Holdsworth holds Festive times

It's here it's finally here! Welcome back to Mischief & Marauders. Now whilst the Holiday Season has had ups and downs, I've been really excited to go to Holdsworth House in Halifax for a few months. Ever since one of my colleagues said he was getting married there, I've been intrigued to visit and as a follower of theirs on Instagram I thought with it being so close to us and their afternoon tea having raving reviews we'd definitely get around to trying it out. So, when Si and I decided to have a quiet Christmas away from both families, we saw that they were offering menu options up to and including Boxing Day….well it was a no brainer really.

So our choice for Date Night, or in this case Date Afternoon meant we could cut back on Christmas Dinner options and indulge a bit in a fair priced set menu cooked by others overlooking a frosty landscaped garden.

We decided to bus our way there for a bit of nostalgia and gave us a chance to chin wag a bit, so landed up going via Halifax Bus Station and through Wibsey (Shudder) on our way to the hotel. I have to say that upon arrival I was a bit shocked. I'd seen a lot of pictures on their Instagram and of course having seen some wedding venue shots from Laura at Chicca Photography of the venue; was quite shocked to see the surrounding buildings of the venue and how compact everything was. Just shows that photos can be really deceptive; and what an incredibly talented photographer Laura is to use the space, the way she does. We fumbled around as we couldn't get the door to work and eventually got the gardener to get us into the restaurant itself.

Luckily we were the first to arrive and got given the best seat in the dining area with a perfect view of the outside but close enough to feel the warmth of the log burning fire. Si and I decided to have opposite selections of food so that we could sample of a bit of everything; it worked on the Christmas party, which was partly successful as Si's food was way better than mine, and it was one of the best decisions we made.

So for starters the options were:

Ham hock, apple and parsley terrine, piccalilli and freshly baked Mrs Kirkham's mature cheddar cheese bread

or

Mulligatawny soup, crème fraiche, coriander

or

Masons Yorkshire Gin and botanical spice-cured salmon, lemon pickle and endive salad.

Si went for the Ham hock, apple & Parsley Terrine, whilst I selected the Mulligatawny soup. The ham hock came beautifully presented in a spherical shape and was beautifully balanced with the apple. I had to distract Si so I could steal some of his cheese bread to dip in my soup. It was such an interesting flavour and reminded me of a curry, which Si really liked. The food was so wholesome and paired with some alcohol and snuggled in a corner we started to fill up quickly. We knew it was fancy when we got offered more bread rolls and had more than one set of utensils. As other people ruined the atmosphere by joining us, I spent the time showing Si how to be fancy with the etiquette of utensils before moving onto the mains. The choices for these were:

Roast Yorkshire turkey, sage and onion stuffing, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, sprout and green vegetable medley

or

Feather blade of beef, caramelised shallot, mashed potato, honey roast root vegetables, red wine sauce

or

Pan fried fillet of sea bass, sweet potato fondant, beetroot puree, crispy kale, mushroom sabayon Salad of roasted pumpkin, poached pear, blue cheese and walnut, celeriac remoulade (V)

We went for the traditional Turkey dinner and Feather blade of beef option; second time we ignored the fish option, but honestly I wasn't disappointed. Si's turkey dinner came with a Mint sauce or cranberry option, so working on the whole trying new things element got some extra cranberry on the plate which didn't go down too well for him, but at least we shared the traditional Brussel sprout for the first time in like 4 years. Moving onto the Blade of beef, this was also beautifully presented and also pulled. I've always been really fussy with beef in the UK as the taste has always been very hit and miss, particularly in West Yorkshire. However, the beef from here is allegedly sourced from Rawdon so pretty much mooed onto the plate and ethically sourced which is a biggy for me. I decided to try some horseradish sauce for the second time in my life and it was definitely as sharp as I remember as a child, but definitely added another element to the whole dish and would definitely; in tiny doses, have it again.

If anything else, I'd recommend sampling food here if only for the roast potatoes. Oh my word, they were positively delicious and as halfway through the meal we were already quite full; this speaks volumes about the quality I think, but they had to be eaten, and even all the veg was cleared off the plate. The veg was more sautéed than steamed which left a lovely crisp element to them, and a juxtaposition to the texture of the beef and turkey.

After the entrée's comes the best part of any meal…the dessert. Options were as follows:

Fruit and nut Christmas pudding, brandy sauce

or

Chocolate orange mousse, Grand Marnier glaze, candied orange, cocoa nib mile

or

Plum and Madagascan sugar custard tart plum and star anise foam

I've never been big on Christmas although an ex-friend Alex did make me a really nice gluten free one many year back that was fantastic! So the natural choices were of course the Chocolate Orange mouse for Si and the Plum and Madagascan Sugar custard tart for me. The chocolate mouse was very rich and clearly made from scratch with every morsel licked up without hesitation. The Plum tart reminded me of a shop bought egg tart rather than custard, the pastry was a bit hard and crumbly once cracked but the plum sauce was divine. At this point I was pretty glad I'd warn a stretchy dress because my belly looked like I was around 7-8 months pregnant at this point; luckily not 9, but definitely quite big. We mulled over a whole lot of general family conversations and wedding things, as well as pulling Christmas crackers; and trying not to get too annoyed by the people around us. It took a lot be the final course was a duo of Coffee Hot Chocolate and mince pies, because coffee is not a thing in the Hood Household; but Hot Chocolate is. It was so sad because the hot chocolate was super creamy but when you have the stuffy head feeling you know that's the point you need to just leave well enough alone.

Once paid up we decided to go for a little stroll around the place and found the courtyard, where one can have ceremonies, another place that was well photographed. Sadly this wasn't the end to our afternoon, after three hours of feasting this meant we would have to waddle; me more so than Si, to the end of the road only to find out a pretty bad crash happened 50 yards from the entrance, which meant we would not be able to get the bus back. Having to still go to Asda to get food for actual Christmas day, I knew I'd have to dig deep into my Scrooge pockets and fork out for an Uber; however 2 cancelled on us after waiting for 40 minutes because they couldn't figure out how to not go up an accident road and go around, but eventually got picked up by a smarter cookie. Not the best way to end or start Christmas correctly, but a WhatsApp call to the family back home made everything better.

Queue some traditional and some not to traditional films and we rang in our third Yuletide together in true Hood style.

I hope you've all had a wonderful festive Yuletide and as always….

Ciao for Now!

X Nic