The Beeches - Standish, Wigan

I am highly suspicious of a place that offers an overly extensive menu, how does the kitchen keep so many ingredients fresh and concentrate on so many dishes?

The Beeches at Standish is one of these places; the menu itself is rather long, however this is accompanied by a 'specials' board that is actually longer than the standard menu. Something seemed afoot and it wasn't just the dated carpet, soulless dining room or house wine that took the enamel off our teeth.

Bog standard interior - design style 'labour club'

Scanning the menu highlighted the kitchen's trick - repetition. Many dishes were either similar reincarnations; chicken New Yorker (cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce topping) becomes steak New Yorker, or different dishes are served with the same sauces; for a large menu there was surprisingly little choice.

Black pudding with onion gravy - the most ugly dish ever served?

Starters arrived and we were duly impressed and disappointed. Size is not an issue at The Beeches; indeed Legal Eagle's Beeches Platter was so large the rest of us shared it and it would have done myself and the boy for a Saturday afternoon lunch.

Beeches platter - large, but poor quality ingredients

The mussels were surprisingly well cooked although not served with mariniere sauce chosen, rather a thick, creamy, lumpy, tasteless mushroom sauce that was so hot I can only guess how it was heated. This sauce was not advertised on the menu (choice of mariniere, provencale or mild curry) and was presented to me as (viz waiter), "a beautiful white wine and garlic sauce, madam." I do not want to cast aspersions on the taste/level of culinary knowledge of the Beeches' usual patrons; but a kitchen that sends out one dish as another must have neither respect or care. (Surprisingly the dining room was quite full for most of the evening).

Well cooked mussels with mushroom sauce marauding as mariniere

Mains also showed a distinct lack of consideration; my medium rare fillet came out blue with a fridge cold middle, accompanied by anemic, greasy button mushrooms. The boy's lamb wrapped in bacon was an ugly, phallic like dish - thick, low quality, flabby bacon wrapped around an overcooked, tough piece if lamb. The dish was indeed an insult to both animals that had died to make it and to us as customers.

Lamb wrapped in bacon

We declined to have pudding and left thankfully left at the end of the main courses, muttering that we would not return again!

Price for four starters, four mains, four glasses of house wine and four pints: £111.30

Food: 4/10
Service: 6/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Value for money: 4/10

Total: 19/40

Go again? No - the prices are expensive for such rubbish food. Indeed the portions are large, but it's just a case of quantity over quality. Never again shall I venture here, be warned!

Ps - if you do wish to visit, The Beeches runs a shorter, special menu with two courses for £8.95. I suspect this and the large portions is what makes The Beeches attractive to its clientele. Even for this price I wouldn't be tempted back.

The Stables Brasserie, The Beeches, School Lane, Standish, Wigan WN6 0TD - 01257 426432 - mail@beecheshotel.co.uk

http://www.beecheshotel.co.uk/brasserie/home_brasserie.asp

The Windmill - Parbold

There must be a 'how to' guide on putting together upmarket country pubs that's doing the rounds of Northern villages at the moment. Roaring fires, mismatched furniture, real ale on tap, Farrow and Ball paint scheme and a gourmet burger on the menu.

The Windmill in Parbold has recently been revamped and it seems they have read the aforesaid how to. The dining room and snug are replete with old, mismatched furniture and a fire roars away in the main dining room. Conveniently for The Windmill they are actually located next to an interiors shop - which is good, as their walls are definitely Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath. And yes there is a gourmet burger on the menu.

The Windmill Interior - with thank to The Windmill Parbold

The daytime menu (for it was daytime when we were there) is quite long, encompassing usual pub fare such as fish and chips, calves liver and steak and ale pie. For those who want something smaller/are on a budget, there's also the light bites menu. The menu promotes local food and suppliers, though unlike places such as The Clogg and Billycock, there is no mention of them in the menu, other that 'Scotts the Butchers.'

