Quy Mill Hotel; 15 May 10

It’s that time of the year again. Spring, a little late this year, the end of the football season, but thanks to the world cup it’ll go on through the summer, and an election, mercifully this one was interesting. It’s also the time when the newspapers offer us special dining deals as an incentive to read them, the newspapers that is.

I read 2 newspapers: the Guardian I’ve read for nearly 30 years from the time it became available in Europe when I was living in Switzerland. And the CEN, which now calls itself the Cambridge News, because that’s where I live. Both are offering low priced dining opportunities.

The CEN has a list of maybe 50 restaurants in and around Cambridge and last Saturday the wife and I had lunch at the Quy Mill Hotel in, you guessed it, Quy.

This is another of those best kept secrets. It’s a Best Western Hotel so it’s owner managed and it really does seem to keep its standards up. On Saturday lunchtime there was little reason to book and we enjoyed an unhurried meal.

The special offer was not so special. The regular menu is 2 courses for £12. The offer reduces it to £10 but the £4 we save at least paid for some of our drinks. We opted for main course and desert.

Frankly the menu wasn’t exciting: main course choice of mackerel, a minute steak or a veggie. But the food was fine. We both had the minute steak and for some reason I chose to wash it down with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Desert was the usual mix of creme brullee, cheesecake, chocolate torte etc. Service was excellent with a brace of Polish waiters called Anna and there was an excellent choice of wines by the glass.

The hotel itself was gearing up for a wedding that afternoon and with number one daughter now engaged and hunting for somewhere suitable near Leeds it was useful to see a best of class example close to home. The Quy Mill Hotel really is a local asset.