A TOP Northumberland pub is putting the fizz into the festive season with its newly released Christmas and New Year menus.
The Northumberland Arms, at Felton; a former coaching inn on the banks of the River Coquet, has a growing reputation among foodies for menus which combine classic cuisine with contemporary flavour combinations.
And now chefs have unveiled a Christmas Faye menu available from 1 December to Christmas Eve and an extravagant New Year’s Eve menu which promise exactly that.
Christmas Fayre starters include spiced carrot and coconut soup with potato and onion bhajis; duck liver parfait with caramelised onion jam, prawn, crayfish and smoked salmon cocktail and smoked haddock fishcake with creamy leeks.
There is also a Darling Blue salad, featuring a blue veined cheese named after Northumbrian Victorian lifeboat heroine Grace Darling and served with pickled pear, radish, apple, celery and walnuts.
Leading the main course options is traditional stuffed turkey with creamy mash, duck fat roasties, glazed carrots and parsnips, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, pigs in blankets and gravy.
Alternatively, diners can opt for 12-hour braised featherblade of beef with triple mustard mash; stuffed breast of partridge with Tynedale cheddar croquette and roasted radicchio or monkfish on the bone with curried Shetland mussels and saffron potatoes.
A vegetarian alternative to turkey – a cranberry and pistachio nut roast – is also available and comes served with all the festive trimmings.
And the meal is rounded off with either Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, spiced clementine trifle with caramelised white chocolate, warm dark chocolate and orange pudding, Amarena cherry and pistachio Bakewell tart or cheese and biscuits.
The venue will also be offering a trio of Christmas cocktails throughout December including Mulled Wine Fizz – prosecco and mulled wine syrup – Christmas Cosmo; a blend of Absolut citron, Cointreau, fresh lime juice and cranberry juice and Rudoph’s Nose, made with Absolut raspberry, chambord and pineapple juice.
Then, to ring out the old year and usher in the new, the Northumberland Arms is serving a lavish New Year’s Eve tasting menu in its restaurant and private dining room, at 7pm.
It will begin with an assortment of breads and snacks including homemade sourdough loaf and whipped salted butter white crab and pickled cucumber tartlet and brown crab emulsion and crispy chicken wing with Darling Blue cheese.
Next is a slow cooked hens’ egg with roasted wild mushrooms and creamed and pickled celeriac followed by lobster ravioli with buttered sea vegetables and lobster bisque.
Pan roast venison loin comes next with venison faggot, potato terrine and Jerusalem artichoke before desserts of heather honey mousse with poached blackberries and chocolate and hazelnut slice with salted caramel.
The menu, which costs £85pp with a surcharge of £40pp for wine pairing, concludes with petit fours, tea and coffee.
The Christmas Fayre menu is available from Friday 1 December until Christmas Eve from 12 noon and costs £29 for two courses and £36 for three.
The venue’s traditional Sunday roast is available on Sundays throughout the month, except Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Bookings are advisable and a £10pp deposit is required for bookings of six or more, with pre-orders essential for parties of 12 or more.
The Northumberland Arms will be open for drinks on Christmas Night and will be offering a slightly reduced ‘Bank Holiday’ menu from Boxing Day to 30 December and on New Year’s Day.
For more information about The Northumberland Arms, or to book, visit www.northumberlandarms-felton.co.uk
