Local Brand Showdown: Squamscot Soda vs. Capt'n Eli's Soda

Local Brand Showdown:

Squamscot Soda vs. Capt'n Eli's Soda

Squamscot Soda

Capt'n Eli's Soda

I originally started this as a review of a Squamscot Soda, a local brand that is starting to gain popularity and notice around our region here, until the idea was posed to me, to do a comparison between it, and another local brand soda starting to gain popularity and sales called Cap't Eli's, which I also intended to review, I actually intend to start doing a feature where I review local/regional brand things, which I think means i probably should make up a logo or something eh? Anyway I feel this should be fun, and if you have any local or regional brands of things you think i should give a review too, even if i gotta order it over the net, please leave me a suggestion, I really feel this could be a great thing. Anyway, lets get into this shall we?

During my trip over the weekend to Papa Joe's Humble Kitchen, I noticed that they sold a local brand of soda that I had been interested in giving a try, Squamscot Soda, made in Newfields New Hampshire, half way between Raymond and Portsmouth, and sold not only at their store and bottling plant, but at a growing number of groceries, mini-marts, markets and places to eat around the state, Squamscot calls itself an "old fashion soda" made in the old fashion way, with real cane sugar and real syrup and flavorings, nothing artificial, which I would assume is the closest to "all natural" one can get in the carbonated drink business. To give Squamscot a try I grabbed three of the flavors the diner hate, Root Beer, Creamy Orange and Lemon Lime, the two other flavors i left behind were cream soda and diet root beer, I figured the three I had would have given me a good enough example of what their flavors are like to have not needed the other two. So after driving home from my review where i picked them up, I put them in the fridge to chill over night for a proper coldness, as one does, then I got to drinking my three bottles.

Off the top, I can tell you, though the bottles were rather small, about the size sodas were in the 1960s near as I can tell, I am loving the whole glass bottle and the bottle cap retro feel, there is something about having to pop a bottlecap for those of us old enough to remember doing them all the time, that just takes you back, oh sure, maybe its not the same on a cold day as that loud SSSSS of popping open a modern can, but it does bring back memories, for me, of the ealy 1980s, and I guess for those older then me, it will take them back to when they would personally like to remember, either way, its a lovely touch, and really something I kind of wish the big companies would be serious about bringing back, even if just for the summers, mostly because I'd love to see modern kids trying to find an app to open a bottlecap, but that might be just me showing my age abit more then I care to do.

The first flavor I tried was Creamy Orange, which i guess is a mixture of cream soda and orange soda, I've never been a cream soda person, but orange, i do love me a good orange on a hot day in summer, and surprisingly, this was pretty good, I was abit worried with its "old fashion" way of being made, it might just taste like orange juice with carbonation, but thankfully, that wasn't the case, it had a nice cream flow to it, and a nice orange tang that was just the right mixture, I was rather surprised, but also kind of sad how quickly the small bottle had been finished, thats always a good sign for a product, next I tried the root beer, now I don't know about other places, but here in the New England region, we are serious about our root beer, we're picky as hell about what we drink and we're incredibly loyal, as we are with most things we like, i'd actually venture the only thing we're more hardcore about is ginger ale, sadly i couldn't find any ginger ale for this battle, oh well, next time right? The root beer is a strong and heavy bite to it, just the way i like my root beer, its pretty much a must honestly, that you have a lasting taste from your root beer, its gotta stick with you, and this did, it actually kind of reminds me of Birch Beer, which is also a favorite and has a similar kick in the head to it. Finally, I tried their Lemon Lime, I was expecting sort of an old timey tasting mountain dew or sprite, but surprisingly it was more like Mellow Yellow, something we don't have around here anymore, and is kind of missed, seriously it was great, it wasn't to sweet, it wasn't to over the top, it was a nice happy medium, honestly i was very impressed with it, and infact I was overly impressed with Squamscot over all, I wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were, it really was a surprise, a great surprise really.

