Category: Derbyshire

Bank House

Having been to The Dore fairly recently, I decided to have a look online at the menu for its older sister restaurant in Hathersage, the Bank House. The Bank House is situated in the imposing former NatWest bank on the main road. I was delighted and somewhat astonished to find a gluten free bao bun starter on the menu! So we decided, although the menu was a little similar to the Dore, to book in for our next meal out.

Spoiler: I found out pretty quickly when I expressed my excitement about the bao bun that it’s incorrectly marked on the menu, so we started off with some inevitable disappointment. Whilst somewhat concerning/infuriating (they really need to update the menu or just put a line through the GF) the waiter clearly knew his stuff and was able to advise. I consoled myself with a locally made gin from Hathersage, called Shivering Mountain, which was very palatable.

The restaurant is upstairs and we passed through a fairly bustling, swish bar area to get to it. This isn’t your typical Peak District village pub – it’s got much more of an upmarket feel with glamorous decor and playful fittings with trees and birds giving a nod to nature and the Peak District setting, perhaps.

We settled on having a few of the “small plates” to share rather than starters and mains. The menu is quite versatile in that the small plates can be starters or tapas, and there are also salads, sharing boards, main courses and sides. Plenty of dishes are marked GF or GFO (modifiable) so there was lots to choose from. It’s quite an eclectic offering, with European classics such as steak, risotto and patatas bravas alongside Asian dishes like Korean fried chicken and those (blasted) bao buns.

Enough about those though… we decided to go for bavette steak with a salsa verde and a peppercorn sauce, halloumi fries with sweet chilli dip, the Korean fried chicken, vegan fried cauliflower, smoky patatas bravas and mixed greens from the side options.

Everything came out relatively closely together, even though I was advised it might take longer due to having only one gluten free fryer, and it all tasted great. The Korean sauces were just the right level of spice for me and the steak nicely pink. We perhaps shouldn’t have had so many deep fried dishes, but the richness didn’t stop us polishing it all off.

We managed to find space to squeeze in a dessert, and although only sorbet is marked on the menu as gluten free, the waiter advised several of the dishes could be modified. We ended up both choosing the same thing, so below are pictures of the ‘rhubarb and custard’ in its full glory (right) and the gluten free version (left). Mine was missing the rhubarb cake (understandable) but also the creme patissiere, which is a shame as that would be very easy to make GF. However, the rhubarb and strawberry mouse was lovely, and there seemed to be extras of sherbert and fruity emulsions to make up for the missing items. It was a perfectly satisfying and light dessert.

The moral of the story is undoubtedly if something on a menu looks too good to be true, check it out.

Bank House
Main Road, Hathersage, Hope Valley S32 1BB

November 6, 2023
The George, Hathersage

I’m really getting into the swing of going out for tea again! I recently went with some friends to The George in Hathersage – somewhere I’ve been meaning to try out for a while. It’s a relaxed, traditional-style bar and hotel in a 500 year old stone building in the Peak District – but only a few miles out of Sheffield, and in easy reach by train. Apparently, it’s been under new ownership since June 2021, so I’ve no idea whether it’s changed much since Covid. The website suggests ‘dated decor and antiquated ambiance’ have been updated.

I had a quick look at the menu before we went and it’s quite extensive – lots to choose from and well over half of the dishes were marked gluten free or gluten free option. (I’ve linked to the February menu here, so I’m not sure how long that link will work, but you can navigate from the home page.)

Starters include dishes like crab pate, courgette & sweetcorn fritters, bourbon-spiced belly pork, but I opted for the spicy halloumi with a honey and sesame dressing. It came with spinach, pine nuts, carrots, spring onions and a balsamic glaze. The flavours were great, although perhaps the halloumi was slightly over for my liking. But we didn’t wait too long to be served and I was still enjoying my G&T when the starter arrived. (They have a whole load of local gins to try.)

Our server was understanding about me being clear why I’d gone for a gluten free meal, and happily made a note for the chef.

The main courses were equally varied, ranging from your trad. English fish and chips to a delicious-sounding pork fillet stuffed with sage and chorizo and wrapped in pancetta. That was my second choice dish – one for next time! They also serve pizzas and the menu states GF bases are available. As I was with friends, I didn’t quiz the server on how the pizzas are cooked to avoid cross contamination or ask the many questions about the fish and chips. And there’s teriyaki salmon on the menu, which I’d definitely want to find out more about. So it’s worth assessing the coeliac safe credentials of some of the dishes. Having said that, I do have reasonably high expectations they know what they are doing, and there was tonnes of choice.

I went for a confit duck leg with stove potatoes, celeriac puree, braised red cabbage, broccoli and apparently a blueberry duck jus. I wouldn’t have known there was blueberry in the jus, but the whole thing had lovely, rich flavours and the duck fell apart, as should be expected.

I didn’t want a full dessert, but I find it hard to resist the dessert menu, just to see! So I ordered a George Gourmand with a glass of dessert wine, which was supposed to be three miniature desserts. Sounded perfect – just a little something sweet to satisfy the taste buds.

When it came, it was enormous! For scale, the strawberry in the photo is one of the biggest I’ve seen. Under that is a sticky toffee pudding, there was a chocolate log type of thing, a coconut ice cream, a mango sorbet and a meringue! This was definitely a situation where less would have been more – I found it a bit over facing. But I battled on through most of it and it all tasted great. There was more than enough to satisfy two people.

Overall, we had a lovely meal with great service and a nice atmosphere. The place was packed out so it’s clearly very popular. I reckon it would be a good place to go with the family – there’s definitely something there to please everybody.

