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Longridge Restaurant, Lancs


YKL

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Just wanted to post a note about a very nice Sunday lunch I had with family at the above. I think it’s the flagship one amongst Paul Heathcote’s group of restaurants, and perhaps the only one with a Michelin star at the moment?

Anyway, we rolled up at 1pm and went straight to the table, although we did notice a very cosy bar area at the front where others sat perusing the menu. The website notes that it’s been recently refurbished, but since this was my first visit, can’t give you any comparisons. The restaurant seems to be a series of interconnecting rooms, with tasteful cream and deep red walls, adorned with various paintings and photos of the kitchen. Our table faced the windows into the kitchen which gave us tantalising glimpses of the work and food.

Four of us (including the thirteen year old nephew – this would be a test!) ordered from the bargainous set lunch menu - £14 for 2 courses and £17 for three courses – that’s practically free! Mum just wanted a main so she went alc. So, what did we actually eat?

Well we nibbled on some very tasty olives and fresh bread (think there were ciabatta-like rolls, and some swirly rolls had olives / tomato in them) to start with, before moving to salmon with chive (I think) mayonnaise, potted goosnargh duckling and grilled goat’s cheese with vine tomatoes. My salmon was delicious, perfectly cooked (i.e. a little bit rare in the centre) on a huge pool of mayo and a few dressed leaves. Was also rather beautifully presented on a square glass plate. I didn’t manage to get a fork to my sister’s duck or goat’s cheese starters in time, but if we’re judging by speed of scoffing and “mmm” noises then they hit the mark.

Then onto the main course. Mum had some gammon with dumplings and vegetables cooked in stock broth which was an enormous hunk of tender meat – and she certainly seemed to enjoy it. The rest of us all went for the roast Forest of Bowland beef – done medium, medium rare or rare according to each of our personal preferences. Normally I try and persuade my fellow diners to have something different so that I get to taste theirs in exchange for a mouthful of my food. However, the plates of beef that had passed our table already looked far too tempting to pass up. Will have to go back to try spinach and nutmeg quiche, or turkey with beetroot relish or hake with a mild curry sauce. And boy did we make the right choice! The beef was incredibly tender and melt in the mouth, so that Liam’s comment that there were no serrated edges on the knives was not an issue. My sister felt the sauce / gravy was too seasoned or dominant, and she may have had a point. The yorkshires were also perhaps a little too stodgy for my liking – but we just fed them to my nephew! Still – relatively minor quibbles.

Now if we were sensible decent folk, we would have stopped there. But when faced with the option of lemon cheesecake and raspberry sorbet, bread and butter pudding with clotted cream and poached apricots and apricot bakewell with crème anglaise ….. well, it would have been rude not to!! (I blame the party who had a huge pile of profiteroles with a spun sugar crown – they made me have sugar cravings )

And they were GORGEOUS :wub: . My B&B pudding was a huge quivering crispy buttery creamy mass of unctuousness. (best comedy moment was when my sister took an enormous spoonful of whipped cream to cut the richness – but turned out to be clotted cream!). The lemon cheesecake was also good, and sublime when combined with the fruity raspberry sorbet. However, the winner was the warm apricot bakewell, pastry so short that it shattered into buttery crumbs, melt in the mouth almond filling and altogether one of the finest dessert experiences of my life. And there has been some serious research on my part! Eyes rolling and speechless appreciation all round the table on that one.

With bottles of water, a few glasses of wine, some tea and 10% service – bill was £119 for the five of us.

So – to sum up, fantastic food and service, nice setting and if you do the set lunch thing, so cheap it’s practically free. For those of you who haven’t tried it – maybe the website here - (follow the link to Longridge restaurant)… will tempt you. It’s only about 5-10 mins from jn 32 or 31a of the M6 so not difficult to get to either. I certainly intend to go back – and may consider eating nothing but pudding … but that would mean missing out on some fine cooking for the main as well. Still – nice to have such choices!

Cheers

Yin

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This was a 2 star restaurant in its heyday, before heathcote spread himself too thinly and concentrated on mediocre brasseries.

