Tis the season to be jolly well fed

‘I HOPE you like Christmas songs’, the young woman joked as she showed Mrs Eats and myself to our seats in the Woodmans Arms in Whickham.

We nodded in agreement with Mrs Eats proudly proclaiming she already had her tree up.

‘We’ve had some complaints’, the waitress continued, and if I’m honest by the end of the afternoon I could see why.

But not over the food, but the loops of the same six or seven songs which was the only downside to a wonderful meal.

We dived in as Michael Buble, and a host of other names played over the speakers. The menu had yet to go down the route of Christmas, and so offered the usual selection but on to the mains in a moment.

For starters there was choice including the inter-

THE WOODMAN ARMS

Whickham, Newcastle upon Tyne NE16 5BB Tel: 01914888998

Rating: 19/20 Character........................... Quality................................ Service................................ Value................................... esting sounding Tarte Tatin with crispy pancetta, black pudding and a poached egg. Mrs Eats went for the pea and ham soup, which was filling, tasteful and ideal for a cold and wet winter afternoon. The only criticism was the butter for the roll should have been taken out of the fridge earlier to make it easy to spread. But as the spoon was placed down into to her empty bowl, she nodded in sati s f a c t i o n , and fini s hed Car park..................... Kids allowed...................... Real ale..................................... Wine by the bottle........................ Credit cards..................................... Vegetarian food............................. Disabled toilets............................. with ‘it certainly tastes like it’s homemade.’ I went for the king prawns; four fairly sized prawns, coated in a spicy glaze with peppers and salad leaves. The portion was just right, not too much or too little and cooked to perfection. For the mains, we picked the chicken supreme and beef brisket over the leg or shoulder of lamb, pork or gammon for £10.95. They arrived in good time, accompanied with a swede mash, a fluffy Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and an additional mash (£2.45 extra) with the tip of the hat again going for that homemade, remind of your grandparents kind of taste,

The green medley of veg, carrots and parsnips meant that was more than enough for two p people. p The plate p was loaded.

The beef fell ap apart, and was right to my taste. With the siz sizable Yorkshire pu pudding really tippin ping off a great dinne ner.

Th The chicken was co cooked to Mrs E liking ing, among the mo mouthfuls she po popped up to relay tha that the chicken was ‘ve ‘very juicy, well presen sented and nicely flavou voured.’

I never usually turn dow down a pudding, but I just didn’t have the room for one. There was a great selection, and the Terry’s Chocolate Cheesecake certainly grabbed my attention but we decided against it just on the basis of being full.

This was a real lovely atmosphere at this pub, for some off the beaten track. The Christmas decorations, and music, didn’t spoil what was a wonderful meal - good value, plentiful, and a real homemade feel to it.

For us two, Christmas really did come early.