Summer 2022 highlights: my food and drink favourites
I’d love to have been able to write full blog posts about all the great food and drink I enjoyed this summer. But, if I did, I’d have no time for anything else!
So, here’s one of my occasional round-up posts: this time featuring my summer 2022 highlights. Here you’ll find recommended independent pubs and restaurants, food and drink events, plus outstanding producers and suppliers.
I hope you enjoy these highlights and will try some of my recommendations. Or perhaps revisit a few you haven’t been back to in a while?
BELFIELD’S BISTRO: FOUND THEN LOST
Ironically, I’m going to start my summer 2022 highlights with one underlined with sadness.
In early summer I paid my first visit to Belfield’s Bar & Bistro in Leek. On the site of the old Market Kitchen Café, I had an enjoyable lunch of juicy lamb kofta with flatbread, fresh salad, olives, griddled veg, feta, and a minty yogurt dressing.
Naturally, I enthusiastically posted about it on social media. But I was gutted to read, that very night, that they were now closed!
Although I don’t know the story behind the closure, I hope it taught me a lesson. I’d been meaning to try Belfield’s since they’d opened just a few months before and hadn’t got around to it. I can’t help thinking that places such as this might still be open if they’d had a bit more support in the early days. So, if you’re pondering trying new somewhere new, don’t just think it, do it!
On a happier note, the site is now home to a new tapas restaurant which I’ll tell you about later in this post.
BLACK LION INN, BUTTERTON
One venue that seems to go from strength to strength is the Black Lion Inn, Butterton. It’s a lovely pub and one of my favourites in the Staffordshire Moorlands. The owners have done a great job renovating it and place great emphasis on sustainability.
I wrote here about my first visit in 2020, but I’ve been back many times since. Fancying a quick dinner out one beautiful, midweek summer evening, I’d set off thinking, ‘I’ll just have one course’. But, faced with a too-tempting menu, other half and I somehow managed three courses apiece. So good, the meal just had to be included in my summer 2022 highlights.
We shared two starters: wonderful homemade sourdough with butter, and a hot Scotch egg. The Scotch egg was one of the best I’ve had: great flavoured pork with a very crispy coating.
My main course was beautifully tender, overnight roasted pork belly with perfect crackling. It came with a decent wodge of tasty black pudding hash which was crispy inside and soft within. Underneath were dauphinoise potatoes, greens, and a whole, perfectly cooked carrot. Bringing it all together was what the menu correctly called ‘proper gravy’.
Pud was a very nice rhubarb and custard tart. At first, I was disappointed they were out of the ginger ice cream that was supposed to come with it. But I was so glad I chose their homemade coconut ice cream instead: gorgeous!
I honestly can’t recommend highly enough this traditional country pub with rooms. Dog friendly areas too.
THE OLD FLEECE
My next summer highlight is a bit further afield, a pub near Stroud.
Back when we lived in Leicester, we became great friends with a couple of fellow foodies. But we ended up moving further north while they went south. So now we regularly meet up somewhere in the middle for a walk with the dogs followed by something to eat.
Recently, we’ve been going to The Old Fleece where you’re pretty much guaranteed a great meal.
In early July, all four of us went for the same starter. It was an imaginative play on chicken Caesar salad, with crispy chicken croquettes. We all loved it.
My main course was an enjoyable salad of tender sirloin steak with punchy Stilton, plus asparagus, and walnuts.
Dessert was a very pretty banoffee pie which had just the right amount of sweetness.
The Old Fleece is very dog friendly and highly recommended if you’re in that part of the Cotswolds.
LUNAR: A HIGHLIGHT OF SUMMER 2022 HIGHLIGHTS
Lunar at World of Wedgwood opened its doors in November 2021 to huge anticipation. Like many, I thought the prospect of a top-end fine dining restaurant a few minutes from Stoke-on-Trent was genuinely exciting.
This year, they introduced The Lunar Experience: a tasting menu of 12 courses and I went along to try it. I was so impressed you could say this was the highlight among my summer 2022 highlights.
The food looked beautiful with each course perfectly executed. Each individual dish, as well as the menu as a whole, was well balanced.
