by plenty of creamy Custard, this was comfort food at its finest.
As with the rest of the meal, when it came to paying the bill, it was table service, and our server brought over the itemised receipt for us to check. The Man asked for the card machine, to be told that it is CASH ONLY! If you get caught out, don’t panic; a cash machine is just down the road at the Co-Op. I breathed a massive sigh of relief as Him Indoors pulled out his wallet and some notes (our total came to just shy of £58) … after stuffing myself silly, I really didn’t want to go inside the kitchen and be chief pot-wash for the day!
Hot Wings happily given to Pear Tree Hotel in Ripley…and apologies to the staff, who knew nothing of our ‘secret squirrel’ visit! Well, we did a social media post when we’d got our puddings, but by then we knew how the team rolled. To book a table call 01773 748203, and visit the website www.peartreehotelripley.com for details of menus and live events. The regular food menu is served from Noon-6pm, Sunday Roasts are served Noon-4pm.
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