Location & Photo
White Lion
Southam Road
Radford Semele
Nr Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV31Tel: 01926 425 770?
Review
Think of a sleepy English village pub with a thatched roof and you’ll probably think of something similar to the White Lion in Radford Semele.
Situated on the busy Southam Road the White Lion’s character pulls you in with all the welcoming warmth a country gastro-pub can. This belies the fact that the pub is part of the Chef & Brewer chain which to me has become the John Lewis of gastro-pub chains having been a regular at the Bear & Staff pub in Gateacre in Liverpool since my formative years. So being used to the outstanding quality of Chef & Brewer fayre, it was difficult to be objective describing the dining experience here.
The bar area boasts some excellent local real ales and promotional literature throughout the pub announces the imminent arrival of a season long in house beer festival. You know, the kind where you buy pints of local beer, drink it, come back another day and try another one. This pub is probably run by a very ale passionate landlord as the beer rarely disappoints but the prices unfortunately do. But I guess there’s nobody to blame for £3 a pint beer but the government.
The menu is beautifully presented and a chalk board proclaims a changing specials menu. The menu also features a Mixed Grill! Sadly this mixed grill is missing a number of the key ingredients to qualify for a Mucky Badger mixed grill award containing only gammon, chicken(!), sausage, steak and ancillary vegetables. Had it contained some lamb and some liver it could well be in the running for an award.
So not to be disappointed I opted for the 9oz Rump Steak. Served medium, the meat tasted fresh with minimal gristle and was accompanied by some chips and a small garnish. It might have been worth chucking some garden peas on that plate for the price that was paid but it still provided a decent meal.
Service there was more than splendid (despite being greeted with “Good evening ladies” – I must get round to having a hair cut) and the meal arrived without too long a wait. Even the dessert choices left me spoilt for choice. However, in the end the Lime Meringue pie was opted for and the flavour was it’s own reward. The cutting tang of lime causing memories of long forgotten much loved flavours of Angel Delight to come flooding back.
So for
- 1 x Mixed Grill
- 1 x Rump Steak and chips
- 1 x Lime pie
- 1 x Fizzy mineral water
- 1 x pint of Foster’s Lager
The price came to just over £30
Conclusion
Delightful surroundings and pleasant atmosphere with what seems to be fairly locally sourced ingredients served by excellently presented staff deserving a good score, however the price does leave a nasty after taste and while good food does cost more it can’t be helped to think how much profit this pub makes on dry sales.
Still, the portions and lack of fuss make this pub score slightly higher than the Plough in Eathorpe, but the cost prevents a higher score, 87%
The chips weren’t cooked enough for my taste, but other than that it was very nice. I’d not realised it was so expensive, and personally I would rate the Plough higher on food alone
Ah indeed, but did you not find that the portion sizes in the Plough were smaller than those in the White Lion. I’ll agree that the food at the Plough was much more “artistic” than the White Lion, but their portions were, if memory serves, a little lacking.
not at all, I didn’t eat dinner the night we ate lunch at the plough as I was still full after the generous meal. But then we didn’t eat the same food in either case