By Tom Mack

The dark night can be disorienting on the narrow windy roads out to South Croxton. After twisting and turning our way up and down valleys and over bridges we arrived at what appeared to be a small, country pub.

The Golden Fleece sounded like a quiet place. Even standing outside I was unprepared for what we would find on opening the front door.

It was as though my wife, Polly, and I had stepped into a Tardis. The inside was a vast, sprawling restaurant that seemed to stretch half way down Main Street.

The atmosphere was an incredible jolt after the cold silence of the village outside. It was full of rowdy chatter and laughter.

We were shown to a seat in the bar and handed menus offering great sounding dishes at pretty reasonable prices.

We both chose starter dishes costing £4.95 – I went for chicken liver parfait with red onion marmalade, while Polly picked roast butternut and goats cheese risotto.

Other options included scallops with pea puree, poached pear, garlic king prawns and soup.

The main dishes included lamb, beef and ale pie, more scallops, pan-fried duck and steak.

I went for a garlic and thyme chicken breast with smoked bacon and sauteed potatoes for £11.95, while Polly chose a pan-seared salmon fillet with crayfish risotto, which cost £13.95.

A waiter came and took our drinks on a tray and led us through to the dining area.

There was bread already on the table, served with oil and balsamic vinegar instead of butter, which I find a fairly odd idea. Especially when the bread is always the dense kind that cannot really soak up liquid.

Then the chicken liver parfait came and my mind did not have another critical thought for the rest of the night.

The brutal savoury kick of the liver, the caramelised sweetness of the red onion and the saltiness of the buttery toast blew my mind.

It could not have tasted better. And there was a whole load of it, too.

Polly found the same with the butternut risotto and the value-for-money box was ticked early on.

My chicken was also a big dish. Polly, being in accounts, likes to think about the Sterling value of her ingredients and believes in eating the meat first.

However, my chicken was heaped with French beans and crunchy strips of parsnip that went so perfectly with the cheesy sauce and the sauteed potatoes it was a chunk of the chicken that ended up left on my plate when I reluctantly gave up trying to cram anything else in.

Polly’s second risotto of the evening was as creamy and tasty as the first. But, like me, she was soon defeated, longing only for the bill so we could get outside into the cold night air and loosen our belts a notch.

The only reasonable complaint about the Golden Fleece is that it is so popular the poor waiting staff were rushed off their feet all night long. But they were all young and agile and seemed to thrive on the chaos.

The whole meal, with £8 spent on drinks, cost £43.80

Information: The Golden Fleece, Main Street, South Croxton

Phone: 01664 840275

Rating 5/5