Our Autumn and early winter menu is here!!

seafoodHere at the Cholmondeley Arms Head Chef Christian and Sous Chef Dean and the kitchen team have developed a lovely menu for you all to enjoy with starters such as Local Pigeon ‘Kiev’ with blackberry butter, pickled mushroom ketchup and blue cheese salad or Pan-fried Scottish Scallops with curried cauliflower cream and apple crisps or Homemade Handcrafted Venison ‘Scotch’ Egg with Cumberland sauce.

There are heart- warming dishes such as Wild Rabbit, Smoked Bacon and Scrumpy Pie with chervil mash and winter greens or Wild Boar Faggots with cider and puy lentil stew, with smoked bacon and curly kale or Slow Cooked Pork Belly with crackling, sage and onion croquettes and fiery apple chutney.

For seafood fans we have caught Cornish ‘Salt and Pepper’ Squid Salad with poached quince and chilli caramel dressing or Smoked Haddock and Somerset Cheddar Rarebit with curried mussel kedgeree and crispy hens egg.

For Vegetarians we have Beetroot, Walnut and Swaledale Goats Cheese Sausages with wholegrain mustard mash and ‘Cholmondeley Best’ sauce or a main course version of our Westcombe Cheddar Cheese Beignets, Matt’s heritage tomatoes with sesame and roast garlic dressing.

There are dishes for everyone. To view the full menus click here.

We look forward to cooking for you…..

Chum reaches Final!!!

spirit2The Cholmondeley Arms has reached the final of the ‘Best Spirit Serving Pub’ at the London Hilton having got through the regional finals in the Great British Pub awards 2013. Steve, our landlord and Gin Champion and Struan, our Deputy and Gin Ambassador, stood proud outside the Cholmondeley Arms as the judge arrived to put them to the test!!! Lucky the judge had a taxi booked!!

This is recognition for the great efforts of Steve, Struan and Monika who have all combined to ensure our gin act is second to none. To add spice to the week the Chum managed to go past the 161 gins stocked by a bar in the Guinness book of records!!!

Gin classes are getting booked out on Saturday afternoons as guests to ‘the Chum’ want to enjoy the Gin experience and learn about the history of a very English spirit.

So fingers crossed on 12th September 2013 when the team go to London!!

Good luck to the team.

OUTDOOR GIN TASTING FROM A TEA CUP!!

OUTDOOR GIN TASTING FROM A TEA CUP!!

spirit

What a great view from the Cholmondeley Arms.

view4A lot of people avoid the Cholmondeley Arms at ‘Pageant of Power’ time because they think it will be too busy at the pub. Well it is quite the opposite.

The weekend is an excellent time to come over and enjoy a view of the aerobatics as well as famous fly bys performed by the Avro Lancaster Bomber and the two Spitfires pictured here

You can enjoy time at the Cholmondeley Arms even if you have no interest in cars. The atmosphere is excellent and on Saturday night one can see the fireworks and hear the music while enjoying our garden!!

The Sunday is of course Father’s day and is a time to treat dad to an excellent pub lunch or dinner and give him the added entertainment of vintage WWII planes flying past for free!!

So next year remember the Cholmondeley on Father’s Day weekend.

Christian loves local.

christiangreenOur Head Chef Christian is now hand picking Heritage tomatoes, courgette flowers, pea shoots, spinach and a wonderful assortment of salad leaves from our local growers ensuring freshness from green house to kitchen in a matter of minutes.

You will notice the difference this summer here at Cholmondeley.

 

Click on image to view gallery.

Car park re-surfaced here at the Chum

CARPARK2After a very wet and cold winter our car park needed a lot of work to ensure our guests arriving at the Cholmondeley Arms and the Headmasters House Guest Rooms had a pleasant ‘landing’. Rick and Paul from Caddishome did a brilliant job building fencing and completely resurfacing the more countrified end of our car park. The works look outstanding so big thanks to Paul and Rick.

Bloody Marvellous!!!

A-BLOODY-MARYSCholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club

From 11am every Sunday. How do you like yours?

The best way to enjoy a Sunday Morning!!!

Yes it is true Jess and the team have introduced the Cholmondeley ‘Bloody Mary’ Club every Sunday at 11am, where you can enjoy a Traditional Bloody Mary with Manzanilla Sherry or the usual Bloody Mary with Chase Vodka, or there is The Red Snapper with Opihr Spiced Gin and boy does this work well, then there is the Bloody Maria with a hint of tequila or of course the Virgin Mary with not alcohol at all. All the ingrediants from celery salt to horseradish you can add yourself with two types of tomato juice!!

Bacon butties are the brunch munchies as Christian looks to develop the menu as the following builds. 25 BM’s were sold on the opening Sunday and we believe a tradition is building. So fancy a crispy bacon sandwich and mixing your own Bloody Mary??! Come on down to the ‘Chum’. See you Sunday!!

 

The Tomato Table is set up for everyone to mix their own Bloody Marys!!

The Tomato Table is set up for everyone to mix their own Bloody Marys!!

