The Flintlock at Cheddleton Review

Situated in a building that has housed various different venues over several years, The Flintlock at Cheddleton is a smart canal-side restaurant, opened in September 2020. Having been awarded two AA rosettes in March 2022, it seemed like a sound option for a quality meal, so I duly made a trip for lunch with my wife and two young children, on a mild September Saturday.

It's fair to say the restaurant location isn't quite as picturesque as I'd been expecting; yes it's next to a canal which is nice, but it's also on a busy A-road and adjoins a large industrial warehouse area; it just wasn't quite what I was expecting. That said, there was plenty of parking which is always a plus. The exterior of the building has a bit of a nightclub vibe, but inside is smart and modern and a perfectly pleasant space to enjoy a good meal.

The welcome on arrival was warm enough and we were shown to our table looking out over the canal. On offer at lunch is a three course lunch menu, which seems to be a scaled down version of the dinner menu but still with plenty of choice. There's also a shorter three course children's menu which is always appreciated. Drinks wise, there's not a massive choice but all the main bases are covered reasonably well; I enjoyed a couple of Forest gin and tonics during my meal.

Lunch began for me with the BBQ beetroot tart, with pickled walnut ketchup and crispy shallots. It was a pretty looking dish and the tart case was delicate, but the flavours were very one dimensional, it was basically just a thin tart case with chopped up beetroot inside. My wife didn't have much luck either with a disappointing beef tartare; again it was a neat plate but the tartare was massively overpowered by the unnecessarily strong "smoked mayonnaise" (according to the menu), it was like a very strong horseradish sauce if you want a comparison.

The kids were happier though; my daughter had the fish and chips from the children's menu which was tasty, and my young son was perfectly happy with just a portion of chips. Both the children's meals were served with our starters without any issue.

The food did improve with the next course; my confit lamb shoulder was accompanied by a decent miso jus and although the Asian inspired flavours didn't entirely work together, it was an enjoyable main course. My wife had less luck with her chicken main, served with a sweet potato terrine, black pudding and broccoli. Overall it was a nice dish, but the chicken was overcooked and borderline too dry which was a shame.

Although the food hadn't exactly been brilliant to this point, of course there was little chance of us leaving without trying dessert. I have to say, all the desserts looked great on the menu and it was difficult to choose (definitely not a bad thing). I opted for the chocolate and stout opera cake, served with chocolate soil and a milk and meadowsweet sorbet. It was, sadly, a pretty disappointing dessert. Again it was nicely presented, but to call it an opera cake (my expectation being delicate thin delicious layers) was a massive stretch, and the sorbet was a disaster, it just crumbled away as I tried to eat it.

My wife chose the mango and honey cheesecake with mango jelly and a white chocolate and tonka bean ice cream. This time even the presentation wasn't great, the slice of cheesecake was nearly falling over, and again the flavours were really lacking. Her ice cream at least was better than my sorbet though. The kids however had no issues; my daughter enjoyed her chocolate brownie from the children's menu and my son was perfectly happy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

And that as they say was pretty much that. Service throughout was fine; it's clearly a fairly young team with no one really in control of the dining room, but that's understandable and we didn't have any issues. The menu pacing was fine also; the issue here really is the food, which was way below the level I'd been expecting.

Yes, the majority of the courses were presented very well, but it's like no one has actually tasted this menu before offering it to customers; so many flavours just didn't work and so many parts of the dishes were not executed as well as they should have been. It's almost like how the dish looks (and how Instagrammable it is) has taken massive precedence over how the dish tastes, and for me that's unequivocally the wrong way round. It's a shame but such is life, and hey, I've certainly had worse meals in the past. But although I genuinely wish the restaurant and team all the best going forwards, I think it's highly unlikely I'll be returning to eat here anytime soon.