A walk in the Lakes
The Lake District is bloody glorious. It’s without doubt the most beautiful corner of England (and I’ve been to all the corners) and more and more it’s also got plenty of fantastic places to eat. But food aside, you need to get up into the fells. You can head up onto mighty Helvellyn or Scafell Pike, or you can take an easier ramble up Catbells, but whatever you do you need to get some height and then walk and see.
And when you get back, and have cleaned the mud off and got your fell-weary limbs into fresh clothes, you could cap off the perfect country day with The Drunken Duck – an absolutely perfect country pub.
Bread and a nibble
It sits alone in wild hill country, with a view of the fells and Ambleside below, and has a rambling four or five rooms full of tables and a busy bar full of excellent modern local beer. Their kitchen manages a very clever thing: the food is all resolutely comfortable, country and delicious yet they absolutely refuse to fall back on old pub dining staples. Our beautifully crusty sourdough bread doesn’t come with olive oil and balsamic, no. It comes with pine oil and stout vinegar, and I can report that to be an infinitely superior and delicious experience!
So I start with a gruyere souffle sitting on top of a mess of slow-cooked onions and topped with a big handful of toasted almonds. It’s cheesy, scrunchy, cosy, oniony good. Maureen has a kipper scotch egg on a big puddle of homemade brown sauce, and the combination is killer. The amount of smoked fish in there just right, not overpowering.
Kipper scotch egg
My main is a generous portion of venison haunch, roasted very rare indeed and served in thick, delicious purple slices. Salt-baked swede joins up with toasted seeds and other roast veggies in a heart-warming winter dish. Maureen goes for shiitake dumplings with a hearty helping of punchy kimchi and a red pepper broth. The broth is deep and clear at the same time, soaking wonderfully into the dish. The menu fails to mention the huge pile of other mushrooms heaped on the plate with the dumplings; it’s an absolute fungal feast.
We were too stuffed for pud, but on another day we stopped in for tea and couldn’t resist a plate of fluffy pancakes with chestnut custard and spicy stewed plums. Magic. And an excellent apple crumble.
The Drunken Duck has rooms too, and I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t be disappointed. It might even make for the perfect weekend break in the Lake District. But if you base yourself somewhere near Ambleside then I’d say lunch or dinner at the Drunken Duck should definitely be on your itinerary somewhere!
For pics of the Lakes, here’s a post from my other blog: Otter Adrift.
Venison haunch
