The Northumberland Arms at Felton is putting the fizz into the festive season with the launch of its Christmas and New Year menus.
The former coaching inn on the banks of the River Coquet will be serving its Christmas Faye menu – priced at £29 for two courses and £36 for three – from December 1 to Christmas Eve, with an extravagant tasting menu planned for New Year’s Eve too.
Christmas Fayre starters include spiced carrot and coconut soup with potato and onion bhajis; duck liver parfait with caramelised onion jam, prawn, crayfish and smoked salmon cocktail; and smoked haddock fishcake with creamy leeks. There is also a Darling Blue salad, featuring a blue-veined cheese named after Victorian lifeboat heroine Grace Darling and served with pickled pear, radish, apple, celery and walnuts.
Leading the main course options is traditional stuffed turkey with creamy mash, duck fat roasties, glazed carrots and parsnips, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and pigs in blankets. The menu also features a 12-hour braised featherblade of beef with triple mustard mash; stuffed breast of partridge with Tynedale cheddar croquette and roasted radicchio; and monkfish on the bone with curried Shetland mussels and saffron potatoes. A vegetarian alternative to turkey – a cranberry and pistachio nut roast – is also available, served with all the festive trimmings.
To finish, guests can enjoy Christmas pudding and brandy sauce; spiced clementine trifle with caramelised white chocolate; warm dark chocolate and orange pudding; Amarena cherry and pistachio Bakewell tart; or cheese and biscuits.
The venue will also be offering a trio of Christmas cocktails throughout December, including Mulled Wine Fizz – prosecco and mulled wine syrup; Christmas Cosmo – a blend of Absolut citron, Cointreau, fresh lime juice and cranberry juice; and Rudoph’s Nose – made with Absolut raspberry, Chambord and pineapple juice.
Meanwhile, the team will also be serving up a New Year’s Eve tasting menu in its restaurant and private dining room, at 7pm.
The night will begin with an assortment of breads and snacks including homemade sourdough loaf and whipped salted butter; white crab and pickled cucumber tartlet and brown crab emulsion; and crispy chicken wing with Darling Blue cheese.
Next is a slow cooked hen’s egg with roasted wild mushrooms and creamed and pickled celeriac; followed by lobster ravioli with buttered sea vegetables and lobster bisque.
Pan-roast venison loin comes next with venison faggot, potato terrine and Jerusalem artichoke before desserts of heather honey mousse with poached blackberries; and chocolate and hazelnut slice with salted caramel.
The menu, which costs £85pp with a wine pairing for £40pp, concludes with petit fours, and tea and coffee.
The Northumberland Arms will also be open for drinks on Christmas night and will be offering a slightly reduced menu from Boxing Day to December 30 and on New Year’s Day.
