Review of 'Stamford Bridge Inn'
Over the years of driving to Chester we regularly pass by the charming looking “Samford Bridge Inn” country pub and notice it to be consistently busy. This has been of a lot of interest to us - Why is it so busy? With this in mind we have wanted to visit for years so when we were recently in the area we decided to give it a visit.
The warm, welcoming interior has a number of smaller rooms and a large bar area. There are seats out front and out in the back where there is a good amount of lawn and countryside visible all around, away from the busy road. There are walking trails in the area with the pub offering a brochure containing a map and description of them.
When we arrived we were greeted by the staff who found us a table near the front window beside a (real wood) fire roaring in a fireplace. Luckily we arrived in time to take advantage of their “Fixed Price Lunch Menu” (2 courses £14.95 or 3 courses £17.95, Monday to Friday noon to 5 pm) which had a good assortment of dishes from their main menu though not the most expensive, of course. We ordered from this but did look at the “Main Menu” which is divided into “Starters & Things to Share”, “Appetisers” (6 for £30, 3 for £16.50 or £5.95 each), “Mains”, “From the Grill”, “Burgers”, “Sides”, “Salads”, and “Sandwiches”. Of course, being a put there were various drink offerings available.
On the main menu starters the “Homemade Pork Crackling” (“Rosemary, thyme, salt crust and apple sauce”; £3.65) caught my eye so I ordered it after our server confirmed they still had some having run out the previous day. This was quite good though not terribly tasty. All of the flavour came from the apple sauce with only texture coming from the pork. Not at all greasy.
For our starter from the fixed menu we both ordered the “Soup of the Day” (“Served with warm bread & butter”) which was “Cream of Cauliflower”. It was delicious, nicely seasoned, and despite being a bit boring at first I really got into it - A deliciously creamy texture that was surprisingly with the pleasant flavour of cauliflower that went very well with the two small slices of white toast and butter, though it would have been nice to have a few more slices.
For my main course I opted for the “Treacle Baked Ham and Eggs” (“Thick-cut chips”) – a pub classic – which was very tasty. The thinly cut ham slices were not at all salty, the eggs were a bit tasteless but obviously fresh while the chips were perfectly cooked.
My companion had the “Breaded Plaice Fillet” (“Thick-cut chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce”). She could not recall ever having had plaice before and found this quite tasty with it's small grained but meaty flesh. The tartare sauce was home made and had just the right amount of kick with it's cornichons while the mushy peas were obviously also made by hand and were delicious.
The only disappointing note was my dessert course where I chose the “Sticky Toffee Sundae” (“Toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream”) which turned out to be, oddly, not terribly sweet with a large amount of flavourless cream. There was only a small amount of toffee sauce at the bottom of the serving cup which was really not enough for the portion size.
At £44.30 for the two of us including two non-alcoholic soft drinks (no tip added and no request for one either) it was a good price for the unpretentious food we had which was prepared very well and was very tasty except for the disappointing dessert. I would like to try some of the interesting options on the main menu at some point. The staff were very helpful and even stopped to chat when they came to top up the logs on the fire. It was quite quiet but I can imagine it gets very noisy when the restaurant is full (there is a free car park outside but I can see it would also fill up quite quickly particularly on a nice summers day).
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2024-10-25
Cuisine: American/British
Address: Tarvin Rd, Chester, Cheshire CH3 7HN ENGLAND
Location: Cheshire (England) - Chester
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1829 740229
URL: https://www.stamfordbridgeinn.co.uk/