I love finding new places to eat. As a family we do tend to eat out quite often, so we like good food. I was recently kindly offered the chance to review a local restaurant The Plume of Feathers in Shirley.
This restaurant is part of the Stonehouse chain which offers the choice of a carvery or pizza. Fresh pizza dough is made on site, so you can enjoy stone baked pizzas and garlic bread, as well as some pub favourites too, including burgers. They offer a dining in service and even a takeaway, which is great if you are on the go. You can conveniently book a table online also.
The Plume of Feathers restaurant isn’t too far for us to drive so all four of us headed over. A table had been reserved for us and we were offered a high chair for Piglet and the gremlin was given a balloon.
As we had come back from holiday the week before, we fancied a carvery over pizza. Nice to come back to some more traditional foods. There is both a standard menu and kid’s menu and plenty of vegetarian options too, which I thought was excellent.
As we attended on a Sunday, the carvery is, as expected, more expensive than on other days. The gremlin chose a kids carvery for £3.99 and as we were filling our boots, hubby and I chose a large carvery at £9.99. This would be £7.49 during the week and if you choose the standard traditional carvery, this is £8.49 on a Sunday and £5.99 on other days. This is very reasonable. There are also smaller plate options too.
It was quite simple to order; you go to the bar with your table number, choose your drinks and order food. For the carvery you are given a slip which you take over to collect your food.
I went over with a very hungry gremlin and was amazed at the array of different meats available; turkey, pork, gammon and beef. There was large or small Yorkshire pudding, depending on the size of the carvery you had ordered, three types of vegetables, chips, mashed, roast and boiled potatoes. Gravy and a variety of sauces were an offer too. I was very impressed. The gremlin is pretty good with her meat and vegetables and was thrilled to have a few chips and ketchup on her plate too. I loved the fact onion gravy was on offer too! One of my faves from being a child.
As hubby had convinced me to have a large carvery, I was offered a huge Yorkshire but opted for two small and Piglet was going to be sharing my dinner. You get a sausage as well with the large carvery and I choose chicken and gammon. I’m not a potato lover but got one for Piglet and some veggies. Yes….the large carvery is very LARGE!
The restaurant food was really good. The meat was well cooked and not cold or tough. The vegetables were just perfect and I really enjoyed it. We rarely have a roast at home, so it was different and delicious. The gremlin scoffed most of hers too and little Piglet had spoons of meat, veg and potato and really enjoyed feeding herself some Yorkshire pudding. There was a relaxed atmosphere and I didn’t feel uncomfy if Piglet made a noise or threw her food on the floor; very family friendly.
My hubby loves his food so piled his plate and managed it all: I was impressed!
There were a lot of more elderly people enjoying their food too and I saw staff go out of their way to make them comfortable with suitable chairs.
The gremlin is a total pudding lover and decided some would like a bowl of custard with a chocolate button face. There is a great choice of desserts (if you have room!) on the standard menu. Choices range from ice-cream sundaes, chocolate fudge cake and Eton mess, down to traditional treacle sponge and custard. Hubby and I decided to go for a Rocky Road Sundae with two spoons and two cups of tea. How British of us.
It was amazing. I had to restrain myself and let hubby have most of it. The gremlin enjoyed her custard. We were given a large pot of tea between us, so meant we had more than one cup each.
The gremlin had to use the facilities about 3(!) times during our visit and they were very clean and well kept. This is always important to me with having young children. Hubby said the gents were the same too and he was impressed.
I was very impressed with the meal and service. The food was hot, tasty and well cooked. The staff were friendly and helpful. I would recommend for a lovely family meal!
Disclosure – we were provided with £50 to spend on a meal for the four of us in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.