The Assheton Arms Downham Clitheroe - 12th November 2015

Its over a year since my last visit to The Assheton Arms, which is part of The Seafood Pub Company in the beautiful village of Downham in the Ribble Valley, with stunning views on summer nights.   I always contact Manager Tom prior to visiting, as regards my vegan diet and he liases with chef.   On this occasion I checked out their current menu, made a couple of suggestions for dishes and Tom confirmed chef was more than happy to make any of them.

We arrived on a grim, windy and wet Thursday evening and one thing The Assheton Arms is, is cosy and we got a warm welcome from Tom and the team.

I ordered a starter mezze platter, a delicious array of olives, houmous, olive oil and balsamic, padron peppers, plenty of flatbread and as you can see I did not go hungry.

Mains was either a vegan take on fish and chips, with tempura vegetables instead of fish or a main course portion of the chicken lettuce rolls starter, replacing the chicken with wok fried vegetables served with Sriracha, a spicy chilli sauce.   I chose the lettuce rolls and it was delicious and the Sriracha sauce I really must hunt down and buy, it was as delicious as Tom said it was.

I will have to have the tempura and chips, the next time we visit, which I am sure is equally as good.   I really enjoyed the food and the service throughout the evening was friendly and efficient.   The attitude towards people with dietary requirements is excellent, unlike another local establishment not far away, who point blank refused to even consider vegan options, which I find most surprising.   So The Assheton Arms will see me again, hopefully sooner rather than later.