Meals at Downe
Eating In
Although Downe Cottages are self catering cottages, meals can be ordered to be delivered directly to your cottage:
- Breakfast Baskets
- Gourmet Meals In Your Cottage
- Individual Home Cooked Dishes
- Celebration Cakes
1. Breakfast Baskets
We can provide a fresh Breakfast Basket of your choice to your cottage. The Continental Breakfast Basket contains homemade muesli or home made fruit salad, home made bread, home made marmalade, natural yoghurt, squeezed orange juice, butter, speciality teas and filter coffee. The English Breakfast Basket contains two free range eggs, two rashers of locally cured bacon, tomato and mushrooms, home made bread, home made marmalade, squeezed orange juice, butter, speciality teas and filter coffee. The cost of a Breakfast Basket is £6 per person. Please order your Breakfast Baskets at least 48 hours in advance.
2. Gourmet Meals In Your Cottage
Our dinner menu offers your choice of a two or three course dinner. They are home cooked meals with excellent ingredients (free range eggs, meat from excellent local butchers, in season many of the vegetables are home grown etc). The dinners are freshly prepared to your order and arrive in ‘oven to table’ crockery.
The three course dinner consists of a choice of a starter, a main course with one potato dish and two vegetables, and a dessert. The two course dinner is a choice of a main course with one potato dish and two vegetables together with a starter or a dessert.
The meals are delivered to your cottage in the evening. Because the dinners are freshly prepared, 48 hours· notice is required and it is helpful if more notice can be given. Like a small restaurant, there is limited availability of the dinners and therefore it is wise to book ahead if possible.
These dinners are just like a dinner party served at home, and the main course and vegetables arrive ready for you to cook (or already part cooked where appropriate). Because of this the choice of meals is restricted in that all guests must have the same starter, main course and dessert. It is a modest restriction as the dinners are delicious.
The cost of a three course dinner is £21 per person and the cost of a two course dinner is £17 per person.
Gourmet Menu for Autumn 2006 / Spring 2007
Starters
(All accompanied by home made bread and butter)
* * *
“Winter Vegetable Soup”
* * *
“Chicken Liver Pate”
(A smooth pate with Brandy & Garlic)
* * *
“Goat’s Cheese, Spinach & Tomato Tarts”
* * *
“Smoked Mackerel & Cream Cheese Pate”
* * *
“Roasted Stuffed Peppers with Chilli”
(Sauteed with onions, chillies, olive oil & tomatoes)
* * *
“Stilton & Broccoli Soup”
* * *
Main Courses
* * *
“Ballsbridge Beef”
(Slowly braised with Guinness, Mushrooms & Mustard)
* * *
“Chicken Callatara”
(In a rich sauce of Celery, Smoked Bacon and Crème Fraiche)
* * *
“Sarah’s Lamb”
(With red wine, rosemary, mint and redcurrant jelly)
* * *
“Dartington Duck”
(Poached with local Cider, Oranges and Apples)
* * *
“Pork Pimento”
(With sweet red peppers, paprika and soured cream sauce)* * *
“Roasted Peppers & Roots”
(A mixture of slow-roasted peppers and root vegetable)
* * *
“Mixed Bean, Cream Cheese & Mushroom Pancakes”
Vegetables Dishes
included are 1 Potato Dish, and 1 choice from the following vegetable dishes:-
* * *
Cheesy Mashed, Dauphinoise or Baby Potatoes
* * *
Cauliflower Cheese
* * *
Spiced Red Cabbage
* * *
Parsnip & Swede Puree
* * *
Two Seasonal Vegetables (ready to cook)
Desserts
* * *
“Coffee Crème Brulee”
* * *
“Rich Dark Chocolate Mousse”
* * *
“Apple Crumble”
(with a crunchy Oat & Almond topping)
* * *
“Pear & Almond Tart”
* * *
“Traditional Jam Sponge Pudding”
* * *
“Crème Caramel”
* * *
* * *
3. Individual Home Cooked Dishes
The individual dishes are prepared fresh for you from locally sourced and high quality fresh ingredients. Because the dinners are freshly prepared, we require orders 48 hours in advance. A few frozen meals are available at shorter notice.
| Meals | 2 Person | 4 Person | 6 Person |
| Vegetable Chilli | £7-50 | £14-50 | £20-50 |
| Vegetable Lasagne | £7-50 | £14-50 | £20-50 |
| Vegetable Crumble | £7-50 | £14-50 | £20-50 |
| Cauliflower Cheese | £5-50 | £9-50 | £13-00 |
| Cheesy Topped Mashed Potatoes |
£4-50 | £8-00 | £10-50 |
| Cottage Pie (Beef) | £7-50 | £14.00 | £20-00 |
| Beef & Vegetable Stew | £8-50 | £16-00 | £23-00 |
| Chilli Con Carne | £7-50 | £14.00 | £20-00 |
| Lasagne (Beef) | £7-50 | £14.00 | £20-00 |
| Shepherd’s Pie (Lamb) | £8-50 | £16-00 | £23-00 |
| Moussaka (Lamb) | £8-50 | £16-00 | £23-00 |
| Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Bake |
£8-50 | £16-00 | £23-00 |
| Chicken & Ham Lasagne | £8-50 | £16-00 | £23-00 |
| Somerset Pork (With Cider, Apples, Onions & Mushrooms) |
£9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Normandy Pork (With White Wine, Creme Fraiche & Dijon Mustard Sauce) |
£9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Beef In Beer | £9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Bouef Bourgignon | £9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Coq Au Vin | £9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Country Chicken (With Cider & Orange Sauce) |
£9-00 | £17-00 | £24-00 |
| Luxury Fish Pie | £10-50 | £18-50 | £27-50 |
4. Celebration Cakes
Our Celebration Cakes are suitable for all occasions - Christmas, Birthdays, Anniversaries etc.
It is always a lovely moment when the ‘celebratee’ (!) walks in to the cottage on first arrival and finds the Celebration Cake there on the table.
All our cakes are baked with natural cane sugar, butter and free range eggs and then presented on a cake board individually decorated for your celebration.
They are home made by an excellent ‘pastry wife’ and are always a great success.
6” Square Iced Rich Fruit Cake: £20.00
8” Square Iced Rich Fruit Cake: £30.00
7” Round Iced Madeira Cake: £15.00
9” Round Iced Madeira Cake: £22.00
7” Round Iced Rich Chocolate Cake: £17.00
9” Round Iced Rich Chocolate Cake: £25.00
Ordering Your Food
You can place your food order in any of the following ways:
- Contact us by phone on 01237 441881
- E-mail us at meals at downecottages dot com
- Add your food orders to the Arrival Advice Form which will be sent to you with your reservation confirmation letter
Eating Out
There are a number of nearby pubs and restaurants which we recommend to our visitors. They tend to be relatively small concerns and rely on a single chef. As a result it is always wise to phone ahead and book your table and thereby confirm that food is being served that evening.
The food is fresh and there is usually a wait involved for your food. The pubs and restaurants all have very different characters and their own ambiance; as a result the wait is normally a very pleasant part of the evening.
Details of the pubs and restaurants which we recommend are contained in the Things to Do page in this section.
