The Playhouse, Watergate, Grantham
The Playhouse is the kind of pub where food is possibly one of the last things you think about and our visit on Sunday had an ulterior motive.
Sunday was play-off semi-final day and as Leicester City fans, my wife and son were keen to see the match live on Sky, so with a 12.30 kick-off why not enjoy a meal at the same time?
We have eaten at The Playhouse before and the food is what you might expect – pub grub. But it’s good, there’s plenty of it and the menu is extensive. Of course there are the burgers, pies and nachos but with a little unexpected twist here and there.
Few surprises with the starters as my wife chose the combo for one which included chicken goujons, chicken wings, onion rings and criss-cross chips with a sour cream dip. My son enjoyed a plate of chicken goujons and my daughter had a plate piled high with cheesy nachos and salsa put before her. It’s a good job I decided not to have a starter and shared the nachos, which were plentiful.
For the mains the burgers were the biggest surprises. My wife chose the Indian burger which composed of a naan wrap filled with two chicken fillets, vegetable pakora and samosas and onion bhajis. My son went for the Mexican version, this time two beef burgers with chili beef and nachos. I don’t think it was so much the heat that beat him as the amount that was piled on the plate.
I chose the lamb and mint pie with chips. The sauce was quite rich and the mint not overpowering and there was just enough gravy in the pie to complement a slightly dry pastry. My daughter chose the cheese and potato pie and judging by the way it disappeared was not disappointed.
The kids ploughed on to the puddings, but my wife and I were well and truly beaten by this point. The kids shared a mega ice cream sundae which consisted of fudge cake, profiteroles, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Cadbury’s flakes and wafers. And there wasn’t a flake of chocolate or sliver of ice cream left…
While the football was a great disappointment for the Leicester fans in our family, the food certainly wasn’t.
3 stars (out of five)