The Shoulder Of Mutton Reviewed

IT must have been a surprised cow. 

 Yates' consistently make a destination of a pub halfway to heaven in a small village in the West Pennines.

During WWI a German zeppelin invaded UK air space over the North Sea and bumbled towards Manchester. The zeppelin ditched bombs over Holcombe, the village above Ramsbottom, where the only casualty was a surprised cow.  

I'm thinking it went like this: ‘Munch, munch, I like grass, munch, munch, wouldn't eat anything else, what's that whistling noise. What the f...’ Bang.

And up above: "Herr Capitan vith zis glorious action ve have severely damaged der Englander var effort."

I told my sons the story of the cow that died for its country in the Shoulder of Mutton pub as one of them ate bovine - namely a rump steak. I took their smiles to mean, 'I wish one day I grow up as brainy and with as many fascinating anecdotes as my dad'.

Church, pub, altitude

I was in a good mood. I love moorland settlements such as Holcombe, could live there if I didn't like the city so much. I adore the solid millstone grit buildings, the higgledy-piggledy relationship between church, pub, terraced houses, the fields and the surprise woods in deep cloughs.

It's getting up high which brings the euphoria. Holcombe, is, what, 700 feet above sea level, which means - even in the twilight - you can see Manchester and Beetham Tower.

Manchester fifteen miles away from Holcombe village

The food is good in the Shoulder of Mutton. It comes from the talented hands of Chris Yates, a chef we've praised before on Confidential. He runs the pub with his charming brother Dan Yates who is 21 and very serious about making the business a success.

The showpiece starter was 'Ashcroft's baby beetroots, homemade thyme goats cheese, lemon, olive crisps with herbs and flowers' (£7.95). This was such a pretty dish I wanted to turn it into a Lady's Day hat at Ascot.

I have no idea who Ashcroft is but he has a way with beetroot and Yates has a way with this dish. Everything worked, it was moist, yet with cracking 'bite', flavours flooded the mouth. I want a packet of the lemon and olive crisps. A 9/10 easy.

Mr Ashcroft knows his beetroot and Mr Yates knows how to present it

The boys shared a soup, the 'Potato, leek, wild garlic with bacon puffs' (£5.50). Smooth and rich as a Rockefeller this one, another excellent job of work with the wild garlic a fun reference to the name of nearby Ramsbottom.

Wild Garlic is also known as ramson: Ramsbottom means - disappointingly - 'valley of the wild garlic'.

The older son, Oliver, declared it the best soup he'd ever had.  

Best soup ever?

Mains didn't fail.

The 'rare breed pork loin' (not your common pig then), Bramley apple, pak choi, black pudding and pork quaver (£17.95) was the star. It again showed flair in the choosing of the ingredients and then displaying nous in the elegant manner they were put together. The cubes of black pudding were a delight.

Pork should have more presence in restaurants; loin as good as this would be welcome on most menus if delivered with imagination, good for the bottom line as well.  

Pork of joy

Inspiration for foodA guinea fowl, wheat fed (of course) from the vast fowl and goose ranches of Goosnargh (naturally) came with a crackingly timed and crunchy glazed carrot modelled on Concorde and was almost as good as the pork.

Poached ballantines of the fowl (£17.95) were chunky yet subtle in texture and flavour. A 6oz rump steak (£14.95) did the job for Ralph, the thirteen year old, who singled out the complex and utterly gorgeous gravy for acclaim.

Ballantines about to take off

The mains came with potatoes and vegetables as standard, no outrageous pricing scams on side dishes. Well done The Shoulder.

We finished with an excellent pear and apple crumble distinguished by a proper custard for £5.95, and a cheese board for £6.50 that provided an excellent Lancashire blue but also a Wensleydale containing bits of fruit. No cheese should be ruined with embedded fruit, just as nobody should use an exclamation mark in prose unless they're a teenager or in PR. Not necessary.

Crumble and custard: the simple things in life

For drinks I had a decent enough, if unspectacular, Hawkshead bitter, followed by a far more satisfactory Rioja.

The Yates' consistently make a destination of a pub halfway to heaven in a small village in the West Pennines. It's a place to which I regularly return. The interior of the Shoulder is cute too, a classic here and there layout, haphazard rather than planned.

Combine a meal with a walk up to Peel Tower on Holcombe Hill, another couple of hundred feet higher, for a spectacular view, and it makes for a perfect weekend trip.

This visit was no different. As we left the skies were clear, the stars were out, we checked but there were no sinister zeppelins nosing over the ridge. Manchester twinkled to the south, our bellies were full and the cows were safe. 

Rating: 15/20
Food: 8/10 (soup 8, beetroot 9, rump steak 8, pork 8.5, chicken 7.5, crumble 8, cheeses 7)
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3.5/5

The Shoulder of Mutton

A lovely rump