We decided to meet at the newly renovated The Blue Bell Inn in Rothley on a Wednesday. Thinking it'd be nice and quiet and wouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves...how wrong we were! We arrived to a busy and bustling pub full of energy and customers wondering why the hell we were taking pictures of everything we saw!
The Blue Bell Inn, is part of the Little Britain Pub Company, it's one of three pubs (the others are The Curzon Arms & The Windmill Inn). Upon entering the car park, your eye is drawn to the crisp white walls of the building, it's original features and outside seating area. It really is beautiful and ever so welcoming.
The decor takes center stage when you want to discuss ambiance within the Blue Bell. It mixes old and new styles in such a way that makes you think taxidermy is cool, and that everyone needs a light fitting made of old rope and wood... I don't know why but everything seems to 'fit' and nothing looks out of place. In short - it's pretty damn cool.
So now, onto the most important factor. The food.
One thing I love about the Little Britain Pubs is that they are always changing their menu, month on month to take advantage of seasonal fruit and veg. Fab stuff.
To start, I opted for the pulled pork, fried onions, baby gem & sesame toast (£5.95). In short this was delicious. The pulled pork was mouth watering, juicy and extremely tasty - you could really taste the smokiness. You also got a hell of a lot! I would have liked for there to have been more sesame toast (or perhaps less of the pork) as I don't like the main ingredient to out weigh the accompaniments. (You tend to get this with terrine, where you get a mahoosive chunk of it and the tiniest bit of toast...rant over!)Overall I'd certainly have this again.
Emily opted for the asparagus, spinach & fried duck egg on sour dough, béarnaise (£6.50) . This looked incredible and the fact that the fried egg was crispy and gooey at the same time was just bang on.
Alex went ahead and had what I was originally going to go for, and that was the sea salt & pepper squid with a mango & chilli salsa (£6.50). I actually got to try some of this (that was the agreement I had with Alex!) and I can confirm it was delicious. The squid was very lightly fried and the mango & chilli salsa was the perfect summer accompaniment. It was fresh, zingy, sweet with a subtle kick. Nothing that was going to blow your head off anytime soon.
For my main I wanted fish, so when browsing the menu I couldn't help but go for the obvious fish & chips (£11.45). This is not to be snuffed at - perhaps one of the nicest plates I've had. The fish was coated in a light crispy batter, and when cutting into it, it flaked apart and melted in the mouth! The chips were nice and crispy on the outside but light and fluffy in the middle and I just loved the pea puree that came with it - you could tell it was homemade and fresh. On a side note - I adored the mason jars that held the tartare sauce!
Emily went for the pan fried devilled scallops, cucumber & mooli salad, lime yoghurt served with skinny fries (£17.25) and Alex went for smoked & braised Hereford beef rib, potato salad, smoked butter corn on the cob (£14.95). Can I just say Oh.My.God. The beef was perhaps the best thing I've tasted in a long time! Alex actually allowed us to try it...if it had been my main course no one would have had a chance to taste it, as it was so divine I couldn't have bared to share!
In the end, we opted out of having a dessert, not because we didn't fancy anything - purely because we were way too full to even consider stuffing our faces with pudding! Next time though...next time.
The Damage? The prices seem to be pretty standard for a good meal nowadays. I am a strong believer in I don't mind paying good money for good food and in this case it was certainly worth every penny.
All in all, I would 110% recommend giving The Blue Bell Inn a go as the food was perfect, the ambiance was great and it's welcoming to all ages. A real pub, with real pub food.
