Jimmy’s Farm Restaurant, Ipswich, Suffolk

After surviving the “worst rain seen in Suffolk for 30 years’ the day before the sun came out for our visit to Jimmy’s Farm.

We worked up an apetite exploring the butterfly house, nature trail and woodland walks and hunting for eggs in the Chicken Safari. Not to mention wandering around to see the 100s of rare breed pigs that Jimmy is so proud of on TV.

We arrived at the farm restaurant for lunch expecting some decent quality but rustic and hearty pub type food. What we got was something quite different.

Firstly the place looks brilliant, natural wood everywhere from the floors, to the beams around the walls, ceiling and the tables and chairs, that with an open kitchen and huge blackboards displaying the chalk written specials it was immediately inviting and has so much charm.

Our order was taken fairly quickly but unfortunately over 20 minutes later we still hadn’t received anything to eat. One of the staff members eventually noticed us staring at them with hungry looks on our faces and went to the kitchen, she came back and told us very apologetically that our order had somehow been lost. She retook the order and offered us either free drinks or desserts. We accepted their apology and their cider.

The food arrived shortly afterwards, it needed to be better than pub food to be worthy of such a cool looking place and also to make up for the wait. Thankfully it was. My smoked salmon salad got things off to a great start. It was in essence a simple dish with just a few ingredients, smoked salmon with spring onions, salad leaves and plenty of black pepper. The quality of the salmon made the dish great but  what really made it sing was the lemony, mustardy dressing which was packed with flavour and held the whole dish together. It’s not often that a dish so light and refreshing is packed with as much flavour.

My partners Goats Cheese Salad was also excellent. Soft, warm, almost melting goats cheese covered in crispy breadcrumbs and served with a cranberry compote and mixed leaves. The cranberry compote was sweet, sticky & rich and complimented the goats cheese perfectly.

Being a Sunday there was really no option but to order one of the many roasts on the menu. Choosing between rare breed pork, dexter beef or roast lamb was much more difficult. I eventually opted for the beef.

When it arrived the first thing that caught my attention was the HUGE yorkshire pudding, it was seriously impressive. The meat actually looked slightly overcooked for my liking as there was only a little pink visible but upon cutting into it I realised that it was in fact cooked really well. Perfectly soft and tender with a deep beefy flavour. The yorkshire pudding tasted as good as it looked, crisp on the outside and light, soft and fluffy inside. The roast potatoes were similarly crisp on the outside and fluffy inside while the carrots, broccoli and parsnips were cooked well too and the whole dish was brought together  by the incredibly meaty gravy. I can’t remember having many better Sunday roasts.

My partner went for the Rare Breed Pork, bred by Jimmy on the farm and if anything it looked even more impressive than my own. The same vegetables, potatoes and giant yorkshire pudding with large slices of pork and topped with an extremely generous piece of pork crackling and a sage leaf. As much as I was enjoying my own food I have to admit I was a little jealous. Luckily for me she likes to share because if the pork was good (it was) the crackling was simply amazing.

You’d think after eating all that we’d have struggled to finish a dessert. And you’d be right, we didn’t. We had 2! Each. (I did say that we’d worked up a big appetite).

The ‘Mud Pie’ was rich and chocolatey with a crispy, crunchy base and light as a feather topping. Served with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce and fresh strawberries & mint. It was a chocolate delight and just an amazing dessert.

I was beginning to get full now so luckily the Lemon Meringue Tart was a little smaller and lighter. It looked so cute and delicate but it packed some serious flavour. The pastry was soft and buttery, the meringue crisp on top and soft underneath but the stars were the zingy lemon curd type sauce and especially the passion fruit & mango sorbet which was unbelievably good.

The Banoffee Tart & Knickerbocker Glory were not quite as amazing as the previous 2 desserts but still great puds in their own right.

I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed Jimmy’s Farm Restaurant. The quality of the food is outstanding, from starter to (multiple) desserts everything was perfect. It’s brilliant value for food of this quality and just a really great place. It was so good I almost forgot about them missing the order and making us wait.

Date Of Visit: 15.07.2012