Ramsons Restaurant

It is not until you catch on to the link between the Pennines and the Italian Appenines, that the presence of a real Italian hotbed in the unlikely setting of Ramsbottom becomes more justifiable. Then the credits begin to roll and you note that the Independent decided that this is 'one of the best ten places in Britain to eat Italian food' in 2004, and that in the same year they were awarded the Booker Prize for Excellence as Britain's Best Independent Restaurant.

La Carta menu starts with chopped raw tuna with lemon oil and wild rocket, grilled red bream with cauliflower mousseline and saffron sauce, before progressing to first courses of Jerusalem artichoke soup or perhaps a crab risotto. Salad or vegetables are then served as a separate middle course before the main courses, from a choice of six that may include fillet of Cumbrian beef with sautéed goose liver and red wine sauce, deep fried silver hake with organic beer batter, mushy pea mousseline and game chips, or Pioppini mushroom millefeuille with port reduction.

A cheese platter of three English and three Italian varieties cements the Entente Italia and, praise be! here are people who believe in the blessed savoury, this time in the form of a Welsh rarebit with a splash of Lea and Perrins. Desserts can offer Michel Cluizel Chocolate Trio, dark, milky and white, or possibly a lemon curd soufflé.

A light lunch at £14.50 can be built from the La Carta menu. But wait! in their Hideaway not only do you eat surrounded by large quantities of Italian wine, all of it for sale, but a two course lunch costs only £11.75 Come back there later in the day and enjoy a typical evening menu of five courses, ideal for party sharing, at the bargain price of £20 per head.

Ask about wine at Ramsons and their eyes light up. Head Chef Chris Johnson has spent 20 years pursuing the delicate relationship that exists between good food and equally good wine. This has resulted in a conclusion that the best wines of Italy which will provide a good match for every challenge that his restaurant's chefs may offer tend to come from the passionate, small scale Italian producers, producing wine that is hardly known beyond their homeland.

Ramsons is a place most definitely not to be missed, full of character and genuine enthusiasm; but why not find out more from their Website? Oh, you might also like to know that it takes its name from the wild garlic that grows in great profusion along the banks of the nearby River Irwell.