The Great British Beef Week (GBBW) now in its 14th year began on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, St George’s Day.

Fittingly this was the date we were invited to dine at the Marco Pierre White steakhouse, bar and grill at DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House.

The invitation was to sample the new MPW spring menu at Congresbury but we can’t tell a lie as we were lucky enough to have ordered from this menu twice before on a recent visit to the lofty penthouse MPW restaurant at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Plymouth.

All experiences were a culinary delight.

My first visit to a steakhouse was a Berni Inn in the mid-1960s at Henley-on-Thames.

I thought it was so glamourous all mirrors and cobblestone courtyards and duly ordered the standard fare of a prawn cocktail followed by steak and chips but I was too full to order the Black Forest gateau for pudding.

In between times I have been lucky to sample food in many top-notch establishments run by some of our VIP chefs from Tom Kerridge to Anton Mosimann from Jamie Oliver to Rick Stein oh and not to mention Phil Vickery when he was working at The Castle Hotel, Taunton.

I have also enjoyed fish ‘n’ chips from Noggins in Nailsea!

But what MPW has done is recreate comfort food with a sophisticated twist at an affordable price.

Like all good treats we began with a strawberry (and raspberry) mojito £13.50 in the bar where we chatted to Nick Taplin the owner, new general manager Gareth Ireland and sales and marketing manager Matilda Burgess.

And after the apéritif we were ready to go to our garden room table beautiful laid with white linen and shiny cutlery to order and where warm sourdough bread and olives soon arrived.

This space has a retractable roof for the balmy summer days we all long.

We decided to duplicate our Plymouth starters of prawn cocktails and crispy calamari to compare.

The prawn cocktails were perfect, piled high, and served on a crisp bed of lettuce although when I make them at home, I use king-size prawns.

The calamari coated in a tempura batter was much nicer than anything I have produced in my kitchen.

While Plymouth is bustling and you have to pre-book to get a table Congresbury is more relaxed and unhurried.

And while in a steakhouse it makes sense to order steak my husband is not a great meat eater so he had a pasta perfect macaroni cheese as his main course.

My tender 6oz fillet steak was nice and pink in the centre although the same order at Plymouth came much rarer – sides of chips, more chips and salad were all good.

Served at a leisurely pace we wish we had taken friends because this was an excellent pre-birthday treat for Rob born on the 24th of April.

Rob washed down his meal with another mojito and I had a large glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc – the beauty of using an Uber for transport, our driver Cem lives in Greenslade Gardens so we chatted about the merits of Nailsea schools and places to eat.

Desserts was a creamy Eton Mess for me and scoops of chocolate ice-cream for the pre-birthday boy!

It was probably the best meal I have had at Cadbury – and we have had a few - service was excellent (thank you Julie and Julia), and we really must return soon to the place where we have held many family celebrations from milestone birthdays to Christmas parties.

Full details of the spring menu which includes vegetarian and vegan options are under the dropdown What's On menu at the top of this page on our Cadbury House page HERE. This page also includes competition details of how to be in with the chance to win an amazing trip to the stunning Amalfi Coast in Italy.

• While at the hotel we learned of future plans for small private gatherings for book/poetry readings, art displays (there is currently one currently in the reception foyer (which has a wonderful backdrop across the valley towards the coast) and beauty product promotions.

• And there is talk of novelty dining experience nights like the Faulty Towers evening at Weston Pier which had many Nailsea people in the audience.

Below is a slideshow of photos from one evening at Plymouth, slightly different menu choices to show super consistency in MPW service.

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Carol Deacon