I was first suggested to try Capt'n Eli's Soda when it was found at my local grocery, and the idea of putting both this and my recently purchased Squamscot was pitched to me, I was slightly worried about it honestly, sure I know that much like with the local beer renaissance sweeping New Hampshire and surrounding areas, there seems to be one involving soda as well, and though thats great for people that enjoy local product, that doesn't always been every single company is worthy of more then a try, and honestly a company thats website seems more interested in selling their comic book, action figures, and even a pokemon style collector card game related to its namesake, as well as not really having an easy to figure out website, things like that worry me, when a company seems more about the merch then product, that sort of stuff worries me, it makes me wonder that maybe they aren't fully focused and spreading themselves too thin around the markets they wanna get their share of, too many fingers in to many pies ruins everything you know what i mean?

Capt'n Eli's is made in Portland Maine and is apparently very popular up in the vacation state, but thats not always saying something Down Easters (for those outside of new england thats what maine people are called), are always blindly loyal to local product, so its not always best to get info on something made or from there, up there, the flavors we were able to find were Cream Soda, Black Cherry Pop, and Orange Pop. Now the native new englander in me can chuckle at someone this far north using the term "pop", which is more of a term from the southern states, but Maine is abit backwards, so you can let that sort of thing slide,

The cream soda was, well as one would expect for cream soda, not to strong, not to soft, somewhere in the middle with that almost root beer, but not really root beer flavor, it was ok, but to be fair, i'm not really a big fan of the flavor in general, so maybe thats just a pass. Surprisingly, the black cherry, was both very strong and very flavorful, i actually had the taste of it with me for awhile after drinking it, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense, i wasn't expecting much, but I was happy to find out this one had raised the bar pretty high up, but to be fair again, cream soda doesn't really leave the bar all that high to begin with, their orange soda though, that was abit surprising, orange soda is supposed to be both highly fizzy and strong orange, almost like biting into an actual orange, just with out getting the juice all over yourself or all that work cutting open the damn orange, this orange was just as strong as Squamscot's and actually smelled like an orange, which is always a great scent to go with it, honestly it was my favorite of the three.

So overall, they are pretty good companies, i would buy them both again, maybe different flavors in afew cases, but they were both pretty quality product, though if i had to pick a winner out of the two, i would go with Squamscot, i find they have more of a down home local feel, and they also have a larger selection of flavors, somewhere around 30 or so vs. 7 or 8 from Capt'n Eli, and they focus totally on their product, its not "oh hey also, we have soda, but why you're here, buy our comic book, action figures and pokemon style card game!" or something weird. Plus, I'm always a sucker for a company that makes their own version of Mellow Yellow. But thats just me, I'm just a guy that lives in New Hampshire, where we think Moxie is a legit drink that doesn't taste like battery acid and poop mixed... well some think that anyway.

So if you're abit curious and you wanna do a test for yourself, pick up afew bottles of each if you can find them and give them your own taste test, and like i said before, if you got a local or regional thing you think i should give a try and review, drop me a line, i'd love to hear and give it a go.


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Chris

Papa Joe's Humble Kitchen

Papa Joe's Humble Kitchen

237 South St

Milford, NH

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I guess this week has become a rarity for me, more then one review in the same week, and more so, two of those reviews, are of the same kind of place, a lovely little out of the way burger joint in the middle of my lovely valley that most of my state doesn't know exists, btw, my third review will be probably tomorrow and something totally different, but anyway back to this. After my review of Local Burger afew days ago, I was pointed in the direction of a place that is literally a little roadside burger spot, its called Papa Joe's Humble Kitchen, and I figured with it not being to far away, and I never being one to pass up a burger, because, you know, being american, I would give this little out of the way spot a go. And my oh my am I glad that I did. I must admit through I was expecting traditional stuff you would find at a roadside diner, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, ect, i was not expecting to find such high quality and lovely versions of it.

