Amazing ale and top Sunday lunch at inn
Being lucky enough to live in an area blessed with a wealth of good traditional country pubs, there was no hesitation when choosing The New Inn at Cropton for a family meal.
This well-established inn, situated at the foot of the North York Moors, is renowned for its brewery and annual beer festival. It boasts a large selection of craft ales, including its own Yorkshire Cider brand, all made ‘at the bottom of the garden’ and is a little hidden gem offering a brewery tour to boot.
Not only does The New Inn sell amazing ale, it also serves up a top Sunday lunch too. There were seven of us dining, so a reasonable-sized party all hungry and ready for some pub grub. This pub is popular with locals and visitors alike and does get busy, so arriving a little earlier is recommended, or book in advance to secure a table in the bar or restaurant area.
As we perused the menu offering traditional pub classics, there was just one thing on our minds – a Sunday roast.
Only two of us ordered a first course as most of us wanted to leave room for dessert.
The smoked haddock fishcakes and the wild mushroom rarebit were just enough to whet the appetite before the main course. The large mushroom was brimming with melted Yorkshire Blue cheese, a side of tomato relish and salad to garnish; the miniature fishcakes were placed on top of one another in a dish accompanied by a creamy samphire, caper and shrimp sauce – both were wolfed down in minutes.
For the main course, six of us chose roast pork with crackling, I opted for the roast beef.
Our meals arrived in quick succession, with plenty of slices of tender meat, a decent sized home-made crisp Yorkshire pudding each, and roast potatoes.
Two large dishes of vegetables were brought out, loaded with carrots, sweet red cabbage and creamed leeks – my favourite vegetables to accompany a roast dinner – plus extra gravy.
The crackling was crisp and I think everyone would agree they could have eaten way more of it, and the generous serving of pork was succulent.
I had three good slices of beef, it melted in the mouth and took very little effort to pull apart, it was served medium rare.
Everyone had clean plates – even the ample amount of seasonal vegetables were polished off. It’s also nice to know that the produce is sourced locally.
There was no hesitation when asked if we would like to see the dessert menu. Two of us plumped for vanilla ice cream topped with honeycomb, and from the specials board my partner ordered the apple and blueberry crumble with custard, while his mum selected the white chocolate brulee.
The two scoops of ice cream were served in a small but deep pot and tasted rich and creamy, this was complimented by the crunchy honeycomb sprinkled on top. The fruit crumble came in quite a large dish with a jug of custard for pouring – the combination of the blueberries and apple worked well together and was a proper hearty dessert.
The white chocolate brulee was well presented in a coffee cup with raspberries perched at the side, each sitting on top of a dab of coulis.
This was about as perfect as you can get for a pub Sunday roast in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere with great service. Rating: 9