Clocktower Restaurant, Rudding Park

We recently went to the Clocktower on the recommendation of Mary's hairdresser, who has pointed us in the right direction a few times. It was a lovely sunny Sunday and we didn't know what to expect, but the surroundings were opulent and the presence of a Lamborghini and a couple of Aston Martins said something about the clientele who were there that day. Actually what it said was that they were very noisy. Formal but friendly waiters and waitresses were everywhere. We counted that we were served by eight different people during our two course meal. We were seated in the conservatory, just outside the main dining room, which would have been fine on any other day - it has been built around what is clearly an old tree -but on this day most of the conservatory was taken by the noisy party. The bread, served with oil and balsamic as well as butter was very good, the starters were good too, but I have forgotten what they were. Then I had the Roast Beef, Mary had the Roast Pork. They are pictured above.

Mary loved the pork especially the crackling. I had two issues with the beef - overall the plate was more creamy than meaty, with hollandaise on the veg and a walnut whip-sized swirl of extremely creamy horseradish, with not much beefy gravy. I was asked how I wanted the beef. I requested it medium. It seemed to me that they had cut the slices from a large pink rare piece of beef and grilled them until they were no longer pink. It just didn't feel like Roast Beef. It was nice beef though. Overall we enjoyed the meal and would go again to try the evening menu, though we thought it just a little expensive at £62 for two starters, two main courses, a cup of tea, a diet coke and two coffees.