Fish & Chips at The Swan Inn, Rowberrow

A quick mini post about The Swan Inn at Rowberrow.  A couple of Sundays ago I met up with Kym in order to meet the newest member of her family, Rose the Rottweiler. Firstly a disclaimer, Rottweilers get a bad rep, Rose was wonderfully peaceful and sweet, considering we were surrounded by other dogs she behaved herself beautifully.  The Swan Inn is about a 30 minute drive from central Bristol out along the A38 past the airport and is just up a slip road a lovely old pub which has a decent sized outside area where dogs and horses are very welcome to rest up whilst their owners do the same. 

On this warm Sunday we decided to stop in for lunch and sat outside on one of the many tables and browsed the menu.  Although Sundays are when most people crave a roast I did not want to feel completely wiped out for the rest of the day, although the roast pork which came with a side of cauliflower cheese, amongst other things, did look mighty tempting. Kym and I both opted for the fish and chips.

A really large piece of fish was brought to our table it was golden, crunchy and very delicious. The chips were ok but nothing special, just standard pub chips, which was a bit of a shame as the fish was so good. The crushed peas however were very nice so that leveled out the meal somewhat.  The Swan Inn is a lovely country pub with some better than average pub food, nice for a little trip out of the city especially if you have a dog, they make them feel very welcome here.

Rose

A Celebratory Lunch at the Plume of Feathers

The weekend before last Rich and I took our families to view and book our wedding venue. It was a very drizzly day but after an exciting morning we decided to check out one of the local pubs for a celebration lunch. I had noticed the Plume of Feathers on the way, in a very beautiful country setting so that is where we settled. The Plume of Feathers is a 17th century traditional country pub, lovely stone floors and lots of light. Dad ordered a bottle of Prosecco to toast the day and we debated what to eat.

The food is mostly pub grub, with sandwiches, baked potatoes and ploughmans but they also do have a  restaurant menu as well as a pub one and also a pizza menu. We mostly all settled on paninis or baked potatoes with bowls of chips to dip in to for extra munchies. I chose a bacon and brie panino and Rich went for the burger. 

huge brie and bacon panino

Rich's burger

double cooked skin on chips

The portions were all really generous and we definitely left the pub feeling stuffed and happy. The chips were the stars of the show here though, lovely skin on chips with lots of flavour, mum even described them as some of the best chips she'd ever had, coming from a chip enthusiast that is praise indeed. Definitely keen to revisit the Plume of Feathers it had such a welcoming atmosphere, great country pub to stop at for a leisurely lunch, very much recommended. To check out what else the Plume of Feathers has to offer, including the annual duck race, visit their website.

The Kensington Arms for Cheese, Wine & Nibbles

In all the four and a half years I have lived in Bristol I have never been to the Kensington Arms, there I said it. Quite the secret I have been keeping locked inside for years, feels good to get it out in the open. The Kenny, as it is often affectionately known, is renowned for it's excellent food and cosy atmosphere. Wuthering Bites had organised us a wine, cheese and general grazing evening and as we were a little early Rich and I decided to check out the wine list.

The Kenny has a wonderful wine list, lots to choose from but our eyes were immediately drawn to the Chilean El Campesino Cabernet Carmenere. Being fairly recent converts and then quickly super fans of Carmenere we always jump on it when we see it on a wine list, and we were not disappointed. It was fruity, rich and slightly spicy an excellent choice and went down far to easily. We shall be tracking this one down to buy a few more bottles of to top up the wine rack.

Rich and I decided to order, a cheese selection, triple cooked chips and home made pork pie and after a glass of wine I was getting decidedly peckish. Talk of Pokemon, cake and cats eased the burden of waiting for our nibbles to appear. I had taken the precaution of ordering 2 bowls of triple cooked chips as one thing most people agree on is how irritating it is when other people pinch their chips.

Up Close and Personal with  Triple Cheese Treat

Home Made Pork Pie...

...now with mustard

Triple Cooked Chips

The home made pork pie was the star of the show for us, meaty, flavoursome jelly and the crunchy pastry you associate with a good pork pie, plus it really looked the business too. The cheese board was a little small for £7.50 I thought but the selections were good particularly the blue, slightly sharp but creamy and it melted in the mouth so delightfully. The only slight disappointment were the chips, though really crunchy and tasty they were really overly salted you can even see huge salt deposits in the above photo. The home made mayonnaise was however a real winner well recommended.

Having had a glimpse of what the Kenny is like I am really looking forward to having a meal in the restaurant part of the pub, the wafts of food coming from that area were divine. Plus it has given me a new favourite wine to enjoy and that can never be a bad thing.