Food that deserves a royal seal of approval at the Noel Arms
Noel Arms Hotel ***
High Street, Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire, GL55 6AT. 01386 840317.
King Charles II would have loved the menu – and the welcome – at this refurbished hotel restaurant.
If we’re to believe them all, there are few historic houses/inns/hotels in the Midlands where King Charles II didn’t stay or hide at some point in his life. He must have made more stops than the number 11 outer circle bus.
In the case of the Noel Arms, however, it has to be true – even a monarch couldn’t resist a good pie.
Now Dutch head chef Freek Peters wasn’t around then, but you’d like to think the Chipping Camden speciality, Backbone pie, was.
It’s one of several unusual temptations on the menu at the cosy hotel, sister to Cotswold House which sits opposite across the High Street.
There’s been an inn on the spot since the 1700s, but it wasn’t until 1821 that the name changed to Noel Arms... as in the Noel family, not that bloke off Deal Or No Deal.
The place still has plenty of olde worlde charm, from the honey Cotswold stone exterior to the wonderfully uneven hotel corridors and peculiar cubby hole doors which pepper the halls.
The downstairs has recently been refurbished (the rooms are next), but the owners have happily not gone for contemporary chic, rather a bit of a freshen up.
It was a wet, blustery night when we visited, so the roaring fire and homely menu were like two welcoming arms.
As we sipped a G&T (from the weirdest spirits glasses I have ever seen), the choices were overwhelming – our Dutch host had put together an enviable selection of dishes, from which both myself and the Goodly Other Half were struggling to choose.
There were two wonderful winter soups on offer – Dutch pea (with sausage and bacon) or butternut squash and chestnut; chicken and wild mushroom pate (with something charmingly called ‘pitchfork chutney’); roast wood pigeon with chestnut, apple and celeriac salad... it’s a good starter list.
Despite not being the Number 1 fan of beetroot ( I think that’s me), GOH chose the warm goats cheese, walnut and beetroot with honey dressing (£5.75), while I had the haddock and prawn fish cakes with chilli mayonnaise.
Our waiter was a friendly little chap, chatty but not overly so, although he could have handled the broken cork on our bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon a little better. Personally I would have taken it away and decanted it, but it was a minor blip on otherwise faultless service.
The starters were the best looking dishes of the night; my fishcakes on a slate, with perfectly stacked salad and saucer of mayo, which had a fantastic underlying kick to it. GOH’s goats cheese was just as plentiful and delicious – the textures of gooey cheese, crunchy walnut and soft, warm beetroot a winning combination.
It’s all good homely, hearty fare – a theme which continues on the main course list which includes venison steak with pumpkin purée, pan fried sea bass on kale and confit of duck.
There were only ever going to be two winners, however – the game casserole with home made dumplings (£10.95), which included the ‘may contain shot’ warning of authenticity and freshness (happily there was none), while I opted for Campden Backbone Pie (£9.95) which, as far as I could gather from our French maitr’d, contained ‘buck’. We were a bit embarrassed to ask him to tell us again what was in this local speciality, but with a ‘when in Rome’ mentality, I went for it.
Recommended to order some side dishes, we asked for curly kale, carrots and cauliflower, while GOH had an urge for some chunky chips. Knowing most of those would go in the opposite direction, I also ordered some potato gratin, which was a mistake for more than one reason.
The pie (which, it turned out was shoulder of pork), was a large individual flaky topped creation, tender meat, a light sweet gravy – fabulous, and filling. There was no need for the potato gratin, which wasn’t that great anyway – a slightly dry stack which lacked much appeal. The other side vegetables were better – the kale wonderfully fresh and cooked to perfection, but the carrots and cauliflower very, very plain and uninspiring.
The game casserole, however, was another winner. A huge bowl of stew with two herby dumplings, GOH raised an eyebrow but still managed to clear her plate. It was rich, warming and the perfect comfort food to the raging weather outside.
Desserts looked like a bridge too far, but we shared a stick toffee pudding which was pretty decent, before retiring back to the fire for coffee and a rest. It’s a fair trek to Chipping Camden, so reward yourself with an overnight stay – after all, if it’s good enough for Charles II...
