Review: The Pear Tree at Purton

Having recently refurbished their conservatory dining the room, The Pear Tree at Purton invited the TGtS content team down to try out the new a la carte menu.

Although I've dined at number of local hotspots, I've never experienced a full a la carte dinner service before, so was really excited to see what it entailed. 

As soon as we arrived we were met by hotel manager Alix Young, who after a brief tour of the restaurant, seated us in the lounge to mull over the menus. 

We had the option of dining from the traditional a la carte menu or the lunchtime specials board, which featured a range of daily lunchtime specials from just £10.00. 

Our waiter, Ronaldo was friendly and helpful, regularly checking back to see if there was anything else that he could do for us.  

While we deliberated, we were served our drinks (non-alcoholic of course) and a selection of nibbles to tide us over until lunch. After a lengthy selection process, we finally settled on our choice of mains and were persuaded to order a starter to experience the full a la carte menu. 

When our meals were ready, we were swiftly escorted from the lounge to the conservatory and seated at a large table in the centre of the room. 

The conservatory is arguably one of the hotel's best features, light and airy, it provides spectacular views out into the garden and thanks to the refurb can now be enjoyed all year round. New features of the room include modernised tables and chairs, a new roof (apparently it used to be quite the heat trap) and trendier decor. 

To start, Emily and I shared a smoked duck breast with a caraway seed biscuit and a soused carrot and courgette salad. The duck was beautifully smokey, moist and tender while the soused carrot and courgette's pickled taste proved to be the perfect accompaniment. I wasn't too sure what to expect from the caraway seed biscuit but it was delicious to my delight. 

Not being the most adventurous of eaters, I stuck to what I knew and ordered the cornfed chicken breast for my main course. The dish, much like our starter was beautifully presented and served with pear and chorizo stuffing, glazed spring onions and perry sauce. The chicken was perfectly cooked and was made even tastier by the the pear and chorizo stuffing - which is a real favourite of mine. Given how appetizing they were, I would have loved a couple more dauphinoise potatoes (but aside from that couldn't fault my dish). 

Emily opted for the griddled Scottish beef fillet with smoked garlic mash, devilled Marlborough mushrooms and port sauce, I'm informed that her dish tasted just as good as its presentation looked. 

Despite our fears of looking like a love-struck couple, we rounded of our meal with a dark chocolate and grand marnier mousse tart, strawberry soup, and biscotti, with two spoons. The dark chocolate was rich, sensual and succulent but would have been a tad overpowering if it weren't for the ice cream and biscotti. 

Overall we had a fantastic time, The Pear Tree is a truly versatile venue and is well suited to a simple lunch with colleagues or a special dinner with loved ones.