Literally just off the highway in Milford New Hampshire, in what looks like a small house converted into a small diner with pretty ample outdoor seating, is a little place called Papa Joe's Humble Kitchen, at first, it looks kind of like you might be in the wrong place, or maybe you're in some kind of general store converted from a home, or some other crazy thing that you would see in a small town like this, believe me, up here, I've seen homes turned into many a crazy form of store or place to eat, I think its a new england thing honestly. When you walk in the door to Papa Joe's you notice first how small the place is, and though thats not really a deal breaker, I've had some of the best food i can think of in the smallest places along the side of the highway, and honestly, I kind of was digging the whole few small tables and a makeshift lunch counter with chairs and the open kitchen right there infront of you feel, there is something authentic and truly american about such places, and i kind of worry sometimes these kind of places to eat are dying out, which honestly would be a real shame.

The menu at Papa Joe's really isn't that large, afew specialty burgers, side from your standard fair of regular burgers, double burgers and bacon cheeseburgers, they also have "the taco burger" which is a burger seasoned with taco seasoning, and served with salsa, sour cream and cheese, "the oriental cowboy", which is a burger with teriyaki, wasabi ranch dressing, chinese noodles, and coleslaw, "the cardiac burger" which is a double burger with genoa salami, pepperjack cheese, onion rings, cheddar cheese, bacon, jalapenos, lettuce and creole mayo, and "The Spartan Burger", a cheeseburger covered in barbecue sauce, a hot dog, bacon, onion rings and lettuce. The Spartan is a burger created to celebrate the local high school basketball team won the state high school basketball championship. There are also burgers named after, what i am assuming are the owners kids, "Matt's Steakhouse Burger", with cheese, bacon, onion rings, and ranch dressing, and a "Kelsey Burger" which is basically a buffalo burger, oh and they have a veggie burger incase you know some prius driving hippie who doesn't really care for any kind of meat.

Their sides, though also not a large amount, are pretty awesome, aside from five kinds of french fries; regular, bacon and cheese, chili, buffalo and ranch, and cajun, style, they also offer sweet potato fries, onion rings, and poutine, that weird crazy canadian thing with gravy and cheese curds, they also offer both a regular and chili and cheese hot dog option, you can also get fried pickles, fried chicken tenders, a bowl of chili, a BLT, a grilled cheese, they also offer salads and afew cold sandwiches as well, if you're not up for the off the griddle stuff. They also have an incredibly large take home and catering menu, which you can order or buy at the diner itself, and though I didn't try any of these, so be able to fairy assess them, I will admit, i kind of wish afew of the things on those menus were available in the diner itself, all they seemed to be missing for a perfect menu for their kind of location was some chicken wings, shepard's pie, meatloaf, this creation of theirs called "chicken cobbler", and afew other things, as well as desserts, all of which were available in their expanded take home/catering menu, but to be fair, faulting them for such choices would be kind of silly and down right bitchy, but who knows, maybe they'll change these things down the road, time will tell right?

