Sunday Roast @ The Bay Horse at Hurworth, & more

We had an opportunity to visit Stockton-on-Tees, a market town in County Durham on last Sunday. Instead of going straight there, we decided to explore around the area a little bit. First we checked Darlington, another market town in the same county. It's famous for railways - The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) started operating their first line connected coal mines at Shildon in County Durham to Darlington in 1825 and became the world-first passenger railway to use steam trains. The town still has a railway station in Darlington and there were also a house of Edward Pease who was a woollen manufacturer and the main promoter of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, known as the Father of the Railways in the town center as well as Head of Steam Darlington Railway Museum in the north of the town center. 

We walked around the town center, passing by red brick buildings, a covered market hall with a remarkable clock tower, and a church originally dated from the 12th century. It was a Sunday morning. Almost of all shops in the railway heritage town were closed. There weren't not much to see... At least the weather was fine for a walk. It was also nice to hear the church bells. We were going to have a casual lunch at the food court in the covered market, although the options were very limited. J quickly researched with his iPhone and found Plan "B" - The Bay Horse at Hurworth.

Located about 10 minuet drive from the town of Darlington, The Bay Horse was not just a pub but a high-end one, featured in various media and guides, including The Times top 50 gastropubs and The Mail on Sunday's top 50 Sunday Lunches in the UK. What a great choice, J! We got there about 30 minutes before the pub opened for lunch. J made a reservation by phone just in case. In fact all tables inside had been booked! However, J managed to secure a table in their walled garden. Phew! We strolled in the neighborhood to kill time. The street was wide and the terraced houses were neat. It looked like a nice community. 

The table was cozy with an electric heater, and intimate without other guests. Our waitress told us that you would need to make a reservation for Sunday lunch 6 weeks ahead. I had no idea that the place was so popular! Following drinks (I had tea and J had sparkling water), two kinds of bread were served with whipped creamy butter. They was savory and tasty! I have a theory that a restaurant offering great bread is promising. 

We both had Celeriac velouté. A lovely creamy soup! There were some yummy things such as sliced apples and a kind of small croquette at the bottom of the bowl. I loved the soup very much.

We also chose the same main. Roast sirloin of Grand Reserve beef! It came with a giant Yorkshire pudding and red wine gravy. I think that was the biggest Yorkshire pudding that I have ever had!

Cauliflower gratin, crispy-outside-creamy-inside roast potatoes, braised red cabbage and carrot mash with horseradish were sides. They were the classics and the perfect addition to the Sunday roast.

I wished I had a space for desserts... We didn't have enough time for desserts anyway. After the wonderful lunch, we drove to Stockton-on-Tees for the main purpose of the day out. Meet Poirot!

We attended Sir David Suchet's show, Poirot and More, A Retrospective at the Globe Theater in the town. He have been performing the show at more than 20 theaters in the UK and Stockton-on-Tees was the final stage of the tour. I was so happy to see him acting Poirot in person. It was a fulfilling Sunday!