Eating in Glasshouses

There are a lot of excellent places to eat in Ambleside, and everyone who knows the place has a favourite. I have fond memories of Zeffirelli's(popularly known as "Zeff's"), a rather good Pizzeria on Compston road which has its own cinema. My sister, who lived in Ambleside for a while, will expound at length the virtues of the The Apple Pie, on Rydal Road. Both are excellent, and I highly recommend them to you.

They're not where we went for lunch, however.

Our lunch spot of choice on many recent visits to Ambleside has been the the Glasshouse Restaurant, also on Rydal Road, and in point of fact, just on the edge of the main car park in what used to be a fulling mill - don't ask me, something to do with textiles, given that it's situated in an area rather over blessed with sheep, I'm going to hazard a guess that it's something you do with wool. The water wheel that powered the operation is still there, presumably because the building - which dates from the fifteenth century - is listed.

 We discovered the place on a cold, dark, damp January day a few years ago when we were still new to caravan living. We'd spent New Year pitched up at the Troutbeck Camping and Caravanning Club site on the A66. (There is also a Troutbeck just outside Ambleside, whatever you do, don't mix the two up - the Ambleside Troutbeck is at the top of a steep hill that even after years of taking the Road Snail to the Highlands I still wouldn't fancy tacking with the 'van...)

Ambleside, like most places inside the Lake District National Park is mostly built from the local deep grey Cumbrian slate. On a cold drizzly afternoon in early January this architectural conformity does not in any way add to the gaiety of nations.  Something about the Glasshouse attracted us on that miserable winter afternoon and we were not disappointed. I recall an excellent meal, good service and a warm (in every sense of the word) welcome.

Also their bread, oil and balsamic vinegar is utterly irresistible.

This time around we were ushered  to a table on the first floor, with a rather nice view out onto the famous  Bridge House (about which, more later) and began to peruse the menu. We found it relatively unchanged from our last visit, and with the kind of reckless "let's try it and see" abandon that regular readers of this blog will have come to expect from me I did what I always do and plumped for a cheeseburger with bacon. (I always go for bacon when it's an option because, well, it's bacon, and bacon is awesome...)

Mrs Snail, who is rather more discerning in such matters actually read the menu and selected a chicken salad sandwich on focaccia bread with spring onion mayo. We sat back in the dazzling sunshine that streamed through the window and waited for the food to arrive while we inspected some of the artwork displayed on the wall.  I can't remember when restaurants started displaying artwork for sale on their walls - perhaps they always did and I only started noticing recently - but it makes sense, although I'd have to say the oil paintings displayed near our table were hideously over priced...

Anyway. I'm no art critic, so let's get back to the point.

The food duly arrived. My burger was fat and juicy in a bun stuffed with lettuce and tomato. The cheese was tangy, the bacon was perfectly cooked (and believe me when I say I'm really fussy about bacon) and the chips were deliciously crisp, thick and golden. All as expected - the burgers are always good at the Glasshouse. What I hadn't been expecting was the pot of Aioli that came along with it. I don't remember that from my last visit - the Glasshouse always seems to give just a little more each time. I'm going to guess that the Aioli was made on site, because I simply don't believe that you can buy it that strong - you could actually see the little bits of crushed garlic in there - it was awesome! I love garlic and having something this powerful to dip my chips in was the unctuous garlicy icing on the cake.

I pronounce myself to have been happy, happy, happy.

Mrs Snail's chicken sandwich was every bit as impressive - at least initially.

For a start, it was huge! I mean we didn't measure it or anything, but I reckon that focaccia rectangle it must've been about ten inches by six inches. That's a lot of sandwich. Inside were thickly sliced slabs of roasted chicken and plenty of salad. It all looked fantastic, but was pronounced to be merely "OK" by Mrs Snail, who was somewhat disappointed by the spring onion mayo which in her opinion was rather light on the spring onion. Given the punch packed by my Aioli this was quite surprising, but there you go...

Personally I was stuffed, but Mrs Snail was determined to have a desert because she remembered how good the Raspberry Creme Brulee was. She was right. While I sipped an excellent Latte she cracked open the amber gold sugar glazing covering a richly vanilla custard that sat atop a wonderfully sharp mush of raspberries at the bottom. This was declared to be "fabulous" - which coming from Mrs Snail is praise indeed as she's something of a brulee connoisseur.

I love the Glasshouse. The service is friendly, the location is fantastic, the food is brilliant, what more could you wish for at lunchtime?