Sunday lunches can often be problematic. A roast is not a difficult dish to prepare, but do it badly and the results can be disastrous: dry meat, drowned veg, tasteless potatoes and watery gravy.
When I walked into The Cowshed on Whiteladies Road, a waiter was bringing roast beef over to a table. On a heavy piece of wood were several thick slabs of beef, chunky roast potatoes and large strips of carrots. I was already a convert.
My Sunday roast consisted of West Country Sirlion 28-day dry aged roast beef, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower cheese, creamy broccoli, homemade gravy and Yorkshire puddings. The price was £15.50, certainly on the expensive side, but it was delicious food, although for the price I could have done with a bit more.
The other choice for Sunday roast was Cornish slow roast lamb, and those friends on my table who chose that were certainly not disappointed, even with their plates sat next to mine, piled high with the beef. Meanwhile, my neighbour was eating fish that fell beautifully away from the bone.
A group of 15 of us celebrating a friend’s birthday ate in the light and airy dining area upstairs, looked after by very attentive waiting staff.
As a lovely touch to finish, our waitress wrapped the remainder of the birthday girl’s cake in tin foil she had made into a miniature basket, complete with a handle. “I normally make swans,” she said, “but then I saw someone walk down the street with one made by somebody else so I switched to baskets.”
The Cowshed Bar & Grill, 46 Whiteladies Road. 0117 973 3550.
Who was the anonymous birthday girl?