Sunday Lunch At The Pear Tree Inn, Yeaveley
Published On Thursday 12 Dec 2024 by Sticky Beak
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The Man Bird was mindlessly scrolling through Facebook (nothing unusual there), when I heard him exclaim “eh?!”. Curiosity piqued, I wandered over to see what had got him puzzled. On screen was the title ‘Pear Tree Inn’; nothing odd, until I realised that this was The Yeaveley Arms at Yeaveley village, a venue that our friend Rob co-owns. We’d not heard anything from Rob that he’d left his beloved pub, so we asked what had happened. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything particularly drastic: Rob had bought out his partners and, due to Legal bumpf, couldn’t retain the name ‘The Yeaveley Arms’. Sad, but not out-of-the-ordinary.
Despite its name change, the Pear Tree Inn is still the quintessential English country pub at the heart of its village. Dogs and kids alike are welcome within its stone walls, embraced by the welcoming comfort of the décor and the super-friendly welcome from the team. A lovely lady got us seated at our table and sorted drinks out quickly: large Malbec for me (£8.90), large Pinot Grigio for Mummy (£6.80), and a pint of Madri lager for His Nibs (£5.20).
I know you shouldn’t, but we always skip straight to the pudding section of a menu when deciding which 2 courses to have for our Sunday roast lunch/dinner! Having spied the Toffee Apple Cheesecake and Caramel Panna Cotta (both £6.50), all three of us declared that we were in the market for main and pud. That’s not to say that the starters weren’t tempting, but how do you resist such autumnal puddings as those two minxes?!
Mummy Bird had clocked the Baked Salmon Fillet with Dill Butter Glaze, Potatoes and Vegetables (£17.95), so that was her sorted out; I chose the Roasted Topside of Derbyshire Beef, and eventually The Man had this too, though he was sorely tempted by the Succulent Roast Loin of Pork (also both £17.95). All of the Sunday roasts at The Pear Tree Inn come with Roast Potatoes, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Roast Parsnips, Carrots, Green Beans and Braised Red Cabbage. If you don’t fancy a traditional roast, Rob offers plenty of other options – including a couple of Vegetarian ones and a rather scrummy sounding [vegan] Beetroot and Butternut Squash Wellington.
There’s no escaping the fact that we did wait longer than usual for our meals to arrive, BUT… Rob is in the kitchen all by himself, there were an extraordinary number of ‘walk-ins’ for Sunday Lunch this particular day, and the [double digit] large group that had booked in arrived late. So, there was a perfect storm of elements conspiring against Rob, bless him, and we do know that he isn’t slow in the kitchen usually.
However, good things come to those who wait, and when the team brought out our food, it was clear that it had been worth our patience. Tendrils of steam were billowing from all the plates and the bowls that housed the vegetables and Cabbage; evidence that the food had all been cooked and served fresh! Without any further ado, I served up the veggies to Mummy Bird, then helped myself and passed the crockery to The Man.
The smile on Mummy’s face as she took her first mouthful of Salmon said it all: the flesh was soft, sweet, juicy and flavoursome. A delicate herby note came from the Dill in the glaze that had imparted an attractive gloss to the fillet and, as we know, Salmon and Dill make marvellous bed-fellows. The Man and I both had a pair of whoppers (steady, you lot!) on our plate; I reckoned that we had each got at least 6oz of Beef to chomp away at. The best bit though, was the fact that it was as tender as it was sizeable and the fibres just melted in our mouths.
As you know, The Man has been getting braver in his food choices recently, but I honestly did think that the golden-roasted Parsnips would be making their way across to me. Pffffft; Him Indoors merrily started munching at the fragrant, sweet veggie - even going so far as to murmur in happiness! Seriously, where’s my husband, and what have you done to him?! I have to say though, the Parsnips were properly scrummy, as were the comfortingly soft, Braised Red Cabbage and creamy Dauphinoise Potatoes. Both the sliced Green Beans and teeny-tiny baby Carrots were cooked perfectly, with that gorgeous hint of firmness still remaining.
I mentioned right at the get-go that Rob is all by himself in the kitchen and, God bless him, marvellous as he is there’s still only so much that one person can do in a set amount of time. To this end, he did serve up ready-made Yorkshire Puds and roasties, albeit top quality ones. In all honesty, I wasn’t too fussed about this; the Yorkies were perfectly acceptable, they just didn’t have that rich batter taste to them. Likewise, the roasties were fabulously crisp and golden on the outside, with soft fluffy inners – they just didn’t have the flavour of fat on them, and animal fat does add a fab element to roasties (as long as it’s not dripping from the spud!).
The only thing that remained on our plates was a thin ribbon of fat that had been at the edge of our Beef slices; Mummy’s plate was squeaky clean. Whilst we’d been tucking in, our server had checked that we were enjoying our meals and, as she lifted the clean ones away, Rob managed to poke his head round the corner and say a quick ‘Hello’ and ask if we’d been ok. So quick was he, that I didn’t get chance to ask what facial products he uses – I swear that he hasn’t aged at all in the years I’ve known him!!
As full as our tummies were, we’d made a silent deal to ourselves that pudding was going to be had and so Mummy and I chose the Toffee Apple Cheesecake, and The Man went with the Caramel Panna Cotta. Rob certainly doesn’t skimp on the size of the puds he serves up, and Mummy Bird and I let out a small sigh of ‘oh heck, how are we going to eat all this?’. My mood always lifts when I can easily cut into the biscuit base of a Cheesecake, but it doesn’t explode into a cloud of crumbs.
Next to me, His Nibs’ Panna Cotta had spread out in its glass, flattening itself slightly…but we’ve made the mistake of under-estimating something by its appearance before, and The Man wasn’t about to do it again! Good job he didn’t, as the rich, velvety temptation was very intense and filling. The indulgent, soft-set cream was topped with a seriously tasty Caramel that coated the inside of the cheeks superbly.
Knowing Rob’s high standards, we felt pretty certain that the coffee would be a decent bean, and so His Nibs and myself had our customary black coffees to conclude the meal; Mummy had gone all-in and ordered another glass of Pinot earlier, so she was still supping that. True enough, the coffee was a pleasingly robust type and slipped down jolly nicely.
Sadly, we never got to bid Rob farewell; he was still slaving away in the kitchen! I guess he’ll have to make do with the accolade of ‘Hot Wings’ in print, rather than IRL – I’m sure he won’t mind though.
To book a table (and please do, it’ll help Rob out no end) call 01335 330700. You can check out all the latest events on the Facebook page, Pear Tree Inn, Yeaveley and of course there is the website www.peartreeinn.co.uk – you’ll see it come up as ‘yeaveleyarms.co.uk’, but it is the same place (look for the pear tree logo). The Pear Tree Inn is closed on Monday and Tuesday, both the bar and restaurant, but if you want to double-check when food service and the bar is open, it’s on the front page of the website.
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