Altrincham Duck

The Swan with Two Nicks.

Last Sunday this duck family decided to go for a little walk and something to eat, after hearing some good reviews from friends, we decided to head towards Dunham Massey and The Swan with Two Nicks.

We had a quick look online to their website, which you can see here http://www.swanwithtwonicks.co.uk/index.html ; and decided to park the car there, go for a little walk in the park and then come back for lunch, little did we know that the weather had other intentions for us! The fact that the rain wouldn’t let up, and also that we forgot our wellies at the house meant that it was going to be just a straight lunch and no walk! I know what you’re thinking, being ducks we could have just gone swimming down the River Bollin, but not on a day like this!!

The Swan has everything you look forward to in a village pub, rustic beams, open fires, a huge selection of real ales and a great range of food. They're positively dog-friendly. And you can find them listed on http://www.doggiepubs.org.uk .

Located on Park Lane in Little Bollington, you can reach them walking through the grounds of Dunham Massey Hall and crossing the pedestrian bridge over the River Bollin, or driving there, however as they mention on their website do not use their postcode for a satnav, cause otherwise you’ll end up at the mill on the other side of the river! Not the side where the food is!!

It is family friendly and there is a large restaurant area to the rear. We were greeted by the staff quite quickly once we arrived, we could see that both the bar area and also the restaurant side were very busy. We decided to sit in the main restaurant area as they still had a couple of tables left.

Straight away we were offered drinks and given the menu. The husband opted for a pint of their own ale, Swan with Two Nicks bitter. Mother Duck went for a large glass of Pinot Grigio, I ordered a pint of Beck’s and the little duckling a big glass of apple juice. The drinks took a while to arrive, a good 10/15 mins I would say, but given the amount of people that were on both, the bar area and the restaurant it didn’t come as a surprise.

Once the drinks were at the table, we did ask for a few more minutes to have a look at the menu, which let me tell you, it’s impressive! The choice of food was unreal, and that’s not including their specials menu!

We ordered after this, for nibbles we just ordered the Garlic Ciabatta Slices to have while we waited for our starters. And for the little one we ordered from the Children’s menu, the Chicken Bites with fries and baked beans. Mother Duck decided not to have a starter so as not to spoil her appetite; from the specials menu that day I chose Duck Spring Rolls with a hoisin sauce, hubby went for the Stilton & Peppercorn Mushrooms.

As a main course Mother Duck opted for a very traditional dish, The Swan’s Homemade Hotpot; the husband chose from the specials menu Lamb Cooked 3 Ways and also from the special menu I opted for the Simply Grilled Seabass.

My Duck Spring Rolls with hoisin sauce were absolutely fine, nothing extravagant but very tasty. The husbands Stilton & Peppercorn Mushrooms were absolutely delish (yeap I did it again, I stole some of his food!)

The Chicken Bites with fries and baked beans for the little one did not disappoint, the portion was quite big, and the fries were proper homemade chips, you could tell! Little duck was very happy with his food.

Main courses arrived a few minutes after the starters had been cleared away, quite promptly after we had finished them I might add. My mother’s Swan’s Homemade Hotpot did look very good! The hot pot arrived in a bowl, topped with sliced potatoes, and all the vegetables on the side, including a little ramekin dish filled with pickled red cabbage!

The husband’s Lamb Cooked 3 ways was also a sight to behold, the portions were absolutely massive! Three different cuts of lamb, slowly braised and accompanied by their own ale gravy, winter vegetables and minted potatoes.

My main course, Simply Grilled Seabass, did not disappoint, presented on a large warm plate, grilled to perfection and accompanied by a couple of wedges of lemon. Vegetables and new potatoes arrived separately. All of the food barely touched the sides it was that delicious and fresh.

The portion sizes were very generous and even thought we were stuffed, we decided to have a little desert to share and also order some ice-cream for the little one.

A Hot Belgian Waffle, with maple syrup and vanilla ice-cream, heavenly I can tell you. Once it arrived on the table we were all yet again gobsmacked at the portion size and the smell! A couple of lattes later and we were done.

Highly recommend this place, although I would say book if you can, we were lucky that day, mainly because it was raining so much; if it was that busy on a super rainy day, imagine on a nice one!! We look forward to visiting again very soon!!