Railway Street, Ramsbottom
Owen’s Restaurant and Bar is
an elegant and modern restaurant in the charming market town of Ramsbottom.
Situated on the aptly named Railway Street, it overlooks the old train station,
where you can hop on and off the East Lancashire Railway.
Owen’s has been on my dining
wish list for a very long time. I’ve heard nothing but favourable reports about
the place. So, once we’d organised a trip on the East Lancs, there was only one
thing I knew I had to do once I arrived in Ramsbottom.
On a Thursday lunchtime, we
hadn’t booked and we arrived just in the nick of time, nabbing the last table,
though there were more spaces available in the bar, where you can also dine,
should you wish to. The restaurant has a very modern feel to it, with silvery
grey furnishings and comfortable, spacious tables.
By day, they have a lunch
menu, which offers three courses for £13.95, which is good value but your
choices are very limited. I feel it doesn’t fairly represent the kind of food
on offer, so I decided to stick with the a la carte. I love a set price menu as
much as the next person, but if it doesn’t offer what you fancy then it’s false
economy.
We ordered two starters and
had a dip into each. Firstly, we had the pan-fried garlic mushrooms with bacon
and stilton cheese. Garlic mushrooms are my go-to when they appear on any menu.
They’re one of my all-time favourite starters. For me, you just can’t go wrong
with them. That said, some are always better than others, and these were
spectacular. They were creamy, cheesy and the crispy bacon really added depth
in terms of both flavour and texture. Plus, they were served with warm bread
and butter, so you could mop up all the sauce.
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| Garlic and Stilton Mushrooms |
Our other starter was from
this month’s specials board: cheese and bacon potato croquettes with garlic
mayonnaise. Three huge croquettes, oozing with melted cheese and pieces of
bacon were nestled on top of peaked garlic mayonnaise. It was a case of garlic
overload, although, in my humble opinion, there’s no such thing as too much
garlic.
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| Cheese and Bacon Croquettes |
Appetite well and truly
whetted, the starters set us up for a hearty main course of vegetable
stroganoff. Stroganoff is not something I’ve eaten loads of, and previously
I’ve only ever had it with meat. During the festive season, we frequently use
up the leftover turkey in a stroganoff, but beef is the meat traditionally used.
Here, you can add chicken to
the vegetable version, but it’s certainly not necessary, as the combination of
onions, mushrooms, courgettes, peppers and gherkins in a mushroom and sour
cream sauce makes for a truly scrumptious dish. It’s served with a neat little
heap of rice and a handful of home-cooked chunky chips. Rice is the more
traditional accompaniment, but who could turn their nose up at some proper
chips? It can only be a bonus.
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| Vegetable Stroganoff |
My mum has dined at Owen’s on
a number of occasions and has so frequently spoken about their Bakewell Tart
that it’s become the stuff of legend in our household. Having sampled the
goods, for research purposes, obviously, I can confirm that this was, indeed, the
king of all bakewell tarts. A soft, pastry base topped with a thick layer of
zingy raspberry jam and moist almond sponge, sprinkled with almonds and served
with a jug of warm custard, it was the perfect pudding. Despite being full, I
certainly need to think twice about squeezing down every single mouthful.
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| Bakewell Tart |
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| Bakewell Tart |
Owen’s proves that you don’t
need to be a fancy gastropub to excel at honest English cuisine. There’s
nothing more satisfying than top quality, home-cooked food, served up in
generous portions at reasonable prices. The staff are friendly and attentive,
the service is fast and the atmosphere is relaxed and sophisticated. Owen’s is one
of my new favourites.
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