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Ross Thain takes a stroll out to lunch in a local hostelry
Our most chic Hotel & Restaurant has formally pitted itself in the increasingly competitive midday market with a new Lunch and Early Diner menu. Since its dramatic conversion from tired (but rather charming) town centre hotel in 2005 into one of our most popular venues, the clientele base has expanded due to clever use of the spaces within the hotel.
The restaurant is quite formal, the side restaurant more casual, the bar chic (after a “soft” refurbishment last year) and remains the trendy place to be on Friday evenings, and the lounge area is comfortable and cosy. The new menus can be taken anywhere so there is a location for all tastes and seasons. The terrace is ideal for the impending hot summer.
Sally Rouse, the charming and efficient Hotel Director, is keen to make The Crown more accessible to both residents of Stamford and visitors. “We aim to make our Lunchtime and Early Diner menu more accessible to a wider market, offering a smaller menu and quicker service to cater for all tastes. The menu changes on a four weekly cycle and offers excellent value”.
It would be difficult to disagree with Sally’s statement: a single course at £8.50 ranging to 3 courses at £11.50 is extremely good value, especially as one should not consider this to be a “light lunch”. It would be quite possible to settle in for a good hour or so, sampling 3 courses, and with unobtrusively attentive and efficient service, this is serious food.
Sally adds that “people saw The Crown as being either a sandwich lunch establishment or full a la carte restaurant. This fills the gap between the two”.
We started with an excellent chicken, mushroom and leek terrine together with classic salmon and brown bread. Simple, yet done very well.
Not being candidates for light lunches generally, we had a further two courses and they were similarly first-rate. The Burghley Park venison was interesting without being sensational but would be ideal for soaking up a few glasses of red, if that were your mood. The smoked haddock fishcake was exceptional, accompanied by a fresh zingy glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc.
Our pavlova dessert may not have appealed to its antipodean originators but the more classic rhubarb crumble and apple samosa looked and tasted excellent.
The wine list is accomplished with the house wines being perfect partners to a very agreeable lunch.
In a competitive market this ranks about the best that one can do at lunchtime in Stamford at a very agreeable price.
Another Thurlby venture opens at The Exeter Arms, in Easton on the Hill in September, so watch this space……
The Crown, Red Lion Square
1 course @ £8.50, 2 courses @ £9.50, 3 courses @ £11.50. 01780 763136
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Monday - Thursday 12-2 and 6-7
Friday and Saturday 12-7
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