Even Helicopters turned up for Cholmondeley Brunch. Bloody marvellous!!

Even Helicopters turned up for Cholmondeley Brunch. Bloody marvellous!!

Garnishes-galore

Garnishes-galore

 

Record Valentine’s Day at the Chum!!

OUR GIRLS ENJOY VALENTINE'S AT WORK.

OUR GIRLS ENJOY VALENTINE’S AT WORK.

Steve and the team made sure the ‘Chum’ was ready for love this Valentine’s day. Right in the middle of Head Chef, Christians, hugely successful ‘Nose
to Tail’ week….celebrating all things Pig… the romantics turned up to celebrate cupids arrow here at the Chum. It was a record Valentine’s day and
Steve ensured chocolate roses were enjoyed by all the ladies present including our wonderful team of girls (pictured) who worked very hard to ensure a good time was had by all. They were rewarded by chocolate roses of their own…even Steve received a hamper of sweeties from his girlfriend as the night enjoyed a sweet note to say the least!!!

So if you want to impress a loved one…remember we have 6 bedrooms and there is nothing more romantic than dinner at the Chum in February!!

Cheshire Cat Trio completed!!

AT CHOLMONDELEY

AT CHOLMONDELEY

Loyal customer and very keen cyclist Jonathon is the first of our cycling customers to complete the ‘Cheshire Cat Pub to Pub to Pub (Trio) Challenge’.

Setting out from near Knutsford in pretty cold and snowy conditions Jonathon headed first to our Cholmondeley Arms Pub out near Malpas on the A49 heading to Whitchurch!! The picture shows just how snowy Cholmondeley was compared to the rest of the county. Having taken on a warm hot chocolate for energy, Jonathon then headed to our next pub the Three Greyhounds Inn at Allostock. Conditions here were much better for a cycling enthusiast. After another picture outside this pub it was on for the final leg of the journey to a rather misty Bulls Head before heading home for a hot shower and an early night. Just over 70 miles later without any performance enhancing drugs or a Steak and Ale Pie even!!! The respective pub teams gave Jonathon a warm welcome as well as helping with photo taking and ensuring he was back on his bike for the next leg of this journey!!

Jonathon commented “I was at a loss as to where to go on my Sunday ride today. So thought I would tackle that well known ride ‘The Cheshire Cat Trio’!! Cholmondley is a little further down the A49 than I thought and there was also more snow than I anticipated when I got there but I am thrilled to be the first of many to hopefully tackle the challenge!!”

Well done Jonathon a great effort and there is a Pie waiting at a pub of your choice from the trio as and when you have recovered!!!

If you are a keen cyclist and want to be listed as a ‘Cheshire Cat Trio Cycling Challenge beater’ then set out and ensure your photo is taken with your trusty bike at each pub with the signs in the background of each picture and send them to info@cheshirecatpubsandbars.co.uk. You will get your photo in our ‘hall of fame’ and we will send you a ‘refreshment voucher’ as well as a pint on us at the final pub!!

Thanks again to Jonathon for taking on the challenge and beating it!!!

AT THE BULLS HEAD

AT THE BULLS HEAD

AT THE THREE GREYHOUNDS

AT THE THREE GREYHOUNDS

 

Farmers is on its way from the U.S!!

farmersYes thanks to regular Chris ‘Gin is coming to the Inn’ this time from the U.S in the form of Farmers Organic Gin …..Big thanks to Chris you can read about the gin below. If you want to ‘Bring Gin to the Inn’ email us from your holiday in Europe or the US and we will confirm whether we have the gin you have found. If we haven’t please bring it back with a receipt and we will pay you back for it as well as paying you £10 in Cholmondeley vouchers to buy a couple of Gin and Tonics on us!!

Botanicals in Organic Balance

Farmer’s Organic Gin is handcrafted in small batches from carefully selected botanicals and the purest grains. Providing a pristinely clean palette for the artful infusion of botanicals, the distillate is made from sustainably farmed grain grown in the U.S. Certified organic by the USDA, Farmer’s Gin possesses a complexity and unique taste profile due to its remarkably balanced selection of organic botanicals, including juniper, elderflower, lemon grass, coriander, and angelica root.

Why they call it Farmer’s

In order to produce a flavorful organic gin, they sought out farmers dedicated to sustainability and preserving the earth. They found four farms growing organic crops that could help them create the highest quality organic gin. They think that there is no better way to honour their farmers than by naming our organic gin after them.

lady-farmer

Happy 2013!!!

GoingpubWell Happy New Year!!! There were many modes of transport used to get to the Cholmondeley Arms over the festive season as the picture shows!! A wonderful vintage motor bike parked outside on Christmas day!! In 2011 in was Ponies and this year a classic motor bike…what will it be on Christmas day in 2013??

On behalf of landlord Steve, Our Deputies Monika, Ben and Struan, Head Chef Christian and the entire team at the ‘Chum’ plus of course Tim and Mary, we wish every one of our customers a very happy and prosperous new year. We also wish to thank everyone for supporting the Cholmondeley Arms through its second festive season since its restoration and indeed supporting us for the whole year!!!

