Vanilla Pod Restaurant

Although reached through an entrance just inside the foyer of the Headfort Arms Hotel and in common ownership, this attractive bistro style restaurant is run as an independent entity. In contrast to the hotel, it is very modern, with lots of pale wood, recessed lighting and sleek informal table settings.

Efficient staff show you straight to your table to choose from a well-structured contemporary menu, which offers quite a few dishes (including some vegetarian) which can be chosen as a starter or main course.

Good quality, carefully sourced ingredients are used, from named suppliers many of them local. The cooking is excellent and the presentation delightful, without being at all fussy or over-decorated.

Enjoyable starters might include a delicious confit of duck with honeyed fig, rocket salad & orange essence, and a very different but equally appealing Glenboy organic goats cheese, with a salad of Parma ham, red onion & corn salad.

Similarly contrasting main courses might include a strong vegetarian choice – an impressive wild morel mushroom risotto with parmesan crisp, perhaps – and (as this is beef country) a really good steak, such as a perfectly cooked fillet wrapped in Parma ham, served on a tomato bread crostini; with a topping of duck liver paté, this is rather like beef Wellington without the pastry crust, and comes with a wild mushroom sauce.

Desserts are homemade (the day’s choices are on a blackboard) and quite homely; a popular choice which can be shared is chocolate fondue, with a plate of prepared seasonal fruits.

There is an interest in wine - specials are offered from time to time, and there are sometimes wine evenings, perhaps matching a special menu (eg Spanish) from a particular food culture.

The all-in price for these specials is particularly good value, as is the value menu.