Michael Nolan

Tonight the Nolan family went out for my Mum’s 24th birthday to the newly reopened Swan restaurant in the heart of Argleton Aughton. The Swan along with the West Tower and another place in Cheshire are part of Marco’s new northern franchises – owned locally but using MPW’s brand. No idea what his involvement is in the business but he didn’t serve our drinks!

With the Swan only opening on Monday evening I’d expected a few rough edges and there were some but nothing serious. The Somerset cider wasn’t on leaving Gaymers in its place and the beer selection was much reduced. Bottled ales available should’ve been Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen, Black Sheep and Hobgoblin but the latter two weren’t yet on. There was a decent looking selection of wines with a few available by the glass.

For our 7pm reservation a choice of menus was available. A La Carte gave enough choice to satisfy anyone, albeit at a price while the table menu (I forget the fancy French name for it) gave a choice of three starters, mains and deserts at a very good price.

I’m going to try to avoid sounding like a cheesy food critic from a local newspaper (“my dining partner chose the duck and it looked fabulous“) and stick to what I ate – they can add a comment about their own food. For starters I had carrot and mace soup. I was slightly disappointed mace in this case wasn’t a medaevil weapon or a spray police use for apprehending criminals – that certainly would’ve taken dinner in a different direction but it was very good.

For mains, while everyone else chose lamb (shit, I promised not to mention others’ food) I had to go for steak. It turned up cooked medium-rare to perfection served on an oversize plate with a slice of tomato and a stack of onion rings. When challenged, the waiter told me it didn’t come with chips but he must still be learning the menu as almost by magic some turned up neatly arranged on a side plate a minute later. Certainly quality over quantity when it comes to chunks of cow but I’d rate it in my top 15 steaks of all time.

People who’ve been out to dinner with me before will know that I have an unstoppable impulse to buy whatever desert looks closest to chocolate fudge cake provided it isn’t black forest gateaux. This time that happened to be chocolate truffle and it was very, very nice. Almost but not quite too rich it was served with rasberry coulée (thankfully seperate – why ruin a good chocolate desert with fruit?) and a dollop of something resembling warm vanilla ice cream.

Coffee – not part of the menu – and served with a “rose jelly” finished off the meal. In case you’re wondering, “rose jelly” looked quite a lot like Turkish Delight – the stuff dusted in icing sugar not the chocolate covered one made by Kraft.

I know it was a Tuesday night but I’d have thought it would be busier on it’s second night. I’ve not heard much about it though so perhaps they’re going for the soft launch. They’ve done a good job of sprucing the place up and while not radically different to the previous incarnation it feels more like a restaurant and a little less like a hotel lobby from an episode of Poirot.

So that leaves just one thing you’ve all been waiting for – cost! Three courses, coffee and a drink came to around £25 per head which I think is very good value. The a la carte menu looks like it could easily add up to double that and some numbers further down the wine menu made my eyes bleed but for a top class restaurant in Argleton, it can’t be matched.