The Royal Oak- From Acorn to A Grade #Review

Gaile Wundke
18th August 2016

When Taste Cheshire were invited to do a menu review at The Royal Oak in Kelsall, my heart sank a bit having been there quite some time ago to find a very lacklustre establishment with disinterested staff and devoid of customers – well all I can say, is what a difference a few months can make, particularly when someone who cares is in charge!!

We arrived on a sunny Thursday evening at approx. 6.45 to find only one space left in the car park and not surprisingly plenty of people dining! As we walked in, we were instantly aware of a happy upbeat atmosphere which was so different to our last visit and, as General Manager Luke showed us to our table, it was clear to see that The Royal Oak has become something of a favourite eating place in Kelsall as most of the tables were taken, and there are a lot of tables! The restaurant has various eating areas and we were seated in a large room at the front of the building which was a quieter part and with plenty of space between tables, there was no feeling of intrusion from other diners.

As we were seated and given menus by our excellent waiter Adam, we quickly chose a bottle of wine which arrived in the best wine cooler we had ever seen and kept the wine beautifully cold to the very last drop, which on a very warm evening was a triumph! The tables were attractively laid with crisp white napkins, gleaming cutlery and equally gleaming glasses and combined with bare wooden tables achieved a perfect balance between country pub and restaurant.

The menu at The Royal Oak caters for all tastes, from pub classics to sharing plates, burgers to fajitas and for pizza lovers, there is a great selection made on the premises in the Neapolitan wood burning oven. There are also a number of gluten free and vegetarian options.

For our starters we chose Tempura tiger prawns, bean sprout oriental salad, honey and sesame seeds with a chilli soy sauce dip and smoked salmon eggs Benedict, spinach, poached egg, béarnaise sauce and shaved parmesan. The prawns were cooked beautifully with perfectly crisp batter and the dip contained a generous amount of chilli to give just the right amount of heat and kick. The combination of smoked salmon, eggs, spinach and béarnaise sauce was, I was told, absolutely delicious and the perfect comfort food.

Whilst waiting for our main courses, I noticed that a family on a table near us who were about to leave had a pizza box, which although not mentioned on the menu, would indicate that the Royal Oak has cleverly added take-away to their food option and in a village without such a facility, this must have been enthusiastically welcomed by the locals!

Our main courses arrived with their own introduction as my husband had chosen the sizzling fillet steak fajitas with peppers, onions, served with soft tortillas, skinny fries, tomato salsa, grated cheese and sour cream. It made quite an entrance as it sizzled its way to our table emitting wafts of delicious aromas as it passed the other diners! It was a huge serving and could quite easily have fed two people! My main of pan fried sea bass, sautéed new potatoes, samphire and a lemon caper butter was perfect for a summer’s evening, although the lemon caper butter was a bit lacking in flavour, but this was easily solved with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Having faced and completed the mountainous task of the fajitas, my husband thought it best to share a dessert and we chose a cheesecake with raspberry compote and cherry ice cream. The cheesecake was light and fluffy and not at all cloying and the compote and ice cream perfectly offset the richness of the biscuit base – it was gone in seconds!

The Royal Oak isn’t trying to be something it’t not. It’s not a fine dining restaurant, it’s a pub that does great food with excellent service in nice surroundings. General Manager Luke hasn’t been there very long, but in the time that he has, he’s turned the place around and made it somewhere that people really want to go to, which was clearly evident on the night we visited. The people of Kelsall are very fortunate that he’s taken up the helm and I’m sure it will go from strength to strength and reward all the hard work that has obviously gone into making it somewhere that I for one would very much like to visit again. Oh, and if you’re not a local but would like to check it out, The Royal Oak also has sixteen rather gorgeous looking rooms!