Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

Last night Nat and I went out for dinner. We went to a place that I haven’t been to in well over a year, something I felt great shame for. You see, since my first visit when I was about 16 this place has been the be all and end all when it comes to proper food as far as I’m concerned. Half way through yesterday I craved steak and I knew some reheated, overcooked excuse for a steak from Wetherspoons was never going to cut the mustard. I needed a proper steak, a 24oz beast, cooked to perfection. I needed Denby Lodge Steak House.

Located out in the sticks in, tiny, Denby Village, Derbyshire, Denby Lodge Steak house is a true diamond in the rough. As I told someone just yesterday; “It’s nearly impossible to get a good steak in England without needing a mortgage” so believe me, it’s worth travelling a decent distance to get to, although I’m super lucky that it’s practically right on my doorstep (Just the other side of Ripley). The place looks big but not over the top. In fact, there are no signs on the outside that make mention to the place as a steak house. Even when you walk inside it just looks like a large country pub with the obligatory brass ornaments hanging over the bar and the old wooden furniture. To get to the restaurant you go through to the back room which is a dedicated dining room. Despite being cozy, the place still looks very old fashioned and unimpressive.

The menu is printed on a single side of A4 but on closer inspection the place begins to reveal what a gem it really is. There is no messing about. There are a handfull of starters, pretty old fashioned like smoked mackerel and prawn cocktail but they’re very reasonably priced. Then on to mains. Now, although there are a couple of other dished (a lesagne and chicken chasseur) this place is called “steak house” for a reason. On offer there is Sirloin (8oz or 16oz), a 20oz T-Bone, and Rump (12oz or 24oz) They also have certain nights of the week where a monster 32oz Rump is available! All are served with chips or jacket potato, peas and salad. Prices may make you go “What? that can’t be right!?” these are some cheap steaks! The 24oz rump I ordered was £10.95 which when you consider just how much you’re getting is astonishing. Nat has the 8oz sirloin which was still an incredible deal at £6.75. It’s not all about quantity though. A steak is only worth it’s money if it’s done right and believe me, the chef here knows what he’s doing! I ordered my steak medium-rare and it came out just perfect; tender and juicy like in the picture (Steak in the picture is not the one I had last night). Nat ordered her’s medium-well and from what i saw, they nailed that too. I will say that in my experience they do tend to ever-so-slightly under cook the steaks so if, like me, you like a steak rare, I’d suggest you ask for it medium-rare at Denby Lodge as rare would be closer to blue.

As if my half cow wasn’t enough, I turned my attention to the deserts menu. There are actually 2 deserts menus; one with ice cream sundaes and another with cakes. I’ve had items from both in the past and they have been excellent. This time though, I went for ice cream and so did Nat. I had a summer fruits sundae which was just perfect following a large steak as the tart berries were a real palette cleanser. Nat had the sundae called Dark Temptation which, as the name suggests, is a chocolate sundae. It also has banana in it and two wafer straw type things. It, too was excellent.

As I’ve already pointed out, the prices are amazing. We had: 1 24oz rump, 1 8oz sirloin, 1 side of onion rings and 2 ice cream sundaes and the bill came to £25.45.

Honestly, I don’t know why it was over a year between visits. I shall definitely make sure that this doesn’t happen again. If you want to check the place out for yourself just enter the postcode: DE5 8PH into your sat nav or Google maps… unless you have your steak well done. If you do, then you don’t deserve to eat it. That is all.