CROWN AND TRUMPET

Church Street,

Broadway,

Worcestershire

01386 853202

STEPPING into the Crown and Trumpet in Broadway, you might be forgiven for not knowing exactly what decade it was. The exterior of this hostelry, situated 100 metres or so from the village High Street, is an attractive honey-coloured Cotswold stone.

But inside it looks as if things have changed little in the last 50 years, such is the nature of the furniture and decor – that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The pub obviously does the basics very well as it features in Camra’s Good Beer Guide 2012 and was voted the overall Shakespeare Branch Camra Pub of the Year 2012.

But as I was the chauffeur that day, I was more interested in finding out what its food, rather than its drink, was like.

I had brought my wife, baby son and my parents to Broadway for a midweek lunch and was pleased to receive a friendly welcome from the landlord, who very obligingly agreed to prepare our hungry toddler’s chicken nuggets and freshly-cooked vegetables in advance of our main order.

There was an extensive selection of lunches on offer on two boards, as well as specials, with pretty much everything you would hope for from a good, local pub, including various pies, baguettes, paninis and fish and chips.

I hadn’t tasted a good, homecooked lasagne for a while, so I thought I would give one a try here, served with garlic bread and salad (£8.95).

The portion wasn’t massive and there was not a huge amount of actual lasagne to be found, but that mattered little as the generous amount of beef, topped with a delicious cheese made for a very tasty offering and filled me up nicely.

My mother also enjoyed her Evesham pie topped with a plum sauce (£8.95). My father rated his scampi and chips (£8.95) as “fair”, and my wife tucked into her bacon and brie panini and salad (£4.95) with relish.

To be honest, there wasn’t much very different on offer on the menu, but what the Crown and Trumpet does well is prepare good, home-cooked food that is obviously popular with locals and tourists alike.

As a case in point, the dessert menu could read like a top 10 of great British puddings with spotted dick, bread and butter pudding, chocolate sponge, treacle tart and sticky toffee pudding all on offer at very reasonable prices.

I really enjoyed the treacle tart and custard (£3.95), while my father and mother also managed to demolish their nicelypresented sticky toffee pudding (£3.95) and chocolate sponge (£2.95) respectively.

On Broadway’s High Street you will find a selection of fine hotels and restaurants which may be extremely kind to your tastebuds but not so kind on your wallet.

It struck me that the Crown and Trumpet, ever so slightly off the beaten track, knows its place in the village in that it can’t really compete on the fine dining front, but it has managed to corner a nice slice of the good pub grub market.

Our meal for four came to a total of £59.75, including a drink each.

HOW IT RATED
Food 3

Ambience 3

Value for Money 4

Service 4