The cosy restaurant at The Bower House
The Bower House Inn offers friendly service, excellent food and an award winning a la carte restaurant.
The beamed bar is served by a well stocked cellar with an interesting range of cask ales and fine wines. Crackling log fires and a warm friendly environment complete the scene for a quiet, relaxing holiday.
The restaurant, seating about 50, is a rambling room set out in a traditional local style - lots of stone, log fires and equine style pictures. The food, although rustic, is far from traditional pub food, a thankfully short but varied menu bears testament to a widely travelled but restrained hand in the kitchen.
For starters I went for the "when in Rome" option and tried the air-dried Cumbrian ham served with homemade tomato chutney. For me, the problem with dried ham is usually the size of the portions, two gossamer thin slices, which even when placed together and held up to a naked light bulb will reveal the wattage. Not so at the Bower House, the portion I was served, dining incognito by the way, was of trencherman proportions. Having never previously tried Cumbrian ham I have to report a giant thumbs up. Different in style to either Parma or Serrano I found it to have a much more distinctive "gamey" flavour and an altogether more satisfying texture. My partner, hereinafter referred to as the glutton, who sampled a slice or two, also thought I'd probably made the best choice. I however, was not allowed to taste her starter, an individual baby haggis with a warm Drambuie. An empty plate and a satisfied nod were as close as I got. Other starter choices included smoked trout pate with a crisp herb and leaf salad, pan-fried wild mushrooms with Scotch pancakes and a passing Feta cheese salad en route to an adjacent table looked excellent.
Recently I was set the not unenjoyable task of reviewing the best of Machester's Chintown restaurants. So it will come as no surprise to any of you that I am now a respected member of the northern Peking Duck cognoscenti, or so I thought. While the verdant, mutton studded hills of western Lakeland do not spring to mind as an oriental culinary mecca, the Bower House kitchen knows better. The Peking Duck I had for my main dish was outstanding, probably the best i've eaten this side of Hong Kong. All the correct spicing was present and correct along with that difficult to achieve balance between crispiness and fattiness. The glutton went traditional and ordered escalope of veal with ham and Gruyere cheese. Her refusal to offer me even an overcooked piece of melted cheese must be viewed as high praise. Vegetables were plentiful and cooked certainly to my liking, crunchy. Had we not chosen these dishes we would have happily struggled through most of the other main dish courses which included poached Halibut fillet with mixed capsicum sauces; breaded Shark steak with banana and mango chutney; or breast of chicken served with Thai rice.
The glutton made the best dessert choice with creme brulee and fresh apricots and I even managed a successful stab at a rogue apricot. Long regarded as an enemy to all desserts, Mr. Anti-pudding, I succumbed to the lemon cheesecake with raspberry coulis, if you like desserts i'm sure this was a good choice. I'm sticking to cheese which I am embarrassed to say was my next stop. All the cheese was in sound condition and the choice was impressive. We finished off with a couple of coffees and a bill for £63.00 which included a very palatable bottle of Australian wine whose name I have forgotten. Sensible people could spend considerably less than we did and experience quite an enjoyable meal. Bar meals are also available.
Apart from a few superficial changes it is clear Chris Webb and manager Richard Anderson have decided to abide by that sage piece of American advice, "If it ain't broke don't fix it."
Iain Gaynor
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