Mel delights in returning to Victory Chop House

I certainly have a lot of restaurants to visit, but a return to this Chop House was well overdue. My first visit (read it here) came shortly after the Village Hotel Cheadle had completed its restaurant refurbishment. The staff here struck gold when the top brass decided to create the Victory Chop House concept in Cheadle - one of only two in the UK. They created a modern and vibrant restaurant around a huge open kitchen. It’s a city centre style restaurant in the middle of Cheshire.

I found the restaurant looked as slick as a year ago. The welcome too was similar - big smiles from the super-friendly staff. I wonder if this is part of the training or are these guys always this happy. Our waitress for the evening was bubbly and could not do enough for us.

She described the specials to us in detail, clearly passionate about the food. With a wealth of information on the 6 special dishes and the extensive new menu in our hands we had some tough decisions to make.



The "Raw & Cured" Oysters stood out - available in 3 styles, so we could sample a mix. Accompanied by a homemade flatbread. The Oysters were really big, some served on ice others poached and served with a breadcrumb crust (Oysters Rockefeller). They proved to be a real treat. But Oysters on ice do seem to bring up a mix of emotions... I loved them, my partner hated them! Love them, hate them, just don’t neglect them (and pop on a few drops of Tabasco on them).



There was a nice atmosphere bubbling away in the restaurant, some guests and some locals. The wine, a Sauvignon Blanc seemed to be going down well. For me as driver for the night lots of iced water was readily available. After a short break the mains arrived.

I opted for one of the specials - I was sold by the 3 kinds of apple with the pork steak. My partner, the Hunter Style Chicken - one of the most popular new dishes on the menu.



Both were stunning. The apple-rings served with the pork were a great alternative to onionrings... maybe there is a new website idea there somewhere?! The potato and cabbage gratin on the side was perfectly prepared, a good mix of crispy crust and creamy veg. The star of the dish was the pork - a very good cut, cooked to perfection, not dry (like when I cook it at home) and was full of flavour.

The Hunter Style Chicken was soft with a delicious sauce containing little bacon bits and creamed potatoes on the side. Easy to see why it’s already become so popular.
After plates were cleaned and sauces mopped up a break was needed... oh, go on then... we'll have a little look at the dessert menu... but couldn’t possibly!

Ok, we could. Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble served with custard on the side was divine. A good thick layer of sweet crumble encasing the sharp rhubarb all offset by a subtle ginger hum. Yum, yum. Reminds me of my childhood, but mum always served lumpy custard. Nice job on the custard here - not a lump in sight.

Chocolate Nemesis Cake lived up to its name; almost evil levels of creamy chocolate made it a Chocolate gorge-ing. Our mantra became "Keep your friends close, but enemies closer"... it was a long battle with a worthy competitor, but in the end the cake was all gone!

A wonderful night’s food. Service was beyond excellent. So off into the night we went... planning the next battle with our new nemesis!

---

Posted: Saturday 11th October 2014
ID: 1993 - 1102