A Roundup Of 2016 On The Sticky Beak Blog
Published On Friday 27 Jan 2017 by Sticky Beak
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I can only apologise profusely to you dear reader, for this extremely tardy review of 2016. I honestly did mean to start it earlier, but time has absolutely run away with The Man Bird and me. This New Year, 2017, is shaping up to be even busier already, with (hopefully) 10 reviews kicking things off in January.
Angie (Sticky Beak) with US Celebrity Chef Johnny Hernandez
at the opening of MEXIco, Derby
On several occasions His Nibs and I have sat across the table from each other, grinning like complete loons and marvelling at the fantastic places we get invited to and the delicious food we eat. Part of the fun is never knowing where we will be invited to next it could be fine dining or it could be a national chain asking for our opinion, and I think this diversity mirrors the tastes of the folk in Derbyshire. Now more than ever families are going out all together and it’s lovely to see an increasing number of venues providing high chairs or booster seats for the kiddies, as well as designing special menus for their younger guests.
For those who have “fur babies” there has been a massive move towards catering for man’s best friend; Hackwood Farm even sell treats for them to have at breakfast!, so now you can detox and retox (exercise and eat) because it’s all about balance you know ;)
See my list of Dog Friendly venues
Month on month we were delighted to see our twitter account grow to over 15,000 followers and also to have increasing numbers visit our Facebook page too; in fact December 2016 ended the year on a real high with a total of over 8,000 visits, so thank you all for your continued support :)
Obviously with it being such a busy year I’m not going to go into huge detail for each months pick, but you can click on the links below them for further details. So without further ado, here are the highlights of 2016....
January:
Fine Indian dining at Mewar Hevali near Nottingham. The food was delicious and the theatricality of their flambé skills was brilliant to behold. I also really enjoyed my tour and tasting session at Derventio Brewery in Derby. I have never been an ale/beer/lager drinker, but these guys converted me into being a big fan of the mighty Hop.
February:
As a couple we got to stay overnight at the Yew Tree Lodge in Kegworth and dine in its Marco Pierre Whites New York Italian restaurant, which was gorgeous and then later in the month we dined as a flock with Chickadee and Mummy Bird at the Papaya Thai venue in Derby City centre. This was a real novelty for my Mummy as she doesn’t often get to go into the city, and she had a great time.
March:
This month saw me recovering from serious illness with my first outing being to Huntley Green in Cromford for a much looked forward to breakfast. I don’t think I can ever express just how amazing that tasted for me, and they were lovely people too. You can’t keep a gluttonous bird down for long and the end of the month saw His Nibs and I treat the Tribal Elders to a magnificent Easter Sunday lunch at the Three Horseshoes in Long Lane Village. This is home to (in my opinion) the world’s most extensive cheese board and Daddy Bird and I tucked in with indecent abandon. We also went to Chesterfield’s newest eaterie, Catch 22, for a seafood extravaganza and a cheeky few Oysters, yum!
UPDATE: As of the end of January 2017 Huntley Green has permanently closed
April:
We finally made it to the Devonshire Dome in beautiful Buxton to see what the students were cooking up, and there is some serious future talent honing their craft there let me say. Bistro night at The Cool River Cafe in Matlock beckoned; it had a great menu, the food was superb and the Patisserie was utter perfection. The final mention for this month is a bittersweet one; Chandlers Bar in Chesterfield saw us eat some brilliant food and we were hosted by the charming Luke, who sadly passed away only a few months later. R.I.P Luke.
May:
The inspiration for our Dog Friendly lists came after a visit to The Family Tree at Whatstandwell for Breakfast. There were several canines in there all enjoying themselves with their humans and being fed sneaky titbits.
Fine dining made another appearance in the form of the Chefs Tasting menu at Derbys Masa restaurant.
We had a wonderful evening there eating equally good food, and we were lucky enough to have another great evening eating out at Peppercorn restaurant on the Chesterfield/Sheffield border in Dore village. Never has a venue looked so small and plain on the outside yet been huge and beautiful inside and produce food of such a high standard. I learned the value of the saying “never judge a book by its cover” here.
June:
This month started rather stylishly with “Fish and Fizz” week at the Fox and Goose in Wigley, Chesterfield. The food was delicious and the Man Bird took a photo of my Razor Clam Tartare that has been published in the Great British Cookbook, talented Boy! Changes were in the air at The Blacksmiths Loft in Derby with a new chef and new menu, so we went along to check things out. I am pleased to report that it was great evening. As we celebrated our third birthday here at The Sticky Beak Blog, another person was celebrating a move to pastures new; Mr Alan Hill was The Cavendish Hotel, Chatsworth’s new Head Chef; more on that later.
