It’s not very often that many of us go into a hotel to eat, we seem to have this impression that it’s 1) not a great place to go, 2) mainly for residents and 3) not too keen on possible hotel food… however, let’s see if we can get rid of that myth and enlarge our Peterborough circle of eating places not limiting it to just restaurants.
So, we had the opportunity to eat at Holiday Inn West out at Thorpe Wood. Besides the food, which I’ll come to in a moment, there is plenty of parking space and it’s free. Their main restaurant is an open plan layout attached to the bar area so it’s not closed off making you feel lonesome when there are not too many people in… When we attended yesterday for a late lunch there were a few other people eating too in a casual atmosphere with plenty of space. There’s even a small private walled area which is ideal for private parties, business meetings, afternoon teas and such like for up to around 20 people. Part of the IHG group they actually have 4 stars at the Holiday Inn and it shows since they’ve refurbished with a fresh clean and modern look… you can even come in to work in their bar area – so if you’re a work-at-home.. you’ve got somewhere to come and interact a bit. Anyway… let’s get on with the food…..
I can safely say we had some lovely, high-quality choices. First on the the table by our friendly chef Carlos was their Pea and Ham Terrine: the brick of ham hock tasted wonderful and it came accompanied with a hit of piccalilli and some baked bread sticks while hubby was served a large slice of Chicken Liver Parfait which was very soft and creamy, almost a whipped texture, which went well with the red onion marmalade and crisp bread sticks – Nothing left on that plate! I’d definitely order either of those again… A veggie option was some Marinated Mushrooms a la grecque style served with bread with a white wine and garlic a nice sized portion and great as a light intro. Our mains arrived looking stunning, some great food styling going on. A Chicken Breast wrapped in Bacon was a good portion and came with a pesto cream sauce ( I want the recipe), gratin potato (my favourite) along with glazed carrots and green beans. I had to ask the Chef about the glazed carrots as there were devine.. it must be my sweet tooth kicking in – I could have eaten a whole bowl of them. Mine was a Braised Beef with Red Wine Jus.. we had to fight over this as the meat just fell off the bone, it was unbelievably tasty. Served up with creamy mash and root vegetables and topped with some deep fried leeks. I can’t emphasise enough how delicious this plate actually was. Everything on it. If that’s going to be served up on their new Sunday Lunch…I’m in! Our last main was a Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Terrine, vegetarian, it looked pretty and was a nice change from other dishes, but it’s definitely the Beef for me!
The final bit was mmm did I say mmmm – well my heart is always for a dessert at the table and ours were both amazing. A Vanilla Panna Cotta with a compote of berries and a raspberry caramel biscuit.. this dessert just looks a work of art really…creamy, crunchy with a sharp taste of berries against the plain vanilla. Lovely! Then my favourite was a thick, creamy, Baked Vanilla Cheesecake topped with a strawberry compote. Heaven on a dish!
All in all, I was really surprised that the food was this good. Should I have been? Is it something that we just don’t think about and presume that restaurants in town do it better? On this occasion, the Holiday Inn West wins hands down against pizza, pasta, Caribbean and much more. If you fancy trying something new why not give it a go?
Their restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (7am until 10pm)
More details of their bar menu alternative here. Bar Menu.
#LocalFood #HotelFood #DinnerforTwo #HolidayInnWest #PeterboroughFood #AD
