A FAVOURITE for weddings and posh nosh, Van Dyk Hotel in Clowne is currently running promotional two-for £10 grill meals, so I decided to give it a go.

The large white hotel, on Worksop Road, is best known for its fancy restaurant, the kind of place I thought I would only visit for a special occasion.

But The Grill part of the establishment is a more relaxed, modern place to eat, complete with chunky wooden tables and opulent black leather chairs.

The two-for-a-tenner menu is by no means extensive, but it features the basics – including a chilli con carne, scampi, gammon, steak, ceaser salad, and steak and kidney pie.

I opted for the trusty scampi and my dining partner chose the farmhouse gammon complete with fried egg.

My succulent scampi was delivered to my table surrounding a mound of salad, with a side of beautifully thick tartar sauce. My companion's juicy gammon and egg was then brought out, quickly followed by a generous portion of sweet garden peas and scrumptious home-made chips for us to share.

The tasty offerings were piping hot and delicious, and we were both pleasantly surprised to discover that being the usual case with meal deals like this, we did not have to sacrifice taste and quality for price.

The Van Dyk Hotel is offering your essential, favourite pub-grub at a bargain price. And in the pleasant, contemporary surroundings of The Grill bar, you would be forgiven for thinking you were sitting in the middle of the city, not in a hotel on a main, busy road.

The service was not as friendly as I would have liked, but you can ignore such transgressions when the food is so good and reasonably priced.

What I also liked about The Grill in Van Dyk's is that you get to walk through the main lobby of the building, which is very traditional, with open roaring fires and rich Chesterfield sofas.

The lunch hour seemed to be particularly busy on the Saturday that I visited the hotel – it's obvious that the meal deal is proving popular.
Being a grill, the vegetarian option was predictably absent, but there was a varied children's menu that would keep any little fussy-eater happy.

And although I did not give into temptation, there was a great dessert menu, which included tempting chocolate profiteroles and banoffee pie.

The two-meals for £10 grill deal is available from Monday to Fridays from 12pm until 2.30pm and then from 5.30pm until 7.30pm, on Saturdays from 12pm until 7.30pm and on Sundays from 12pm until 8.30pm.

4/5