July:
There must’ve been some serious culinary magic in the air this month as our little feet barely touched the ground, like the food served up at the Rollercoaster restaurant at Alton Towers! What a fantastically different family dining experience that was, absolutely amazing and the food was great too. We have munched a fair amount of gourmet burgers in 2016, but really enjoyed our time at The Forge in Derby with our Chick. More far flung cuisine was the order of the day at a new eaterie in Derbys Intu centre; Mexico gave us all a true taste of this countries vibrant cuisine along with equally colourful surroundings and cocktails, ARIBA!
We showed our more refined, civilised side at the award winning Lisa Jeans at Bennetts Brasserie in Derby for their High Heels for High Tea experience. Seriously, it is fantastic, and they apparently do a corking breakfast too.
The end of this whirlwind month saw us invited by the aforementioned Mr Alan Hill to his Kitchen Table experience in the Cavendish Hotel. No word of a lie, this is the stand out night of the year for me, even alongside the other incredible things we have done. To quote one Mr Revill-Horwood it was “A-MA-ZING”.
August:
We had a little time to get our breath back after the shenanigans of July and visited Bakewell Show with the Tribal Elders, drinking Pimms in the Patrons enclosure. Then we went to the Fahrenheit Bar and Grill at the Genting Riverlights Casino in Derby and had a wonderful meal with Josh and his team before venturing back into the city later in the month for very yummy dishes at Wagamamas in Derby Intu centre.
My Mummy Bird had a brilliant birthday treat with us all at Rachaels Secret Tearoom, which both her and my Daddy Bird thought was an incredible concept. Rachael is the most perfect Hostess and her home baked goodies are delicious!
The pilgrimage to see the Geordie Bird (mum in law) got underway and we noticed that there was new place in Whitley Bay called Hinnies that stated it did Geordie Comfort Food. We happened to meet the owner and manager, who were as fantastic as their food, so we had a great evening in this lovely seaside town.
September:
Chesterfield had a new kid on the block, York House. This is a real asset to the town, offering something great throughout the day. Everything was brilliant here from the building, to the staff, decor and of course the cuisine. It is currently at the top of our most read blog chart, congratulations guysJ. You can’t think of Derbyshire without thinking Chatsworth so we were thrilled to be asked to take Afternoon Tea in its collaboration with Wedgewood China, The Flying Childers. This quintessentially English experience oozed class from every stone pore of its fabric and I just loved the Wedgewood Blue icing that topped the fruit cake.
October:
This month sees us all starting to think about Christmas and Cosmo, Derby was way ahead of the game, inviting us to sample its alternative Christmas menu. Cosmo has a universal appeal to all dining tastes and the Christmas dishes were delicious, again with something for everyone. Steak is something that The Boy Wonder and I really enjoy eating so we were more than happy to go and try the offering at The Devonshire Arms at Beeley. Crikey, it was good and a real meaty beast too! We stayed a bit closer to home when we visited Ego at Sutton-in-Ashfield. Not only was the food delicious, but the menu really did have something from countries all around the round, so I shall look forward to returning many times to try different dishes.
November:
The Kedleston Country House invited us to their inaugural “Taste of Kedleston” event and as well as a range of imaginative dishes there was a jolly informative talk by Tim Worth of Worth Brothers wines. The whole evening was excellent and we wish them every success with their planned events for 2017. Our third visit to Yo! Sushi in Derby Intu centre was to help them celebrate their first birthday at the venue and as always their food was fresh and full of flavour.
December:
The final month of the year was busier than we thought it was going to be, no one was showing signs of slowing down in the run up to the Festive season. Our visit to Belper’s Rice Bowl restaurant was a very pleasant surprise, not least due to its charming owners hospitality. Woon is from Malaysia so his specialty is dishes from this region and they are so mouth-wateringly good. In addition he does some yummy Thai and Chinese meals too.
Leabrooks may only be a tiny village but the newly opened Bird Cage Tearoom is already getting a great reputation for its quality, value and ambience. The Man Chick and I are fans of their breakfast and the joyful chirruping of resident canary George (pronounced Gay-Org) sets you up nicely for the day ahead.
Mugginton saw The Cock Inn open later in the year and we paid it a visit at owner Howards kind invitation. It is an incredible venue and the food was second-to-none, just like its sister establishment the Three Horseshoes in Long Lane Village. The week before Christmas saw The Man Bird and I at Turtle Bay Caribbean restaurant in Derby, and what a great time we had. I love the vibrant venue and the jerk seasoning certainly warms you up, yum yum!
Christmas:
I just had to mention the scrumptious Chocolate Junkyard Cheesecake that my flock tucked into over Christmas. This total gem was made by the very talented Loubys in Alfreton, and if I could’ve bathed in it too I would’ve done; it was just utterly brilliant.
So, that’s the round up of what was a marvellous, varied year here at The Sticky Beak Blog. There have already been several things that we’ve enjoyed, and there’s a lot more in the pipeline to look forward to. Thank you for following the blog, I hope you’ve found it helpful and don’t forget, if you go somewhere that you think needs shouting about, let us know and we’ll pay a visit :)
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