On a snowy Tuesday evening in January and with the aid of our trusty Sat-Nav, we went in search of…read morethe Cock Inn, a place reputed to serve great homemade food. The car park is in the front of what is a fairly large pub, courtesy of its large dining room extension in 2000. Having negotiated some fairly narrow roads to get there, it was good to get inside the warm cosy surroundings and peruse the menu. The bar area of the Cock Inn was packed with locals and the bar itself had a wide range of drinks on offer, sadly driving, I had to stick to coke. The dining room was large with a variety of seating, tables in the window, to make the most of what I suspect is a tremendous view, large tables in the centre for groups and cosier tables for couples. The beamed ceiling awash with what looked like Christmas tree lights, and even trees that appeared to be coming out of the floor, decked with the same lights and the occasional Robin. Sounds strange, but it really did work, the feeling of a calm relaxing environment was great after a day's work.
Menu wise, not huge, just right, we skipped the starters and went straight for the main courses, a good variety around the £10-11 mark, like gammon, various different pies, cod and other slightly more expensive dishes like rump of lamb and steak. I went for the fish pie, clearly homemade, a large portion packed with fish (cod, salmon etc), perfectly cooked in a creamy but not overpowering sauce topped with mash potato and a sprinkle of cheese, comfort food personified! My wife had the steak and ale pie, packed with filling, gravy and a thin pastry top, so good. The accompanying peas, carrots, new potatoes and cabbage were the perfect sides.
Probably full enough to stop, we ventured to have a dessert, because we were so enjoying the food and the ambience so much. Classics like a cheese board, sticky toffee pudding were on offer, but I had the chocolate fudge cake, with ice cream, slightly disappointing, could have done with being a little more chocolatey. My wife had the homemade apple, date and ginger crumble; an unbelievably good crumble, arguably the stand out dish of the night, I was lucky enough to be able to finish it off, so often desserts flatter to deceive, its nice when a dessert lives up to its billing. On the completion of our meal, we immediately booked in for Sunday lunch in few weeks time, we were very impressed!
