A few weeks ago we took advantage of a lovely sunny Sunday to go on a little mini road trip. South Birmingham really isn’t somewhere we know much about or have explored, so when the opportunity to try out a pub in the village of Alvechurch came up we decided to go for it.
We made the most of the morning sunshine first by exploring Lickey Hills Country park, where Imogen even had her first go on a swing!
Working up an appetite from our walk we were glad to hit the homely welcoming pub, part of the Vintage Inn family, which has recently undergone a makeover.
As it was Sunday Lee was already decided on having a soup and a roast, obviously! I managed to persuade him away from the Soup of the Day though and towards the sharing Sticky platter – maple-glazed chicken wings, prawns & chorizo in garlic butter, lamb koftas and a stone-baked garlic flatbread. I was really impressed with this although there was a lot of food, and probably plenty for 3-4 as a starter. The kofta particularly really hit the spot being juicy and tender with a kicking chilli sauce. Even Imogen gave a little squeal of approval to her first taste of garlic bread!
For his roast, Lee chose the 28-day aged roast sirloin of beef with Yorkshire pudding, ruffled roast potatoes, honey & thyme roast carrots, parsnips & seasonal vegetables. And if this wasn’t enough he also had a side of Cauliflower cheese.
Apart from the fact that Lee much prefers his beef pink, where this wasn’t, he devoured the plate with particular praise going the the carrots and parsnips and greens that were not cooked to within an inch of their life! Unusually for me, I went for a steak, the 7oz Fillet to be precise, with Blacksticks Blue Cheese Sauce. The steak was very well cooked and I really liked the strong salty cheese sauce alongside it.
After all this food there was defiantly no room for pudding on this occasion! The Red Lion and its staff are a credit to the Vintage Inns chain, where we haven’t always had the best service and we really enjoyed the visit.
Child friendly? Yes – the staff went out of their way to make Imogen comfortable and make sure we had a table with enough space. As with a lot of pubs these days the baby change was in the disabled loo behind lock and key and was pliantly spacious. Highchairs also freely available.
Disclosure. Post in collaboration with The Red Lion and we received a contribution towards our meal. All thoughts and opinions our own.
