Peacock Inn – Chef & Brewer

We decided to pop out for a late lunch/​early dinner (is that a lunner??) and this pub is just around the corner from us so thought we’d give it a try. When we arrived, at about 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon) there were quite a few people eating int he restaurant but we couldnt see any staff so we stumbled around for a while asking the age old question of «do we wait here to be seated or do we go to the bar?». After heading to the bar we were told that we could sit where we liked and someone would come over with a menu.
We were handed three menus — a ‘normal’ menu, a lunch menu (a starter and main for £7.99) and a specials menu (they were having a Game festival with items such as pheasant and partridge). I ordered from the lunch menu whilst Andrew G. ordered from the main menu (he never can resist the pull of whitebait!). Our waitress was friendly and our order was taken very swiftly and took very little time to arrive. Andy’s whitebait was, im told, delicious (i cant stand the stuff personally) and my pâté was really lovely and served with a gorgeous tangy relish.
For mains Andy had their gourmet burger with triple cooked chips. He felt that the burger was under seasoned and was ‘nothing special’ although the chips were pretty fabulous. I had (being a Northener) Minced Beef and Kidney suet pudding with mash and mushy peas. The gravy was superb but, being a bit of a connoisseur of mushy peas, i was disappointed that they were just average — again more seasoning was probably needed. But certainly passable and for £7.99 from the lunch menu was certainly good value.
I cant really comment on the drinks as i had a cup of tea followed by tap water (which they served happily). During our meal i was aware of a table behind us having some issue and i overhead the waitress dealing with it in a very responsive, professional way — i totally appreciate that sometimes things go wrong and believe that how someone deal with a complaint is a good way of judging how good the service is — they dealt with it impeccably.
For both meals and drinks (Andy had a beer) the cost was £33 which i think is pretty fair — i did see that in the evening (during the week) they also have deals on their food.
I wouldnt take anyone here for a special occassion but would definitely go back for a bite to eat with friends.