My mother, who once again joined me on this adventure in stomach filling, ordered The Spartan and a small order of onion rings, I ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger with pickles, some chicken tenders and the bacon and cheese fries, unaware that the chicken tenders came on a bed of fries, which was ok, it allowed us to try two different kind of fries as well as the onion rings, we each got a diet coke and sat down and watched the awesome show that is cooking in a small roadside eatery like this. The cook and his two children, who i am assuming were the other workers were amazing in what they did, one kept prepping, the other worked the counter and prepped, and as is the normal main attraction at such an establishment, the cook went to work. I wasn't paying total attention to what he was doing, but i gotta tell you, this guy is amazing at what he does, he seasons the burgers with, what I am guessing, is a form of steakhouse spice rub, or maybe one of the many dry rub barbecue mixes out there, whatever it was gave the burgers the perfect mix of griddle and almost a smokey like flavoring, its like I've said before, its all about the seasoning when it comes to using fresh beef vs. prepackaged, and you can tell how much a cook cares by how well a burger is seasoned, sometimes they go overboard, and thats ok, but this time, not the case, perfect, with just the right amount of grease to give it that true "side of the highway" feel, honestly thats something you can't bottle, you have it, or you don't. the bacon was a nice middle ground, crispy and flavorful, but not to crunchy, and not all the fat cooked out, honestly thats the best way you can cook bacon. On The Spartan, the odd addition of the butterflied hot dog makes the burger a whole new thing, as it was said, its like going to a cook out and having everything all at once, so much so, i apparently need to try it myself when we go back again. The sides, honestly were perfect, the fries were light and crispy, often times in this kind of diner you find the fries are just heavy lead like balls of grease, and when you add the cheese and bacon, they just become magically good, though they use pre-melted cheese, or as a friend overseas calls it "vat cheese", thats fine, normally cheese wouldn't give you the same flavor or texture, plus its real chopped up bacon, which kind of makes up for it. The Onion Rings were pretty light and crunchy, also made on properly, i am rather picky about my onion rings, i like mine with thin slices of onion, these were alittle thick for me, but my mom liked them, infact she couldn't keep stop eating them till she forced herself too, always a good sign when that happens. The chicken was also pretty amazing, nicely cooked inside and out, crispy outside fluffy light inside, nice and tasty, I wasn't aware they came with fries, which is something they might wanna tell you on the menu, but as i said before, that was just a welcome surprise. Honestly the food was pretty damn good, specially for a place that looks like it was made out of someone's grandparents house.

So I guess the big question is, if you're driving by this little roadside, and you are feeling abit hungry, should you stop in and have a bite, or drive about 5 minutes south and into the center of Milford where there are some award winning places to eat all in one large circle, well the answer is simply, YES. See, lovely little hole in the walls like this are a dying breed here in america, oh sure there are those that are surviving and doing well, and you see them on local, regional or national television, but these small ones that don't really have big followings, or that many aren't aware of, are dying out. And honestly, the food here is far too good to let fade, sure I don't see Papa Joe's going away anytime soon, but its what it represents, the small place carving out a small niche of space in a landscape littered with fast food that barely serves meat, and doing it for the love of cooking good food for those that love to eat it. And to be honest with you, I can't wait to go back to Papa Joe's, the food, the places to eat, both indoor and out, are such a great location, and its actually a pretty good value too, honestly, if you're up for a drive into the country, where the air is fresh and clear and you can eat some lovely food in a lovely country setting, you should GPS Papa Joe's and give it a try. You will love it. I know I sure did. Oh and if you plan on coming back, get the free burger club card, for every tenth burger you order, you get one free, so if you have kids, that kind of is a great idea... 



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Chris


 

Local Burger

Local Burger

82 Main Street, Railroad Square 

Keene, NH

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I will let you all in on a secret, no matter how hard I might try and hide it by making it sound like i know my stuff about fancy foods and tons of homemade things, deep down, like every all american man, i am a burger guy. i know, shock right? Now when i go out for a burger, though I shamefully admit i have a weakness for a burger king bacon double cheeseburger, most of the time, i would rather go somewhere, abit upper scale, or that is atleast actually made of beef. And though that quest has taken me to many a local burger joint, its only recently taken me to a place, literally called, Local Burger. No, seriously thats its name, and i personally think its brilliant.

