Driving through Yardley Hastings on average about four times a week I always see the sign for The Rose & Crown but have never actually driven past it, so this month we made a conscious effort to finally get there.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we attended The Rose & Crown at our pre-booked garden table. With the sun beating down, I was a little worried to be out in the garden but could not bear to sit inside. I need not have worried as our table was under a wonderful canopy that gave us all the shade we needed and there was a gentle breeze. We were informed that because we had pre-booked our table, we had table service for all drinks and food, so a word of warning if you do not book you will need to order from the bar.
The thing that struck me straight away was the decor and the buzz around the venue, inside was extremely busy and the garden started to fill up. In some of our previous reviews at different venues, we have found that service has been quite sub-standard, but here there were around six members of staff serving and a dedicated bartender, so everything went really well. The team were cheerful, polite and knowledgeable about the menu, and this was needed as we were spoilt for choice.
We kicked off with a round of well-needed drinks that we enjoyed whilst looking through the menu. It would appear that the menu changes daily as this one was dated.
There were plenty of options and a well-laid-out side chart to cater for everyone’s needs. We opted for the chicken gyoza and the Brixworth Paté for starters and these arrived in good time and looked excellent. The Brixworth Paté came with a delicious red onion chutney and plenty of toast. A pet hate of mine with paté is that there is never enough toast! The chicken gyoza was accompanied by a teriyaki sauce and topped with chillies, and it tasted lovely. Both starters were light enough to make us want more but most importantly they tasted as good as they looked.
We had the same challenge choosing our mains as we did with the starters because all of the choices looked enticing. The roast option was vast with six different choices and a whole host of sides. We opted not to go for the roast due to the hot weather and instead went for the chicken shawarma burger and the miso mushroom and halloumi burger. The chicken burger was accompanied with Cajun fries and a spicy potato salad, and it was lovely to have a cold potato salad to cool the palate. The miso mushroom burger was tasty and came with chunky chips and homemade coleslaw. If anything, the halloumi was maybe too salty, but this didn’t put us off.
The garden area is fantastic, under cover with plenty of space and good-sized tables. The garden is split into two different areas with the top part of the garden having a pizza oven and a more open layout of seating. The starters and mains arrived well-presented and fairly swiftly considering how busy the venue was, the staff were great and really friendly and were all having fun. What more could you ask for right? In all honesty, there was nothing else that could have been done to make this visit any better, we were really impressed with the food, the value and will definitely revisit.
This visit was booked anonymously and the food and drink was paid for by the writer
Find out more at www.roseandcrownbistro.co.uk
