The Bear and The Dog

This Sunday Mr M and I decided that we wanted a nice lunch, nothing big, just a nice sandwich. Mr M had been told by a number of different people about a pub called The Bear in Alderwasley. So we decided to make the trek there.

When we got there we were less than impressed. It truly is in the back end of beyond so you would only really be driving there for the pub…..unless you are a farmer. We pulled up and the place looked a bit shabby outside, this is not a deal breaker for me as I’m a big believer in its what’s going on inside.

Undeterred we went in. The first thing that hit me was the smell of the toilets that you had to walk past, the second thing was the wall of flies.

Without any direction we wandered into a room that looked promising as the food room and asked the waitress, who was dressed to go shopping not working, for a table. She muttered at us a number then pointed at the table. It turns out the shabbiness outside was not unique.

The table had no menu so we had to go back to the bar and ask for one.It was sticky. Biggest pet peeve about restaurants. We read it and were less than impressed.

For the first time in my life I walked out of a restaurant without ordering food.

Feel slightly annoyed and very hungry we decided to make tracks to an old favourite, The Dog at Pentrich.

 

The Dog is an amazing little gastro pub that is always guaranteed to have amazing food. They have recently under gone an extension and refurbishment. Not that it needed it! The place is always rammed and if you are planning a meal there I would book!

Inside it's cosy and always full of locals who are willing to chat to anybody, it would be hard not to feel welcome here.

 We settled down in the bar after ordering a Chicken, Bacon and Stuffing Ciabatta each and a side of roast potatoes to share (it was Sunday!)

It came. We ate. It was amazing.

There was even gravy. Proper gravy.

It only came to £13 for the two of us including drinks, when you consider that you would spend the same on two McDonald’s meals then it is a complete bargin!

This place is superb, definitely worth a visit. It’s warm atmosphere is full of welcoming staff and chatty locals. Add that to great food what more do you want?

You can find their website here.