The Three Crowns, Barrow-Upon-Soar

The Occasion: Dinner with Ma

Facade

The 3 Crowns is a crumbling old building and is probably the earliest pub in the village of Barrow-Upon-Soar. There is a huge beer garden on the front, with a heated, sheltered patio.

Interior

The bar is large and favours a mixture of squashy leather sofas and a mish-mash of wooden chairs and stools. The restuarant is a bit more formal, painted in a nice olive green, with lots of tables although you don't feel like you've been crammed in.

Snap
We chose from the bargainous '2-meals-for-£10' menu, which was surprisingly extensive and varied. Mum had a 6oz rump steak with chips and salad; I picked the Brie, onion and asparagus Wellington with new potatoes and salad. For the price, I was pleasantly suprised with the quality of the food - my pastry was light and fluffy, the potatoes were crispy and flecked with garlic and I even ate all of my salad when I usually avoid it (ever heard of a vegetarian salad-dodger?) My only complaint would be that the Wellington didn't have enough Brie in it but for a fiver, you can't really grumble.

Pros
The food is cheap and tasty and smokers are well catered for both in summer and winter.

Cons
I wouldn't bring a hot date here. As a pub, it's populated by 40+, horny divorcees and tends to have live gigs by paunchy, 55-year-olds with grey mullets belting out the ubiquitous Mustang Sally.

Outfit
Beware the roving eyes of the 40+, drunken male. Best not to flash too much cleavage / leg but certainly feel free to stick some skinny jeans on teamed with a nice top and stilletoes. You won't look too over / undercooked.

Best for...
A cheap and cheerful lunch in the sunny beer garden.

Reims, Quorn

The Event: My 26th Birthday

Facade
Cute as a kitten in a ribbon, this place. It's previous incarnation was The Thatch for obvious reasons and I think it has the best location in the village, situated at the bottom of a winding path from the church called Wedding Lane.
This photograph is ancient but it really hasn't changed that much at all.
 Out the back is a more modern decked area, smoker friendly, and lovely in the summer for breakfast (I recommend the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs washed down with a vodka and orange).

Interior
Another mix of the old and the new is apparent here so the original exposed beams have been whitewashed, a couple of walls are painted a greeny/yellow colour and the artwork is modern (and fairly horrible, it has to be said - think the Next school of art and you might have an idea). The restaurant is higgedly-piggedly with low bits and curved walls. Mind your head - even if you're no taller than 5' 6" in some places.

Snap
Tuesday night is fish tapas night - 6 dishes for a bargainous £12.50 each. The meal consisted of a rich, tomatoey lobster bisque (I could've drank a gallon); chewy calamari in light, bubbly batter; a fillet of seabass on a cheesy, creamy linguine with spinach (shouldn't have worked but so, so did); gorgeously plump and fresh prawns with satay sauce (the sauce is obsolete, those babies are tasty enough on their own); moules mariniere (creamy yummy loveliness) and a tapas version of cod, chips and minted mushy peas, which was the only disappointment: the batter was a little too slimy; the peas an odd consistency.

Pros
The food is always exceptional, bar the disappointing cod; the staff are friendly; the clientele are young and attractive and I got a free glass of birthday bubbles so in my eyes, Reims can do no wrong.

Cons
Struggling to think of any bar some of the clientele: 40-year-old, cokehead Waf-Wafs are rife, as are Mutton and MILFs.

Best for...
Anything goes: why not try breakfast on the sunny patio area? Or a cheap bite to eat on a Thursday evening? Or a place to pose on a Saturday night?

The Hunting Lodge, Barrow-Upon-Soar

The Event: A quick bite

Facade

The Hunting Lodge is very grand and very imposing. It looks like a still from a set of a BBC period drama - grand, old, pretty.

Interior

Sage green walls, black leather sofas,random tables with mismatched chairs and wood, wood, wood beckons as you enter The Hunting Lodge. It's modern mixed with the old; theatrical, in that it could happily lend itself to being the perfect setting for a murder mystery evening perhaps. It's cosy without being fuddy-duddy; modern without being too trendy.

Snap

It's no secret that these kind of chain pubs may trumpet impresisvely that they serve good, homemade food of the sort Gordon Ramsay extols when in actual fact their chefs graduated from the Ding School of Microwave Cookery. If you're really good, you get to work the deep fat fryer, but that only for very talented chefs.

