Review: Tap & Pantry at The Stanneylands

Scott Holliday
25th September 2017

Set in the tranquil countryside of Wilmslow, The Stanneylands is a beautiful country house turned hotel, wedding and business venue, and more importantly (for me) it contains two restaurants!

I was given a guided tour of the venue by general manager, Carina Martins and was informed that the venue recently received a £1.7m refurb – and you can see that the money has been well spent. The venue has a quirky but classy country feel with stag heads and quality contemporary fittings. I particularly liked the atrium, which had a botanical theme.Stanneylands has two restaurants, The Grill Room and The Tap & Pantry. I dined in the Tap & Pantry. It offers casual all day food and drink; from a breakfast buffet experience, brunch and lunch – right through to an extensive dinner menu. I also thought it was cool that they have their very own cask ale, Outfoxed! Unfortunately it outfoxed me as I was driving so couldn’t sample it.During my visit I was looked after by Rachel and had a chinwag with the friendly barman whose name I didn’t catch. The hospitality was brilliant.On to the food! The main menu had lots of choice without being overbearing, and I must add that it was good to see the use of local produce. I decided to have the barbecued beetroot, Ribblesdale goats cheese with candied walnuts and sherry dressing. After a couple of minutes wait it arrived. As you can see for yourself, it was beautifully presented. I anticipated that it would be warm but it was presented as a cold salad. The flavours were perfect; the beetroot had bitter charred edges with a sweet centre which was complemented by the salty, sharp goats cheese mousse. The finishing touch was the texture of the sticky candied walnut.For main I had the Cheshire lamb hotpot. Underneath the perfectly browned potato there lay a gravy. This gravy was rich and when I say rich, I mean rich. This hotpot was richer than Bill Gates! I don’t know how they got so much flavour into it but I could see sprigs of rosemary and other goodies. Oh, and the lamb… it was melt in the mouth and bountiful. I’m not the biggest fan of pickled cabbage and never usually touch it, but the zing cut through the gravy like a hot knife through butter.I ordered the sticky toffee pudding to finish. It was was accompanied by a streak of fig jam, vanillary ice cream, popping candy and Anglesey sea salt caramel. I have family up near Cartmel, the home of sticky toffee pudding, in fact, my dad cuts the grass at the their factory, so I know a good sticky toffee pudding when I see one. Traditional sticky toffee pudding is stodgy, not heavy stodge but stodgy with dates – the Tap & Pantry’s take was different, different in a good way, though. It was a lighter cake which was refreshing, and a brilliant way to finish off my meal.