Our final meal in the Peak District was at our hotel the Maynard which was sadly a carb-heavy unimpressive evening where we hauled ourselves up the stairs to our rooms feeling uneasily laden with a major overabundance of pastry, potato, bread and more.
The next day we headed north to Will's hometown and had a dinner with some family members that was mightily impressive at a small pub-like place called CHADWICK's INN in the small hamlet of Maltby.
I noted the Bib-Michelin awards on the way in, and was very impressed with the use of local foods on the quite large menu. We all had a truly great meal and the service was also excellent.
Our first choice for white wine was sold out, so I turned to a delicious Ontañón Vetiver Rioja Blanco 2019 that was wonderfully refreshing and a great blend of lesser known grapes.
The starters were all superb but one of us said the crab was fab, so Will & I tried the Dressed Whitby(Yorkshire) Crab, Brown Crab, Crab Pastry, Pickled Cucumber, Horserasdish Mascarpone and Soft herbs. The dish was light, tasty and truly impressive(photos on FB), while others raved about the tomato soup and various options. Since we were so close to the North Sea, I could not resist trying the Butter Poached & Herb Crusted Loin of North Sea Cod, Salt Cod Fishcakes & "French Style Peas" consisting of Fresh garden English peas with lettuce & Pancetta (a traditional French preparation I remember learning how to make while in summer cooking school at the University of Dijon over 50 years ago!). It was a stupendous preparation and presentation with a crunchy piece of skin atop the loin and the best peas had on the trip. I am not a huge cod fan, but this was indeed the best ever. Will loved his 8 Hour Braised Beef Cheek with Creamed Potato, Honey Glazed Carrots, Kale in a Red Wine & Thyme Sauce. Sam had the Roasted Cauliflower Steak from the Veggie Menu(they had three menus: a la carte, veggie and a lower priced 2 or 3 course set menu) which can be a staple here in the UK on many menus without many veggie options, but he declared it was excellent.
Everything on the menu sounded super and this was a place I knew I wanted to return to next time.
Desserts were varied from Eton Mess to Sticky Toffee Pudding, but I had to have the cheese which was as novel as local cheeses get: Waterloo (Brie Style), Montgomery Cheddar, Ashlyon Goat and Cornish Beenligh Blue. The plate was a real representation of the literally thousands of local cheeses available across the UK!
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