Clays of Broseley, Shropshire

I had wanted to try Clays of Broseley for my mum's birthday but wasn't overly keen on their menu when I looked at their website, I fancied steak so I sent them a message and to my surprise they replied and said yes we can put some steak on the menu, what sauce would you like and gave me a choice!  Wow, how is that for service!!

We parked in the public car park which was only over the road as the restaurant doesn't have parking.  The front of the restaurant is welcoming with a nice canopy.  We walked in and it is lovely and bright and clean and contemporary however we were seated downstairs which was a bit of a contast.  Lovely bare brick walls, with nice mood lighting, really cosy and welcoming yet still contemporary.

We started looking at the menus and there on an extra sheet was the special for today which was the steak in a red wine sauce I had spoken to them about.  They also had venison on their regular menu which is my favourite so hubby and I ordered one of each and swapped half and half :)  They also didn't have a childrens menu however the waitress advised that they could do smaller portions of anything on the menu for my daughter.  

We had crositini with olives and goast cheese for our starter which was beautiful and so tasty, they brought out a basket of bread with some stunning sundried tomato bread.  My daughter had mini fish with mashed carrot and swede and mashed potato and they were good enough to bring this out with our starters.

The venison and the steaks were cooked to perfection, they really were, we couldn't fault them and not an ounce of fat on them.  The sauce was beautiful and tasty and plenty of it.  We both had the baked white chocolate cheesecake for dessert which came with raspberries and raspberry coulis, this was beautiful and fluffy and tasty. I finished off with a baileys coffee which came with a lovely little meringue with a chocolate coffee ganache running through the middle.  

All in all a lovely meal, fantastic personalised service, lovely setting, I really could not find any fault!
 

The Hundred House, Norton - Game Night

The Hundred House is a local favourite of ours, it has 2 AA rosettes and prides itself for using local produce as well as herbs from their beautiful gardens.  We had gone in for a bite to eat earlier in the month and seen the game night advertised, being a big venison fan we booked it.  The price was £26.95 for three courses including bread.

Mark and I had the same starter of Mini Beef & Venison Burger, Moydens 1665 Smoked Cheese, Dill Pickle Relish served in a Brioche Bun.  The burger was really tasty and juicy, with a relish that complimented it perfectly, my only gripe about the burger was the brioche was a little dry.

For main course Mark had Wild Boar Faggots seasoned with Thyme & Parsley, Braised with White Wine Tomato, Beans & Bacon, as Mark said they weren't just faggots, they were really tasty and juicy with perfect accompaniments.  I went for Roast Hauch of Venison, Turnip & Prune Gratin, Cavolo Nero, Juniper & Port Wine Sauce - I know venison for starter and main, it is my favourite and you don't see it that often so I have to make the most of it when it's there!!  This was beautiful, the venison was cooked to perfection and sliced lovely and thinly, there was just enough sauce - quite often in some of these restaurants they just drizzle a little on to make it look pretty and there is never enough.  Here, there was enough to make it look good (ie not flooded in sauce) but also enough to taste good.

For dessert we both chose the same which was Rich Dark Chocolate & Blueberry Roulade with White Chocolate & Mint Ice Cream.  The desserts at The Hundred House have never excited me, we have probably been at least 10 times and never once have I seen a dessert that jumps out at me on the menu and I am a dessert person.  The choice was this, apple pie or pannacotta.  This was nice but it wasn't amazingly tasty like the starters and mains tend to be, the ice cream was very good and I am not normally keen on ice cream but the roulade was just a roulade and nothing special. 

It was a lovely night, nice food, cosy fires - looking forward to game season and another game night as we will be back again!

Willo Game

Mark texted me to say he fancied a barbeque when I got back from the festival so it was my job to find some nice sausages.  I had come across some wild board sausages and some venison sausages on one stand but had felt the texture was a little lumpy so I had a look round for more.

I stumbled across Willo Game who has some venison merguez sausages for tasting – so venison is my favourite meat and when I have been to France I have always loved their merguez sausages so for me this was a match made in heaven.  The sausage was lovely and smooth so I decided to buy some.  It was three packs for £10 and there are about 8 sausages in a pack so this was a bargain, the other stand was the same price but there were less sausages in each pack.  I settled for venison merguez, Toulouse wild boar and wild boar, chilli and garlic. 

We barbequed the three types of sausages and none of them disappointed, they were all a lovely texture without any hard lumpy bits.  The merguez were the tastiest sausages ever, the chilli had a bit of a kick and the Toulouse were also really tasty.  Will be ordering meat from them in the future

http://www.willogame.co.uk