 

Located in the heart of Railroad Square in Keene, New Hampshire, is the second location for, what i am assuming is an attempt to expand into a regional chain, with their flagship location being located in downtown Northampton Mass. Local Burger is trying to be, as best i can tell, a somewhat more organic option to those that would wanna go to a higher end burger place like a Five Guys or one of those other higher end chains that are starting to spread out all over the united states. Local boasts locally raised grass fed beef as one of their choices of burger you can get, as well as one from the upper end of the Angus grading scale, though between you and me, i still kind of think the angus grading scale is nothing more then a marketing buzz term, but I digress, they also offer a turkey burger if you're not into beef, as well as a portabello mushroom made burger, and an all beef hot dog, cuz, why not? From these few choices, you can build your burger, or turkey burger or hot dog, or mushroom they're making to think for some reason is a burger even though it will always be nothing more then a horrible horrible mushroom all its life, sadly each topping you add costs a small amount to put on, which i assume is where they "get ya" as people say. but to be fair they do offer a pretty good amount of toppings for a small place, and they aren't all that badly priced per extra, but honestly, I don't like the idea of having to pay afew cents extra for barbecue sauce on my burger when Ketchup is free on the tables, that seems kind of redundant to me.

One of the saving graces of Local Burger though, is their "House Favorites" which is where i am assuming most of their orders come from, as well as their sides, I will get into the sides in alittle bit, but for now, lets have a look at the "House Favorites", again, its a small number of choices, but honestly, they're pretty damn amazing, atleast what we had on our trip in, there is "The Westhampton Burger", which is basically a bacon cheeseburger but with barbecue sauce on the bottom and ranch dressing on the top, in a surprising turn, they've brought the St. Louis staple of the "Juicy Lucy" here, for those that don't know what that is, its a double cheeseburger, fused into one, with the cheese in the middle, its tricky to make because the cheese must be perfectly melted so it oozes when you bite into it, the company's signature burger the "local burger" which is a double bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms and red peppers, both me and my mother who accompanied me on this visit are deathly allergic to mushrooms, so we kind of avoided that and the "amherst burger", which is a portabello mushroom burger, others include the "farmhouse turkey burger", which is a turkey burger with cheese, bacon, and some creation called honey dijon maple mayo, which sounds just amazingly good all things considered, a teriyaki burger which is a regular burger but with a spice of pineapple and teriyaki sauce, a southwestern burger which is just cheese and chili peppers, and because why not give us a curveball, a hot dog coated in Cap'n Crunch cereal and fried, then covered in buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing, because, you know, when you aim at college kids in a college town, hang over food is a must.

For our burgers, I had the westhampton burger, medium rare as a burger should be, the bacon was awesomely cooked, the burger was perfectly seasoned, the roll was even nice and hearty, I like when a place puts that kind of detail into their work, a bun is important even if most don't think its just there, it shows the care they put into putting together their menu, which is always a plus with me, the burger was seasoned great, my guess is salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder on each side as it cooks, honestly it was one of the best burgers I've had in months. My mother, who joined me on this adventure into foodery had the Juicy Lucy, having seen it many times on various tv shows and feeling happy the weekly special wasn't a kangaroo burger (I'll explain later), she got hers with just pickles and a tomato, cuz well thats how she was feeling like rolling today I guess, honestly, watching the cheese ooze out of that stuffed burger and pool in the basket it came in, truly was a thing of beauty, I was actually kind of jealous, well till she broke off a bit and told me i had to try it, this was my first experience with the juicy lucy, and it surely will not be my last, something about the mixing of the burger and the cheese being cooked inside the meat that just makes it so much better, honestly if you ever get a chance to try this thing, do not pass it up, you will regret it.

