Possibly my favourite restaurant within driving distance, The Inn at Grinshill has both bar seating and a separate restaurant. The bar, with its own menu, has a traditional pub feel with open fire. The restaurant has a more contemporary setting with a centrally located grand piano and an open kitchen (a feature I always love).

We’ve been eating here on a semi regular basis for the past two years and I’ve always said The Inn at Grinshill deserves a Michelin star, recently Head Chef Chris Conde was also on 2011’s series of MasterChef, The Professionals (Season 4).

My wife and I enjoyed Christmas Lunch at The Inn at Grinshill, which inspired me to write a Inn at Grinshill Review.

For Christmas lunch we both enjoyed a Goats Cheese, Beetroot and Gingerbread starter which was exceptional. There is no cheating in Chris’s food, even the gingerbread was obviously made in the kitchen. For main’s my wife had the traditional Turkey lunch which was very tasty, if a little too traditional for my tastes, and I enjoyed Dover Sole Veronique as prepared on MasterChef Episode 3.

We’d place our Christmas lunch orders months in advance, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover the Sole was as shown on MasterChef - and extremely tasty.

The presentation of dishes at The Inn at Grinshill is always fantastic - My Sole main course was presented identically as on MasterChef - I was certainly impressed, but it’s also what I’ve come to expect from The Inn at Grinshill. My palette is without doubt far less developed than Michel Roux, but I’m not surprised a Two Stared chef was equally impressed with the dish.

A treat on Christmas, we had an assiette of deserts featuring 5 different and entirely gorgeous deserts each in their own right. Five deserts you always hope for individually, but each one more perfect than any desert you receive anywhere more average.

By this point both my wife and I were stuffed to the brim, having been unable to leave anything on our plates lest the flavours go to waste. But it wasn’t done there, following the deserts we were served possibly the tastiest Christmas puddings with real proper home-made brandy sauce, and a whole pot of flaming brandy. It’s little touches like the flaming brandy that make The Inn at Grinshill stand out - Personally I’ve tried and failed to set christmas puddings on fire, so I was impressed.

Chris Conde is a former Graphic Designer and it shows in the style and the way the food is presented.

The Christmas dinner set us back a pretty £65 each, with the cost of drinks on top (and the drinks certainly aren’t cheap), but this was the Christmas day menu, and you do get what you pay for. A typical meal for two is likely to cost around £40-£50 each including drinks.

I once ate a fantastic dinner at a top restaurant in Phnom Penh, the meal was sensational but the dinning experience has one taboo let-down… single ply bog roll… Since this experience I always take note of the bathrooms at a restaurant, and on this count The Inn at Grinshill does very well. Personally I prefer hand towels to hand dryers (I don’t like the noise, and they are slow) and again The Inn at Grinshill comes up trumps.