Review: The Treacle Mine, Polegate

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so they say, but this is pretty close. Now I’m freelance, we can’t go out for meals as often as we used to, so it was nice to be invited to visit a recently-refurbished local restaurant.

So it was, we wandered down to The Treacle Mine for an end-of-summer-holiday family meal. In case you’re wondering about the slightly unusual name, there used to be a sweet factory nearby. Children would help themselves to sugar syrup in empty barrels which therefore became known as ‘treacle mines’.

We were served our drinks soon after arrival and they had Harveys on tap, so that was a good start! As is the way with a number of restaurants these days, they also provided activity sheets and crayons to keep Dylan and Xander quiet so that was a major plus too. The service was friendly and prompt as well. So far, so good!

I went for the surf and turf from the specials board while Kate opted for the mixed grill from the main menu. She’s eating for two and I was empathising. Selfless, I know.

The kids’ menu allows young guests to choose one main and two sides. Dylan had a burger, chips and garlic bread and Xander chose pizza, garlic bread and peas.

We made Dylan eat some of Xander’s peas though. He wasn’t going to get away with not having any veg at all! The portions were all generous – particularly for the boys – and I was impressed with how much Dylan managed to put away as he’s not a big eater.

Of course, everybody knows that there’s always room for pudding. We were again all happy with our choices. Dylan opted for a Rocky Road Sundae, while Xander chose a Horrible Histories-inspired offering with chocolate mousse in a coffin-like wafer with macabre-looking jelly sweets!

They both wolfed down the lot and were very quiet, which meant they liked them. Neither Kate nor I could see past the Jaffa Cake Sundae on the specials menu and it didn’t disappoint.

It was a nice family lunch and we all enjoyed our meals. We’ll definitely be going there again. Our bill came to a little under £60, which I think is very reasonable given the amount we ate and especially so as the mains that Kate and I chose accounted for just over half of that tally.

We were leaving with smiles on our faces anyway, but this sign made us laugh too so I had to include it here. Glad it’s a joke though… we already have a kitten at home and she’s more than enough!

Disclosure: we were given a £60 voucher to spend on the food for this review.