To go with our burgers we figured we would try some of the sides, their sides, like the burgers aren't very large in number, but thats alright, a small menu keeps a kitchen pretty much ontrack, their sides are truly where their uniqueness shines i think, they consist of; Handcut French Fries, Handcut Sweet Potato Fries served with maple mayo, Beer Battered Onion Rings with spicy ketchup, Fried Pickles with ranch dressing, Cap'n Crunch coated chicken tenders with a choice of afew different sauces either on them or to dip in, and buffalo blu cheese fries, which as you can guess are fries, covered in buffalo and blu cheese sauces. To try and get a good feel of the menu, we tried the regular fries, because a burger joint has to have good fries, the fried pickles, because my mother had never had them before, and the cap'n crunch coated chicken tenders with some honey barbecue sauce on the side, because, seriously how can you not try something like that if its on the menu? Its like begging you to try them. The fries were excellent, they weren't to crispy, and they weren't too soggy, they were seasoned perfectly and really were addictive, but they were no where near as addictive as the chicken tenders though, honestly, us here in the New England region are aware of a certain television food show that uses the term "a dish worth driving too", honestly, i would rive the half hour to Keene just for these tenders, i had no idea grounding up Cap'n Crunch cereal and coating fresh cut chicken tenders with it, then frying them would change the texture and the flavoring so much! but it did! in a good way! I honestly would go back just for that one side alone. Sadly through, the fried pickles, I could not say the same for, they have the same problem that i find most places that make their own pickles have, they can't properly give the pickle the several months it needs to fully transform into a pickle, they always leave them for only afew days, which though it gives you a nice crunchy pickle, doesn't really give you much more flavor then one bite, and afterwards all you taste is cucumber, Local Burger's fried pickles are no different, you get enough pickle taste in your first bite to know what you're eating, then you find yourself not really excited to take the next cucumbery bite because its just to bland, added to the fact they coat them weirdly, I at first thought they used the same cereal they use for the hot dog and the chicken, but I was wrong, this stuff tasted like a mix of flour and sand, but mostly sand, it was very mealy, gritty and lacking any kind of seasoning to compliment or enhance the fried pickle within, honestly, I've never been one to take three of something out of a full order then toss it, but we had no choice, both of us agreed they weren't worth it. Lucky though for Local Burger, that the rest of what we tried of theirs was beyond stellar, it was truly a great meal, and honestly, for two specialty burgers and afew sides, and drinks, coming in at alittle under $40.oo total wasn't all that bad in the bigger picture, and more importantly, when we left, we left happy, not feeling too full or bloated or heavy like sometimes happens at places of this type, I think thats a great sign. Another thing i should mention, though we didn't try the weekly special, this week a burger called "The Twisted Sister", which is a burger with peanut butter, jelly, bacon and sriracha hot sauce on it, if you do alittle looking, you'll see that they have some amazing weekly specials, sometimes even using more exotic meats like Kangaroo and Caribou among other crazy things and crazy combinations, the idea of which really makes me wanna go back soon!

Over all, I would say we had an exceptional time, sure there were afew things that weren't all that good, the things i mentioned, and i could maybe nitpick that the drinks are no larger then a medium at best, but you do get unlimited free refills, so i guess that balances it out, and that the cook times seemed abit long, but,we also were their first customers of the day when they opened today, so maybe that needed alittle time to heat the cooking stuff? I could do that, but honestly, i'd be just looking to find things wrong with a place that is truly a hidden jem amist the rest of the food places in the Railroad Square area of Keene, which is not only the heart of downtown Keene, but where the local state college's main campus is located as well, as you can see by my outdoor shots i made sure to include, the location is killer, right on a main road, you've got a giant common area right next door that during the summer, well on days that aren't raining, are filled with anything from street performers to weird protesters, they also have outdoor seating right there along the main drag under those beautiful trees, seriously there are to many things perfect about this place, honestly if you can, you should take a drive up to Keene and have a look, though i will admit, parking is a pain, but if you don't mind a walk down an old timey main street full of shops and places to eat, there are many parking lots and parking garages along the way, so, make a day of it if you aren't from the area, honestly you wouldn't regret it one bit.

