The Hogg's Head Inn - A Tasteem Review
I have been meaning to write this one up for a while. We stayed at the Hogg’s Head Inn and with it being in the middle of nowhere opted to stay and eat that evenings' offerings.
This is part of a local franchise and for once they are doing a great job.
The place is new, immaculate, and far from the description of the Inn from the J.K.Rowlings books.
I did note they have nicked the typeface from the Harry Potter movies, and wondered if they had obtained permission or even needed to do so.
While staying, I asked the barman if there was a ‘Three Broomsticks’ close by but he didn’t know.
Why did they choose the dodgy inn name and not the popular one?
Surely this question has been asked a dozen times before.
Apologies if you are not familiar with the books or movies, if not then this will make little sense.
Inside was almost deserted, for no other reason I imagine than its' the quiet season.
Prices were a little expensive for this part of the country but as it is located in a services area this did not surprise me.
I ordered the Scampi & Chips at £12.95, with @bingbabe opting for the Fillet of Salmon at £15.95, along with a couple of drinks.
Service was prompt (as there were no others to serve), and we had our food within 10 minutes.
Scampi is generally considered a 'safe' option and is usually that frozen stuff from the supermarkets and deep-fried.
I wouldn’t say there was a great deal of Scampi in that 'metal tray', but I noticed the chips right away.
With a healthy dose of garden peas and some tartar sauce, I was ready for something that looked this visually appealing.
As far as Scampi & Chips goes I would rate this very highly and really enjoyed it.
The Salmon was another story, and I was getting complaints of ‘tasteless’ from a disgruntled @bingbabe sitting opposite me.
‘No salt, no pepper and little in the ways of flavour’, she is telling me.
It must have been a question of someone ordering the wrong item though it looked decent enough to me.
I cant comment any more than this as a report of 'tastless' hardly inspires me to take a bite.
I loved the homely feel of the Hogg's Head Inn. The décor appears to be purposely made like that, though they fell short of a roaring open fire and wizards whispering in the corners of the room complete with robes.
The next morning we had breakfast before leaving which I would equally rate as good as my evening meal.
Even that moaning @bingbabe said the breakfast was 'OK'.
There’s just no pleasing some...
Restaurant Information
The Hogg's Head Inn
Hawfinch Dr, Alnwick NE66 2BF, UK
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Your weekly choice
You should have ordered a deep-fried Hog's Head @slobberchops :D
Funny how two people at the same time can have such different perspectives. I do like the wood interior.
It's certainly a nice looking place for a services.
I have to admit being a bit of a salmon person that I agree by the looks of that salmon it looks dry to me.
If I'm ever in that part of the world I'll go for the scampi and chips 😉
I really liked the place, the other half.. not so much.
You guys never pick what I think you are going to big. That bird trio on the specials menu sounded pretty good along with the turkey cream pie. Salmon is always a gamble because if it is good, it is really good, but if it is just meh then there is no redemption. That is what I have found anyway. They both looked pretty good to me.
The bird trio is terrine which is similar to pate, the stuff that I couldn't get while in the US.
You have terrine over there? I'm not a turkey fan so would never for that other main you fancy.
Oh, nope, I am not a fan of pate. I had some that a exchange student from France had sent over and it didn't appeal to me. I thought it was like just a pheasant breast or something like that. That sounds good!
Not by snail mail I hope! Pate is perishable, has a short lifespan and needs to be refrigerated. Don't confuse it with the horrible stuff, paste!
I think you are right. I am pretty sure it was foie gras
Had to look that up, don't think its quite the same stuff!
I do like a bit of scampi and that's not a euphemism for a stinky badge. :0)
:) You never get much Scampi, it's too expensive so if it's crap at least there's not a lot of bad food to consume.
That's a fine way of looking at it. I don't think I have had bad scampi. That salmon did look like muck though, eh!
I thought it looked burnt, but then she burns her salmon at home when frying it. The noodles looked like they had a lot of sauce included, I guess looks don't always give the right impression.
They don't, I wrote like a burnt looking fish myself but not a bland one
They don't, I wrote like
A burnt looking fish myself
But not a bland one
- meesterboom
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
That looks lovely - comfy and cosy, nice menu and the chips look scrumptious. It is a little pricey, especially if you had more than one course, but the menu did have some nice choices (as well as the standards if you weren't feeling very adventurous). I've just looked up where it is - I imagine the coutryside is spectacular?
It was a cozy atmosphere, and the rooms were huge, spacious and new. I don't think its been here very long. Rolling hills were everywhere around this area, it's been a long time since I was in Northumberland.
Did they serve butterbeer? Looks like a cash-in on the HP franchise, but otherwise looks like a lot of generic food pubs these days. I think we have stopped at Alnwick on the way to Scotland. If we stop again I will check for alternative places to eat.
I would have bought a butterbeer if they were on tap but settled for some other local pint. I loved the food here, it could be that I ordered the right thing.
Well I'll consider it next time we stop there. We had butterbeer at the HP studio. It's not that special and not alcoholic.
The latter point I can understand, but did it taste unique?
Can't really remember. It was just part of the experience. I remember they were serving it in the outdoor bit with the Privet Drive house and the bus and that it was cold that day. We've been back since then, but don't think I bothered having it again.
Beautiful place
Thank you for entering our <Your weekly choice > Contest . Thanks to @slobberchops, Tasteem has become a more attractive guide. We upvote your post, wish you the best of luck in winning our Contest!
Hi @slobberchops!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.503 which ranks you at #1305 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has dropped 89 places in the last three days (old rank 1216).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 82 contributions, your post is ranked at #7.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server