Fish and Chips

Food is well presented, but there seems to be something lacking in the execution. The venison and chorizo burger was small, very, very salty and dry; yummy mummy's risotto was soggy and badly seasoned, however there was no fault with the boy's fish and chips (could you get that wrong) and my duo of sausages on cheesy mash was well cooked. The mash was surprisingly light with just the right amount of cheese taste shining through.

Venison and chorizo burger

Puddings were also hit and miss. The brownie tasted fab; dark and bitter tempered by a hint of cheeky sweetness with a tangy berry compote that sent little electroshocks of sharp pleasure across the tongue. The dish was marred by the terrible consistency; the brownie was very gritty, almost as if it had been rewarmed in the microwave and the chocolate had split.

Sticky toffee pudding

The sticky toffee pudding was large and soaked with syrup, a little too cakey in texture for me; but I only tasted a mouthful as it was wolfed by the boy in record time (no matter that it was almost a million degrees either - maybe I should take advantage of this talent and make money from his speed eating?).

Service was friendly, if a bit slow and forgetful - but as we were there to enjoy a lazy Saturday lunch it's not something that we cared about too much. The staff didn't seem that knowledgeable about ingredients, but they were more than happy to go and find out from the kitchen.

The Windmill is a great pub if you live in Parbold or the surrounding villages. They've good ales on tap and have a snug that's brilliant for reading your book and watching the comings and goings of the villages. Whether you'd bother travelling far for another country village gastropub clone with only quite alright food is another matter.

Ps - if you go in winter wear your coat to the toilets, they are sub-zero freezing!

Cost for four mains, four puddings and drinks: £59.60

Food: 6/10
Service: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10

Total - 25/40

The Windmill, 3 Mill Lane, Parbold, Wigan WN8 7NU - 01257 462935

http://www.thewindmillatparbold.co.uk/  @TheWindmillPub

The Crown - Worthington

Popping out for lunch to say goodbye to a work colleague it was decided that we should stop by The Crown at Worthington for their lunch time meal deal.

The Crown at Worthington is a traditional pub with a large extension to the rear. The front of the pub is definitely the most charming (I find the dining room at the back a little soulless), with little nooks and crannies, old mismatched furniture and whitewashed walls.

The Crown at Worthington - with thanks to CityLife.co.uk

We first decided to stop via the bar, which was well stocked with a large selection of local ales on tap, plus the largest array of locally made flavoured pork scratchings and nuts I have ever laid my eyes on.

The lunch menu is quite restrictive, the usual pub classics such as pie and fish and chips - there's nothing that really stands out too much, but for £5 it's a fine list of lunches. If you really want something else there's also an a la carte menu, a pie menu and their famous 'Butcher's Block' menu - a selection of locally reared, 21 day aged meat plus accompaniments.

However we are all aware that there's a recession on and opted for the £5 lunch menu and boringly we all opted for the pie.

If I'd been paying full price for said pie I wouldn't have been that happy. The pasty top was a little thick for puff and seemed slightly stale. The filling had chunks of soft beef with a nice thick sauce, which was fairly tasty, though a little salty for me. The pie came with hand-cut chips and I can see what they were trying to do here - but instead of thick, homemade, beefy chips, these were soggy and let the dish down. All others had mushy peas, except I can't stand them, so the staff were more than obliging and changed my side to a massive grilled tomato (both sides), sprinkled liberally with salt and herbs - a really good accompaniment that they should serve with all the pies.

Having saved a packet on lunch we opted for the pudding - which was almost the same price! Whereas I'd been a little underwhelmed by the bad pastry and lacklustre chips, my pudding was divine. Belgian waffles were served with caramelised bananas and Frederick's banoffee ice cream.

The criminalisation on the banana was crisp and buttery, coupled with the sweet waffle and the creamy ice cream the pudding came together in a banana-ry cacophony in my mouth. No matter what everyone else had for pudding (they all had sticky toffee pudding, which was good, but not a touch on my pudding) I wasn't jealous. Not one bit!

