Eighteen months after a positive experience at The Carpenters Arms, it was time to find out if the venue had maintained its high standards.
The pub reminds me of warm summer evenings on holiday with my family in Cornwall.
My brother and I would torment our long-suffering parents every afternoon, ‘mithering’ to go to the Tyringham Arms for dinner that night. Every night.
It wasn’t just the play park outside or the lady owner who reminded me slightly of Arnold Ernst Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or the Alex Kid arcade game tucked behind a door out the back where I would regularly take on the local kids.
Another rather important part of this was that if we were going out, it meant I could parade some item of new holiday clothing which for a long time were a pair of skinny stonewash jeans with a leather trim at the ankle. I was 10 and of course, my hair was crimped.
My best friend Julia could usually be found on these holidays too, fending off questions from other boys and girls about whether she was a boy or a girl. I thought she looked cool with braces and spiky hair, plus she could hoover up chicken and chips like no-one else.
I don’t quite know what I would have done if there had been chicken and chips in a basket at the Carpenters Arms – probably ordered it.
But you can’t really go wrong with succulent slices of lamb with roast potatoes, mash, vegetables and gravy (they’ll also make your gravy gluten free).
My dining companion had roast beef which came with a home-made Yorkshire pudding which is the least a pub can do if it’s going to offer Sunday lunch, especially when it’s proudly risen, fluffy and light.
The crab pate was fresh and crabby with salad and crusty bread (they’ll do gluten free if you ask) and I knew there was happiness on the other side of the table when silence enveloped my companion as he got through perfectly balanced Stilton and broccoli soup.
There was a similar reaction to his home-made fruit crumble and custard. Being annoyingly sensitive to gluten, there wasn’t a home-made dessert option for me but there was a Dime Bar cake on offer, which in itself is a small miracle at a village pub and it satisfied my sweet craving just fine.
The place was filled with couples, families, friends young and old, and I couldn’t help but think that my sense of nostalgia, although it had no common ground with anyone else, was somehow shared. It had to come down to the food.
If there’s one thing we Brits love it’s a Sunday roast and often the best you’ll ever have is your mum/dad’s/grandma’s/grandad’s, regardless of whether it’s actually any good. If a pub can evoke the same emotions with its Sunday offerings, then it’s on to a winner.
The Carpenters Arms stands out because it’s doing something straight forward and doing it well.
Where: Carpenters Arms, Fiskerton
Telephone: 01522 751806
Parking: Yes.
Food hygiene rating:@ 5/5.
The Damage: Soup £3.95, crab pate £3.95, lamb roast dinner £9.95, beef roast dinner £9.95, fruit crumble and custard £3.95, four glasses of wine £16.85.
Total: £52.55
Veggie friendly: Yes
Family friendly: Yes
Visit again: Yes
Good for: Traditional food
Final verdict: A pub in a country village just outside Lincoln, with affordable and tasty food. Not pretentious – and that’s a good thing.
Rating: 5/5.
Read more: http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk