Undercover diner: Review of Old Forge, Bob’s Smithy, Bolton
Meals are paid for in full and the management is not warned TheBusinessDesk is visiting the restaurant
ON a clear day you can see Snowdon from the Old Forge restaurant adjoining the popular Bob’s Smithy Inn on the West Pennine Moorland on the North West side of Bolton.
The pub has long been the haunt of the dedicated real ale drinker but in recent years the landlord and landlady have expanded their operation into a stone terraced cottage next door to create a quaint and tasteful restaurant.
You can book a meal in the restaurant or have your food in the main part of the pub at no extra cost.
My partner Anthea and I visited this establishment on Sunday on something of a high having just returned from the glorious Andalucia haunt Majacar the previous evening.
What better way than to round off two weeks strolling round the tapas bars of that beautiful pueblo than tucking into a good old fashioned Sunday roast.
The Sunday menu at the Forge offers two courses for £12.95 or three for £15.95. Options for starts include soup, pate of the day, prawn cocktail, sautéed chicken livers, a chestnut mushroom gratin and Finney haddock.
Mains on offer were roast beef (served pink, but cooked for longer on request) with all the trimmings, slow roasted gammon, half beef/gammon, chicken breast, plate stake pie, fish of the day, cheese and onion pie and roasted vegetable and mushroom risotto.
The sweet dishes included Eton mess, apple tart with ice-cream or custard, warm chocolate fudge cake, jam roly poly and custard, and lemon Sabayon tart.
My partner and I only wanted two courses, so we decided Anthea would have the starter (which we shared) and I would have the sweet (also shared).
I confess, we have eaten at this restaurant several times now, and it never lets you down.
The pate came with plentiful crispy toast adorned with balsamic dressing and was delicious.
Our pink roast beef was well up to its usual standard, with seasonal vegetables and Yorkshire pudding up to its usual form.
The Eton mess rounded things off beautifully and we went on our way happily, £33.35 lighter. But we couldn’t see Snowdon on our way out.