Mr P and I were starving so we ordered a small selection of starters; an impromptu tapas, you may say. I have loaded potato skins with mushrooms and Stilton. I remember these being delicious on previous visits to The Lodge but what I got was thick slices of uncooked mushroom covered in a fuzzy Stilton foam that had been whacked under the lights for a few minutes. Mr P had lamb kofti, which he said were lovely and then we shared a plate of Chinese wontons, which were OK but probably as good as a stick-em-in-the-oven Somerfield version.

Pros

It's quite cosy but hardly ever busy so you can always find a table. Plus, food is served all day, even on Sundays - a rare feat in a village environment.

Cons

It's usually dead - even Saturday nights only manage to muster up a handful of punters.

Outfit

Sunday lunches are always family affairs in any village pub so probably no greyhound skirts or nipple flashing tops. There's also never any talent there to show off your wares to anyway.

Best for...

A quick bite if you're ravenous and everywhere else is closed.

Bruxelles, Leicester

The Event: Pre-Theatre Tea
Facade
Imposing, grand and opulent are three words to describe Bruxelles on first appearances. It stands out proudly in this rather drab street and offers Leicester a little bit of continental chic.

This photograph doesn't really do it justice; visit at night-time and be impressed.

Interior

The old-school glamour continues inside with an amazing domed ceiling and a huge gold chandelier dominating the expansive room. There are a couple of leather sofas to sink into and lovely little details, such as moveable coat hooks and a 4ft Tin Tin figurine, dotted about for you to feast your eyes on.

Downstairs is the dark and kooky cellar bar - perfect for snuggling up with a couple of Budvas on a damp Monday evening and a great party venue.

Snap

The mussells are a must. They'd changed slightly since we'd last visited - they used to be served in a kilo pot but now they come in a square glass bowl with chunky chips and bread. The white wine and cream veloute is marvellous and silky and the mussells are gleaned from Leicester's famous fish market. No finger bowl was provided although there was an extra receptacle for the shells so I shouldn't grumble too vehemently.

Pros

The decor, the wide range of Belgian lager on offer, the mussells.

Cons

Can't really think of any!

Outfit

The place gets busy at lunchtimes with shoppers so don't feel ashamed if you bustle in with rain-soaked hair and trainers - you won't be looked down upon.

At night-time, Bruxelles attracts Leicester's glamour pusses so it might be nice to try and be a little continental in your dress; think elegant. I'd go for a black dress, black opaques and killer heels.

Best for...

A late lunch stretching into a boozy night. Hide from the rain and share a bowl of mussells with a loved one. It's a great midweek date venue.

The Royal Oak, Long Whatton

The Event: Mr P's 31st Birthday

Facade
The Royal Oak is perched on a corner of The Green in Long Whatton and it would be quite easy to simply drive past it. It's a little, white bricked pub with a small front garden. Round the back is a huge carpark and a building site, which I am told will be magically transformed into luxury hotel rooms in the summer.

There's a covered seating / smoking area which is adequate for now although it only has the one heater (and it's pretty weak to be honest) so expect lots of shoving and huddling from smokers during the winter months. Again, I'm led to believe that the garden will also be tarted up so, as a temporary measure, it's sufficient.

Interior

The decor is that trendy mixture of old and new that's proved popular since the dawn of the new millennium; so we have lots of swish pine and glass juxtaposed with original beams and plush, leather sofas. It's not a particulary innovative look but it works and must be a welcome addition to a village with only one other pub in it.

Snap
A decent sized menu is offered in this boozer. There's a variety of choice without being overwhelming and the host even offered me the option of choosing something off menu.

Mr P and I shared a baked camembert to start, which came in its box and was studded with garlic. We dipped bread into it like a provinical version of fondu and it was divine, creamy and naughty.

For my main, I plumped for moules mariniere (which you could have for starters as well). I received a huge bowl filled with mussells and a bucket of square cut chips to assompany it. Extra points are awarded for a finger bowl and shell receptacle being provided (you may think this is an obvious fixture when ordering mussells but you'd be surprised how many restaurants forget it).

Mr P had a pork belly with black pudding, fennel, fondant potato and roasted vegetables. The crackling was a couple of inches thick and even made a 10 year vegetarian a bit curious. He said it was delicious and finished every bite.

Pros
Knowing the management always holds a deficinte advantage but even if we didn't, I'd be pleased with this place and know that we'd get a warm and personalised welcome.

Cons
We attended on a rainy Monday in February so it wasn't exactly kicking. Hiwever, weekends and lunchtimes are much livelier.

Outfit
You could go either way here and not feel out of place. Personally, I'd stick to high end pub clothing, such as a skirt and heels although a pair of smart skinny jeans wouldn't be a misconstrued choice either.

Best for...
A long boozy Sunday lunch