Twenty minutes outside of the city centre; as the landscape changes from bustling streets and towering office blocks into beautiful countryside and rolling hills, you’ll find The Fisherman’s Retreat. Family owned and independent, this traditional restaurant and venue is the perfect place for a family treat or date night. In fact, they even have their own wedding venue! 

After six months of cooking, as well as the prep and washing up that accompanies it, we were desperate to get out and enjoy good food with great company (the company being the same people from my house who have enjoyed lockdown together, but it’s amazing how different we all were once we were ‘out out’). But why this particular restaurant, you ask? 

Well, for starters, the location of The Fisherman’s Retreat means you really feel like you are ‘getting away from it all’. Country roads through traditional villages eventually lead you up a hill that opens out to reveal a view of the restaurant overlooking their trout pond (hence the name). 

The beauty and tradition of the surrounding landscape is a theme that is continued inside. A friendly bar and host station welcome you into a large, spacious dining room serving locally sourced produce; the far end of which is a floor to ceiling window to really showcase the landscape. 

To top it all, the lack of passing traffic means you can truly relax and you can even take a little of the restaurant home with you from their on-site whisky shop. 

Atmosphere: 

We had definitely picked the right day to visit. As the friendly host showed us to our table, the mid-afternoon sun had the whole dining room glowing. The dining room is a generous size on a standard day, but during our visit post-COVID measures, the excellent social distancing measures put in place meant we were safely distanced from other diners and made the room appear even bigger. 

Sturdy, solid wood tables and comfortable leather chairs are spaciously laid out, making you feel like you’re visiting family for a meal rather and are especially great if like me, you have mobility issues. 

The wait staff continue this feeling of familiarity and comfort. Our waitress was extremely pleasant and genuinely happy to welcome us. She was efficient, without rushing us and made us feel that no request was too big or difficult. Her attention to our needs was comforting and reassuring; you could tell she wanted us to enjoy every minute of our dining experience. 

The Menu: 

It is here where The Fisherman’s Retreat excels. On a usual, non-COVID impacted day, the restaurant has a whole host of options starting with breakfast and brunch from 10am, from lunch through light bites to traditional Sunday roasts that feed the whole family; with vegetarian options alongside all of this. 

During our visit, the menu had been reduced, but this wasn’t to the restaurant’s detriment. Their current, streamlined menu pays homage to their most celebrated dishes and on a Sunday (the day we visited) this is definitely their roast Sunday lunch option.

But food isn’t the only star of the show here. The Fisherman’s Retreat offers an extensive drinks menu of wines; spirits and traditional craft ales. We ordered a bottle of their New Zealand sauvignon on the recommendation of the waitress and settled in to order (it is worth noting that the restaurant is also now offering delivery of cases of their wines, available to order online).

Our Order:

After a quick chat with the waitress about some of the desserts the restaurant offers and some keen eyes noticing that the roast dinner also comes in a ‘large’ version, we decided to skip starters and instead go for mains and desserts. We were not disappointed.

Alongside the usual roast beef on offer, the day we visited also had a special available of roast pork-which was rapidly met with stirs of approval from two of our party. My sister opted for the Sunday roast with pork and crackling. I, the renowned carnivore, settled on the 8oz fillet steak.

My sister opted for the standard size Sunday roast and was not disappointed. The pork was juicy and tender, with a side of crackling so salty and snap-able that it was honestly a treat in itself (I may have stolen some from her, purely in the interest of providing an accurate review of course). Served with sides of herby roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, gravy and vegetables my sister said it was delicious. 

At £12.50, this is the real star of the show-filling and comforting, at an amazing price. The large version, at an additional £5 comes with a jug of gravy, two Yorkshire puddings and extra of all the trimmings. It is the Desperate Dan of Sunday roasts.

My fillet steak was everything I wanted from my first meal out in six months. The meat was so tender I hardly needed a knife. Served with traditional chips, salad and a sauce of your choice (I went with their deliciously creamy peppercorn), I savoured every mouthful. The steak was cooked exactly as I had asked (medium rare), showing that the chef has the talent and knowledge to prepare this delicate meat well without losing any of the flavour.

Happily, our desserts were just as enjoyable as our main courses and although the menu has some amazing looking starters, we all felt we had made the right choice in skipping these in order to leave room for desserts. 

I lived up to my love of indulgence by ordering their chocolate brownie. Served warm, alongside Belgian chocolate sauce and their vanilla bean ice cream, the brownie was soft and gooey, with enough chocolate to make it rich but not so much that it was sickly. The ice cream (which you can also buy in pints from the premises) was creamy and reminiscent of days at the beach.

However, the winning dessert at our table was the Baileys white chocolate cheesecake, with everyone else in our party ordering a portion. Sweet, tart and indulgent, with enough booze in it to add to the flavour but not so much that you feel unable to drive home; the dessert was met with so many ‘ooh’s and ‘mmm’s around the table I actually worried that we may actually be disturbing the other diners. 

Served with a chocolate shard and their creamy chocolate ice cream it was every bit as wonderful as it looked.

We finished our meal with a few drinks from the bar. Their drinks menu is extensive and the bar really has something for everyone though. Traditional ales, world wines and single malt whiskies to suit even the most refined palate; I’m pretty sure there isn’t a drink you can’t find here and it’s a lovely, comfortable place to finish your meal in style, should you wish.

Allergies: 

We did not request an allergy menu, but the staff are extremely attentive and so I’m sure any requests and information would be offered should it be needed.

City Girl Rating: 

★★★★★

Find The Fisherman’s Retreat on Instagram: @thefishermansretreat

or visit their website: https://www.fishermansretreat.com

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Written by Jenna Tomlinson