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?