THE SWAN INN at Upton Warren introduced a brand new menu today (Thursday) and we went down to try out some of the meals it had to offer.
The venue itself, with its wooden beams, was very homely and the staff were very welcoming.
When you have a family to feed, it’s important to find child-friendly pubs, which, from our experience,The Swan Inn clearly is, and it is also important that the food is both reasonably priced and that there is something for everyone – the new menu didn’t disappoint.
There was a nice selection of starters and sharers, but we opted to go straight for the main course where there was so much to choose from.
There were small plates. sandwiches and wraps, steak skillets and the traditional, with pub classics, including Guinness pie, lasagne, barbecue chicken and a selection of steaks and burgers. The burgers included some interesting offerings, including the pulled pork choice and the Bombay burger which is served on a giant poppadom.
For those who like something a bit more adventurous or spicy, there is the Mexican Cantina, which boasts fajitas, burritos, chimichanga and the Mexican meltdown, and there is even a noodle bar.
There is also a section on the menu for low fat / low calorie meals for those counting the pounds.
I opted for the surf and turf which was nicely filling. The chips were particularly tasty and so moreish.
My wife had the ‘Piggy Dog’, a hot dog with pulled pork and melted cheese. She enjoyed it, particularly the contrasting flavours.
Very often when you dine out as a family, it’s the kids’ menu that makes or breaks the meal because they tend to be the most fussy. That offered a variety of dishes, from chicken curry and rice and meatball pasta to ‘build your own’ chicken wrap and cheese and tomato pizza.
My two had chicken nuggets with cheesy jacket potato – one with salad and one with beans and they both ate everything on their plates which doesn’t happen often.
The children’s menu was very reasonable too – £2.99 for a main or £4.50 for a main, pudding and drink.
After the mains, we made sure we left some room for dessert.
The dessert menu had all the classics, including lemon meringue, cheesecake, apple crumble, sticky toffee pudding and chocolate fudge cake.
We were very tempted by the ‘sharing’ Mud Pie Explosion, a chocolate brownie pizza base with white chocolate chunks, marshmallows, honeycomb sprinkles, Cadbury’s Flake, vanilla flavoured ice cream, fluffy cream, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk buttons and Belgian chocolate.
But we resisted the temptation and were drawn into the sundaes section. My wife had the Rocky Road Sundae and I had the Honeycomb Explosion one – both proved to provide perfect endings to what had been a really nice meal. And there was just enough so you did not leave with that dreaded bloated feeling where you wish you had not indulged so much.
Meanwhile, the girls were ‘building their own sundaes’ which gave them a bowl of ice cream and mini bowls of marshmallows, Cadbury’s chocolate bits and chocolate sauce. They had great fun mixing it in and trying different combinations.
By the end we were all satisfied and relaxed after a very pleasant evening.
Another great thing about the Swan is that it offers the upstairs function room for hire for free, meaning you could have a family party up there for any occasion, such as a wedding, Christening or an anniversary, or even just a get-together.
The pub offers a buffet menu with a range to suit all tastes and pockets and you can even hire the carvery if you, your family and friends love a good roast.
All in all, the new menu at The Swan is a winner – there’s plenty of choice, the food was tasty and you know an evening or lunchtime there isn’t going to break the bank.
