The Duncombe Arms at Ellastone

I was quite surprised when I received a tip-off about how good the food was at The Duncombe Arms in Ellastone. Because I hadn’t even heard of this country pub before.

Perhaps it had escaped my notice because, with the nearby market town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire appearing in its postcode, The Duncombe Arms is often mistakenly listed as being in that neighbouring county rather than its true home of Staffordshire.

However, as a Staffordshire resident, and having sampled their winning combination of friendly, local pub with food more associated with fine dining, I hereby reclaim The Duncombe Arms for Staffordshire. Sorry, Derbyshire: it’s ours.

A quick look at the map revealed The Duncombe Arms to be conveniently close to Denstone Hall Farm Shop & Café where I’m a regular. So it seemed sensible to combine a morning’s shopping at Denstone Hall with lunch at The Duncombe Arms.

It being a rather dreary, damp day, my partner and I were very happy to be led into a cosy, fire-lit dining room. Having entered via the spacious garden with its views of the surrounding countryside, and noting a large-windowed conservatory area off the dining room, I could see that The Duncombe Arms would be an equally pleasant stop-off in good weather.

THE DUNCOMBE ARMS MENUS

Monday to Saturday lunchtimes and Monday to Thursday evenings, The Duncombe Arms offers its Market Menu. This is a reasonably priced set menu with two or three courses. It might include salmon rillettes to start, followed by chicken and ham pie with creamed potatoes and greens, with panna cotta to finish. There are also individually priced pub classics such as fish and chips, burgers, pies and sandwiches.

We decided on the à la carte menu, filled with delicious-sounding dishes which we thought would give the kitchen the opportunity to show just how good it was.

After ordering, we were brought some excellent sourdough bread with a perfect little quenelle of butter topped with coarse salt. I consider myself to be a pretty good judge of sourdough (I make it myself too) and can’t remember having had a better one than this. Full-flavoured with a satisfyingly chewy texture. The crust had quite a salty tang which I loved.

In anticipation of what was to come, I heroically refused the offer of more bread, tempting as it was.

STARTERS

CRISPY PIG’S HEAD

For my first course, I chose crispy pig’s head with Yorkshire forced rhubarb and smoked pancetta. I’m often drawn to those dishes featuring underused cuts of meat and not just because I think we should try to use every part of the animal. I think these can often show off the skills of a chef more readily than a top-end cut. I’d say this dish certainly proved that point.

It was stunning to look at. There was golden crumb, deep pink, seasonal rhubarb and bright green micro leaves of sorrel. A fine stick of pork crackling, pointing upwards, begged to be picked up and eaten immediately.

Before taking a bite of the star of the plate, I could see that the perfectly crispy casing on the oblong of pig’s head meat was going to crunch wonderfully crunchy too. Inside, in satisfying textural contrast, was a moist, porky mix of tender shreds of meat and soft, delicate fat.

Tasting a little of the rhubarb sauce before applying it to the meat, I found it nicely tart. As were the accompanying little chunks of rhubarb, not too soft, not too hard. A wafer-thin slice of enticingly smoky pancetta and a thinnish yet deeply flavoured, meaty sauce completed this perfect plate.

CHICKEN LIVER PARFAIT

For his starter, my partner selected chicken liver parfait with black truffle butter. I’m personally not a great fan of liver, eating it only occasionally. However, this example completely turned me around.

The texture of the parfait was the softest, lightest I had ever experienced. The taste was without the hint of bitterness which I think is the root of my dislike of liver. The lightness and absence of bitterness I guessed were down to copious amounts of butter. And in my book there’s no such thing as too much butter.

The accompanying black truffle butter (more butter: hooray!) was a revelation too, having the unexpected marmalade-like tang of bitter orange. Quite fitting during Seville orange season.

MAIN COURSES

BEEF CHEEK

My main course of braised beef cheek, creamed potatoes, smoked onion, cavolo nero and buttermilk was the sort of dish that gloomy January days are made for. Warming, rich and comforting.

I was pleased to be able to select another often-underused cut of meat, beef cheek for this course too. As you’d hope, it and its meaty sauce was full-flavoured. In terms of texture, the meat was not exactly falling apart (which is my preference for this cut). But it was cooked well with the outside nicely browned.

