Our restaurant critic lets out his straining belt at The Rancliffe Arms in Bunny...
P
ECKISH weightwatchers passing through Bunny on the A60 are advised to gun the diesel (although not to
breach the village’s 30mph speed limit) and feed themselves cautiously in Loughborough or Nottingham. Bunny’s troughing stop is the Rancliffe Arms where portions are not for namby-pamby calorie dodgers. Rancliffe, by the way, was the name of the Irish peerage awarded to the Parkyns dynasty who lived at Bunny Hall. Some say the coaching inn was built by Sir Thomas Parkyns, who in the early 18th Century initiated an annual wrestling tournament on land nearby. The wrestling continued for almost a century until 1812 but if, like those grapplers of yore, you happen to be on a carbohydrate and protein regime the pub remains a useful stop. The Rancliffe title became extinct when the second baron checked out in 1850 but the ancient boozer perpetuates the name. My companion had advised me that the place was better for snack lunches and an impressive carvery than what the website described as its “Gastro” menu. On the strength of a third party’s recommendation, however, I ignored her hints and booked for dinner à deux. In an oak-beamed dining room with busy carpets and wallpaper we were served two substantial starters. My rich, home-made pate was very good indeed, although served with rather too many toasted triangles of second-rate bread. To my left, there were expressions of general disappointment about the lemon grass king prawn and sticky sweet chilli chicken skewers. As chefs tend to say to each other in those televised kitchen shoot-outs, “there’s a lot going on there, mate”– and not just with the name of the platter. It was a pretty ordinary affair, my companion felt. When the main courses came they were simply immense. My steak pie was delicious, with tender pieces of beef wrapped in a rich red wine sauce and topped with an outstandingly good shortcrust pastry. However there was far too much of it, and far too many pale, flaccid chips. My friend saw off most of her medium-cooked rump steak but stood no chance with the boiled potatoes. Spud after spud stretched across her plate into the middle distance. Even the battered onion rings came jumbo-sized, as if sliced from the prize-winning specimen at Bunny produce s h ow. It was all we could do to clear some plate space for transferring vegetables from our side dishes. The carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and green beans were all perfectly done.
FOOD SLEUTH J. H. Lewis
Rancliffe Arms, 139 Loughborough Road, Bunny. Tel 0115 984 4727.
www.rancliffearms.co.uk
The food
Liver and port pate with mango relish, £5.50 Lemon grass king prawn and sticky sweet chilli chicken skewers, £5.25 Rancliffe’s Prime Steak Pie, £11.25
Rump steak with fried mushrooms, onions and peppercorn sauce, £14.50 Nutty Pear and Cranberry Frangipane Tart
The drink
1 bottle Sunnycliff Shiraz 2 Americano coffees The bill £62.30
We eventually downed tools, panting, after eating barely half of what had been put before us – and felt slightly embarrassed at being party to such unnecessary waste. In the service of his readers, the Sleuth, shirt bursting at the seams, heroically ordered a dessert and saw off most of the nutty pear frangipane – which was agreeably light-textured and full of the advertised flavours. I offered a second spoon to my companion but the response was an arched eyebrow. In fairness, though, she spared me a “told you so” routine. The service? I’ve had worse, although there
was a case for ejecting the ill-mannered party of seven who, with no thought for other patrons, decided to turn the dining room into a karaoke bar. The compensation was a delicious Shiraz, the Sunnycliff from Northern Victoria, recommended last month by our wine writer Mary Trease. The Rancliffe Arms is an unpretentious hostelry offering no-nonsense tuck to trenchermen and women. In the main the quality is acceptable for the money, but the quantity is simply ludicrous, almost American in its wastefulness.
The Food Sleuth books tables under an assumed name and pays his own bills.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE TODAY 87
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