A fond farewell to Clarissa

clarissa4Clarissa Dickson Wright sadly passed away on Saturday 15th March following illness. She will be greatly missed as one of the greatest chefs and advocates of British hearty cooking with the best of flavours.

While people are putting droplets and smears on plates and experimenting with horseradish ice cream Clarissa was firmly recommending an excellent Rabbit stew or a wholesome Oxtail casserole. She loved her game dishes and was a great supporter of the Countryside Alliance. Clarissa had graced the Cholmondeley Arms many times and her cook books will always remain here as a reminder (not that we need one) that she has left a lasting impression
on every plate we prepare not just at Cholmondeley but at all our pubs!

May her legacy live on in all we cook….

New Menu arrives

CholmondeleyMainMenu02Our Head Chef Christian and his brigade of chefs have once again worked exceptionally hard to develop some lovely new dishes for our winter in to spring menu…

New starters include…

A Cholmondeley Local Game Charcuterie Board featuring Christian’s choices of cured and smoked ‘in season’ game which he creates here at Cholmondeley, this is served with pickles, sticky nuts and granary bread

Other new appetisers include…

Salt and Pepper Squid, Yorkshire chorizo, poached rhubarb and ginger or Mr Bourne’s little Cheshire cheesecakes with smoked pear and watercress or indeed Cholmondeley Shot Crispy Wild Rabbit and Clonakilty Black Pudding with Jerusalem artichokes, braised baby gem and poached egg

On the mains we have

  • Smoked Chicken, ham hock and treacle suet pudding with parsley mash, greens and mustard sauce
  • Christian’s Fish Pie, with cod cheek, smoked haddock and spinach with crispy mash and spiced cauliflower
  • Local Lamb ‘Barnsley Chop’ with Devilled Kidneys, Boulangere potatoes and sweet pickled red cabbage
  • Slow Cooked Shin of Beef, Stout and Honey Stew with roasted celeriac and English mustard dumplings
  • Home Cured Venison Bresaola Salad with blood orange, sticky hazelnuts and liquorice dressing
  • Baked Spinach, Mushroom and Perl Las Blue Cheese Pancakes with a simply dressed salad
  • And a Prime 10oz 28 Day Aged Ribeye Steak served with homemade onion rings, chips and dressed salad

and for new puddings we have

  • Caramelised Apple and Amaretti Pancakes with vanilla ice cream
  • Steamed Yorkshire Rhubarb and Ginger Pudding with homemade custard
  • Sticky Toffee Pudding with caramelised bananas and clotted cream ice cream
  • Milk Chocolate Brownie with peanut praline and chocolate sauce

To look through the full menu click here and the Sunday menu please click here

Status Quo Live! At the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power – Friday 13th June 2014

We are very excited to announce that legendary rock band, Status Quo, are set to get the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power rocking when they play the Opening Concert on Friday 13th June.

Status Quo are one of the most recognised and successful bands in British history with 64 hit singles and 22 in the top ten. Lead guitarist and keen car enthusiast, Rick Parfitt, said: “The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power is all about noise, engine fumes and having some serious fun. Works for me! Whilst all the band love cars and the world of motoring, I have been a serious petrolhead for as long as I can remember. As well as getting to perform for what we know will be a great crowd, being in amongst the action with some serious machinery is going to be a real buzz for me! Cars, bikes, helicopters – count me in!”

Click here for ticket information

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A fun Christmas everywhere!!

What a great time over Christmas our teams have had. It is tiring work but there are plenty of smiles and fun around the place!! The Bulls Head in Mobberley held its annual Christmas Jumper competition and the judges moved around the pub secretly assessing the best. Pete had won it last year with his ‘snow man number’ so was a favourite again this year.

There were a number of good efforts but I am pleased to say Pete held on to his crown with an ‘elf jumper’ with matching hat!! Well done Pete! There must be someone out there who can out do Pete in 2014??!

The teams as you can see had a good go with our personal favourite being Tom at the Church Inn with his Christmas pudding version!! Thanks to all our teams for making the effort. At the Cholmondeley Arms the ‘Snow Ball’ Drink was re-incarnated by the team and you can see Miya sampling some for the camera behind the Cholmondeley Bar!!!

Thank you to all our customers who have added to the atmosphere at all our pubs. There have been Christmas Carol singers at Cholmondeley and Brass bands at The three Greyhounds Inn at Allostock and The Church Inn in Mobberley as we managed to squeeze them in our newly decorated Church Inn ‘boot room’.

On Christmas eve as the Carol service finished at St. Wilfs church opposite the Church Inn in Mobberley we were on hand to serve the masses (get it!!) with mulled wine on the terrace with warm chimineas  burning away. There were festive nibbles and roasted chestnuts and a lot of good cheer! A very happy Christmas to all!!

Thanks to all our teams for working so hard!!

Best in the business up for awards

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The Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas is the only pub to be a finalist in the Local Food category

The Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas is the only pub to be a finalist in the Local Food category

Countryside Alliance Awards’ North West finalists announced and Cheshire is riding high.

Cheshire businesses are celebrating after making it through to the regional finals of what have become known as the Rural Oscars.

Cheshire boasts competitors in three of the four categories after the North West received more than 300 nominations from the public for this year’s Countryside Alliance Awards – an increase of 100 from the 2012 awards.

The Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas is the only pub among the five finalists of the Local Food category.

Tim Bird, who owns the pub with his wife Mary McLaughlin, said: “We are a pub up against lovely bespoke artisan shops and that’s what pleases me most.

“The head chef has worked particularly hard with all sorts of people locally to bring different dishes to the table that actually reflect the effort that is going on locally. It is a collective effort.”

 

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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!!

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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.