CARTMEL and good food have a synonymous relationship, with the village world famous for Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume. But everywhere you look in this charming village you will find restaurants and pubs serving food of the highest quality. The Royal Oak Inn is no exception to the rule.
On Saturday evening I took a trip to The Royal Oak Inn for a family meal as it was somewhere we had never been before. In fact, we had never eaten out in Cartmel so a visit to the village was long overdue.
On arrival, it was very clear that The Royal Oak Inn is a traditional English country pub to the core, with the bar buzzing with villagers and visitors and the interior featuring a focal fireplace and sturdy wooden furniture. The atmosphere was very lively and I was very pleased to have taken the precaution of booking a table as every seat was occupied with somebody engrossed in conversation or enjoying their food.
After ordering our drinks and taking our seats, it was time to look at the menu.
The starter selection was what you would expect to see in most English pubs and included garlic bread, soup of the day, chicken wings and BBQ ribs. I opted for the hake goujons, served with Malton salt, tarragon sauce and rocket. Other family members went for the leek and potato soup and a breaded garlic mushroom tower, commenting highly on them both.
The hake goujons were wonderfully crispy and the tarragon sauce added a richness and heat to the dish. It was presented nicely on slate and was a very pleasant introductory course. It was priced at £5.95 so was quite reasonable.
The main options were much more varied than the starter choice and included lots of varieties of pizza and burgers. I also noted there was good vegetarian and gluten free choice.
I went for the mysterious sounding true grit pie, which was a minced beef, tomato and red wine based pie with wild mushrooms, celery, spinach, and topped with mash and cheese.
It was piping hot and a hearty pie if there ever was one. The dish was just the right size and the mashed potato was very creamy, with the celery and spinach adding to the different textures.
The meat was tasty, well cooked and well seasoned, and the tomato sauce was the perfect thing to dip slices of toasted bread into. It wasn’t until ordering a dessert that I realised the dish was supposed to have come with chips.
The main price was £16.95, which was a bit more than I would normally expect to pay but nevertheless the quality of the dish made up for it as it was very tasty and something I wouldn’t ordinarily pick from a menu.
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My sister ordered the curry of the day – which was red Thai – and my parents went with scampi and gammon, with no complaints and empty plates.
The dessert was a bit of a disappointment. To begin with, there wasn’t much choice beyond chocolate, with chocolate brownie, chocolate fudge cake and chocolate and toffee cheesecake three of the six options, the others being sticky toffee pudding, ice cream and a dessert of the day, the latter of which we were told had sold out.
It didn’t matter to me as ordering a chocolate dessert was never out of the question, but my sister did say it would have been nice to have had a fruit cheesecake, possibly strawberry or raspberry, as an alternative.
When it came, my chocolate brownie was slightly on the small size and therefore a bit overpriced at £5.95. It was nevertheless very tasty, with a crunchy biscuit base, and it was a great end to the three courses.
Overall, our experience at The Royal Oak Inn was a great one and the young woman who served us was very friendly. It is a popular pub and it was wonderful to see it so busy on a Saturday evening - this is always a good indicator that the management are doing something right.
I would truly recommend popping into this quaint pub the next time you visit the village. It would be an ideal place to try lunch at as well as the pizzas and burgers which passed us by looked delicious and the perfect midday meal.
There is huge competition for dinners in Cartmel but The Royal Oak Inn certainly stands out and is a great place to try.
Ratings
Food 3/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Value 3/5
Service 3/5
Pros and cons
Pros: Wonderful, country pub setting; plenty of traditional English food; friendly staff.
Cons: Quite expensive desserts and lack of choice not including chocolate; missing chips.
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