A traditional 18th
Century Inn, The Assheton Arms in
the historic, untouched conservation village of Downham near Clitheroe, is a charming
Grade II listed pub with views over the Ribble Valley to Pendle Hill.
As part of the Seafood Pub Company (operated by Joycelyn Neve of the famous Neve
fishing family from Fleetwood), there is an obvious emphasis on serving quality
seafood but the menu also has plenty of options for meat lovers and veggies
alike. I went fishy:
Pickled cockles in spiced vinegar – for just £1.50 you can’t not order a bowl of cockles. I
asked on Twitter earlier for a better way of describing cockles other than
‘plump’… we came up with ‘cuddlesome’ and the Yiddish phrase ‘zaftig’ – both
seem fitting. My one niggle being a little too much sweetness in the vinegar
for my palate.
Devilled whitebait, kimchi mayonnaise – as tasty as these were, I’m a little annoyed with
myself for ordering whitebait without first checking with the Marine Conservation Society
website. A year or so ago in a post about the Pheasant Inn (see
here) I vowed not to eat them until they had been removed from the ‘fish to
be avoided’ list and their status had been lowered from 5 (the lowest
sustainability rating). The waiter assured me that they were ‘sustainable’ but
I should have checked for my own peace of mind.
Assheton Arm’s hand sliced smoked salmon, watercress, lemon & cracked
pepper – beautifully smoked salmon, produced onsite in their smokehouse using a
blend of cherry and mesquite smoke. Perfect smokiness for me; the flavours were
prominent without overpowering.
Whole lemon sole, cockle butter, samphire & new potatoes – this dish was a real joy. A
quick search on my blog shows that I’ve eaten a fair bit of lemon sole over the
past couple of years but I can’t recall when or where I last had one served so
delightfully in the classical way (although when ordering a ‘whole’ fish, I
expect the head to be on). Real punchy flavours from the rich, herby clam
butter.
Pineapple upside down cake with golden syrup and proper custard – a good ending to the
meal. It as light enough to be suitable for a summer’s day but still had those
comforting flavours of a proper homely dessert.
I’d definitely return to The Assheton Arms and am keen to try
the Seafood Pub Company’s other
places.
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The Fenwick Arms (A past subject of Kitchen Nightmares) sort of near me in Lancaster is one of them. I'm keen to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteA proper comfort meal. Now ive scoffed some proper dodgy items on my trips to Asia as you might imagine.Still couldnt eat a Whitebait with its head on....Yak.
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