STEPHEN DAVY-OSBORNE and colleagues venture off the beaten track to find a restaurant worthy of five stars

What on earth could entice a hungry team of reporters off-patch and into their rivals’ territory for dinner one evening? Well, the top ranking restaurant on Trip Advisor for starters.

We have sort of been at a bit of a loose end of late for our monthly dinner out, ever since the loss of The Biddestone Arms’ hugely popular pie night. In our hunt for a worthy successor our search took us out into the county to Chippenham to sample the best the town has to offer – according to Trip Advisor.

Just a five or 10-minute walk away from the railway station (depending on how hungry you are) The Gladstone Arms is a welcome sight after a long day at the office. The restaurant had even had yet another five star review added to Trip Advisor the day prior to our visit, so we were expecting great things.

Despite it being mid-week, the pub was busy both at the bar and in the restaurant, which we took to be another good sign of things to come. Despite having a near-full house of bookings, it didn’t impact on our wait for any of our courses, which goes someway to showing that this pub has the art of running a successful kitchen nailed.

Among some of the delights on the starters menu are crisp pieces of belly pork with scallops, black pudding and squash puree (at the more expensive end of the starters at £8) while there are also chicken goujons with BBQ sauce and blue cheese dressing (£6).

As we were a man down (journalistic duties had called and he had gone to a council meeting, but had promised to join us in time for mains) we ordered a selection of starters including chicken liver parfait on toasted brioche with red onion marmalade (£7), tempura tiger prawns with chilli jam, spring onion and coriander (£8), the goats cheese and roasted red pepper arancini (£6.50) and the potted mackerel pate which came with horseradish creme fraiche and toasted sourdough (£6.50). The last dish, particularly, went down well with the team, with my dining companion describing it as being very nice and tasty, but not too fishy in an overbearing way. Although he did point out it could have done with more sourdough toast to help him along the way.

Each of the dishes arrived swiftly enough so as not to keep us waiting, but long enough for us not to be suspicious that a microwave had been involved in the cooking process.

By now our roving reporter had joined us (having phoned his main order ahead) and we were all able to tuck in and enjoy our main courses together. The helpful waiting staff managed to time our meals just right for his arrival, which was quite the achievement.

Having ignored the belly pork on the starters menu I couldn't resist the chance to have it as a main course. The crisp cider braised pork belly came with a generous serving of creamed savoy cabbage with bacon and mashed potato (£15) and was everything it promised to be on the menu and so much more. The pork was cooked to perfection, and almost tumbled off the knife when cut.

One of our team ordered the breaded chicken breast burger with bacon (£13), choosing to forgo the melted cheese that comes with it – odd girl. She compensated with a side of onion rings and chips though.

My other dining companions went for the 10oz Rib Eye Steak, cooked medium, which came on a loaded plate of chips, mushrooms, and vine tomatoes (£17), the chicken, leek and pancetta shortcrust pie, which came with chips, peas and gravy (£11) and the beef burger with pulled pork and melted cheese (£13).

The portions were all incredibly generous, and I think most of us struggled to clear our plates entirely, despite the delicious variety of main courses that had been served up to us.

It was perhaps a little greedy on our part that two of us decided to venture down the dessert avenue, while our companions satisfied themselves with teas and coffees to round off what had been an incredibly pleasant evening out. However, I was suitably tempted by the rhubarb crumble after swapping the custard for cream (£6) while another member of the team chose the warm chocolate brownie served with a side of vanilla ice cream and smothered in warm chocolate sauce (£6).

Despite the other delicious offerings of crème brulee with raspberries (£6) and Strawberries and cream parfait (£6) the rest of the team were done – and so were we after our desserts. Fat and full.

The journey home gave us pause for thought too – we couldn’t fault the service we had received over the course of the evening, and the food really was quite something else. With a lovely, warm, welcoming atmosphere to boot, this is definitely making the shortlist for our new monthly destination – and possibly even another positive review on TripAdvisor from us.

Name: The Gladstone Arms

Address: 34 Gladstone Road, Chippenham SN15 3BW

Website: thegladstonearms.co.uk

Parking: Public car parks nearby

Disabled access: yes

Our ratings:

Food: 8

Choice: 8

Decor: 8

Customer service: 9

TripAdvisor rating: 4.5