Review: The Pack Horse, Hayfield

We’ve got a new vice. It’s this: self-catering stays attached to National Trust properties. Okay, not as exciting as you were hoping. But so far it’s been great, staying in a historic building, in what have been huge and well-equipped apartments or cottages, and with free access to roam around the grounds (when no-one else is there!) and visit. Cotehele in Cornwall was the first (brilliant!) and this time we stayed at Lyme Park in the Peak District.

It’s not all self-catering though, we found time to go out for an utterly brilliant pub dinner at The Packhorse in Hayfield. This is a 100% proper pub, but of course with the food being this good it’s also fully laid out for dinners in the evening. The menu is more inventive than the usual, without trying in any way to be fine dining. Just delicious.

Starters were crispy pigs trotter with gribiche and chicken liver parfait. The trotter was a nicely breadcrumbed baton, full of flavour, with a good tangy gribiche and an even more tangy piccalily emulsion. Wicked stick of crackling on top. My parfait was an excellent specimen, smooth as silk with a great balance of fat and iron. Nice chutney. But make way for the main courses, for they were the stars…

Truffle butter chicken kyiv. Let that sink in. It oooooozed with exactly the warm buttery-truffly scent your brain is imagining. Paired with a good rich Lincolnshire poached veloute, a really nice thing to be scooping up with chunks of kyiv.

Meanwhile Maureen had a hand-raised shortcrust pie, full to the brim with the most stunning beef curry. I’m hopeless at describing the distinct mellow-earthy-toasty flavours of good curry gravies, but regardless of this being a pub in the Peak District, this sat handsomely among the top five curry gravies ever, elevated a country mile above a typical curry house madras. Garlicky mash and honey-roast carrots were good. The pastry was top-notch.

Rounded out with a splendid creme brulee, and a good selection of beers and wines, we left utterly delighted. The Packhorse deserves to be a star on the culinary map of British dining pubs. It’s around £35 for 3 courses before drinks. Splendid.