If there’s one thing that the team behind The Ploughman In Peterculter knows, is its customer base.
They’ve mastered the wants of those who frequent it and know a thing or two about serving up quality scran at an affordable price.
Fish and chips are the venue’s biggest seller, followed by a string of comfort food dishes.
But when you’ve got liver, bacon and onions on the menu, plus mince and tatties, you can’t help but acknowledge that some dishes are more specific and appealing to a certain audience than a mass one.
My boyfriend and I had spent the previous night toasting our friends’ engagement in Stonehaven so I was looking for a pick-me-up that included good comfort food, and lots of it.
To begin with, all I could think about was chips. Chips with scampi, chips with a pie, chips, chips and more chips.
The Ploughman
The Ploughman on North Deeside Road seemed like a reasonably sound destination to visit. Home-cooked food is something they’ve mastered and just a 15-minute drive down the road from our home, it seemed almost too convenient.
The car park was busy when we arrived and I immediately started to panic that we’d not booked a table. After all, it was 2pm on a Sunday, and most like to enjoy Sunday lunch right about now.
Luckily for us, we were told by Simon Cruickshank, the owner, that they did have a table, one right by the window.
The Ploughman is a bit of an institution. It has been around for a long time and is even one of my boyfriend’s granny’s top venues of choice. That’s second behind The Marcliffe.
Stepping inside it didn’t seem much had changed since the last time I was in a few years back. Tartan carpets, wooden fixtures and the stained glass design of a ploughman and his horse on the first booth. And, how could anyone forget the wooden owl perched on the wooden partitions in the middle of the room?
Before I even got the chance to look at the menu it was the cheesecake that grabbed my attention. I giggled to myself when I noticed the man who had ordered it lost out on the first bite to the woman sitting opposite him, who I can only presume is his wife thanks to their matching wedding bands.
Our server recited the specials of the day and took our drinks order. Two pints of the fizzy stuff.
Chips were at the forefront of my mind and while the battered fish on the all-day menu did sound good, I quickly steered off track, intrigued by the curries, pastas and grill options.
The restaurant was filling up fast and we reminisced over previous visits as memories came flooding in. My boyfriend recalled The Ploughman was the first place he and his family visited when they moved back from America many years ago. So used to the American way, Calum’s brother and he were distraught when they learned jumbo colas and bottomless refills weren’t a thing in Scotland.
Talking of drinks, when ours arrived we ordered swiftly as hunger was beginning to set in.
The food
Thankfully our food didn’t take too long to arrive with the pate and prawn cocktail swiftly being placed within a 10-minute window.
The chef’s own thick chicken liver pate (£7.40) was served with six smaller oatcakes which were the perfect vessels for the creamy mixture – bread or toast was also optional. The flavour was really good and you could taste the brandy in it just at the tip of your tongue. The onion chutney was very sweet with slithers of the thick cooked onion throughout.
Everything was served in separate ramekins and there was a big portion of salad with vinaigrette on the side, plus three sticks of butter, too.
My prawn cocktail (£7.80) saw five large big juicy prawns smothered in a classic Marie Rose sauce. It reminded me of the one my mum makes for Christmas, especially served in the traditional sour glass. The sauce was deliciously creamy and the chef had sprinkled paprika on top too. There was plenty of it to dress my crisp leaf salad which also boasted cucumber and chopped baby tomatoes.
I used my four quarter triangles of bread to dip into the sauce, ensuring every last morsel was mopped up.
Despite craving chips, I ordered the king prawn Cruden Bay (£14.40) for main. When I enquired where the Cruden Bay name came from, the manager struggled to find out why as it was a former chef who named the dish.
Nonetheless, this lightly curried cream and mango curry was bright yellow and boasted 11 king prawns in it. There was no veg, which I was a little disappointed with as some onions or peppers through it would have provided a bit of crunch, however, the prawns were cooked well and the sauce was very moreish and buttery.
My only minor critique would be that the dish wasn’t that warm when it was served. My rice was steaming, but the three small pieces of thin garlic flatbread naan and curry, not so much. I used the naan mainly to scoop up any leftover sauce and picked at the rice sporadically.
Across the table Calum was making short work of his steak pie (£12.90). I love when a pie comes in the proper dish and the pastry was lovely and flakey.
The gravy, was rich with just the right amount of sweetness, and there was plenty of beef. A few chunky pieces were dry and chewy, so he left those, but most of the smaller pieces were moist.
I couldn’t help myself and nicked a chip or two from his plate. These were your typical pub chips, fluffy inside and crisp on the out. The pie was also served with two big cauliflower florets and boiled sliced carrots.
But we didn’t stop there.
I couldn’t get the cheesecake (£6.70) out of my head, so ordered us a portion after polishing off our mains. It was lemon on the day we visited and I asked for both cream and ice cream with it.
Just before our dessert arrived I watched as a knickerbocker glory was served to a neighbouring table in a proper nostalgic knickerbocker glass. I hadn’t seen one of those in a long time and memories of waitressing and trying to carry the darn things came flooding back. This outing was full of nostalgia.
The cheesecake was sublime. Not too lemony or zesty, and its creaminess was heavenly. The buttery biscuit base was soft but sturdy and made cutting through it with my spoon an easy task. Everything married and the splodge of dark chocolate sauce across the plate balanced it out. It was beautifully garnished with a mint leaf and lime wedge, the only things still remaining when the plates were cleared.
The verdict
The Ploughman is loved by many and all ages. This venue not only caters to certain demographics, but it celebrates them.
Nostalgia oozes from the pores of the wooden fixtures and while it certainly knows its audience, there’s still plenty more modern dishes to keep everyone wanting to come back.
If you are looking for hearty, warming comfort food that will fill you up for the day at an affordable price then this is the place to go.
Information
Address: 40 North Deeside Road, Peterculter, Aberdeen AB14 0QN
T: 01224 733365
Price: £60 for two starters, two mains, a dessert and three pints of soft drinks
Scores:Â
- Food: 4/5
- Service: 4/5
- Surroundings: 4/5
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