This time last week we – the two of us – went on a date! It has been a while since we had a date night. In fact, thinking back, the last time we went properly out was August, when we swooped into Wagamama following a battle of a search for a parking space before heading to the Everyman for an evening of giggles with a very brilliant Michael McIntyre!
Last Thursday’s little outing was to Montpellier Lodge, a pretty, single-storey lodge at one entrance to Montpellier Park, Cheltenham. We had visited the park before, both with our beautiful Beagle, Brea (spoiled rotten by two children who sat for ages stroking her ears!) and when the park was transformed into a haven for food lovers, on Day One of the Cheltenham Food Festival, 2015.
As someone who is only just starting to pave her way financially following two years out of work, not wishing to rely entirely upon her partner yet not wishing to bore down upon the good natures of my composition commissioners / piano students with unpredictable spells of not-very-well-ness, I have desperately longed to treat us to Posh Dinner, not least to coincide with my partner’s birthday! Well, being born on Friday 13th cast a spell upon my competition entry via SoGlos who pulled my name from their very full hat, meaning we were able to go and fine dine it up for free!
The ambience
Before I move on to the food side of things, I have to meander for a moment to mention the prettiness of ‘our end’ of the Lodge; divided into three dining areas, with bathrooms upstairs and disabled bathroom adjacent, we were happily seated in the part looking out to the park. 
Dark at 6pm, the beautiful chandelier was sparkling in a festive sort of way, with fairy lights adorning the furthermost wall-to-wall window. On our lovely wooden table, gorgeous blush roses sat centremost. Even the menus complemented the neutral and rose tones.
We felt warm on this chilly evening, despite going out in fairly thin clothing. I didn’t even complain about my always-freezing feet, for the quieter end of the Lodge was warm, welcoming and really ‘just right’.
Choosing
How to choose three courses from a vast but not cluttered, delicious-sounding menu? Usually for me, life is made easier by eliminating gluten-filled options but everything is prepared from scratch so the chef was happy to follow my ‘likes’ and make something marvellous!
The spanner in the works this time was my ‘no meat’ insistence. I eat fish, but around this do not like cream or milk, like to eat healthily and absolutely do not want goats’ cheese! Our server, Karina, had the patience of a saint, ultimately offering a starter from the lunch menu involving chicory and pears following my ‘…and I love salad, if that helps.’ Sorted.
To start: Salad of chicory, stilton, pear and red wine dressing
Cotswold game terrine, piccalilli and sourdough
Mains: Roast salt cod, wet polenta, samphire, a gluten free sauce TBC
28 day aged fillet steak, fries, roasted onion, pea shoots, peppercorn sauce
Desserts: Bitter orange sorbet, white chocolate sorbet
Apple tarte tatin, vanilla pod ice cream
To accompany, we ordered drinks; dandelion and burdock with star anise for me, Hendricks and slimline tonic for my partner. Ravenous we were, having eaten little in preparation for this feast, and fortunate we were for our starters and drinks arrived swiftly!
The food
Starters Firstly, our generously-sized starters looked perfect. My partner’s terrine was a proper, meat-only terrine as opposed to the type set in parfait; when I undertook chef training all those years ago, we made parfait, made terrine and made something in between that was not a terrine. Anyway, accompanying the game was a sensible serving of good looking sourdough and the most amazing piccalilli, full of miniature cauliflower florets and crunchy veg!
The chicory was fresh as can be, crunchy and tasty. Not one limp or browning leaf tarnished my beautiful salad, which was scattered with large chunks of delicious stilton and probably a small pear’s worth of sliced pear that was subtly infused with a sweet, red wine poaching liquor, lovely and soft, not too soft, resulting in a good serving size. There was too much stilton for me but not a problem – I just left three pieces, but it was very flavoursome!
Overall, we were delighted; only two large gristly pieces in the terrine marred our otherwise appetising appetisers. The flavours and freshness lasted too, representing good value for money.
Mains Slightly daunted by the size of the cod, therefore the distinct margin for error in terms of cooking (no matter how skilled the chef), I was both wowed and cautious, in equal measure. The result, in fact, was a superb meal.
My samphire was the best I have ever eaten, simple as that. It was crisp, fresh, not too salty, certainly not woody. Texturally perfect, alongside the most beautiful baby stems of broccoli these accompaniments were heavenly! Beneath the ginormous cod loin, the wet polenta mash was excellent and I’m not sure what the sauce was – it would have been 
not-very-meat-free chorizo and caper confit – but the chef has worked wonders creating something suitable for my diet and tastes.
The cod was perfectly cooked and, as you can see from my photograph, fell apart into huge flakes. It was tasty and surprisingly mild, which is a good thing.
Briefly touching upon my partner’s fillet steak, it was easily polished off with the pea shoots and, I was told, the best steak in years. The quality of cooking was superb, a perfect medium rare and a tender, flavoursome piece of beef.
Celebrating the occasion, now lying equally between our two birthdays, we ordered a side dish that sounded too good to miss: Baked beetroot with crème fraiche and dill! We thought it would be good – if a little unusual with our chosen main courses! – but it was intensely beautiful. All three varieties of beetroot were sweet, fresh and ‘just baked’ and I would go back just to enjoy this again, as a starter or lunch dish in its own right!
With our fun sparkling drinks, plenty of still water and the general thrill of being out for dinner, our date night turned out to be rather brilliant.
Desserts In fear of producing an essay, we shall simply tell you that despite being very, very full, we did what we said we wouldn’t and ordered a dessert. Of course, I said I wouldn’t eat more than a spoonful of each sorbet flavour but ate almost the lot! My partner’s tarte tatin was pretty, a little soft in the middle for our liking however the apples were cooked very well.
Treats
Montpellier Lodge’s new chef worked wonders to serve up such a feast! We felt incredibly fortunate to be able to try this for free. On a budget, the fish and steak mains would have needed to be put on a wish list but the Lodge do have autumnal offer up their sleeves such as their Hallowe’en ‘pumpkin soup and punch’.
Karina – serving most of our menu – and Sofie, whom I spoke via social media, made our evening very enjoyable with their patient, effortless service.
Thank you, Montpellier Lodge!
For more information on menus, offers and how to find Montpellier Lodge – plus plenty of appetising pictures and scenery shots – please click here.
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