I’VE spent quite a few evenings at Shaw Farm, chatting about my day over a pint in their beer garden or enjoying a gin and tonic in the bar, but I’d never really considered the restaurant.

It’s a little out of the centre of South Woodham Ferrers, and after hearing that Vintage Inns has now taken over the restaurant, I took my family to try it out.

For starters, we ordered two of the king prawn, lobster and avocado cocktails while the other two went for the scallops and king prawns in garlic butter.

Both dishes were packed with flavour and served with chunky bread and were large, filling dishes.

For mains, three of us decided to try the steak with slight variations – one of us chose to have a medium steak with brandy peppercorn sauce; another had a medium rare steak with no sauce and sweet potato fries; while I chose a medium rare steak with their oven-baked garlic and cheddar mushrooms.

The other member of our party decided on the slow-cooked ham hock, with oranges and malt whisky marmalade, spring onion mash and honey-roasted carrots.

Each of the steaks came out steaming hot with plenty of chips and sauce as well as a lovely salad and grilled tomatoes.

They were all cooked to perfection, although mine had a little more gristle than I would have hoped for.

We were quite full after the two courses, but were tempted by the dessert menu; two of us went for the smaller coffee and mini chocolate pot option while the other two members of our party threw caution to the wind.

One went for the enormous chocolate chip cookie and ice cream – he didn’t realise this was a sharer dish but luckily we were all too happy to help him out – while the other tried the Eton tidy cheesecake.

We would definitely go back to Shaw Farm; the food was delicious, everything arrived promptly and the staff and service were faultless.

CHARLOTTE AUSTEN-HARDY