Restaurant-Guide.com
hand picked restaurants

Andrew Dann and wife Rebecca warmly welcome customers in to their intimate little restaurant in Blanch Croft, Melbourne, in rural south Derbyshire. With only five tables around, the couple ensure each diner receives a well balanced and expertly executed meal.

Chef Dan is passionate about letting local produce speak for itself; the menu therefore, reflects the very best in seasonal produce and the ingredients are sourced locally whenever possible. If from further afield, they endeavour to buy from British producers.

The carte could open with starters of homemade soup, and chicken liver pâté, onion chutney and toast, and go on to offer beer battered Pollock; rump steak burger, free-range chicken, asparagus and mushroom pie, mash and buttered greens, and a wonderful rare breed pork roast with an apple and sausage stuffing at lunchtime on Sunday. The delightful afternoon tea represents that much required nod to tradition.

Desserts take in sticky toffee pudding and frozen nugget parfait. A carefully selected range of wines is more than successful in supporting the menu well.

The Bay Tree Restaurant, located in the centre of the village of Melbourne, has over the last twenty-one years gained a reputation for offering new world cuisine. Co-proprietors, chef Rex Howell and Vicki Talbott, have combined friendly service, a relaxing ambience and deftly prepared dishes, making it a popular venue for breakfast, romantic dinners as well as special events.

Start with natural smoked haddock folded in deliciously seasoned risotto cooked with vodka and finished with yellow wax beans and crème fraiche and Thai fish cakes with a plum and spring onion garnish. Move on to thinly sliced calf's liver presented with homemade sausages, 'fluffy' mashed potato and onion gravy, and crispy Lunesdale duckling with a Saint Clements sauce. The champagne breakfast has its steady following among regulars. The wine list complements the food well.