Durham Eats: Brewers Fayre Dunelm Ridge

If there's one thing I love about Durham, it's the abundance of little cafes and restaurants it has to offer. Karl and I eat out quite a lot and are always looking for a new haunt so when we heard that our local Brewers Fayre, Dunelm Ridge, had been totally refurbished, we couldn't wait to give it a try. The restaurant has a big soft play area inside so we took my little sister Sophie with us otherwise she would have definitely given us a telling off if she found out we'd been somewhere with a play area without her!

For those of you who know the Durham area, Dunelm Rudge is situated right next to the Arnison Centre so it's really convenient if you're out for a day shopping and fancy a bite to eat. Now I'd never been before it was refurbished so I can't compare with it how it was before but what I can say is that it is now absolutely lovely inside. It's exactly how you would want a pub/restaurant to be, with a large, modern bar at the front where you placed your orders and a large restaurant behind, filled with cosy tables for both large and small parties, a tea and coffee station (YUSSS! Your hot drinks are refillable - how amazing is that for us tea lovers?) and lovely modern decor with quotes on the walls and glass lights. We chose a table at the back right by a huge window looking out into the gardens. I don't know what it is but I'm always drawn to window seats in restaurants; I love being able to look outside while I eat and it also may or may not have something to do with the natural lighting for taking photos of my food...

For the food, we could choose to get something from the buffet, which was Indian themed on the night we were there, or from the main menu. We chose to get the main menu and of course, opted for a starter, main course and a dessert. For the starter I went for king prawns with sweet chilli dip, Karl went for the nachos and Sophie had tomato soup. I expected just a few tiny prawns for the starter but it was huge, with five breaded prawns that were absolutely delicious. I seriously could have had triple portions of them for my main course as well and been happy I love them that much! Karl assured me his nachos were lovely too (you can't go wrong with a bowl of nachos can you?! YUM!) and Sophie said her blue slush and tomato soup were both "nice". (aren't the combinations of food tht kids have just crazy?)

For the main course, there were quite a few veggie options with burgers and pastas and I went for spinach and ricotta lasagne. Karl, being Karl, went all out meat and got t-bone steak with peppercorn sauce and Soph had a macaroni cheese (yep she's taking after me already!). All of our meals were delicious and although I could only manage about half of mine (seriously the lasange was about as big as my head!) it was absolutely faultless. The service was fast too and all of the staff were lovely and chatty, something which I love when I go out for tea. Doesn't good service just make everything more enjoyable?

Now onto the best bit....dessert. To say I have a sweet tooth would be a massive understatement; I would rather have dessert than any other part of a meal and can't have a cuppa without a choccy biscuit! My apple and cherry crumble was divine. I'll definitely be going back to Dunelm Ridge simply so I can get it again. 

So for three of us to have three courses each, drinks and hot drinks and Sophie's time in the play area came to around £53 which I think is fantastic considering it was 6pm and the lunchtime specials prices had finished. Pubs like this are so great if you're looking for a meal on a budget without compromising taste and quantity. I know we'll definitely be going back - we even picked up a loyalty card! 

Amy x

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