The Crown at Worthington is a great place for good pint and is good value for a cheap and comfortable lunch. There are let downs on the menu, but for £5 I wasn't complaining (though they are following the recent trend for puddings at about £5 each - see previous posts for more on this gripe). If I was dining here in the evening at full price I don't think I would be overly happy, unless they ramp up the care and attention to dishes - maybe I'll pop back to find out later in the year.

Price for one mains and one pudding - £9.95

Food - 5/10
Service - 7/10
Atmosphere - 6/10
Value for money - 8/10

Total - 26/40

The Crown at Worthington, Platt Lane, Worthington, Standish, Wigan WN1 2XF, 08000 686678
http://www.thecrownatworthington.co.uk/

Rigalettos - Wigan

I'm not one for the beautiful game and I'm not one for rugby league, so I wasn't really excited about the prospect of eating in a football/rugby stadium: let alone one five minutes from where I work. However it was the Scouser's leaving do and I had hopes it may be a la Delia and the whole Canary Restaurant at Norwich City thing.

On pulling up I instantly knew this was no Delia. Rigalettos is located in the base of the stadium so it can be accessed when the stadium isn't open. The sign looked cheap and old and as I walked in the door so did the restaurant. Decked out as a Blackpool re-imagining of a 90s cartoon Italian trattoria - here was hoping that the food would be authentic trattoria. Unfortunately the food wasn't authentic, I wouldn't even class it as food.

We'd opted to keep it cheap and were dining off the early bird menu - even at that price the food was dire. I'd like to try and pick out a dish that at least shone through as a glimmer of hope in the whole evening; but I can't even say that of the drinks, let alone the food.

I ordered the bruschetta to start but was instead presented with two overly greasy pieces of garlic bread, dripping with oil, not tasting of garlic and with an insulting amount of insipid, cotton wool tomato mixed in with large chunks of onion. I won't even discuss the pointless, limpid lettuce on the side. The other Scouser's starter of garlic mushrooms were pale and I wouldn't call putting one in my mouth actual tasting as there wasn't any there.

Bruschetta - well Rigalettos' sorry excuse for one

For mains I'd ordered the seafood linguine and thought for the £1 surcharge I'd be on to a winner. Wrong. The pasta was terribly overcooked and soggy, the tomato sauce was under-seasoned and tasteless - almost as if it was just a thickened can of chopped tomatoes. And the seafood? I've eaten some terrible seafood in my time but this was actually inedible. The calamari was akin to chewing on tyres and the mussels had become hard and chalky; I think there may have been some tinned tuna in there but I really can't say. Needless to say I ate less that a third of the dish.

Seafood linguine - nearly as much as you see in this picture

was returned to the kitchen

I declined to spend the extra pound and order pudding, but in the spirit of gastronomic investigation on behalf of you, dear readers, I nicked some brownie off the Scotsman and all I can say is that the raspberries were nice.

I'm trying really hard to find something positive to say here - but they charged me over £8 for a G+T made with Beefeater and a glass of cheap white, so I'm struggling here. Er - the toilets were clean and the service was alright.

In all I wouldn't return to Rigalettos even if I was starving or needed somewhere to hide out whilst being chased by dissident rebel fighters. Rigalettos needs to make over it's sad, tired image and get someone who can actually knows what Italian food, or even cooking is, in the kitchen.

As fellow blogger Northern Food warned, "you'd be better sticking to balti pies in the stadium," too true.

Price for early bird menu - £8.95 for two courses, £9.95 for three (beware some of the dishes have a £1 surcharge).

Food - 1/10
Service - 6/10
Atmosphere - 3/10
Value for money - 3/10

Total - 13/40

Rigaletto's, DW Stadium, Loire Drive, Robin Park, Wigan WN5 0UH - 01942 774000
http://www.dwstadium.co.uk/rigalettos.phpdwstadium.co.uk/rigalettos.php

The Home Farm Shop - Bispham Green, Nr Wigan

The Home Farm Shop is a farm shop on steroids. Owned by Ainscoughs, the Parbold family that have been farming the area for the last 200 years and who have built up a 'group of select, pubs, hotels and restuarants' throughout the North West, the shop sells their organic and high welfare produce; plus a delicious selection of other goodies and is next door to their pub The Eagle and Child.

Home Farm Shop boasts an impressive meat counter selling the Ainscoughs' organic beef from their farm in the area (the 1600 acre farm converted in 2000), plus organic lamb and pork from Mansergh Hall and Matson Ground organic farms in Cumbria.

Although the meat is organic it is surprisingly good value and is aged for at least 21 days in the shop's chillers. Better quality, low food miles and better welfare is something I'm happier to pay a little bit more for (I think the two lamb steaks we bought turned out to be £1 more for the same weight non-organic at the supermarket).

Plus at the meat counter of the Home Farm Shop I (and more importantly the Boy) made the best discovery ever - home-made black pudding! The square pudding is made with fresh blood in store by the butcher (he's great) and has a lovely spicy flavour with not too much fat - a great find that the Boy (a true northerner) ensured I bought enough for at least three breakfasts. I would like to make a very controversial comment about this controversial product - it's better than Bury's.

Not only a great selection of meat, the shop boasts a cheese counter with such delights as Blacksticks Blue and Stinking Bishop, plus less well known cheeses - the staff are very helpful and will guide you to a cheese that suits, plus choose the right accompaniments - I had never thought of plum bread with blue cheese (it's a type of spiced fruit loaf), but turns out to be a great companion on my cheese board.

The rest of the shop is taken over by numerous jams, chutneys, oils, chocolates and other premium store cupboard products. It's hard to go in here with a budget and stick to it! They also sell my favourite chocolate - Montezuma's Dark Chocolate with Orange and Geranium; dark, slightly orangey with a lovely floral flavour, doesn't last long!

The Home Farm Shop also sells organic and non-organic locally produced fruit and veg. You can't plan your weekly shop before you come here as the produce is very much what's in season and what is available to them - this is the only place I have been able to pick up damsons when in season so it's always worth a trip to see what they have.

Being placed next to The Eagle and Child and being part of a hospitality chain, The Home Farm Shop makes good use of their alcohol sourcing. The shop is stocked with a good selection of wines, real ales and ciders, plus organic versions of all. The staff at the shop are again very good at pointing you in the right direction and we walked away with a very good Fleurie (we raised a glass that night to The Home Farm Shop).

The Home Farm Shop isn't cheap and you can't do your weekly shop here (unless you're talking about the meat and then you can), but as it goes it's the most well stocked farm shop I've come across with a genuine care for sourcing good quality products with a cracking butchers. Why not pop into the Eagle and Child whilst you're there (you won't be disappointed with the food their either).

Opening hours -
Mon-Tue: Closed
Wed-Sat: 10am-5.30pm
Sun: 11am-5pm

The Home Farm Shop, Bispham Green, Near Parbold, Lancashire L40 3SG - 01257 462624
http://www.ainscoughs.co.uk/The-Eagle-Child-Farm-Shop/welcome-to-the-home-farm-shop.html

The Eagle and Child - Bispham Green, Nr Wigan

Sometimes you have a longing for a proper pub; a pub with dark wood, flagged floors, proper ale on tap and a log fire (ok, the fire was off as it was a hot day, but you're getting the picture). The only thing about a 'proper pub' is that you run a gauntlet with the menu: chicken nuggets, scampi, flabby chips and pickled eggs, if you're lucky.

Thankfully there's the The Eagle and Child in Bispham Green: stone floors, check; dark wood, check; real ale on tap, check; typical menu, thankfully no.

