REVIEW: The Assheton Arms, Downham - a 'proper pub'

The Assheton Arms has recently been bought and refurbished by James’ Place, which owns Bowland Brewery.

We arrived in the remote village and could smell the smoke from the wood fire inside from the second we left the car and were greeted with a smile at the door before being taken to our table.

The menu at the Assheton Arms, Downham (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

We took a right and were taken to the dining room, up a small number of steps.

The dining room is well laid out, the tables were well distanced so that you didn’t feel like the people next to you were listening in on your conversation but it still had a cosy feel.

The waitress handed us our menus and said she would be back to take our drinks order.

The dining room in the Assheton Arms, Downham (Image: James' Place)

I ordered a pint of the Bowland Pilsner while my partner opted for a glass of Malbec.

We continued to look over the menu and it didn’t take us long to decide what we wanted.

I ordered the chorizo scotch egg for my starter and the sea bass for my main while my partner ordered the fish goujons to start and the ribeye steak for his main.

The chorizo scotch egg - how the yolk remains runny will be a mystery to me but it was amazing! (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

The starters arrived in a timely fashion and as I cut into mine was delighted when I saw the yolk was still runny.

I must note, I have no idea how a restaurant ensures the meat is cooked on the outside while keeping a runny yolk in the egg – it must be witchcraft or something – but regardless, it was amazing.

I don’t quite know what I was expecting, I did think I would be getting an egg surrounded by chorizo then breadcrumbed and fried.

The fish goujons - the fish was beautifully flaky and the batter was not sloppy (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

What I got was an egg surrounded in sausage meat containing chopped up chunks of chorizo, breadcrumbed and fried.

I was slightly disappointed but the flavour was fantastic and it gave me an excuse to take extra big bites so I would get loads of chorizo.

My partner said that his fish goujons were lovely and flaky, saying that the batter was not sloppy and stayed attached to the fish.

Our starters were cleared, and we waited about 15 minutes for our main course.

My seabass - it said on the menu it would be served with spring greens so I was a little surprised when I received beans and mangetout (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

The main arrived and I dug in straight away. The sea bass was cooked beautifully and was served with minted new potatoes, I could not taste much mint but they were tasty all the same.

It also came with green beans and mangetout – the menu said it would be spring greens as an accompaniment so I was a little surprised by this but luckily, I am a bean fan.

I must say, I was slightly disappointed when I saw a seabass come to the table next to me that was presented in a much nicer way – but I reminded myself that it didn’t mean it was any tastier.

The Rib Eye steak - my partner noted that the butter was a little overpowering for the steak (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

My partner said his steak was cooked to perfection but noted that he would have enjoyed it more if there had either been less butter, or if it had come in some kind of pot so he could add as much as he wanted, noting there was a bit too much and that the flavour overpowered the steak.

The chips were lovely (obviously I had to try one) and he also received a leafy salad.

After we finished our mains, our plates were cleared and we were asked if we wanted any desserts.

I was beaten but decided I could handle a Cappuccino to prepare me for the drive home.

My partner was very excited for the dessert menu and his eyes quickly fixated on the chocolate fondue.

My partner's chocolate fondue - looking back on this now I definitely have some food envy (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

We both ordered and my coffee arrived a couple of minutes later. The fondue took some time and I had in fact finished my coffee before his dessert arrived.

His desert looked fantastic and if I hadn’t been so full, I am sure I would have been filled with envy but I just could not manage another bite.

My partner said his fondue was fantastic, and I think the very clean plate he handed over to the waitress confirmed that.

Overall, we had a fantastic time and a fantastic meal but there were a few things which could so easily be rectified to make it perfect.

The chipped plate my partner's steak was cooked on - a small issue but easily fixed (Image: Lancashire Telegraph)

The first is, my partner's steak came on a chipped plate – after a couple of weeks in business, in my opinion, there is no excuse really for chipped crockery.

Secondly, nobody checked back on us while we were eating to see how our food was or if we wanted any more drinks.

Luckily, it was not a problem as the food was great and we didn’t need any more drinks while eating but I can foresee other, pickier diners getting a bit disgruntled by this.

Finally, and what probably annoyed us the most, is that we had no idea  there was a specials menu until we heard another table asked if they wanted to order a salmon dish from the ‘specials board’ as they had ran out of salmon from the main menu.

This could of course have been an oversight by the staff serving us, nearly every table was taken so they were busy, but it would have been nice to see what specials were on offer as it may have changed what we ordered.