Sunday lunch at a bargain price
SOMETIMES it’s a Sunday lunch venue free of any pretensions or formalities that the Eatses crave: somewhere where you can just enjoy your grub without worrying about being judged too harshly if you end up with a trail of gravy down your top (again).
I’d heard the Rose Inn, at the bottom of the green dip that connects Wallsend and Howdon, was at the informal end of the scale, so Mrs Eats and I headed along to try its Sunday carvery on a day when we were in the mood for a nonposh dining experience.
We certainly weren’t the only ones; in fact the pub’s car park was full. Thankfully, there’s also a parking area just metres along the road at the end of Wallsend Dene. The pub’s exterior gives a sense of faded Victorian grandeur, and this is followed through once you’re through the door. The walls are festooned with pictures of scenes from bygone centuries, and the place is full of ornate fixtures and fittings, including a black and golden fireplace below a mirror so big it wouldn’t look out of place at Cragside, and even a chandelier or two. A chap we took to be the landlord asked if we’d booked a table – u n d e r - Car park..................... Kids allowed...................... Real ale..................................... Wine by the bottle........................ Credit cards..................................... Vegetarian food............................. Disabled toilets............................. standably so, as the place was doing a roaring trade, with quite a queue at the carvery counter. We hadn’t made a reservation, but he managed to accommodate us at a table that had been booked for 40 minutes or so earlier but was still vacant. There’s no option for starters here; punters pay a mere £6.99 (£4.99 for a child’s plate) to be provided with meat, roast potatoes and a Yorkshire pudding before helping themselves to as much as they can fit on their plates in the way of vegetables and gravy. It’s cash only here, mind. I plumped for turkey and Mrs E for beef, the other choice being pork, and it was certainly a generous portion that was carved for us in both cases. “Is that enough?” the server asks, and I’d be amazed if anyone ever said no. The vegetables on offer were broccoli, turnip mash, cabbage, carrots and mashed potato – most certainly enough to make you satisfied you’re getting the full works works.
Having got a half of lager (£1.50) and an orange juice (£1) from the bar, we tucked into our food to a soundtrack of 1960s hits, finding that, despite the buffet-style setup, everything was piping hot. My turkey was chunky and very pleasing, and Mrs E’s beef was well done without being chewy – perfect. The roast potatoes were delicious and the home-made Yorkshires nice and light.
There was nothing particularly special about the vegetables, but they did their job just fine.
The pub also sells wares from a pie, pastry and cake maker (which, like the roast dinners, can be taken away) and there were some impressive creations on display in a case, including two spectacular chocolate ones. Slices of cake are the only dessert option, but you certainly can’t argue with the price, at £1.75 a piece. We’ll need to sample the sweet offerings another day, as, true to form, we piled our plates so high we couldn’t contemplate such a heavy sweet.
There are a couple of things I’d change about the Rose Inn. The furniture seemed rather basic, and not in keeping with the pub’s historic feel, and I have to report that there was no soap to be found in the gents’.
For a straightforward, no-frills Sunday dinner representing excellent value, however, it would be hard to beat this place.