The Malthouse Pub & Restaurant

The Malthouse Pub and Restaurant

The Malthouse Pub and Restaurant
270 Oldham Road
Rishworth, Sowerby Bridge
Halifax HX6 4QB 

Tel.: 01422 822382

Friday 11th May 2007

We were on our way to Bingley to go to a radiator showroom, but the M62 was severely choked up due to an accident between J22 & J23 Eastbound. We made it off the motorway at J21 and headed towards Halifax on the Oldham road. Even this was heavily congested, due to the amount of traffic being diverted.

We had been crawling along for several minutes when we were stopped outside a large stone-built pub. A few posters advertising"local" food and guest beers made it easy for me to suggest that we give up and wait out the holdup in the comfort of the pub.

By this time, most people had finished lunch, so there were only a couple of people left in. I asked whether food was still being served, and was told that food was served all day on Fridays.

It looked very comfortable, and they had a good selection of beers so I ordered a Timothy Taylor's for me and an orange juice for Marg and we were led to the non-smoking dining section.

We took our time perusing the menu - which was simple and appropriate for a pub but sounded interestiing nevertheless. I decided on the Gammon, with egg and "Chunky" chips. Marg just had the Fishcake starter, again with a supplementary bowl of chips.

After I discovered  the waitresss was Italian, I managed to have a brief conversation in my broken Italian and felt quite pleased with myself.

When the food arrived, I was surprised by the size of the Gammon - very generous. I was also surprised by the "Chunky" chips - they were indeed chunky and were cooked with the skin intact. Marg's fishcake was very acceptable, but my Gammon was superb. This was one of the best gammon steaks I'd had in years. I asked the (manageress / owner?) about the provenance of the "local" food and she confirmed it was sourced from a local butcher, and (jokingly?) offered to find out the name of the actual pig!

After we had finished, we had another conversation with the manageress, who asked us if we wanted to see the restaurant - I hadn't realised that there is a more formal restaurant section upstairs. It is quite impressive - even more so when she turned on the lighting, showing off the chandeliers.

The bill, £25-ish, was no more or less than expected, but offered much better value-for-money than a similar outing to lesser establishments.

If it hadn't been for the misfortune of those involved in the motorway accident, we would never have come across this place, so perhaps the old saw about "every cloud has a silver lining" has some truth in it, because the Malthouse is, in my opinion, a real find. It is entirely possible that we would make a trip there just for an afternoon's food and drink: the hospitality, setting, beers and food quality are all exceptional and I commend it to you.

Verdict: Exceptional

Sandro & Marg

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