It’s a hotel that’s been part of Huddersfield’s history for as long as I can remember and hundreds of thousands of folk must have passed through it while visiting the town.
I’m talking about the Old Golf House at Outlane, which is about as convenient as it gets to being next to the motorway. If its grounds were extended any further it’d be on the hard shoulder.
It offers a couple of dining experiences – in the bar or in its dining room, which has certainly been poshed up. We went posh.
Chandeliers on the walls, matching glass wall lights and rounded glass mirrors – it’s certainly out to make the place feel special.
And what’s this on the table? Why, it’s a small candle. How romantic ... or it would have been had it been lit. All the candles remained doused while we were there. If you’re offering a candle it’s best to use it – although not sure how the flame would have coped with the lights from the chandeliers.
The A La Carte dining menu offers two courses for £18 or three for £20. We aimed high at the three-courser, but would we make it?
Our starters were chef’s homemade soup which turned out to be parsnip and apple. Peppery parsnip with just enough apple to give it a sweet touch. That’s one I’ll have a go at with my all-singing, all-dancing soup maker (although it doesn’t really sing nor dance, it just makes soup).
The other starter was a homemade fish cake resting on dressed salad with lemon and dill mayonnaise.
A light breadcrumb coating and good-sized, well-seasoned fishcake with a good quality salad. Yep, that one hit the target.
Another diner had the traditional prawn cocktail with Marie Rose sauce on dressed leaf – and there was a huge mound of prawns.
Other starters included breaded brie with mango chutney and dressed salad, chicken liver pâté with red onion chutney and toasted ciabatta or a trio of melon with wild berries and fruit coulis.
On to mains. Mine was pork loin with roasted potatoes and sautéed greens in a red wine jus while wife Ruth went for chargrilled chicken breast stuffed with sun-blushed tomato and cream cheese, served on crushed new potatoes with a creamy garlic sauce.
A fair-sized pork loin which came with plainly cooked carrots, a few roasties and the greens had plenty of crunch in them, which led me to question the sautéed claim on the menu.
Cue the salt and pepper to bring out the flavour of a typical English dish.
So many restaurants have salt and pepper which refuse all attempts to entice their contents out. No need to shake furiously or bang them on the table here. Both are grinders and provided plenty of seasoning which the dish needed.
We were asked if we’d like anything else, so mustard was also brought into the equation.
The chicken was fine, although lighter on the cream cheese than expected, and the carrots put in another appearance. They and the crushed new potatoes needed flavouring up.
Other mains were roasted lamb rack resting on mashed potato served with roasted carrots and buttered green beans with a mint jus (£5 supplement), baked salmon fillet with buttered new potatoes and a prawn and chive butter cream sauce or oven-baked pepper stuffed with Mediterranean vegetable rice with basil pesto cream sauce.
We’d made it through to dessert and could both manage one which must be just about a first.
Mine was wild berry Eton mess with chantilly cream, while Ruth also went light with homemade lemon posset.
A great Eton Mess with plenty of fruit in it, so much so I claimed two of my five a day there and then.
The posset was more lemony than a lemon soaked in lemonade and sure was refreshing.
Others were homemade sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce topped with cinder toffee and crème anglaise and homemade chocolate and orange tart with chantilly cream.
All in all decent value for money in pleasant surroundings.
The Old Golf House Hotel
New Hey Road, Outlane HD3 3YP
Phone: 01422 379311
Website: www.corushotels.com/huddersfield
Opening hours: Lunch Monday to Sunday, 12–2pm; dinner Monday to Saturday, 6–9pm and Sunday, 6-8.30pm
Children: Yes
Disabled access: Yes
The bill: £43.05 (including two drinks)
Would you go back? Yes