Here’s to 2013!!! Let’s hope it is drier!!!

Happy Birthday you two!!!

What a great week it was last week both at the Bulls Head celebrating 200 years as a pub in 2012 and amazingly the Cholmondeley Arms celebrated 150 years as a building, the old school house opening in 1862!! Cakes were baked, celebrations were had, Lord and Professor Ted did his birthday quizzes with great curry evenings on the nights too, Cholmondeley had its 2nd Annual Gin making competition and the Bulls Head had a jazz evening with the ‘smoooth’ old boys Laurie and Stewart. We are still waiting for the 5000th dog to stroll in to the Bulls Head to finish off the celebrations!!! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the week when all our Christmas specials ‘went live’ too. Thank you to all our customers who turned up in support and joined in the festivities!! It might become an annual event!!

 


Ok who’s is the white van!!!??

CARS LINE UP

It isn’t every day you walk across the car park of ‘the Chum’ from the pub and look left and see a line of cars like these!! It was one of those days when the posh cars come to lunch.

No it wasn’t our car club, the old Toads and nor was it the annual ‘Pageant of Power’!!

Just a sunny day (for once) when you can bring the car out to enjoy itself!!

It seem obvious that the supplier with the white van felt proud enough to line up next to them….or was it just a delivery??

Bulls Head Chefs complete ‘Tough Mudder’ at Cholmondeley

TOUGH MUDDER T-SHIRT!!.

They may look like part of the 118-118 team but Lloyd (head chef from the Bulls Head) and Andy our great occasional kitchen team player successfully completed the ‘Tough Mudder’ challenge!!

LLOYD AND ANDY FROM THE BULLS HEAD COMPLETE THE COURSE

Cholmondeley Castle hosted the event with the ‘Tough mudder’ organisers.

This was a half marathon with SAS like obstacles from electric shock treatments to wading/swimming through frozen lakes and ice filled containers that would take your breath away. Tough mudder teams including Andy and Lloyd came back to the Cholmondeley Arms after their heroic achievements.

I think Lloyd will appreciate the warmth of his kitchen more than ever having seen how cold they were on arriving at Cholmondeley.

Anyway a couple of ‘Pub Club’ Sandwiches and warm coffee with a bowl of hot chips improved them slightly.

A guest room was set aside in our Headmasters house for hot showers and changing facilities for friends and team-members to use to get them back to normal as quickly as possible.

Well done Lloyd and Andy who might ache a bit but they did it!!!

 

TOUGH MUDDER TEAM

 

First Craft Gin to come from Mallorca!!!

Two years ago I stood in the vineyards of Ca’n Vidalet in the northwest of Mallorca approximately one and a half kilometres from Pollenca. I was keen then to get Mallorcan wines recognised for their quality back here in England and more specifically at our first pub in Cheshire the Bulls Head. I am back again in Mallorca looking at wine and spending more time researching the growth in Gin here on the Island. To my surprise I found that the vineyard of Ca’n Vidalet is a craft Gin distillery as well as an exceptional
winery now.

‘Eleven’ is a gin made from…no surprises here…eleven Botanicals. This gin is different though it has been developed from a Pomace base that would normally be used to make Grappa. The botanicals are typically Mediterranean, with rosemary, Thyme and coriander, there are floral and citrus notes but this gin is pure and I mean really pure!! Gin Mare the most famous Spanish Gin would struggle against this excellent craft gin.

It is the first gin produced completely on the Island and a bottle will soon be on the bar of The Cholmondeley Arms served with a less sweet tonic and a piece of lemon zest and ice this is a distinctly different gin.

Hopefully our import will be here for Christmas in the meantime wait patiently!!!

We have introduced some new gins to our ever growing collection.

The Dram. As in this 164 years old drawing, most people then were drinking their gin neat at the London ‘gin shops’ or ‘dram shops’.

The Norwegian Hammer Gin is among the purest of its kind, created with wild herbs and spices and produced according to a 200 year-old tradition. Using double pot still distillation with a unique filtering process extracts the purest flavour from the herbs, giving the product a clear, rich taste. Pure nose with a distinct aroma of juniper berries and a hint of citrus. Crispy, fresh and with a definite taste of juniper berries and elements of citrus. Refreshing aftertaste with a distinct dryness.

The French G’Vine Gin is small batch distilled from neutral grape spirit with fresh whole-fruit botanicals softened by the infusion of vine flower. Coming from all over the world, nine rare and fresh whole-fruit botanicals chosen for their purity and aromatic and healing properties – ginger roots, liquorice, green cardamom, cassia bark, coriander, juniper berries, cubeb berries, nutmeg and lime – are infused by family during 2 to 5 days and distilled in the grape neutral spirit in small liqueur-maker stills to get the best quintessence.

Infusions of vine flower and fresh botanicals are then blended together and copper-pot distilled a last time to get an ultimate and perfect smoothness and personality.

Bombay Dry Gin is one of the great old-school style London Gins, Bombay Original was first introduced in 1959 and is the precursor of the now more famous Bombay Sapphire. Much drier and more traditional.