Hiding in plain sight, beneath the towering glare of Ely cathedral, lies The Old Fire Engine House.

This unassuming eighteenth century Georgian house can be easily missed, with little signage or advertising outside. You could mistake it for another one of Ely’s many beautiful historic buildings or someone’s home but instead offers a family run restaurant that has been going since 1968.

The menu is hand-written with a small but balanced selection of traditional (mostly) English cuisine. It reminds me of a simpler time, eating dishes at my grandma’s house as a child. This is the very essence of comfort food and is ironically exciting and unusual in a market where everyone is constantly trying to reinvent the wheel by pushing the boundaries of the dining experience from all over the world. Whereas, The Old Fire Engine House has been standing proud, doing timeless classics for decades and yet always seems to be packed every time I visit.

There is an extensive wine list, with options from all over the world. We landed on a humble Argentinian merlot called Anko. This was one of the more competitively priced numbers on the wine list but it tasted well above its price. Hints of plumb and berries were prevalent with a dry body. Both my wife and I were quite taken by this and even looked it up once we got home, to insert it into our daily weekly wine rotation.

Starters

For starters, my wife ordered the goats cheese and beetroot salad. I thought this was a good portion for a starter and it was well received by her. She was particularly fond of the goats cheese, which I was lucky enough to sample myself. It was mild and “really creamy”, perfect for a pre meal salad.

The Old Fire Engine House takes great pride in its sourcing and tries to use local ingredients (specifically the fens) as much as possible, here, it clearly shows.

I ordered the tomato and onion soup for myself. This came with a basket of lovely thick cut brown bread and a block of butter. Brilliant in its simplicity. Tomato soup is one of my favourite dishes and is something I eat frequently at home. I found this to be a quality example of the dish with small chunks of tomato adding an authenticity and reassurance that this was home-made fresh in their kitchen. Delicious!

Mains

I couldn’t resist the braised beef with tomatoes cooked in a white wine sauce. Like many of the other dishes listed on the menu, this isn’t the sort of thing that would jump off a page for me. This is because it is rarely shown the respect it deserves by other restaurants, often being a token “safe bet” dish put on a menu to appease Grandma. This, however, was executed perfectly. The beef was so soft, so tender, and full of rich flavour.  It fell to pieces with minimal effort and was quite frankly, exquisite. A classic example of what English food can be, if done properly.

My dish came accompanied with a bowl of fresh vegetables, including carrots, courgettes, and cabbage. The courgettes were mixed with cheese and easily my favourite but everything here was particularly excellent, especially the carrots which tasted very fresh.

My wife had the roast loin of pork served with apricot stuffing and potatoes. This came with an adequate amount of gravy and some crackling.

My wife thought the pork was tender and “not remotely dry”, something always risky with pork. The crackling was very well done and crunchy.

The apple sauce that came accompanied with her meal was an obscene portion. I don’t think she even used half of it for her meal. This, of course, is only a good thing, as many restaurants often fail to hit the mark when it comes to portion sizes of gravy, sauce, or butter. It’s something I have never really understood, as the extra cost is minimal, yet makes all the difference. At the Old Fire Engine House, they understand this and don’t let such penny pinching get in the way of a good meal.

Another nice touch was that we were offered second helpings. I declined, as our options were enough, but it was good to know that the team were passionate about making sure we were satisfied.

Dessert

We ended our evening with dessert. I couldn’t resist the urge to try their cheese board, made from a selection of cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. The board was presented with thick juicy grapes, biscuits, crackers, home-made apricot chutney, and three different cheeses. I have often been uninspired by cheese boards when dining out but this was one of the strongest examples I have seen. All three cheeses were quite mild, including the stilton. All tasted great but I was hoping for a little more diversity as they all felt creamy and smooth.

My wife opted for the raspberry, apple, and almond crumble with cream. She thoroughly recommended it and said it was “tart but not too sweet”. I must admit, it looked fantastic from where I was sitting.

Conclusion

The Old Fire Engine House provides timeless traditional British classics that never fail to please. This is now my second visit and both times I have left feeling good.

The Georgian house is full of history with unique character you simply won’t find anywhere else. The art gallery upstairs gives it an extra dimension, though I didn’t explore it this time, it is a great idea which I think more restaurants should adopt.

The service is warm and friendly, as you would expect from a multi generational family run restaurant. Though service could be slow and erratic at times, you didn’t mind, as it felt like you were coming into someone’s home rather than a business. My table booking got mixed up but they were able to accommodate quickly and kindly gave us a discount on our bill (as well as a happy birthday card 🤣).

Ely is really lucky to have such a restaurant. It perfectly fits into the aesthetics and historic culture of the city. A perfect location for a tourist or someone looking to learn more about traditional British cuisine. There is no doubt that I will be back again in the future.

Thanks for reading