Sunday evening dining out can be quite tricky to find in some parts of Kirklees if you’re not in the mood for a curry.

After all, most pub chefs will have been hard at work doing Sunday roasts all afternoon, so who can begrudge them a bit of time off.

So it was with some relief that we found that the kitchen at the Hare and Hounds above Upper Hopton was open until 9pm when we rang desperate for fodder a few Sundays back.

On arrival our collective excitement at getting some scran was soon dashed when we were told there was a half-an-hour wait to be seated.

“Why didn’t they ask us if we wanted to book when we rang?” me and the missus said, as soon as we were out of earshot of the hosts.

A decent selection of real ale at the bar tempered my anger somewhat, and to be fair, we were escorted to our table after 20 minutes – ten minutes ahead of schedule.

A healthy level of waiting staff were on duty, five plus a restaurant manager by my count, so I had high hopes of some swift service to ease my rumbling belly. Sadly, it was quite some time before our orders were taken.

It hadn’t taken us long to choose as the menu displayed just seven starters and only six main courses, if you weren’t in the mood for a burger or steak.

The menu is specific for Sunday and included a half roast chicken, ‘Vintage Sunday Roast Platter’ and fairly typical offerings such as fish and chips, shoulder of lamb, salmon and an odd-one for the veggies, a savoury Eccles Cake.

The other half’s hopes of having a starter of potted oak smoked chicken liver pâté with onion marmalade and crusty bread were thwarted as it had sold out, forcing her to go for a baked Brie dish. It would have been nice to know it was unavailable when we were seated.

The warm cheesy dish was delivered relatively promptly with three chunks of bread and some cranberry sauce.

Hare and Hounds, Liley Lane, Mirfield.

There was no sign of any celery but instead warm grapes. The combination was hearty and filling and more of a lunch bite than a starter due to the size of the portion.

My beer battered mushrooms offered no such challenge to my appetite as just five arrived – a small portion for the £4 price tag.

No complaints about the taste though as they were crispy and served with an intensely garlicky mayo, but I did feel a little bit short changed, scoffing the lot in about 90 seconds flat.

During the long interlude for our main courses we waited in hope for our waiter to offer to get us new drinks – no such luck – so we had plenty of time to cast an eye round and analyse what was going on – a lot of chit chat between the servers.

Without wanting to be too much of a slave driver, the waiting staff were very friendly but seemed more focused on talking to each other than engaging with their guests.

On to the main courses we went and again after initial satisfaction we were both slightly underwhelmed by what was delivered.

My pork belly dish, while well presented, was very slightly over cooked, and I soon found myself enthusiastically mopping chunks of the meat in the very tasty creamy mustard sauce.

My black pudding disc cheered me up somewhat but then I tried the vegetables.

My carrots were pretty unappealing and mushy, my chips soggy and under-cooked and my cabbage supply bountiful, so much so that I found a massive extra pool of the nice mustard sauce underneath it after I’d finished eating – “doh”.

The other half ordered a slow cooked beef pie with mash.

I say pie, as it is what the Americans would call a pot pie, in other words, a casserole with a puff pastry lid.

Hare and Hounds, Mirfield. Beef and Merlot pie

The rich meaty filling certainly wasn’t lacking flavour and she did find the Merlot infused gravy a little too potent for her palate.

I too noted the heavy red wine taste but thought it was far better than having a bland watery gravy.

Keen to give the restaurant a thorough review we went for desserts, myself opting for peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and the missus, a chocolate brownie tower.

Both these puds were excellent, with the cheesecake having a lovely juxtaposition of salt and sweet. The generous portion pushed me over the edge from still hungry to very full.

The brownie was moist and very rich with a massive dollop of fudge sauce and a scoop of ice-cream. At £6, you would certainly expect so!

With a couple of pints and two soft drinks the meal tipped the balance the wrong side of £50 and we shuffled off muttering about value for money under our breath.