Stackpole Walled Gardens
Location -
Stackpole Walled Gardens,
Stackpole Estate,
Pembroke, Pembrokeshire
SA71 5DJ
Date of Visit - 30/04/2016
The Ploughmans itself (Actually, it was called a "Gardeners plate")
The Food
It has to be mentioned, that this was not "officially" a ploughmans, as it was called a Gardeners plate - but it fits the criteria of a Ploughmans
0 -Pickled Onion (Unfortunately no Onion or prickle, so could not offer a score).
10 -Pickle. This was a beetroot based preserve. Not sure what the official name of it was, but it was like a chutney, and thoroughly delicious!
10 -Cheese / Ham. The cheeses and Ham were beyond superlatives. The ham, local, tasty, tender and perfect. Three cheeses on the plate. A Cheddar that was smooth, creamy, tasty and delightful, miles away from the usual slightly rubbery stuff. There was a "Brie" type cheese called Perl Wen (White Perl) that was increable, creamy, tasty and just enough mould, but not too much. There was also a blue cheese. I personally detest blue cheese, and they would have quite happily substituted it for more of the other stuff. However, I chose to have it, as the Misses love blue cheese, and i could therefore outsorce the tasting of the blue cheese to here - apparently, if you like blue cheese it is very good. I'm not convinced, but then I never will be with blue cheese.
8 -Bread. Part baked baguette. Given the provenance of the other food here, I suspect local, even though I suspect it was a Par-bake. Still, it was rather lovely.
5 -Spread (better be butter, or a choice). Local, tasty, creamy and spreadable. In a little dish thingy, so top marks.
5 -Presentation. Superbly presented. Looked marvelous. Photo does not do it justice (the light was bright, and I was too hungry to faff about).
4 -Salad, etc. Salad was lovely and fresh, tasty and crisp. No sign of green pepper, which is always a good thing. (Nothing against peppers, I quite like them, but green peppers should be cooked). Anyway, a point dropped as there was no dressing, and a little French dressing would have made it perfection. I feel a bit mean giving it a 4, but then I formulated the criteria, so only have myself to blame.....
5 -Originality. Not calling it a ploughmans is very original. It was nice for once to have it on a standard round plate - and so the presentation is even more impressive, and no theatricals involved. Also giving it extra points here as I feel mean about giving it 0 for no pickle.
Food total: 47
Beverages
9 - Good tea. It was a bag, but in a pot, with extra water, plenty of milk, enough sugar, etc. There were a great many other drinks on offer too, Nothing alcoholic, but its a tea rooms in a garden, not a pub so that's fine. If it were leaf tea the score would have been higher, but then it's hard to get a 10 out of me for drinks. The water was hot enough - so a great thing there.
Drinks Total: 9
The venue
9 -Service. It seemed that we arrived just at the same time a whole lot of other people did: a few of them seemed to dither over their selection, however, the staff rallied and produced a miracle. Very friendly, felt very much at ease.
7 Atmosphere. The interior is very functional, and may seem a little austere, but that is mostly because it is new and efficient. That might be the only criticism. The place seemed spacious, light and airy. Nice amounts of space between tables, and the furniture felt solid and trustworthy. All was clean and lovely and generally in tip top condition. We sat outside and enjoyed the views of the gardens, and the benches outside were nice and solid, and very clean too.
5 -Location. A restored walled garden in a beautiful part of the world. What more could you want, if it had a sea view I would have felt bad about only giving it a 5.
5 -Toilets. I wanted to move into the toilets and live there. I cannot think of better toilets. Even if you do not think you need to go, try them.
Venue total: 26
Score: 82
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