OUR food reviewer visited the Cock and Bull in Gosforth.

<strong>By LOUISE ALLONBY</strong>

This started out as a review of the Inn at Ravenglass, a very popular pub and restaurant famed for its seafood. Highly recommended and a place I'd had on my list to review for some time.

It started well: I booked a table for lunch and we headed over Corney Fell, visions of langoustines and mussels sustaining us on the journey.

We arrived in the pretty seaside village to find the pub doing a roaring trade in drinks. But no food to speak of. And no reserved table for us.

We explained we had booked. "Oh, sorry," said the barmaid who seemed to be running the place singlehandledly, "the chef's gone home sick so there's no food - just cod and chips".

Which rather begged the question that if there was no chef, who the heck was cooking the cod? We declined the offer of cod and wandered along the road and went into the Pennington Arms, the sister hotel to the Inn.

It was busy and there were people eating. We were hopeful... "You weren't wanting food were you?" asked the woman behind the bar, repressively. "Well, yes" we replied. "Sorry, the chef's gone and we're not serving any more."

Just great. We had found ourselves in Cumbria's Bermuda Triangle of the chef world. Increasingly ravenous and ratty (appropriately, given where we were), we decided to kick Ravenglass into touch and headed off in search of lunch.

We knew not where. Drigg: zilch. Seascale: nada. Are there no pubs in this area serving food, I began to wonder, seriously contemplating whether I could get away with reviewing a tuna and sweetcorn sandwich from Seascale Co-op.

And then we happened upon the Cock and Bull in a pretty little village which turned out to be Gosforth. Not only did they have a sign outside advertising food all day - but inside, there was an actual living, breathing, cooking chef. He was called Pete.

Business was quiet when we went in (it being well gone 2.30pm by now) so he was pottering in the bar watching the telly.

He was great. We asked what the special was and he came over to show us that day's fish and seafood extravaganza - of which he had a photo on his mobile phone. He had just created it from the morning's catch, he informed us. It looked fab.

We ordered garlic mushrooms (£6) for Gordon and stir fried prawns and chorizo (£7) for me as starters, followed by southern fried chicken (£10) and the fish special (£16) to follow.

The starters were huge. My prawns, which came on a sizzling platter, were gigantic and luscious, with meaty chorizo and lots of spicy julienned vegetables. It was easily the size of a main course. As was Gordon's vast bowl of mushrooms, served with garlic ciabatta and a large side salad.

The mushrooms had been cooked in cream and brandy and were absolutely spiffing. The starters alone were plenty and that would have been an ample - and fantastic value - main meal. But we were there to do a review (it's a hard job, I know) so we forced ourselves to tuck in to the even bigger main courses when they arrived at the table, courtesy of the very friendly manager, Giles.

My southern fried chicken came on a whopping slate. Delicious, tender chicken in a spicy coating, with a bowl of clearly home-made chips, a generous and tasty salad and bowls of salsa and sour cream.

It was superb but I left more than half of it, because I was so full from the starter (Giles got the chicken wrapped up for us and our two dogs had a feast when we got home).

Pete the chef popped his head round the door to check everything was OK. "We're known for our big helpings," he said kindly, seeing me struggling with my mountain of lovely food.

Gordon manfully polished off every scrap of his fish special. It looked and tasted superb. Large prawns, char-grilled squid, a smoked salmon potato cake, haddock with a deep-fried scampi topping... all served in a light sauce and with a rocket garnish.

This was fresh fish at its best. We eventually waddled out of the pub and set off for a drive to Wastwater (with a near-altercation with a bus load of Chinese tourists thrown in for good measure), feeling delighted with our unscheduled visit to the Cock and Bull.

Ravenglass had proved to be a thoroughly damp squib. But Gosforth came up trumps - not least with some throughly fantastic squid.

Ratings

Food 5

Service 5

Value 5

Atmosphere 4

Pros

Delightful village setting

Famed for its steaks

Generous portions

Cons

Glittery table tops

You'll need a hearty appetite

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