You can tell you are getting old when you start getting wedding invites as friends of the parents rather than friends of the bride or groom.
Sadly this stage in our life is now upon us but we were delighted to accept our invite to an evening reception at a hotel in Deeside, just outside Aberdeen.
As we had a busy Saturday we decided to dine out with a bar supper before the reception and remembered many years ago visiting The Ploughman in Peterculter (often referred to as Culter). Whenever our parents visited from outside Aberdeen we all went to the Ploughman to eat. I have no recollection of why we went there but I do remember hearty home-cooked food at reasonable prices.
Stepping back in to the Ploughman after negotiating a lot of AWPR roadworks en route, not much has changed. I am positive the tartan carpets, the eclectic knickknacks, dado rails and thick patterned curtains with swags were all there when we visited in the nineties. An interesting collection of artefacts are scattered around the restaurant including a large collection of novelty teapots and quite a few ornaments of the late great double act Laurel and Hardy.
But all of this adds to the homely feel of the place and on that early Saturday evening the place was already busy with happy diners.
A friendly young waitress offered us our menus and there was ample choices to whet our appetites. For starters I chose the oriental king prawns in filo pastry served with a sweet chilli dip while my husband went for the more unusual sounding bacon roly poly; black pudding wrapped in bacon with caramelised onion chutney.
Very quickly our starters arrived, the filo pastry around the prawns were a fine golden colour and had just the right crunch, served with an attractive small side salad.
The bacon and black pudding resembled mini swiss rolls and despite being a fairly simple dish my husband said that the tangy chutney gave it the perfect lift.
With so many main dishes on offer it was hard to make up our minds. From old favourites, roast of the day and chicken Maryland to the more unusual Hawaiian Ham (baked ham with pineapple, banana and peppers in a creamy Malibu sauce) it was a tough choice. I chose the Ploughman’s own steak pie, a real pie in a real pub as affirmed on the menu. Hubbie went for the chicken black Bob – chicken and black pudding with onions, tomatoes and mushrooms in a creamy whisky sauce. And yet again we didn’t have long to wait, in fact it was almost too quick between the two courses.
My pie was more of a steak stew with a puff pastry lid which was cooked separately then placed on top. However, the tender beef was ‘melt in the mouth’ delicious and the ample portion of rich gravy was top notch. On the other side of the table we were a little surprised at the presentation of two slices of black pudding alongside the chicken rather than inside the breast but all the flavours were there and they certainly didn’t skimp on the fragrant creamy whisky sauce.
Sharing sliver platters of chips, potatoes and sliced carrots and peas were laid on the table to accompany our dishes. Sorry to harp back to the nineties again but I am pretty certain that the peas and carrots have not changed since we dined there back then; perhaps this is where an update is required.
With a wedding to go to and not wanting to miss that crucial first dance we skipped dessert and paid the bill. However I did see some young diners tucking into some tremendous looking ice-cream sundaes as we made our exit. The young staff were friendly and competent throughout and did inquire as to our plans that evening as we were maybe a bit overdressed for an evening in a local hostelry.
And we hope not to leave it so long before we make a return visit to the Ploughman, a great selection of pub grub in a relaxed homely environment.