A craving for a traditional Sunday lunchtime roast had been eating away at me for some time.
Some of us have slipped out of this celebration of a very British habit, me included.
Though it didn’t seem to apply to patrons of Ardennan House hotel in Aberdeenshire, where they still beat a well-trodden path to its door on Sundays.
It’s not that the two of us have stopped eating roast dinners, but as a mature couple with fairly relaxed dining habits the timings have changed.
You might easily find us having a roast dinner on a Tuesday night, but then a takeaway on a Sunday.
If suppose it varies from house to house, but reports of the British family Sunday lunch in decline seem to surface from time to time.
The rise of the takeaway in all its many forms will take some of the blame, but don’t forget that other major culinary rival – the traditional British Sunday breakfast, which has nudged lunch out of the way.
I have to confess I love a late Sunday morning fry-up; the full works.
It’s perhaps why the traditional Sunday roast lunch has had its nose put out of joint: pushed back in the day – or off the Sunday menu entirely.
As a small kid, I’m not sure that takeaways actually existed; it was so long ago.
I suppose that’s why Sunday lunch remained so special.
If you delve further back in time, it was the only day people had to relax after a week of toil.
A common routine was church, or wearing “Sunday best” to visit family, followed by the roast lunch.
Apart from the mountains of food, I remember two things that always happened around Sunday lunchtime as a small child.
The first was the farmer who went from door to door in our neighbourhood collecting everyone’s potato and vegetable peelings to put in sacks on a horse and cart to feed his pigs later.
The second was a Sunday radio show for military personnel and their loved ones to share personal messages and record requests.
There was still a heavy British military presence in Germany then; no e-mail, social media or mobile phones to keep in touch with, though.
On Monday there was enough left over for mom to make meat and potato pie.
Ardennan House
It was nice to see the Sunday lunch tradition still alive and well at Ardennan House, which dates back to the 18th century and is an independent family-run business.
I’d passed by many times on the road heading north to Elgin and Inverness; tempted to pop in one day.
And now we were here at last, but I had avoided having a big Sunday breakfast as a precaution.
In fact, we had eaten nothing at all, so I was ravenous.
They offer a menu for all tastes here, but it was the Sunday lunches which demanded our full attention as we sat down after receiving a friendly welcome by the manager and waiting staff at the front door.
Roast beef and chicken lunches, with all the trimmings, were calling out to us.
But there was something even better than that.
Diners were offered the option of a sharing board of both beef and chicken.
But before we continue down that path, let me remind you that we were more than slightly peckish after our morning fast.
So it seemed only right to order starters.
The food
This is where Ardennan House offered a pleasant surprise by allowing room for other culinary influences to sit beside traditional dishes.
So we were delighted to see two staple starters familiar to anyone who studies Italian and Chinese menus on a regular basis.
Arancini and sesame seed prawn toast; so we ordered both without further ado.
The Ardennan chef offered an excellent twist on both.
The crispy Arancini balls with chorizo and mozzarella risotto inside, and rich tasty tomato sauce, were a delight, while the prawn toast – topped with black sesame seed – was fresh and tasty; it also lacked the lingering fattiness you can take away from other places.
I adored the Arancini so much that I asked our excellent young waitress to let the chef know that it was as good as anything we had eaten in an Italian restaurant; surely he had some Italian blood?
She returned smiling and told us: “The chef would like you to know that he’s the full Scottish, but he’s delighted you said that.”
There was one dish everyone craved this Sunday lunchtime: the roast beef and chicken sharing board at £30.
We knew this from the number going past us to other tables; now it was our turn.
It was a veritable eighth wonder of the world: a mini mountain of beautifully prepared roast food with generous slices of beef and whole chicken breast as the centrepiece.
This was surrounded by mashed and roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and a jug of delicious gravy. We even had pigs-in-blankets as a side.
A feast indeed, and we still found room for gooey Nutella chocolate cheesecake and Baileys creme brulee.
The verdict
We looked around the diners and saw that this Sunday lunch tradition appealed to a range of age groups: middle-aged and younger couples, a family group with small child and what looked at first glance like a teenage girl with her grandmother.
Offering traditional favourites with nice surprises here and there, we look forward to another trip to Ardennan House very soon.
Information
Address: Old Kemnay Road, Port Elphinstone, Inverurie AB51 3XD
T: 01467 621502
W: www.ardennanhousehotel.co.uk
Price: £77.60
Conversation