Memorable food in a ‘proper English pub’

YOUR SPY VISITS THE ROYAL OAK, YOXALL ROAD, KING’S BROMLEY

STAFFORDSHIRE as a county is home to some incredible traditional, cosy pubs nestled in countryside and beautiful surroundings of small villages, and that is what we certainly found when we visited The Royal Oak, in King’s Bromley, near Burton.

The Royal Oak is an atmospheric country pub where friends, family or loved ones can feast over a candlelit dinner or enjoy a cold pint after a hard day’s work. We sent along our secret diner to the pub on the junction of Yoxall Road and Manor Road to check out the popular eatery, including trying the food and sampling some drink.

Inside The Royal Oak, guests are greeted with that classic traditional country pub feel. There is the oldfashioned vintage feel throughout, with wooden beams and a wooden bar being the stand-out features. This is a proper English pub.

Our diner picked out a table in the centre of the pub and was greeted by very friendly and sociable bar staff. Your diner noted the pub was nicely decorated and pleasant to sit in, with a few fellow guests in the pub who were enjoying their platefuls of food and drink.

First impressions

This was the first time that our secret diner had visited The Royal Oak before, so did not know what to expect in terms of interior or feel of the place. They were pleasantly surprised at the overall experience when entering the pub, with staff waiting to great new guests and low volume music playing giving the pub a friendly vibe.

Once they were seated, a member of staff took the drinks order and handed out the food menus. The menu was small compared to chainrestaurants, but still had a huge variety for people to delve into.

There was a handful of starters to select from, as well as 17 main courses, with the option of small or large portions on certain selections. Furthermore, there was 10 side orders on offer, and eight homemade 12” pizzas to order.

For drinks, your diner opted for a half pint of Estrella, and throughout their time also ordered numerous glasses of Pepsi. As for the food order, the secret diner ordered halloumi fries and chicken goujons for starters, chicken and chorizo linguine and a meat feast pizza for the main course, with dough balls on the side and finally a chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert.

How did the food taste?

Well this food was some of the best our secret diner had ever tasted. Sampling bites of each portion, was the best option as these were big portions – the chicken goujons would have filled anyone up. There were five huge pieces of goujon, coated in a fresh, crisp batter which were simply mouth wateringly gorgeous. As for the halloumi fries, they were beautifully cooked, crispy on the outside and squidgy in the inside, and were complimented with a rich sweet chilli sauce, making for a flour-packed dish.

The only negative from the experience was that food took quite a long time arrive, as did the time it took for the plates to be cleared.

However, it was worth the wait for the great food. All dishes were cooked to perfection and this is certainly a place that our secret diner aims to visit again - and they hadn’t sampled the main course yet.

The chicken and chorizo linguine was brought out by the chef himself, asking our secret diner to give feedback on the dish, showing his care and effort put into his craft.

It was absolutely scrumptious. Our secret diner complimented the texture of the freshly cooked chicken, and loved the harmonising flavours making up a truly pleasing dish, with small pieces of chorizo running through the light linguine pasta. The home-made pizza was a pleasant change to takeaway pizza where the dough is often thick and stodgy. This crust was thin, crispy and worked brilliantly with the toppings that made for an enjoyable delve into an Italian classic.

The dough balls, complemented with a garlic sauce, were some of the best, most flavoursome our secret diner had ever eaten. They were fresh, cooked evenly and rich in flavour. Served alongside the main courses, this was a match made in heaven and something our secret diner won’t forget anytime soon. Yum!

The meal was finished off with a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. Your secret diner struggled to finish this dish, but they were determined to give a good go as it tasted so good. The brownie was warm, crispy on the outside and gooey when split open. This with the melting ice cream placed in top of the brownie was gorgeous, and should be tried by any chocoholic.

Would we return to The Royal Oak?

One hundred per cent, from the moment our diner walked in, they was hugely impressed with the quality of food, cleanliness of the pub and toilets, and overall feel of the pub. Other than the slight wait on food and clearing of tables, it did not detract from the food and experience of dining here.

I would, however, warn future customers about car parking, as the pub’s own car park is quite small and is actually shared with the nearby co-op store. If people are approaching the pub from the Yoxall direction, the sign is clearly visible, but for people coming from the Lichfield direction, it is easy to miss the sign and ultimately the turn in.

■■The visit took place on a Thursday, arriving at 2:30pm.

■■The Burton Mail makes undercover visits to restaurants, takeaways and cafés with a view to providing a fair, balanced and accurate report on customer service and the food on offer. Our hope is that, for the sake of both the business owner and the customer, we can report positively about the places we visit. However if our experience is not 100 per cent positive then we are duty-bound to report on exactly what we find.