The Spiced Pear

Feels special from the moment you arrive. Excellent food. Excellent service. By far the best restaurant we’ve eaten in since moving up from London. Well priced too if you go before 7pm!

Really excellent place for afternoon tea. Well designed room with a fantastic view; assorted period crockery and very nice cake washed down with Yorkshire tea. Hard to beat.

We visited this gem of a place twice in a week.
The restaurant falls into four areas. You enter into the lounge/​bar area, perfect for meeting up with friends and having a drink before settling in for your meal. To the left is the tea room and to the right is the restaurant. There is also an outdoor patio, perfect for a drink and chat whilst waiting for your meal to be prepared.
On our first visit we had the afternoon tea, I had the Gentleman’s afternoon tea and my wife had the regular. It was everything you could wish for, wonderfully presented in a light, airy and beautifully themed tea room. The star of the show was, in my opinion the filled Yorkshire pudding with horseradish. It was simply a delight and set quite a high standard.
We enjoyed our tea so much that we booked to return for an evening meal later in the week, hoping that the restaurant could hit the same high standards. The restaurant opens Wednesday — Saturday for the Al la Carte menu with a Sunday lunch to boot. We went on a Thursday evening and it was busy without being over-​crowded and just the right side of lively.
We were invited to sit on the patio to sip our apéritif and peruse the menus. The menus contained a fair amount of choice and varied in price. The wine list was also extensive and suited many tastes and pockets. Once we had ordered we continued to enjoy the early evening sunshine whilst our starters were prepared.
The room was nicely appointed, with backlit mirrors to one side which off-​set the lack of natural light due to the windows proximity to the hillside into which the restaurant is built.
Our chosen starters were the chicken Caesar salad and a dressed crab salad. Both were wonderfully fresh and seasoned to perfection. The chicken was so tasty and the dressing fresh and plentiful. The crab was a treat to the eye as well as the tongue.
For our mains we had lamb and venison. Both were served three ways, the venison in a shepherds pie, medallions and a fritter. The lamb, perfectly pink was served as a faggot, medallions and crispy breast with an auberge purée & tart yoghurt dressing. I’m very fussy about my lamb, it’s usually hideously over-​done & often over seasoned. This wasn’t — I savoured every mouthful of every constituent part. The lamb was sourced from the nearby Cannon Hall farm, Well known & loved in the area and you can see why. The sides are well seasoned & presented too. I’d advise that most sides could be shared between two unless you were very hungry and then maybe order a side of potatoes each.
To finish with we had the cheeseboard. Again, beautifully presented with care and consideration. There was a nice selection of relishes, fruit and celery and as many crackers as you need. A cheeseboard can be a wonder or a missed opportunity, this was comfortably within the wonderful side of the dividing line and I’d happily order it again — not something I do often.
All in our bill was a little over £60 per person including drinks — a price that was more than fair for the quality of food and service. If I had eaten at a similar standard within London I would expect that to be closer to £80−90 pp.
The staff were attentive without ever making you feel that you were being rushed or hurried in any way. Even when we were the last couple in the restaurant, our request for a final drink was eagerly entertained. It is clear that the staff have been carefully chosen and well drilled. There is an enthusiasm to deliver good service that ran through every member of staff that we spoke with. I got a very clear impression that they were all part of a happy team.
Any grumbles? Yes, but nothing that would ever make me think twice about returning. Namely lack of wifi — it’s in a bit of a data black spot and it’s crying out for a public connection, although this is apparently something the owners are considering. Secondly, the height of the steps from the car park are a little on the steep side and whilst this could well be a result of the location it’s something I would try to resolve if I were to host a business there. At the very least I would have a friendly warning sign for new visitors. As I said though, these are the meanest of niggles and I am eager to pay them another visit.

Afternoon tea in the tea room can only be described as a delight. The setting is spot on for a traditional tea room with a modern feel, everyone in our party commented on the décor and colour scheme.
The afternoon tea itself was nicely presented and tasted great. We spent around 2 hours here and by the time we left it had become really busy, and deservedly so. Check it out!