 OVERLOOKING the serene beauty of the canal, with a long drive winding its way up to the stunning Georgian building bedecked in flowers' as settings go, the Cheshire Cat is pretty close to perfect. Entering Christleton's gastro-pub through the patio garden, the rustic theme continues into the labyrinth of dining rooms, with old paintings, wooden fireplaces and dried flower arrangements covering every inch. I have eaten at the Cheshire Cat pub many times and have always been impressed by the location and friendly staff. The pub has become the obvious choice when parents come to visit, with my mum enjoying the menu's variations of British classic dishes and my dad appreciating the range of real ales. So it is with sadness that I report my latest visit to the establishment was not up to standard. On arrival in Christleton all the usual signs of Cheshire Cat perfection were there - my best friend and dining partner Alex loved the aforementioned setting, we settled down with glasses of wine at a table next to one of the aforementioned fireplaces and had a chat with a friendly barman, also aforementioned. It was all going so well until I went up to the bar to order our food choices - pesto chicken wrapped in parma ham, and grilled lemon sole. 'We're changing our menu next week and we've sold out of both of them,' said the now apologetic barman. This was disappointing, and I begrudgingly opted for our second choices - chicken caesar salad for Alex and a selection of sausages with mash and bacon and onion gravy for myself. For starters, Alex enjoyed her tiger prawns in a creamy white wine sauce, but I felt the goats cheese salad - complete with a battered, deep fried cheese - was over-greasy. Alex said her chicken caesar salad wasn't anything special and the lettuce was not as crisp as it could have been. My sausages were clearly good quality meat and well seasoned, but the mash was thin and tasteless. Dare I say it, it tasted like instant mashed potato...surely they wouldn't have that at the Cheshire Cat? The onion and bacon gravy amounted to gravy with a huge wad of bacon bits clumped together at the bottom of my plate. The most worrying thing about the dish, though, was the accompaniment of crispy parsnips and carrots sprinkled on top. Sliced far too thickly and stuck in the deep fat fryer again, they were tasteless, uncomfortably chewy and dripping with oil. | 
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