If you follow me regularly you may have read about a wonderful stay at a stately home in Cambridge called Anstey Hall. Whilst it offers bed and breakfast, it doesn’t cater for evening meals.

This was perfectly fine as there are certainly enough places to eat in Cambridge and we would hardly starve.

However, the staff at the hotel recommended The Green Man at Trumpington and gave us a card that offered 25% discount as we were hotel guests. Well, that sealed the deal and we walked the 2 minute walk to get to the Pub.

Now, chain pubs can be hit or miss. You can go into a Brewers Fayre/Hungry Horse etc and get a really good cheap meal. But you know it is mass produced, and not always to a great standard.

Cheers!

The Green Man at Trumpington is part of the Mitchell & Butler chain and is described as a Gastropub. And it is not wrong!

We arrived around 7pm on a Wednesday night. The pub area was pretty busy and there is a separate restaurant section. We didn’t want to eat in the pub area so went up the restaurant to ask if there was a table for two available.

Lovely Environment

I was really surprised to find it very quiet. There was only two other tables occupied, basically 4 people in the whole place and then us.

Lots of Open Space

My immediate thought was ‘Oh dear, this doesn’t bode well’

However, I cast those thoughts aside and started looking at the menu. There was a large selection of courses available and a smaller menu for the dishes of the day.

Over a bit of a discussion we decided to get some Artisan Bread and Olives to share (£4.95) and ordered a starter each.

Fresh Bread and Olives

Mine was Duck Liver and Port parfait with a gooseberry and Prosecco compote (£6.95) and the hubby chose Portobello mushrooms in Cropwell Bishop sauce with rustic toast (£5.50)

Everyone loves Parfait!

Within 10 minutes the bread and starters arrived and let me tell you, they were EPIC. I don’t even like blue cheese (Cropwell Bishop ) however I couldn’t stop dipping my bread into the little copper saucepan that they came in.

Mushrooms and Cheese – What more can you ask for?

We cleared the plates and then sat back waiting for the main course. Now I was already quite full so was hoping for a bit of breathing room; maybe 30 minutes to digest before the mains arrived.

To my surprise they turned up about 10 minutes after our plates were cleared. And what a sight to behold.

I had ordered Roasted Pork Belly with Dauphinoise potato, butternut squash puree, green beans, toasted almonds, crackling and a red wine jus, decently priced at £14.50

Out of this World

The husband went for the Diablo Pizza. A combination of Chorizo, pepperoni, bacon, pork & fennel sausage, mozzarella, jalapeños and red chilli. An individual pizza cost £12.50.

So tasty!

We happily tucked in and it was delicious. My pork was so tender and tasty and the dauphinoise one of the best I have ever tried. The icing on the cake though was the red wine jus. It was out of this world and hubby couldn’t resist dipping his pizza crusts into it, it literally was that good.

Eventually the plates were empty and our bellies were full.

We discussed the food; the highs and lows, the portion sizes and the presentation. It was all sublime and I was thoroughly pleased with my choices.

Now, as we were that full, did we dare risk a dessert? The server came along and offered a menu and we asked for a bit of a breather before committing to more delicious food.

We gave it around 30 minutes before deciding what to do.

I knew I was full to the brim, but could tell that he really had his eye on a particular dessert; the melting chocolate and peanut bomb.

This consisted of a chocolate sphere filled with sticky toffee pudding and peanut butter cream. Served with Bourbon vanilla ice cream & hot salted caramel sauce which was poured over the top to melt the chocolate bomb.

And it was a showstopper!

The server poured the jug of hot salted caramel sauce over the chocolate bomb and it started to melt and collapse. The look of glee on the hubby’s face made it all worth while.

Absolutely Stunning.

Now, I knew that the chocolate and the sauces really would make me feel quite nauseous, so I had a little of the sticky toffee pudding and peanut cream, which I have to say was outstanding.

He continued on and cleared the whole plate whilst I sat back with a wonderful gin cocktail and chilled out.

Eventually we asked for the bill and with the hotel discount, I was amazed to find that we had all that food, Gin and a lemonade for the bargain price of £45. Without the discount it would have been around £60 which was still great value in our books.

We waddled the two minute walk home. I referred to myself as being weeble-like as I could barely move for the amount of food I had consumed, more that I would probably eat over 2 days.

Just perfect

It was worth every single mouthful though and we knew we had found some else we would happily travel to Cambridge (around an hours drive) in order to have a nice meal out.

We were told that the whole place is undergoing a refit at the end of January and  is shut for nearly two weeks. Whilst that sounds great as some of the paintwork could do with a bit of a freshen up, I hope and pray they don’t mess with the menu too much.

That is what I call a wine rack!!!

After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it!

Do you go to The Green Man? What do you think?

Till next time,

SPSG xx