The George, Main Road, Hathersage, Derbyshire S32 1BB

March 16, 2022
The George, Castleton

We had a rather soggy trip out to Castleton recently to meet some friends, and I had a good meal in The George Inn. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of it, so we’ll have to make do with one I took of the outside in the rain.

This is a really traditional, cozy pub in the Peak District, that has a reasonable gluten free offer, a good understanding of cross contamination and a separate fryer for gluten free chips – hurray!

They have quite a few items marked as GF or GF option on the menu and were happy to talk through the options. Starters included olives, soup, belly pork and nachos. For mains they offer fish pie, veggie shepherd’s pie, salads, gluten free pizzas, sharing nachos, gammon steak and others. Also a Sunday lunch option, but without some of the trimmings, of course.

I chose the vegetarian shepherd’s pie, which was made with lentils and mixed veg, topped with a goats’ cheese mashed potato. Sometimes pub veggie meals can be a bit hit and miss, but I loved this and am going to try it at home. The goats’ cheese gave it an interesting depth of flavour which is sometimes missing in veggie versions of meat dishes.

We ordered a side of sweet potato fries because the fryer had been turned on especially for me. Would have been rude not to!

The non-GFs in the family enjoyed the bangers and mash ‘your way’, with a choice of six different sausages, five flavours of mash and five sauces. This, we have already replicated at home on a smaller scale for friends, as it was such a good idea!

I’m sure they had some pudding options on the blackboard as well, but we ventured out in the deluge to one of the traditional sweet shops for a treat to take with us up to a Peak Cavern tour.

The George
Castle St, Castleton, Hope Valley S33 8WG

August 21, 2019
The Angel at Holmesfield

We went for a very safe, tried and trusted option for our Mothers’ Day meal out, choosing to go back to The Angel in Holmesfield. The Angel is a gastro pub that specialises in gluten free dining, so you just can’t go wrong if you’re a coeliac. This makes for a relaxing experience, as you can have confidence that the staff know what they’re doing and, more importantly, care about it.

The majority of the dishes are gluten free or can be tailored to be, and you get treats that you just wouldn’t elsewhere.

My starter was ham hock terrine with deep fried brie! Anywhere that does gluten free deep fried cheese is a winner in my book!

For mains, I had oxtail pie, with veg, gravy and roast potatoes (instead of the usual mash – I really fancied roasties and the staff were willing to indulge me!)

The pudding offer included a gluten free custard tart, which again, is a very rare find. I was too full, but I had a bite of my mum’s and it was delicious!

So that’s birthday, Valentine’s day and Mothers’ Day done, all in a month. What excuse can I use to go out next?

The Angel, Main Road, Holmesfield, Derbyshire S18 7WT

March 14, 2018
The Angel at Holmesfield: Restaurant review

The Angel is somewhere I’ve known about for a while and not visited, probably because it’s on the outskirts of Sheffield. Actually, it’s in Derbyshire, but this place is worth the drive out if you’re coeliac. It’s a traditional looking pub in Holmesfield, about 30 mins drive from the very centre of Sheffield. It has a bar area and a restaurant with a small conservatory. But it’s not just any old pub – they actually specialise in cooking gluten free food!

We found a good reason to go to the Angel on a Monday lunchtime in the school holidays before taking the kids to see Minions at the cinema in Chesterfield. Top tip there, Sheffielders – if you live on the west side of Sheffield, Chesterfield cinema is smaller and nicer than the Sheffield cinemas in my opinion, and usually easier to park. Anyway, I digress – back to the Angel…

The fabulous thing about this place is that most of the meals on the menu are gluten free. So unusually, I had a really great choice of food. The gluten free dishes are all marked on the menus, which avoids the tedious browsing of an allergen folder, and makes for a pleasant ordering experience.

We only had time for one course, so I opted for seared duck with a shredded duck and spring onion hash and a 5 spice sauce from the specials board. Exactly the sort of thing I can’t normally have. The duck was well cooked and still slightly pink inside, although I would have gone for a slightly crispier skin. The hash cake was a generous size and crispy on the outside but lovely and soft inside. It came with a little side dish of vegetables and a nicely flavoured sauce. All in all, it was divine, particularly as I’d not had to have a conversation about gluten free food and didn’t have to worry about whether the chef understood.

Hubby ordered a beef and mushroom pie off the main menu, which came with gluten free pastry. This was a bonus as I was able to give it a try too. Hubby thought the pastry was very good gluten free pastry, although he could tell it was gluten free as it was very short – but I think that’s a fact of life with GF pastry. There was plenty of meat in the pie and the mash was very smooth.

We ordered the seafood chowder from the light lunch menu for my two boys. This came with regular bread (no need to inflict GF bread on them if I don’t have to!) but they would, of course, have provided gluten free bread if we’d asked for it. The chowder was fab too – choc full of potato, prawns, fish, peas and mussels. One of my boys isn’t keen on mussels, and I was pleased when the waitress offered to make one chowder without any in – a good indication that things are being cooked freshly. They scoffed the lot.

We didn’t have time for pudding, but there were again plenty of gluten free options, such as sticky toffee pudding, pecan and chocolate brownie and apple and berry crumble, amongst others. Gluten free pudding? Choice? Pinch me!

All in all, this was a rather unexpectedly special trip to the pub. It felt like before I was (diagnosed) coeliac, when I could order without worrying and try other people’s food. Combined with attentive service and friendly staff – what a gem. The Angel was lovely for lunch, but I think it would also be great for an evening meal out.

Go there – it’s ace. And it certainly lived up to its name.

July 29, 2015