Living in a small town means that there aren’t many places to eat out, unless you want a pizza or Chinese takeaway. If you want to go out for a proper meal you have to go to a nearby town or into Norwich. For us, that adds £15 on to any kind of meal/ day out because of train fare.
Our family have a tradition to go for a pre-Christmas meal. The weekend before Christmas my mum and sister came to stay and this is what we did. I chose the Beechwood Hotel where we live in North Walsham. Although it’s pretty much on our doorstep we had never been before. I’d been told it was pretty fancy and being a picky eater made me worry that I wouldn’t like anything.
Anyway, when we arrived we were greeted in reception with someone taking out coats for us! We were showed to the bar area where we had a seat while looking over the menu, ordering some drinks and eating canapes.
After ordering our meals we were shown through the the dining room. Our table had plenty of space around it so we didn’t have to stash Erin’s pushchair elsewhere. This really made things a lot easier for us as it meant having everything of hers to hand. You never know how an 11 month old is going to act during a meal!
While we were waiting we were served warm rolls and butter. Erin was happy chomping away on these! Our starters didn’t take long to arrive at all and they looked, and tasted, amazing. I had ‘fans of galia melon, mango and raspberry ripple sorbet, pineapple and star anise compote’. Amazing is not a strong enough word. I don’t think I’ve ever had fruit as a starter before but the sorbet was seriously nice.
For the main course I went with sirloin of beef with veg, roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding. John had sea bass, my mum had beef as well and my sister had rosti potato pancake, cranberry, thyme, pistachio, feta and butter bean filling, savoy cabbage, roasted carrots and rosemary veloute.
I don’t think there was a scrap left on any of our plates. I am extremely picky with meat and my beef was cooked to perfection. Erin tucked into some of everyone’s meals and was really happy to share! I think the parsnips were her favourite though.
Desserts were the hardest choices of the meal though. Two of the waiters tried to be helpful and recommend some of the choices but it turned out that they thought everything was amazing. I can see why. We all chose something different so that we could share and taste each dessert. I had a deconstructed passion fruit and mango cheesecake which I do think was the nicest.
Not only did we get amazing meals but we also got amazing service. For me, good service really makes or breaks somewhere and the Beechwood Hotel’s staff make me want to go back again. Nothing was too much trouble for them. They even spoke to Erin and picked things up for her when she’d thrown them on the floor a million times. I honestly didn’t think that this would be a child friendly restaurant but I was so wrong.
My only annoyance was there apparently not being any baby changing facilities. John went to change Erin twice and couldn’t find them. However, if we go back again I’ll be sure to ask just to be sure.
A three course lunch cost £24 so fantastic value. Prices do vary for dinner. If we’d gone into Norwich we’d have paid something similar for a meal from a chain and not got nearly as good quality. We had the perfect Christmas meal as a family and I think we’ll be going back next year now as well.
If you’re over the North Norfolk way then this place is a real gem!