Meal at The Barn // Review

In the wonderful month of August I was once again in the flattest land of Lincolnshire, This time it was to visit Neil’s parents for a lovely meal out for their anniversary (and ours too), We visited a wonderful restaurant called The Barn and I am going to tell you all about it.

The Barn, which while we was in Lincolnshire, is in West Norfolk boasts a varied and traditional menu with fresh produce from local suppliers and their own herd of cows which, according to their website are farmed within 5 miles from the restaurant and it shows. They even have a fridge that you can see some of the aged meat hanging ready for use.

We had been there before for a meal during the winter months and wanted to celebrate our anniversaries somewhere special and what better place than to have that meal than at The Barn, for us it was a little drive to get too but the whole area which the restaurant was in was beautiful and nothing really to complain about, We was sat next to a window which did cause a few issues with the sun shining through but I will be honest once it started to set we was greeted with an amazing sunset and some beautiful clouds.

The atmosphere was wonderful too, while busy, which is always a good sign of a good place, it didn’t feel too manically busy like some places, sadly they didn’t have their little dessert robot walking around this time which was a highlight of the visit last time, the restaurant is inside an old barn, hence the name and has plenty of farm items scattered about the place as well as a bar that had plenty of cocktails and drinks to enjoy.

what we ate

Only three of us decided on a starter, I had chicken strips which if you remember my previous post when I had some pink chicken strips at The Dusty Miller was delighted to have some well cooked and delicious pieces of chicken that had a lovely kick to them paired with a little salad and some BBQ sauce. Neil had his favourite starter which was whitebait which he said he enjoyed and his mum got the halloumi with chilli jam. Everything tasted lovely and was eaten, I even ate my salad which I often don’t do when its as a side.

The portion sizes weren’t too big which is always a bonus when it comes to having a starter before a bigger main meal, We have been before but as I wanted to write about my experience there I wanted to try all three of the courses and the fact that the first course was perfectly sized made for a much better eating experience.

For our mains we all went with something different, Neil’s dad had his favourite BBQ ribs, which frankly did look lovely, Neil at the braised minted lamb which he has said was lovely but the sauce that came with it was a bit rich for his tastes, I had my favourite which is the hunters chicken and his mum went extravagant and had the Fillet steak.

My main was perfect, I usually go for a Hunters Chicken when I go out for a nice meal and this time it was lovely, They make their own BBQ sauce which was both on the ribs and the chicken, and even included in the starter.

and finally for pudding, I genuinely do not know how I managed to eat this meal as I was completely full by the end of it, Neil’s dad and I both had the same which was syrup sponge, I had this before when we came in the winter and I had been dreaming about it since, While the pudding changes weekly I was a bit nervous that I was going to be disappointed but once I heard it was the sponge I was getting it, The sponge itself was so light and the custard was perfect, if and when we go back to The Barn and this is on the menu its going to be eaten again, Neil’s mum got the pavlova which looked lovely and Neil had a cookie pie which is filled with different weekly fillings similar to the Sponge of the Week.

We defiantly left with very full and happy bellies and some of us had dizzy heads from the drinks we had, all in all The Barn is a wonderful place to enjoy high quality food lovingly cooked and if you are ever in the area I recommend a visit for an evening meal.

Sarah