RELATIVE to most other eateries in the area, ‘The Old Lodge’ has only recently come on to our radar and, by and large, we’ve been glad it has. Situated smack in the middle of Minchinhampton Common, surrounded by the golf course, the restaurant area is a lovely place to eat on a sunny evening, offering a mostly unbroken panoramic view of the countryside. The bar areas have lots of ‘olde worlde’ features and beams and a cosy feel, especially on more inclement evenings.

The main menu has a wide range of interesting dishes and, when taken with the day’s specials, it’s yet another place where you can spend far too long trying to choose between things like ox cheek & tongue terrine, Bibury trout, or goat’s cheese, fig & olive tart to open; bouillaibaise, spring lamb marinated in rosemary & garlic, or free range chicken cassoulet to follow; and a tongue-tingling selection of desserts to finish. Of course, anyone who’s read previous reviews will know that ‘Flossy’ and I don’t really do desserts but, suffice to say, there were several here that were definitely tempting, not the least of which was ‘Somloi Galuska’: layers of light & dark sponge, rum chocolate sauce & Chantilly cream.

Eventually, ‘Flossy’ chose smoked Bibury trout with salad, garlic croutons & chef’s lime mayonnaise to start, and I had Evesham asparagus tart, celeriac remoulade, rocket & parmesan salad. The trout was very tasty and ‘Flossy’ said the croutons were a particular highlight. I thought the tart – basically an asparagus quiche - was delicious: the asparagus was well cooked and the smooth ‘custard’ had real depth of flavour. ‘Remoulade’ turned out to be a fancy name for celeriac coleslaw, but hey, it was tasty and nicely crunchy, too.

To follow, ‘Flossy’ plumped for the Aberdeen Angus burger with smoked cheese and standard trimmings, apparently having taken on the task of comparing ‘house’ burgers across the county. She’d had one before on one of our previous two visits, saying at the time that it was the best burger around, so it was an interesting opportunity to ‘revisit’ in more ways than one. Unlike other establishments, there was no asking how she wanted it cooked, though, so it was very much ‘take it as it came’…. which was very firm and quite dense – probably ground beef as opposed to minced – but flavoursome enough, and the lightly smoked cheese was a pleasant topping. The trimmings were okay, but we couldn’t help thinking it was time to come up with some more exciting, individual accompaniments, even though the small salad was nicely dressed.

Following advice I read recently, I chose fish. The special was pan fried fillet of hake with new spuds, purple sprouting & salsa primavera. I’m a big fan of hake, so, unusually for me, choosing a main was easy. The fillet was firm-fleshed but there was one small issue, and it’s at times like these when I wish I was a better, more confident ‘complainer’ (I put it down to having been brought up by parents who were war-time children – it’s food, someone’s cooked it and put it on your plate, so be grateful!). The skin was not as crispy as has become fashionable, which was okay, but underneath, on the lovely white meat, was an area that can best be described as caramelised. On anything else this would probably have added to the umami, but on a piece of fish it became a bit chewy. What I think probably happened was this: it had been left for too long in the pan the wrong way up. On the plus side, it was a lovely deep golden colour! And it didn’t actually spoil my meal, so perhaps that’s why I didn’t say anything.

The spuds and broccoli did what they said on the tin, though with the variety of potatoes around these days, even in supermarkets, I reckon they could have chosen something more interesting, with deeper flavour. The salsa gave a nice citrusy twist here and there, especially since it contained hints of orange peel, which I wasn’t expecting – but then I’m not too sure what’s supposed to be in a salsa primavera, anyway.

As far as drinks were concerned, I had a refreshing drop of ‘Dandy’ - a recent brew by Cotswold Spring –– and with the meal we both had a glass of the Macabeo/Sauvignon (Macabeo has been described as Spain’s answer to Sancerre, but from my experience it doesn’t have the underlying minerality of the real thing), which provided a very pleasant mouthful or two.

Service was absolutely fine – no hovering around the table, asking every five minutes if everything was okay and, unusually for round here, was provided by a team I didn’t know any of. One moment that made us smile (though I guess could have more awkward or offended fussier diners) was when the waiter, who had not taken the order, brought the main meals and automatically assumed the burger was for me and the fish for ‘Flossy’. Still, there you go…

The whole lot came to £63, which, I confess, surprised us a little, but even with the slight glitch it was a fine evening and we’re certain to be going back…

 

Phil Kirby