The Chester Fields – Making the country special #Review

Gaile Wundke
13th October 2016

The Chester Fields is a Country Pub and Restaurant, set in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, only 4 miles from Chester city centre. Boasting stunning views, beautiful gardens and heated ski style huts, it really is a special place and well worth a visit.

We arrived for our 6.45pm booking on Wednesday 5th October and were immediately impressed by the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The dining area is split level, which allows a large number of people to be accommodated, but still retains a feeling of coziness. The lighting was perfect and added to the comfortable ambience.

Our table was in a corner and ideally positioned to observe the comings and goings of both staff and customers and it was clearly evident that all diners were being well looked after by the excellent staff.

Chester Fields caters for just about everyone and unlike many restaurants who have a smattering of vegetarian options on the menu, at Chester Fields, vegetarians have their very own menu as do those with a gluten free diet! Children are also well catered for and their menu even has some puzzles to keep them occupied until their food arrives!

Wednesday night is Grill and Grapes night, a special steak menu with a selection of wines. Any bottle of wine over £25 is discounted by 25% allowing diners to sample something a bit more special at a reduced price. However, we opted to choose from the main menu, which also boasts a map showing no less than 14 local suppliers whose produce is used on a daily basis in the restaurant.

For starters we chose Home smoked Loch Duart salmon (£6.50), Seared scallops (£9.75) and from the Appetizers menu, Dave Joinson’s (5 time Festival Sausage winner) mini bangers with English mustard mayonnaise (£4.50). We also selected a bottle of Australian Chardonnay, very reasonably priced at £19.00 and our waitress, Amy (brilliant) brought a carafe of iced water, without having to be asked.

The Loch Duart salmon was generously portioned and served alongside a toasted English muffin, topped with a runny poached egg and hollandaise sauce, a comforting and delicious autumnal dish. The seared scallops were beautifully presented, three perfectly cooked plump scallops, with black pudding fritters, bacon crumb, cauliflower puree and pickled raisins. This was an outstanding dish and one that I would thoroughly recommend to lovers of scallops! The Dave Joinson mini bangers went down very well with our son, although one or two were a little on the spicy side for a younger palate!

We had got off to a great start and were now ready to enjoy our main courses, there is much to choose from on the menu, including six different burgers, five different steaks and a selection of salads and sides. Other mains are dishes such as Cider glazed pork belly, Slow cooked haunch of Cheshire venison ‘hotpot’ and beer battered cod and chips, to name just a few! After some deliberation, we decided upon the T-bone steak (£24.95) with Bearnaise sauce (£2.00) from the Wednesday night steak menu, The Chester Fields classic burger (£11.75) with the addition of grilled bacon (£1.00) and finally a choice of 3 dishes from the Appetizers menu, priced at £15.00 including locally baked bread. These were Pork belly bites, Salt cod fishcakes and Tempura vegetables.

The steak was served with grilled tomato, two huge onion rings and fries, although thick cut chips were also available. The steak was cooked rare, as requested, the tomato had been properly grilled and the onion rings were encased in a golden crunchy batter! The accompanying Béarnaise sauce was well made and the fries hot and crisp. Williams of Flint are the Chester Field’s meat suppliers and they can definitely be commended, as the T-bone was excellent. The burger was served in a brioche bun, with Mrs Kirkham’s cheese, grilled bacon, tangy tomato relish, a thick slice of beef tomato and some very good homemade coleslaw. Burgers come with French fries as standard, but we had spotted there were hand cut chips cooked in rapeseed oil on the menu so we swapped them for the fries! The burger was excellent and full of flavour and I can’t remember the last time we went to a restaurant where they make their own coleslaw, such a simple thing, but it makes such a difference.

So, onto the Appetizers, the pork belly bites were encased in a crisp crumb and came with a puree of Granny Smith apples, which sharply contrasted with the rich meat. The Tempura vegetables of pak choi, broccoli and red chilli, were served with a soy dipping sauce and the salt cod fishcakes were beautifully complimented by a really tasty tomato and chilli relish. The three together made quite a substantial main course, but individually would be perfect as a bar snack or a light starter.

When visiting restaurants to review them, we always find by the time we’ve had a starter and main course, dessert is almost a step too far, so we were delighted to see that Chester Fields do a ‘Dessert sharer for 2’ or in this case, for 3! A tasting of pannacotta, chocolate brownie, white chocolate & clementine cheesecake and vanilla ice cream (£10.50). This really was the perfect choice as we were able to sample a little of each without feeling we’d ‘overdone it’! The pannacotta had the exact amount of “wobble”, the brownie was deliciously rich and the cheesecake had the right balance of crunchy base and creamy top. The vanilla ice cream provided a perfect palate cleanser and it was an ideal way to end what had been a very enjoyable meal.

Chester Fields is a lovely place to eat, drink or do both! It is warm and welcoming, unhurried but efficient and the excellent staff, led by the engaging and incredibly enthusiastic Nuno, look as if they really enjoy what they’re doing. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back again and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere a bit special.