RESTAURANT GUIDE | THE RED LION
The Red Lion pub, Main Street, Hunningham
OUR RATING: 4/5
Reviewer: Lorraine O’Hare
Date: November 2002
Arriving in the pub, after booking a table for two, we were greeted with friendly staff who were eager to offer us assistance almost immediately.
When you go to a pub for a meal, you expect the usual ‘Betty’s hot pot’ style pub grub, but this was not the case at The Red Lion.
There was a menu board with varying sophisticated dishes from vegetarian to steak with a chef’s recommendation as well.
My partner and I chose buffalo mozzarella salad which arrived almost immediately with ample lashings of cheese and olives.......yum!
After a short wait, our main course arrived. I chose the chicken and bacon cheese and my partner chose the vegetarian korma with naan bread.
The only criticism I have with my meal is there was too much salad. A salad with a meal is intended to be incidental, but this took up at least a third of the plate.
There were two beautiful chicken breasts with a wonderful spicy coating covered in bacon and cheese.
The vegetarian dish looked beautiful and judging by its rapid exit from the plate of my partner, it must have tasted beautiful as well.
The wine we were served complemented our meal well. We are not wine connoisseurs by any means, but we tried very hard to detect the “whisper of wood, and a heart of berries with hints of chocolate.” That’s what it said on the menu.
We waited at least 20 minutes enjoying our wine before we ventured towards the dessert menu.
I had a marshmallow and raspberry pot which was mouth-wateringly delicious and small enough to fill the little gap left. Any more would have been too much.
Profitteroles aplenty arrived in front of my partner who complained that he would have difficulty finishing them. They disappeared quite fast though, his only criticism being, there was too much chocolate sauce.
I don’t think it is a bad thing for a restaurant to be criticised for its portions being too big.
I was disappointed where we were seated though. We asked for a non-smoking table and because of our decision to not have our food ruined by the smell of smoke, we were seated close to the door.
The music was very good and incidental, but audible enough to break lulls in conversation. For a three-course meal, a bottle of wine and other drinks the bill came close to £60 which I found very reasonable.
The team who looked after us consisted of Simon, Mike and Adam.
This is a great little nook for a Sunday evening’s meal and well worth a visit.
