Last night I arrived fairly late at the Marquis of Lorne not far from Bridport. It is a small inn with about 7 rooms and small bar and restaurant area. My wife and I had previously had a good meal there and this time I stayed in the inn as well as eating there.
I arrived last night later than expected - 21:30 - and expected the place to be closing down. I ordered a starter which was goat's cheese on toast with a chutney of tomato & red onion and a salad. The goats cheese was great and apparently locally sourced; can't remember the village name further to the North East. All the ingredients were fresh but I will never understand why salads are served in this country without a dressing. OK, I was stupid not to ask! The staff were really friendly and would doubtless have supplied one...but why is it not offered as standard?
If you like ale I can recommend Palmers ales from Bridport. I have never seen them outside of West Dorset but I liked them; there are at least 5 different ones. The inn offered the IPA (which I can recommend and the Copper ale. At lunchtime in Seatown I tried the 200 which was also good.
Tonight, I have been pretty hungry after a day in the open air...but definitely should not have ordered two courses. I was hoping for a repeat of the black pudding with apples and pears from November but the menu has been completely changed. However there were some good new items. The West Bay queen scallops with 'herbal risotto and pesto' were great; I did not miss the black pudding! I am not an expert on scallops but these were the biggest I have ever seen (3 cm in diameter at least) and tasted fabulous. They were cooked just right. The rice was with safron (or was it tumeric) and rocket leaves. I did not notice pesto but that does not matter as it complemented the scallops nicely.
I then had a filet steak with chips, stuffed tomatoes and fresh salad (this time I asked for the dressing, and got it no problem!). The filet steak was a very large size (larger than I would buy at home), very tender and cooked just right. For me, "medium" means cooked through but pink through and so many places in the UK go further than that. The tomatoes stuffed with mushroom were well-executed. Just a pity I could not finish it! Like many pubs, the chips were great and piping hot. Not some sort of extruded starch (like many fast food places) but obviously made from potatoes; yet not the sort of flacid, greasy chips that are so often served at a "chippy" because they fry the chips at a temperature suitable for fish.
If I recall correctly, the goats cheese salad was £6, scallops were about £7 and the fillet steak £16. Two courses was far too much but either would have made a great meal.
I for one am delighted when salad is served without a dressing as standard (but would agree that it should have been offered).
It always amuses me to watch people (Americans are the worst offenders) imagining they are eating healthily by ordering salad and then smothering it with fatty dressing. Apart from adding hundreds of calories, it completely overpowers the subtle flavours of the leaves.
If a salad accompanies something at all fatty (e.g steak and chips!), it really doesn't need dressing. Otherwise, I prefer to be able to add dressing myself, just as I prefer to add salt and other seasonings myself instead of having someone else decide how much I need/want. We rarely use salt at home, so why should it be forced on me when I eat out? And the same is true for salad dressings - both are unhealthy.