The Eagle and Child is a cosy pub, especially if you sit near the bar and not in the dining room (book ahead and ask) and features one of the best food menus I've seen in a pub for a while. The food on the menu is mainly from local suppliers and there is a large emphasis on using high-welfare meat and plenty of game, especially on the specials menu (which is very long and actually much better than the bar menu) and also includes meat reared on the farm that also owns the pub (and the farm shop next door).

Being a Sunday the Boy decided that he couldn't let the massive yorkshire puddings being paraded past our table go, so he and the Make-up Artist decided to opt for the traditional beef roast. Myself and Daddy decided that we would kick of the beginning off the season and help the local farmers by ordering the wood pigeon with wild mushroom and pancetta gravy.

The beef roast was a big dish including two different types of potatoes (the boy was in heaven), two big, thick slabs of beef, a massive home made yorkshire and gravy. The roasties were good and crisp, not a patch on Mother's (but then whose would be?), the beef wasn't served pink (much to the boy's dismay), but was soft and well flavoured. And the yorkshire pudding? Large and lovely by all accounts (there was none left for me to try!).

The roast beef (and the boy's hand)

The pigeon was a little more of a cultured affair with three large breasts served pink, only one was slightly dry. The birds had been hung well as most of the meat was soft and had a lovely gamey flavour that some establishments are too scared to highlight these days. The pancetta and mushroom gravy really complimented the rich meat, though was slightly too salty for my taste (but I am known for being particularly fussy with salt).

The pheasant

On Sunday main dishes at The Eagle and Child come with a side of veg; this day's being carrots, cauli and ratatouille. The carrots and cauli were just plain boiled, fine with the rest of the dish and had a good crunch left in them. It was good to see somewhere trying to be a bit different with the inclusion of the ratatouille, however it had been overly reduced and was very tinny tasting. Against fish or light chicken dishes this may have been a great compliment, but against the heavy roast and the meaty pigeon the flavours clashed and the ratatouille was so flavourful it almost drowned out everything else.

Side veg with the overpowering ratatouille

Again the parading dishes caught the Boy's eye and he couldn't let the apple crumble and custard go. Compared to the mains the puddings at the Eagle and Child weren't up to scratch. The crumble was soft and overly sweet, and I swear the custard wasn't home made. Make-up artist's crannock was a soft dish of cream, oats and whiskey with a few raspberries thrown in. This pudding presented with far too much cream and not enough oats, whiskey or raspberries - more fruit would have lightened the dish up no end and provided a refreshing juxtaposition in what was otherwise a very heavy and disappointing end to a fabulous meal. However compared to the traditional pub puddings of Sara Lee black forest gateaux these were ambrosia (just like the custard).

Cost for four mains, two puddings and two pints: £65.99.

Value for money: 7/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Service: 6/10

Food: 7/10

Total: 27/40

The Eagle and Child, Bispham Green, Parbold, Lancashire L40 3SG - 01257 462297

http://www.ainscoughs.co.uk/The-Eagle-Child/eagle-and-child-home.html

The Railway - Euxton, nr Wiagn

Needing somewhere hearty to eat after an evening of helping the Boy in his endeavors, I had stumbled across The Railway at Euxton through my faithful friend Google, and after comparing it with other local establishments was impressed by the website's description; 'our menu embraces our love of Lancashire and its wonderful flavours which is reflected in a wide variety of freshly prepared local dishes made from the finest locally sourced ingredients of the finest and all at very accessible prices.' (Ok, maybe I wasn't impressed with the grammar, but that was by the by).

The Railway Euxton - with thanks to restaurantguide.com

Coupled with the fact that The Railway won the Marston's Food and Drink Awards Best Newcomer 2008/09, has glowing reviews from Taste Lancashire, Sugervine. com and Bitefinder.co.uk it all sounded promising, or so we thought.

