Given how much of a food lover I am you would expect me to eat out frequently but alas I sadly don't. In the early years of mine and Richard's relationship (when we were young and carefree) we would eat out at least once a week, favouring our local Toby Carvery (which I can strongly recommend a visit to).
But now with full time jobs, a house, bills and a woofer to consider we never think to go out for dinner any more and should we decide to treat ourselves we immediately look at a takeaway menu, scan it for an inexcusable length of time before finally settling on the same thing we have every single time we do this ritual. Whenever we see friends or family and they mention restaurants they have been to or that we should meet there for a change we both look at each other as though this is an entirely new concept and nod enthusiastically, only to forget the moment we get home and slip into the same mundane routine.
My sister however is a saint and if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have eaten out in an actual restaurant for at least two years. So of course when I got a message from my sister suggesting we go out for dinner to celebrate my impending 21st birthday I of course was eager, even more so when I found out it was up to me to decide where we would be eating.
Despite living in Houghton Regis with my family for years prior to moving in with Richard, I don't really know many places to eat out that haven't changed hands, moved or just shut down completely. With this in mind I decided to stick to what I knew and eat out in Ampthill, the neighbouring town of where I used to live.
There are plenty of places to choose from, in fact according to TripAdvisor there are seventeen restaurants in Ampthill, the number one rated place being Cakestand and Crumb, which is new to me and one I am keen to visit. The second is Fratellis which I used to regularly visit and one which I miss terribly. In third place is Arena which is a firm favourite with my friends and family and one which I reviewed in an earlier post A Taste of India.
I decided however to move away from the well loved and most visited and take a trip down memory lane to one of the only two Chinese restaurants in the town, The Dew Drop Inn. This is a restaurant I visited many moons ago with a group of friends to celebrate my birthday back in 2010. We had a great night and the food was amazing but for some reason I have never been back so this was long overdue. Luckily my sister enjoys Chinese food too and we were soon on our way over...
Once again we were the only people in there. I don't know what it is when we go out for dinner together but we somehow manage to clear an entire restaurant. We were given a table by the window which thankfully was open on what was a very humid evening. This not only cooled us down but gave us the chance to snoop out of the window at the idyllic English town below.
We spent a while perusing the menu while the waiter bought us over a jug of iced water and complimentary prawn crackers. I was stunned by how much there was to choose from. There was a choice of set menus, appetisers, mains and additional courses as well as specials. After a lot of deliberation and encouragement I chose an appetiser of barbecue spare ribs which in no time at all seemed to be placed in front of me.
As you can see I was very quick to dig in and could only really take a picture of the aftermath. I was even able to enjoy Kayleigh's appetiser which was minced prawns wrapped in pastry and served with sweet and sour sauce. They too were delicious!
For my main I settled on a firm favourite when I have a Chinese which is Beef with Green Peppers in Black Bean Sauce served with boiled rice. I don't really know why I even bothered to open the menu because I had that in mind from the moment I mentioned the restaurant and while I was driving there. Why change a winning formula aye?
Again it was only a short wait before our food came sizzling over causing us all to cough and choke in a dramatic fashion. The great thing about The Dew Drop Inn is that they don't scrimp on portions or flavour. I never find myself eating absolutely everything, which when you see the portion of rice that comes over would seem surprising but the food is filling and satisfying.
All in all we had a pleasant evening in what is a lovely quiet restaurant full of very attentive staff. I will certainly visit again soon and I would say it is even worth the drive over from where I currently live for a meal out.
Thank you Dew Drop Inn for rejuvenating my love of good quality restaurants over the simple takeaway menus.
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