The Plough Harbone - Calzone

Having heard so much about this quaint little Harborne pub, I finally decided to give it a go to celebrate my exams finally being over!!

THE LOOK

I was so shocked by the size of my calzone when it arrived, it was MASSIVE!!! Definitely great value for money! I ordered the calzone with stilton and caramelised red onions and it was perfection. It came on a wooden block with a pizza cutter and with a rocket salad and drizzled with a herby butter. On weekdays between 12-5 they cost £8 (instead of the usual £12) and you get a free soft drink on draft. The calzone was the perfect golden baked colour and lovely and crispy with an expertly folded crust! For a cheeky celebration we ordered a bottle of Prosecco (£27.50) which was a bit more expensive than were used to but it went down well and made for a lush photo!

Rating:****'

THE TASTE

This combination of fillings was the best calzone I've ever had. The strong taste of the stilton was a great accompaniment to the sweet caramelised onions. You get the basic tomato base with mozzarella and then you choose two more toppings. I was tempted to try the candied bacon as it's something I've never tried before but I think I've already found my perfect combination!! The only negative I can thing of is that the twisted crust was a bit too doughy and plain for my liking... The Prosecco was just to our taste (no too dry) and went well with the pizzas, a bottle we shall definitely be having again!

Rating: ****'

THE PLACE

The Plough has a modern, city, arguably American sort of vibe. Each table seems slightly different with metal chairs, wooden tables and drop glass lights. We were seated at the back of the restaurant and opened the french doors so the whole pub was opened to their beer garden. We were very jealous of these sitting outside, especially those under the far canape. There's a bar inside and out, where you order your food and the outside one even has sun cream for customers to use. The service was also great for out little celebration but make sure you all order at the same time so your food arrives all together. I really don't have a bad word to say!

Rating: *****

The New Inn - Cocktails

Decided to take a much needed break from revision and pop out for a few cocktails with my favourite girlies! They do Happy Hour here 4-7 Monday to Friday, 4-12 Saturday and 4-11 Sunday where some cocktails are £4.50!!

THE LOOK

As you can see these cocktails are adorable!! 

1. Love Hearts - £5.50
2. French Martini - £6.50
3. Lemon Bon Bon - £5.50

The Love Heart and Lemon Bon Bon cocktails were both served in jam jars with crushed ice and topped with little sweets. Although they look very cute in the little jam jars, the colours aren't the most attractive but the taste is still good!

Rating:****

THE TASTE

Now to the serious part.... do they taste as good as they look?? My personal favourite was the Lemon Bon Bon! It was even better than the sweet itself; the perfect balance of sweet and sour! Then there is the Love Heart one. I really liked this one but I love sweet drinks and this one is literally like drinking pure sugar!! It doesn't really taste of Love Hearts in all honesty and after one glass that's probably all you could drink as it really is that sweet. The French Martini was surprisingly disappointing... The only taste I got throughout the cocktail was pineapple juice and it was generally just a very weak drink, not one that I'd have again. I will definitely be returning for the first two though!!! 

Rating: ***'

THE PLACE

The New Inn was a lot smaller than I expected it to be but it was the perfect, cosy little pub for a quiet drink with the girlies. We had a lovely window seat opposite the secondary bar, looking out over the quaint little street. The bar staff were all lovely and as it was a quiet night in there they brought our drinks over to us and kept on checking how we were doing throughout the night. I really can't wait to go back here!!

Rating:*****

The Lyttelton Arms - Dad's Birthday

This will just be a short little blog update as I've already done a blog post on the Lyttelton Arms a few weeks ago but unfortunately this time we were very disappointed...

THE LOOK 

As always the food was wonderfully presented. The Lyttelton Arms always puts so much effort into the presentation of their food. On our table we had a small buckets of nachos to nibble on while we decided. For my starter I had Scallops of the Day (£9.95) which were with pumpkin ravioli, butternut squash crisps and a white wine veloute. For my main i had 7oz Fillet Steak (£23.50) with roasted mushroom & caramelised shallot, béarnaise sauce and rosemary, tomato & garlic jelly, usually it comes with dauphinoise potatoes but after the disappointment last time I switched them for the twice cooked chunky chips! The sauce and jelly came in two little pans but they were quite difficult to use so I just tipped to sauces out! And finally there's my cocktail! Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called because the restaurant drinks menu isn't up to date with the online one so I can't check but it had whisky in it. Although it looks like it has a lot of ice in it, it was actually a pretty alright cocktail.

Rating: **** 

THE TASTE

I personally loved my starter but my dad and brother hated to pumpkin ravioli! They did have a surprisingly strong marzipan taste but when eaten with the veloute and crisps they combined perfectly! The scallops were also cooked to perfection! My steak was also delightful and cooked excellently (rare of course). The jelly and sauce were the ideal additions and swapping the dauphinoise potatoes for the chips was definitely a good idea! Personally I don't think that the mushroom and onion were necessary on the dish. 

Rating:****'

THE PLACE

This is where everything starts to go downhill.... 

Usually we have wonderful service here but this experience was just a disappointment from start to end. We had a drink at the bar before we went to our table and the barman got our order wrong and my mom, who is a diabetic, was given sweet instead of dry white wine. Once we sat at our table we were asked to order pretty much right away, despite only having had the menu for 2 minutes so we asked her to return later. Literally another 2 minutes later she was back so we had to order on the spot! Throughout the meal we kept trying to order drinks but all of a sudden no waiters were available... We kept getting told that they would send over the drinks waiter but no-one came! At the end of our meal we wanted to order dessert but yet again no-one was around so after at least 20 minutes of waiting we decided to leave and pick a dessert up on the way home. The waitress just gave a very half hearted apology but in the end she did discount our bill. It goes without saying that we wont be returning in a hurry.

Rating: **