Arriving at 7.45pm on a Wednesday evening we were greated by an almost empty dining room, save one couple who were wiping the corners of their mouths after what seemed like a satisfying pudding. The dining room is decked out in classic new gastro pub indentikit attire; leather sofas, soft lighting, wood and teal paint on the walls

The indentikit furniture - with thanks to beerintheevening.com

After choosing from the vast array of seats we were shown the menu and it really does read like a who's who of quality and recognisable Lancashire producers: Mrs Kirkham's creamy lancashire, Goosnagh chicken, H Greaves of Upholland, Hesketh salt marsh lamb, Walling’s Farm ice cream and so on.

Liking the sound of 'sirloin steak 5 weeks matured on the bone, hand cut chips cooked in dripping,' from the specials board (not very special with only that and a salmon dish on) myself, Best Friend and Mutual Blonde Friend all chose this option - only the Boy chose differently and opted for the six hour braised pork belly.

As we were the only diners now sat in the room the food came out quickly and was well presented, although all three steak eaters were dissapointed with the numbers of chips on the dish, only six to be exact.

The steak

And that's not the only dissapointment we found. I had requested the sirloin medium rare and I was presented with something that was indeed medium (ok, they forgot the rare bit, but I forgave them) and was pink in the middle - however the pink was very bright and the meat, in contrast to something cooked medium was very dry and chewy. I cannot explain this from a well-sourced cut of meat but have come up with three senarios a) they are lying about the provanance and quality of the meat, b) the steak has been pre-cooked and then warmed through in the micro or c) they were using leather injected with dye having run out of steaks in the kitchen.  Indeed Best Friend noted this of his steak, though it was a little less dry – we discounted the Mutal Blonde Friend’s steak as she had requested well done.

The dissapointing chips were nicely flavoured yet a little soft and there weren't enough of them for a hungry girl to fill her belly with and the thyme roasted tomatoes seemed grilled rather than roasted and not done enough anyway, but the hint of thyme with them was very pleasing and I may recreate this at home at a later date (with more roasting).

The one pleasing point of this entire dish was the caramalised baby onions. I don't know where these have been all my life, but now they are very  much in it I cannot stop thinking about them. They were sweet, soft, unctous and gorgeous and very much saved the dish.

The Boy's six hour braised pork belly was good in comparison to our leather strips. The belly was soft, flavoursome and unctious with a good sized piece of crunchy crackling - you could tell this meat was from a quality source; however the only downside was that it was somewhat underseasoned (I'd prefer rather under than over though if you ask me, at least I can rectify it at the table some what). 

The braised pork

If the meat was great (I'm not going to say fantastic), it was the sides that let this dish down. They weren't awful and for the £12.95 they were asking it wasn't too much a slap in the face. The pureed potatoes were nice (not great, not awful, just nice) but there were a few lumps in evidence and the apple fritters were again nice (that word again!), but the batter was a little soft and had a hint of the frying oil.

To cheer ourselves up after the steak we ordered some ice cream and chose three different flavours each. The ice cream was lovely as ice cream from a good source is, but a very steep £3.95 for three very small scoops served with packet wafers and chocolate straws.

In all the meal was satisfactory; I had massive food envy over the Boy's dish as it was leaps and bounds better than the steaks, however I wouldn't have given up the caramalised baby onions for anything. Had the food been cheaper (the steaks came in at £16.95 each) I wouldn't have been so harsh.

With a list of exceptional producers and a price in the higher range of North West pub food (indeed they are not far off Nigel Howarth's chain including the Clog and Billycock and the Highway Man) the meals we were served should have been so much better than they were. It just proves that although it matters what goes in the food, you can't just rely on your producers alone - it's what happens in the kitchen that really matters and sadly The Railway seems to be just relying on the producers alone

Cost for four mains and two puddings (we bought drinks separately at the bar): £71.70.

Value for money: 5/10

Atmosphere: 3/10

Service: 7/10

Food: 5/10

Total: 20/40

The Railway Public House and Dining Room, Wigan Road, Euxton, Lancashire PR7 6LA – 01257 275005

info@therailwayeuxton.co.uk