I was heartened to see onions as a major feature on the plate as I think they’re too often relegated to the side-lines. Perhaps the smoke mentioned in the menu could have been a little more pronounced. But I thought they were good nonetheless.

The creamed potatoes were unimprovable, being smooth, buttery and plentiful.

We grow masses of cavolo nero in our garden, so I wasn’t exactly champing at the bit to eat more. However, it was cooked perfectly for me and very good dabbled in the plate’s beefy juices.

The buttermilk referred to in the description took the form of a pleasantly sour-ish sauce, an enjoyable contrast to the umami-rich meat and the browned onions.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE OLD SPOT PORK CHOP

If I hadn’t chosen the beef cheek, my second choice for main would have been that selected by my partner. Gloucestershire Old Spot pork chop with white bean cassoulet and Swiss chard. I love it when I see this traditional pig breed on a menu because it shows that the establishment is using top quality ingredients. Thanks to its marbling of fat, it should be tasty stuff.

At The Duncombe Arms, the kitchen had wisely sliced the pork chop before placing it on its bed of bean stew, studded with smoky nuggets of bacon or ham. This means you can easily cut off bite-sized pieces, each with its own delicious little strip of backfat. However, if you’re the sort of person impelled to cut away and discard the fat from a proper, gutsy pork chop, then you’ve probably no business ordering one.

DESSERTS

By this point, we were cutting it fine as we soon had to leave to let out our cocker spaniel who was at home. However, we’d so enjoyed the dishes thus far that we couldn’t go without trying something from the dessert menu. Besides which, he’s a very understanding dog.

HAZELNUT CAKE

I’d eyed up the rhubarb soufflé, but had already eaten rhubarb in my first course. The menu also said there’d be a wait for it. So I decided on the hazelnut cake with blood orange and hazelnut ice cream. And I was more than happy with it.

I thought this was another beautiful looking plate. There were different shades of brown and beige provided by the cake, hazelnuts, ice cream and wide brushstroke of chocolate. This was brightened with segments of shiny blood orange, dots of fruity gel and starkly green micro leaves.

As with my first course, I noted with pleasure the different textures on the plate. In this case soft, smooth, crunchy and juicy. The cake was nicely moist and was of the more solid sort. This was no problem for me as I don’t entirely understand the fondness for light and airy when you want a pudding rather than a slice of something to go with an afternoon cup of tea.

RHUBARB SOUFFLE

Despite our time constraints (and against my initial advice) my partner went ahead and ordered the rhubarb soufflé with cardamom custard, mentioning to our server that we had to leave shortly. This turned out to be one of the few occasions when I’ll publicly concede that my partner’s judgement, rather than mine, was correct.

The gloriously risen soufflé arrived well within the expected fifteen minutes. But it would have been worth the wait even if it had been delayed. The soft pink-hued dessert was feathery-light. Tender pieces of rhubarb nested at the bottom. There was no mistaking the dominant flavour in the strikingly yellow custard – aromatic cardamom. This was quite assertive but went well with the moderately sweet rhubarb.

THE DUNCOMBE ARMS: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Everything from the kitchen was near perfect. The Head Chef has previously worked under Marco Pierre White and at a Michelin-starred pub restaurant. The young front of house team, while being efficient, were welcoming and friendly which made for a very unstuffy ambience.

On this occasion we were in the midst of Dry January so stuck to soft drinks. But next time we’ll be able to take advantage of The Duncombe Arms’ extensive wine list, including more than thirty available by the glass. My resolve was sorely tested as I was seated next to the incredible selection of single malt whiskies (a weakness of mine). As you’d expect with the landlord coming from the Greenall family, this brand of gin is featured amongst the very long list of those available.

If beer’s more up your street, Duncombe Ale, Marston’s Pedigree and at least one guest beer can be had, along with a range of lagers and ciders.

The Duncombe Arms states that it serves “classic and modern British food of fine dining quality in the warm, relaxed surroundings of a local country pub”. Based on my visit, I’d say that was bang on.

Highly recommended.

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