Immortalised in the book rhubarb and black pudding, which is an interesting read.

sounded a great place in the book, hopefully it still has some of the charm.

cheers

gary

you don't win friends with salad

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Thanks for the report Yin. Despite Heathcote's expanding empire, we hear little of him these days. I'll always be grateful that he opened a restaurant in Preston. I was stuck there for two weeks a few years ago, and it was the only thing that kept me sane.

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Yin,

Thanks for the information. I had often thought about trying this place in its previous incarnation as the eponymous Heathcote's. But we always seem to end up at The Inn at Whitewell , in the forest of Bowland instead. I noted that they have made an attempt to make the place much more accessible - hence the name change and the difference in the style of food. Gone, for example, is the £60 tasting menu. A shame he couldn't quite keep this flagship at that level and although it pains me to do so - I would agree with Gary, that seems he spread himself a little too thin in the business stakes. The missus reported a poor meal at Simply Heathcote's in Manchester whilst on business a couple of years back.

Glad to hear you had a good meal though and one certainly can't argue with the pricing. May well give it a try when next in God's county.

Cheers

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But we always seem to end up at The Inn at Whitewell , in the forest of Bowland instead.

ooh yes - Inn at Whitewell is good, as is the Spread Eagle at Sawley (think it's linked to the Punch Bowl Inn at Crosthwaite?)

all this nice food - so little time!

Yin

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  • 2 years later...

I've just come across this story of Sunday lunch at the Longridge restaurant - we did this same deal a month ago and I feel obliged to tell anyone in the area to get down there to sample this great value offering...

One marker of Paul Heathcote's status as an institution around those parts is that the local bus-stop is named after him. I was particularly taken by this (to my partner's bemusement - perhaps it's a boys' thing?) - she dragged me away into this very neat and tidy place in a row of cottages: it feels pretty intimate, friendly and cosy, and the service continued this theme. As the small bar was full, we went straight to our table and encountered the menu. As legend tells it, Heathcote is a longstanding champion of Lancastrian cuisine and while not as evident at Sunday lunch as on his evening menus, I still tested this reputation by ordering the salad of black pudding, baby gem, egg, and mustard-grissini. I knew this was a relatively cheap, one-starred place and I knew it had lost stars in the past, so I wasn't really expecting anything too extraordinary - but the Black pudding was perhaps the best I've ever had. The meaty, fleshy texture combined beautifully with the soft-poached egg. I'd have happily had it twice. My partner chose a soup that was packed with flavour and boasting a rich, smooth texture she was very pleased with.

We never have Sunday lunch so, flushed by the novelty of the occasion, and curious to see what arrived, we'd ordered the pork and beef dishes for mains. The meats were cooked perfectly, as were the potatoes and veg that accompanied them (although the Yorkshire pudding was a little too dry, I thought). A rich, hearty Puglian Salice Salentino (I think), reasonably priced by the glass, provided robust company for the beef. Ours weren't adventurous choices and I think we ended up with the solid dishes that serve the more traditional tastes of some of the clientele. That said, it was very tasty and filling and the portions were very generous for this level of restaurant. Even my Dad couldn't complain about "poncey food and small portions" here!

Deserts were a small blackberry and apple crumble for my partner: by contrast with the mains, this was a small dish. A serving mistake, we noted, when the next table got an appreciably bigger portion. I didn't care too much as I was transported by my Bread and butter pudding with apricots and cream. This was a sticky, tasty sublime treat - with the apricots especially bouncing off the flavours of the pudding. The coffee was also surprisingly good.

I had a feeling this was going to be a bargain from my recollection of the guides, but when the menu came I realised just what a steal it is: two courses for £16.50 and deserts for £3.50. It felt a bit odd dining at Michelin-rated place but paying street-corner prices - not taking a hit in the pocket seemed to detract from the usual experience. By contrast with more consciously upscale places perhaps the service was a little slow at times (although they were packed full of punters); conversely, the maitre 'd / manager was very friendly, very chatty, and seemed to know everyone dining there. We'd return, no question. With very good food at standard pub prices, this must be hard to beat?

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  • 4 months later...

Just wanted to add my praise for what must be the best value starred restaurant around.

Went for lunch for my girlfriend's birthday with a group of friends whom have never been anywhere with a Michelin star.

Food was excellent, service was very good considering how young most of the staff were and the maitre'd was warm and welcoming.

You'd be hard pressed to get better food for your money and I for one will be going back.

Adam

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