sausage and mash
haddock and chips
chocolate brownie
Lunch at The Foresters used to be good, if a little pricey, something to look forward to.
We arrived three o’clock, following a short walk over Velmead Common, not sure if the kitchen would still be open. We were in luck, it was open.
We ordered drinks and took them outside. We were told a menu would be brought to us.
Luckily we picked up a couple of menus, as no one brought us a menu.
We looked through the menus, and could not find anything we really fancied. The menus had changed. Far too much on it, never a good sign, and trying to be trendy, not a good sign either. And some of the choices were plain stupid, eg a fish finger sandwich.
It was expensive before, now it was just plain crazy. Before £11-95 for burger. Now £15-50 for a burger.
£15-50 for a burger! To put this in context, a gourmet burger at the Tilly Schilling is somewhere around £6-95, and you get a free pint.
Had I not been hungry, I would have walked out.
I settled on sausages and mash served with vegetables, £10-95.
My eating companion haddock and chips. As the two choices was £11-95, he skipped the starter and decided on haddock and chips followed by chocolate brownie for dessert.
We then waited and waited and waited, then waited some more. Had they gone to catch the haddock?
We asked where was our meal? We were asked did we want more drinks? Not offered a free drink for the long wait.
No excuse for the long wait, as the place was almost empty. We soon learnt why.
We then waited some more.
Eventually, sometime gone four o’clock, our food arrived.
Was it worth the wait? Er, no.
My sausages and mash was drowned in gravy and looked disgusting. It tasted disgusting too. Tough if you did not like gravy. The sausages were not quality sausages, and had a horrible taste. Mash is not my favourite potato dish, but nice creamy, fluffy mash is quite nice. I do not know what had been put in the mash, but it too had a horrible taste. The carrots were hard and undercooked. The cauliflower, when I cut into it was black.
The sausage and mash was what you’d expect in a back street cafe. Only it would have been a fraction of the price and much better. Morrisons cafe can do better than this.
Were it not that I had paid so much, I would have left my meal.
The haddock was served with the skin on which gives it a vile taste. It was served upside down on the plate. The chips were in a little wire basket, as though that is how they had been fried and no one could be bothered to empty onto the plate. Being in the wire basket, rather than being emptied onto the plate, meant they quickly got cold. The haddock was overcooked.
The highlight was the chocolate brownie, it was served with a couple of bits of strawberry and choice of ice cream or cream.
We asked had The Foresters changed hands, a new chef maybe. We were told no.
Something has gone very very wrong. The Foresters used to be a good place to eat, albeit a little pricey. Sadly not any more.
We could see why The Foresters was all but empty (it used to be very busy). The word has got out.
The Foresters has a selection of books, whether for show or to borrow or swap not known, as did not say, and I did not ask. A mixed bag. Some rubbish eg 50 Shades of Crap, but also some very good books, well worth reading. I left The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho as a BookCrossing book.
When we paid the bill they let us off the drinks due to the long delay, the least they could do. The food was so bad, we should have been let off that too, or we should have refused to pay.
With poor service, poor menu choice, disgusting food when served, I cannot see The Foresters remaining in business for very long.
We were told, there is still a Sunday carvery.
Keithpp's Blog 
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