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Chris

Hanky Panky Pancakes

 

Hanky Panky Pancakes

20 Commonhall Street 

Chester, UK

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Yeah, so I went a bit mad going out for food last week! I had heard of Hanky Panky Pancakes from a couple of tweets, my lunch partner had also expressed an interest in going so along we hopped on Monday lunchtime. Hanky Panky is in a quiet side street location in Chester. It’d be great if they could get an A-board on the main street they annexe to increase footfall to them

It’s a lovely place, clean, bright and inviting, with artwork and postcards on the walls and a cool café/relaxing atmosphere. Staff attended to us quickly with a friendly hello and handed us the menus. The menu is small and well rounded with vegetarian, meat and fish options on the savoury side and some seriously delicious dessert options (I’m sooo having cherry one sometime, yum!). What is impressive is the drinks menu – beer, wine, extensive amount of soft drinks (they stock Fentiman’s, which is just the quirkiest drinks brand going!), all reasonably priced and well presented in the menu.

I opted for a Fisherman’s Friend – a simple galette (pancake) with smoked salmon, rocket and chives, crème fraiche and lemon. Couldn’t resist a Fentiman’s so I had the orange. It’s no normal orange, it’s Seville orange and Mandarin with herbs and it’s sparkling. Super weird but so so refreshing! My friend had a simple tomato and black pepper pancake and an Americano.

Food was super fast to arrive from the kitchen (which is open and you can see the chef, who is really friendly, cooking away), and was presented beautifully. The pancakes were thin and perfectly cooked with a great flavour that was able to support the filling well. The smoked salmon was plentiful and slightly warmed by the pancake which was lovely. Big pile of rocket and chives with a generous blob of crème fraiche topped the whole thing off. Now I’m not a big fan of rocket, but I have to say, with the crème fraiche and salmon, the peppery flavour wasn’t overpowering and it balanced the whole dish really well. The orange drink I had accompanied it really well, cleansing my palette as I went. My friend said her pancake was also very enjoyable; she got a lot of tomato on it with a generous amount of black pepper. We pretty much wolfed them and unashamedly so.

Overall, it was somewhere I definitely intend to visit again (ok, I visited it again and had the same pancake yesterday...ha!) and take other people to. The owner is really friendly, the staff take great pride in making sure you have a good experience, the place is so comfortable and relaxing to sit in and because it’s down a side street, it’s quiet, too. But that could cause problems if we don’t get the word out about this place – so get down Commonhall Street, get into Hanky Panky and experience great food!

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Tiffany

The Royal Oak

The Royal Oak

Chester Rd.

Kelsall, Chester, UK 

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2x visits on the weekend of 21^st/22^nd June!

The Royal Oak has always held a little place in my heart; I had my 21^st birthday here and had a lovely time with my family. It always provided great service and food, particularly the chicken Caesar salad which was prepped at your table so you could pick exactly how you wanted it. I know of nowhere I’ve been in the last few years that’s offering that. It’s a small thing but hey…

Anyway! After much turmoil at this venue, with various closures, reinventions and re-openings, The Royal Oak seems to have returned to how it was a few years ago, great service and excellent pub food offered in a quiet and well decorated atmosphere.

We decided to visit on the Saturday because I’d had a look at the menu online. It was extensive (which I concede can sometimes lead to diminished quality of the dishes…I needn’t have worried, read on!) and well priced. So, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, we arrived to a somewhat quiet Royal Oak (I worried, because usually you expect a pub to be busy on a weekend) and got our drinks. I got a cranberry and lemonade, which isn’t a standard drink, but as I’m not drinking at all, I like having something fruity. A lot of places don’t tend to nail this, but I got a lovely pint of this drink. My dining partner got a standard pint of beer, so nothing to report there!

We were seated in one of the small side dining rooms, dark wood panelling, nicely spaced tables, comfortable chairs (so often places just give you any old port in a storm to sit on!), and handed a vast menu. It was like one page of a broadsheet newspaper, full of tempting choices. As soon as I spied the pork and apple burger however, I was all over it. You don’t get places that offer many variations on the standard beef burger, so seeing this, it was hard to resist. It was a pork and apple burger, with smoked bacon, onion rings, tomato, lettuce, cheese and apple sauce on a toasted bun with chips, coleslaw and salad. My dining partner also went for a burger; he chose the minty lamb burger, with smoked bacon, onion rings, mint and lime mayonnaise, cheese, lettuce, tomato and the standard sides as with mine

We waited around 15-20 minutes for our food to arrive. We certainly weren’t disappointed. The burgers were presented wonderfully on wooden boards, the salad (which so often is a groaning point for me because it usually looks so sad!) was crisp, varied and had a lovely dressing on it, the coleslaw was in a small pot, chips were in a very cute little wire basket and looked absolutely delicious, and wow, the burger was mountainous. I’ve not got a small mouth (haha!) but this was going to be a challenge for a snake with a penchant for unhinging its mouth.

Suffice to say the food was fantastic; my pork burger was well cooked and juicy, well seasoned with salt and pepper and perfectly complimented by the tang of the apple sauce (generous amount, hurrah!) and smoky bacon. The cheese was nicely melted and not overpowering, tomato and lettuce were fresh and crisp. The chips were to die for, so perfectly done, crispy outside and fluffy. Far too often, places will sacrifice the chips for the main and expect you to be ok with it. Chips are rubbish in a lot of places but these? Lush. The side salad was mixed leaves, cucumber and pepper with a fresh dressing and the coleslaw didn’t look like it’d been sat out for a month prior to service. I love coleslaw and this was tip top!

Apparently, my dining partner enjoyed his burger because all I heard was “Mmmm”, and “This is really good” and not much else for about twenty minutes! Unfortunately, we didn’t have room for a pudding (which I did the next day haha) but safe to say the main menu is a delight. They have various reasonably priced dishes, deals on for burgers and pizzas (done in a proper oven, which you can see in the open kitchen as you enter the building); the service from the staff is friendly, not intrusive and appreciated. The atmosphere is lovely, with visitors able to enjoy their meals in a calm quiet venue, even when the room is busier.

I was so impressed; I booked for me and my mum to visit the next day for Sunday lunch! So, we returned the next day, sat on the same table, I had the same drink, although I have to say I was a tad disappointed as I ordered it at the table rather than the bar and it turned up in a small glass and wasn’t as good as the one from the day before, yet still refreshing enough. We ordered the standard beef and Yorkshire pudding roast dinner. Disappointing to note that “Yorkies” aren’t offered as standard with all roast dinners, people love them, so get them on everything, Royal Oak!

Once the food arrived, yet again, beautifully presented. Two thick, medium cooked slices of beef, three lush looking well sized roast potatoes, a vast Yorkshire pudding (more like a popover in the way it was cooked, you Americans will know what I mean!) and all covered in a rich and thick gravy. The vegetables arrived separately. On offer was red cabbage, carrot and swede mash, broccoli and cauliflower cheese. Only one small criticism – not enough! We split between us as was expected but ended up with a bit of a measly amount, although it was well cooked, which seems to be something that eludes a lot of pubs nowadays in the search for speed of service. Can’t complaint about the food itself at all, it was all flavoursome, well seasoned, well cooked and very enjoyable, so much so we decided on a pudding to share!!

We ordered a sticky toffee and apple sponge with crème anglais and caramel sauce. It came beautifully presented (although I’d have loved a lot more crème anglais!), lovely and hot as well. The flavour was lovely, very caramelized and warming, not a massive amount of apple flavour but still lovely. The crème anglais was beautiful and creamy with a light flavour.

All in all, two successful visits to a pub which should rightfully be a lot busier than it was on the two days we went. It’s in a great rural location; it’s got adequate parking, great atmosphere and offering. So please people, get down there and support it. I don’t want to read it’s had to close or has been taken over and changed again. They’ve got the format right and need the support of Chester and the surrounding area to get its name out there, hence my review.

It’s well situated, well priced, well staffed and great quality – what are you waiting for!?

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Tiffany