The Windmill is an established restaurant in this area. It used to serve wholesome, family style food. There was a change of management and the restaurant was updated. Updated, as in that there was a revamped of the interior – a total make over, as well as the menu.
We have been patronising the Windmill on and off. The food is good. However we had not been there for quite a while now. So on Thursday we decided to go there for lunch. As it was a weekday, the restaurant was not too busy. (At other times booking is recommended, as it is usually busy).
We decided to order our drinks from the bar. The person behind the bar recommended a fresh lemon juice, tonic water, with a splash of syrup. As I was looking for a diet, whatever drink, that suited me well. We went to our table while my other half went and got his beer. His recommended beer was beer with fresh lemon juice!! It was not your usual drink, but it was nice and refreshing.( I had a taste). According to my other half it seemed that the taste improved as one drinks more of it. Actually, this reminded me of the mexican beer, Corona, which we ( I mean in Malaysia) used to drink with a wedge of lemon stuck to its neck.
There were some chef’s specials on the board. The menu was interesting with new dishes using seasonal ingredients.
My starter was Seared King Scallops ( my fav shellfish, or rather the only seafood in shells that I like. Prawns have shells, too, but not hard shells so that doesn’t really count.)
The scallops were beautifully presented. The succulent scallops did no have big orange roe – just the way I like it. It was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy. It was served on fennel salad. The salad was more like a pickle and it paired perfectly with the scallops. The sweetness of the fish blended well with the sourish fennel and lemon aioli. Perfect!! I enjoyed it very much.
The other starter was Ham & Mustard Terrine, served with apple & rhubarb chutney , cornichons ( a posh word for gerkins!!). It was garnished with some salad. The ham terrine was delicious as well and rated as ‘very good and nice’. It was presented nicely. I am afraid I am not able to give you all the superlatives as it was my other half who ordered that. He enjoyed the terrine very much.
For mains, I had the specials, King Prawns Skewers with lime, chilli, ginger and coriander dressing. The prawns were beautifully presented, 4 skewers, served on top of a bean sprouts salad, topped with deep-fried capers. The dressing on the salad was the same dressing used to marinade the prawns. The salad was a bit too sour. It didn’t help that I squeezed extra lime juice onto the prawn and salad without first tasting it!! So the moral of the story is…. ( as all chefs and restaurateur will stress) is to taste your food before adding any seasoning!!
So my salad was a bit too sour and thanks to myself, I made it more acute. The prawns were of reasonable size and grilled and a bit charred. Other than the sourness, the dish was alright.
The other mains was The Lamb Pie. There are several house pies, and today there is lamb pie. It was served with hand cut chips, seasonal vegetables and stock gravy. Although the pie looked deceptively average, was actually a big portion. It was very delicious and my other half enjoyed it .
Another thing about the pie was that it looked simple. But the taste was good. The thing that stood out in the presentation was the vegetables. The vegetables were boiled, but it looked like a salad. It was really fresh.
I usually do not have the dessert, but since my 2 courses were seafood, and low in calories, I twisted my arm and ordered dessert. As there were many choices, I ordered the Dessert Platter that came with coffee. There were 4 desserts comprising Chocolate Brownie, Pineapple marinated in Gin with Pink Pepper corns, Honeycomb Cheesecake and Ice Cream.
The Chocolate Brownie was luscious, served with chocolate sauce and strawberry. The Pineapple was different. The gin taste was prominent in the syrup and the pink pepper corns gave it a real ‘bite’ when one chewed on it. The honey-comb cheese cake was tasty with bits of the honeycomb in it. It was indulgent! The ice-cream was lovely and tasty. On the whole it was a good experience to taste 4 types of desserts and a cup of coffee for only £7.
Conclusion:
We enjoyed the meal very much. It was delicious. The service was excellent and the staff very friendly. For the 2 of us with drinks; 1 beer, I brandy and dessert, the bill came to £70. The menu was upbeat and seasonal. There are a lot special events going on like, pie night, burger night and Sunday Lunch. They even have a Taster Tuesday, where you get to try all the dishes in the menu.
We will definitely go there again, very soon. I highly recommend this restaurant.
I hope you like my review. Please like and share with your friends and family. Until the next post,
Cheers,
Penang Lassie.
Click here for the website: The Windmill @ Brascote
