Mitton: Hillside Tea Rooms

4:17pm Saturday 24th May 2008

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THERE are times when you can't beat a good old fashioned tea room.

When that tea room is in a beautiful location and serves home made food, you know you are on to a winner.

The Hillside Tea Rooms is one of those places I've always had in mind to call in and see what it's like. Now I'm really glad I finally got round to it.

Inside there's a country feel with its plain walls and wood beams.

The specials board is packed with tempting simple fare and there's everything on the normal menu to suit everyone from walkers looking for a pot of tea and a sticky bun to those wanting a full-blown meal. It's also licensed.

The better half went for one of the three roasts on the specials board - it was a Sunday - the lamb at £7.25.

I opted for the chicken and mushroom pie at £6.85.

The pie was a real plateful and clearly freshly made.

It was about an inch thick and packed with tender chicken pieces in light pastry.

It was served with boiled and roast potatoes, brocolli, carrots and a generous helping of gravy - wonderfully wholesome stuff.

The lamb. too was a substantial portion. The lamb was tender and as well as the same spud and veg accompaniment, it was nice to see mint sauce being offered.

Fortunately we had room for pudding.

To be honest I could have had any of the dozen or so sweets on offer but in the end went for jam roly poly and custard. The better half went for rhubarb crumble.

All puds were £3.50 and represented great value.

There was a wonderful 'school dinner in the nice sense' quality to my roly poly.

The suet pastry was just right and the hot jam and lashings of thick custard were a real treat.

I didn't hear a word from the better half as she tucked into her crumble with gusto.

One point to note, plastic is not accepted so make sure you've got some cash with you.

There is something wonderfully old fashioned about Hillside and I'll definitely be visiting again.

>> The verdict

Home cooking and tradition to the fore in a great location.