STONE FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL
Billed as ‘Staffordshire’s original gastronomic gathering’, the Stone Food & Drink Festival has been going for over fifteen years. There’s always loads of street food, bars, cooking demonstrations, talks and tastings plus entertainment, kid’s activities, music, and a Gourmet Marquee where you can buy goodies to take home.
Previously held in October, the huge event now takes place over three days in July. In 2022 I went along mid-Festival, on the Saturday.
After a first quick whizz around, it was time for breakfast. From the Cheerbrook Farm Shop stall I had a lovely Full Monty Scotch egg with black pudding. Other half had a tasty, free-range pork sausage roll.
Later, I went to the farm shop’s talk where we were treated to lots of free samples of cheeses, pies, and other produce. Of course, then I had to go back to their stall to buy even more!
It was thirsty work getting around everything there was to see, but a freshly made lemonade, not too sweet, was just the thing to keep me going before lunch.
Talking of lunch, other half and I opted to share dishes from Mukaase Afro Caribbean Cuisine.
We chose rich and tender curried goat and nicely spicy jerk chicken with rice and peas, plus a side of dumplings.
Whatever your tipple, there’s a huge range of bars to choose from. I went for a Dark Ruby beer from Blythe Brewery to enjoy in one of the shaded seating areas.
Then it was time for a final go around the Gourmet Marquee and the outside stalls. Thankfully, The Good Life Meat Co had some of my favourite spicy merguez sausages to cook at home: I love them on a crusty baguette with chilli-garlic mayo and fried onions.
At Good Life Meat Co I bumped into another of my recommended producers and suppliers: James and Mel from Seed Chocolate. That day they were out as punters rather than selling their award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate.
Not quite finished yet, for the walk back to the Park & Ride bus stop I picked up a superb strawberries and cream cone from Polly’s Parlour – a beautiful 1966 VW vintage ice cream van.
If you’ve never been to the Stone Food & Drink Festival, you really should take a look next year.
HOG LUMPS PORK SCRATCHINGS
I’m very partial to a good pork scratching and jump at the chance to try brands new to me. So I was very pleased to discover Hog Lumps at the Stone Food & Drink Festival.
They had loads of different flavours to sample and they were all good. I bought three bags for £5: garlic, salt and vinegar, and chorizo.
They’re great quality scratchings without loads of fat (or hairy bits!) and not overly salty. They do plain as well, but I enjoyed the flavours: not overpowering so you can still taste the porkiness.
THE MANIFOLD INN, HULME END
After walking in the lovely Staffordshire Peak District at the end of July, I went for lunch at the Manifold Inn at Hulme End. Although I’ve stopped here for a drink before, this was the first time I’d tried their satisfying, reasonably priced home-cooked food.
I enjoyed a crab patty to start followed by excellent beer battered haddock and chips.
Read my review of the Manifold Inn here
ICE CREAM FROM DALTON’S DAIRY
I first discovered the great products from Dalton’s Dairy when I was invited to try their outstanding, grass-fed butter and cheese. But I’ve since become hooked on their fabulous homemade ice cream too.
Summer wouldn’t be summer without a Dalton’s Spinner. It’s lots of delicious vanilla ice cream whizzed with fruit: strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant. Last time, I had all three flavours combined.
You can get them, along with hot and cold drinks, shakes and snacks, from The Hatch, a cute onsite shed. Next door is an honesty shop where you can buy tubs of their ice cream, that great butter and cheese plus other local produce.
This summer I found another, closer to home, way of getting my hands on Dalton’s ice cream. After a hot walk, I really fancied something cold. Then I remembered reading that Pronto Deli in Leek had started selling it.
So we made a detour on the way home and I loved their gorgeous pineapple one. Creamy, fruity, and not too sweet.
TOTALLY LOCALLY LEEK
Summer 2022 saw the 10th anniversary of the mighty Totally Locally Leek Sunday Supplement market. There was the usual huge choice of independent food and drink, plus arts, crafts, live music, dancing, and kid’s activities.
I stopped for lunch at The Roebuck and given the occasion, had a very fitting lunch. I had the famous Totally Locally Burger, made with ingredients all sourced just a few hundred metres from the pub.
