Mustard & Punch, Honley, Yorkshire

[Harters]

When you read that a place is a Good Food Guide “cooking 3” and does three courses for £21.50 and throws in a bottle of house wine between the two of you, then you have to get in the car and go give it a try. Unfortunately the wine offer doesn’t run on a Saturday night but that was the only real disappointment of tonight’s meal.

It’s a small shop-front place with a few tables on the ground floor and a few more in the cellar. If I have a criticism, then it is that it gets damned hot in the cellar. Serving staff are young, friendly and good at their jobs, keeping a ready eye open for what’s happening on each table. The menu offers half a dozen or so choices at each course and, whilst you can certainly pick a good meal at no extra charge, a goodly number of dishes carry supplements (but usually only a couple of quid).

My wife opened the evening with a very reasonably priced glass of house champagne (£5) and we nibbled on some homemade bread and aioli. Then she got stuck in to what was probably the best dish of the night. A disc of well flavoured black pudding sat on another disc of fondant potato, a Granny Smith sauce cutting through the richness. Nothing spectacular here – just good ingredients, cooked well.

She followed this with a rump steak, sauté potatoes, the crispiest tastiest onion rings you’ll ever want to find and a peppercorn sauce. Yes, of course it was a bit 1980s, but it was good eating.

I had a fishcake to start – good balance of potato and what I think was haddock. The surrounding sauce packed a punch – oil, capers, cornichons, samphire. I liked this. Less successful was my main – British rose veal served with pasta and a tomato sauce. Veal was fine (and I was pleased to see it on a menu); pasta was nicely al dente; sauce was mediocre.

A little dish of mixed veg was also served.

For dessert I had a vanilla pannacotta which sat on a shortbread. Good dish – the vanilla definitely in evidence. The other dessert was homemade ice cream – vanilla and orange, served with a chocolate sauce – which was pretty good.

Espresso was served hot and strong and was a good end to the meal. It had all been worth the 50 minute drive – if it was closer to home, we’d be in there every month.