The Farm, Solihull 29/07/14

 

The Farm in Solihull, another one of the lovely pubs chain- I hadn't been to this particular restaurant in aggges and the last time I went I wasn't very impressed, so I was hoping it had changed! It is a beautiful setting for a restaurant, in a very quiet area and it's a Grade II listed building. It recently won a Certificate of Excellence awarded by Trip Advisor.
The restaurant is huge, they have a bar area where you can sit and eat and they also offer a massive outside area and a dining area. We booked a table and it was lucky we did! It was only a Tuesday evening but the whole place was full! 

The decor is beautiful- oak floors and wooden tables with fluffy rugs and lovely fabrics everywhere. They also offer a free salad bar- always a nice extra bonus! They even offer 25% off your meal Monday-Friday between 5pm-7pm- unfortunately we got there at 7.30 ish so we missed this, but its a brilliant deal as the food isn't particularly cheap. They also offer 2-4-1 pizzas during the day and do a prix fix menu Monday-Thursday afternoon to early evening - 2 courses for £8.95 or 3 for £11.95 including a small glass of house wine, what a brilliant deal!

The service was quiet slow but they were very busy so I let it go. The menu is huge, it has so much choice and then they offer you a specials menu too! It took us ages to decide what to have as it all sounded very good.

We decided not to have starters and go straight to mains and I went for a dish from the specials board...

Duck Breast with Blackberry Sauce, Sweet Potato Rosti, Celeriac and Green Beans
£16.95 

Mmm. As you can see, the presentation was very good. It looked good on the plate- as food should! You eat with eyes not just your mouth. It wasn't cheap and I felt the portion wasn't big enough, but, I love my food and it could've been just right for someone else.

However, it tasted delicious! The duck was slightly over done for me- but again I understand they have to cook things to a generic taste but I do prefer my duck very pink. It tasted very good though, wasn't too fatty and the skin was slightly crispy- the sauce went with the duck perfectly, duck goes well with sweet sauces and this really worked. 

I had never had a sweet potato rosti before and it was yummy! Shredded bits of sweet potato, packed together and fried into a triangle. I wasn't sure how sweet potato would work with duck but it complimented each other perfectly, the celeriac was a lovely finish and the green beans were al dente- not too soggy! 

A very good dish, slightly expensive but it was worth the price and my opinion has definitely changed since the last time I came!

Even though we were all quite full, we decided to have desert. Why not?!


Warm double chocolate brownie with salted caramel ice cream + chocolate sauce 
5.95





















WOW! Chocolate heaven, all the deserts sounded good so it was hard to decide but all 3 of us went for the same thing. I love chocolate, salted caramel and more chocolate- what more could you want from a desert?! My only criticism is it had nuts in it and it didn't say on the menu but luckily I don't mind nuts too much and you couldn't really tell as they were mixed up with chocolatey gooeyness! 

Over all, my opinion has definitely changed about this place- the service could be a little better but they are very busy. The food was yummy and for £20 each - not a too bad price!

8/10


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