Beef patty, cheese, bacon, salad garnish, artisan bun, relish, skin-on fries, beer battered onion ring, all for £6. Perfect with a pint of my favourite Plum Porter from Titanic Brewery.
ELNOR LANE ARTISAN PRODUCE
Thanks to the Sunday Supplement market, I was able to try, for the first time, some of the fantastic baked goods from Elnor Lane Artisan Produce. And they went straight into my summer 2022 highlights.
Other half and I couldn’t decide on just one each from the gorgeous display, so shared two. We had a wonderful almond croissant and a heavenly orange and cinnamon morning bun. Both were beautifully light and full of flavour.
As well as finding them at markets, you can order sourdough bread, cakes, sweet and savoury pastries from their online shop and pick up from their Rushton Spencer bakery on Saturdays 9.00 – 12.00.
THE FLINTLOCK AT CHEDDLETON
Regular followers will know that The Flintlock is one of my favourite places to eat. Many of those who also love it will be dead jealous to learn that this 2 AA rosette restaurant is only 10 – 15 minutes’ walk from my house.
In mid-August I had another dinner that confirmed that this place just gets better and better.
It started with two complimentary snacks. First was a featherlight gougère of choux pastry filled with cream cheese and chives.
Second was a Hokkaido bun: soft and bouncy Japanese milk bread with a rich and savoury Marmite glaze. That came with a lovely seaweed butter.
For my starter I had the pig’s head terrine. This was a softly set, moist oblong of surprisingly delicately flavoured meat, topped with apple jelly. Alongside was a tangy piccalilli, a long shard of perfect crackling and another bun – this time flavoured with garlic and parsley.
My lamb main course was suffused with Indian flavours. A tender piece of loin and a tower of beautifully soft confit of shoulder topped with goat’s curd raita. These came with a spicy potato bhaji, crushed peas with onion seed, and a fantastic, sweet onion and tomato ketchup.
Dessert was lime and rum baba accompanied by lots of lovely little touches. Pieces of compressed mango, shreds of confit lime and tiny whirls of cucumber, toasted sesame seeds and sweet whipped cream.
Beside a great a la carte menu, very special Sunday lunches, The Flintlock at Cheddleton has regular tasting menu evenings which I highly recommend.
Read my review of a Flintlock tasting menu
ANDALUCIA TAPAS RESTAURANT, LEEK
Although the short-lived Belfield’s Bistro in Leek is no more, I was so pleased to learn that the site would soon get a new lease of life.
In August, Andalucia, a Spanish tapas restaurant moved in. Previously known as La Casona out on Buxton Road, they brought their tasty, no-frills tapas that won’t break the bank to the centre of Leek.
On my first visit, among the dishes I enjoyed were juicy king prawns in a knockout garlic sauce, a stew of melt-in-the-mouth lamb, and charred chicken breast with peppers and onions.
THE LAZY TROUT, MEERBROOK
The August bank holiday marked the end of summer and saw me lunching at an old favourite.
I first ate at The Lazy Trout before I’d even moved to the Moorlands. I’d often travel up from Leicester for day trips and weekends away in the superb walking country to the south-west of the Peak District. Naturally, I found my way to the delicious food and outstanding views of The Roaches at this great pub.
Happily, my latest meal there was as brilliant as always.
To start, I had harissa infused hummus which had a good spicy kick.
My main course was from the specials menu: venison loin medallions that were nicely browned and tender, but pink and juicy inside. They were served on soft, creamy Dauphinois potato, braised red cabbage and perfectly cooked bright green kale. A sweetish but richly meaty port and redcurrant sauce brought everything together nicely.
After that lot, plus a pint of Otters’ Pool summer IPA from the Wincle Beer Company, the only pud I had room for was a scoop of lovely mint choc chip from Cheshire Farm Ice Cream.
SUPPORT LOCAL, INDEPENDENT FOOD & DRINK
I’ve enjoyed looking back at my food and drink summer 2022 highlights. I hope I’ve inspired you to try or re-visit some of them for yourself.
Wherever you live, please support your local independent food and drink. If we don’t use them, then we lose them.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see my latest recommendations.
UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED, ALL PHOTOS © MOORLANDS EATER & NOT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION