The Greyhound - Corfe Castle - Review

 Nestled right in the centre of Corfe Castle village is The Greyhound, a 16th Century Coaching Inn which is apparently the most photographed pub in the UK. If you've ever driven though the village, no doubt you have taken this very snap! I have lived in Dorset my entire life and have been visited Corfe Castle since I was a little girl, but I never get bored of this view.

Corfe Castle on a Cloudy Day

We were invited along to try out the food and having eaten at the Greyhound before on a number of occasions, I was looking forward to seeing what was on the current menu! 

We arrived at the pub for lunch and were shown to our table which was on the covered terrace. There were plenty of tables here, plus in the beer garden which overlooks the castle but it did get very busy so if you are planning to visit I would 100% book in advance to save disappointment. 

Standard Covid measures are in place at the Greyhound - masks on until you sit down, hand sanitiser on entry and they ask you to check in using the NHS Track & Trace - the QR code can be found on the menu which is handy. They do have a food ordering app to minimise contact but this wasn't working when we ate - the staff were all wearing masks though and happy to take orders. 

The menu is very varied and has options for vegan/veggies/ GF etc. It was great to see lots of local additions such as Portland crab, Dorset Blue Vinney Cheese and Purbeck Cider. The stonebaked pizzas sounded amazing but I chose Mussels with cider, leeks and chorizo. This came with chips and crusty bread. It's not a dish I'd ever attempt to make at home so I really wanted to try it - and I wasn't disappointed! The creamy sauce was so tasty and the portion was plentiful. The downside is the mess I created, maybe they could supply a bib for messy eaters too ;) 

My husband is vegan and he was excited see his favourite Moving Mountains burger on the menu. His only criticism was that he would have preferred a brioche roll rather than a standard burger bun but apart from that, he really enjoyed it! The sweet potato fries were especially nice. 

We weren't planning on having pudding but the waitress asked if we'd like to have a look at the menu and to be honest, we couldn't resist! I had vanilla cheesecake which was topped with Biscoff crunch and served with Biscoff sauce and salted caramel ice-cream. How could I say no to that?! Paul had the sticky toffee pudding which came with warm caramel sauce and ice-cream. And a flake! 

We visited on a weekday lunchtime and I expected the village to be quiet but it was very busy and felt like a weekend! The outside area of The Greyhound was buzzing with families having their lunch and it was great to see them so busy. The kitchen were doing a fab job in getting the food out fast! 

We really enjoyed our lunch and I'd definitely recommend a visit to The Greyhound. If you're spending the day in the village and have tickets for the castle then you can even get 10% off your bill.

Have you ever visited Corfe Castle?

*Disclaimer - We were invited for a gifted meal in exchange for an honest review. 

Brewers Fayre Weymouth - Review

I love finding family friendly places to eat so I was quite excited when we were invited to review the Brewers Fayre pub in Weymouth. I used to go to the local Brewers Fayre with my family years ago and have fond memories of my sisters playing in the Charlie Chalk play area. I hadn't actually been to a Brewers Fayre pub for years so I was looking forward to seeing how things had progressed.

Brewers Fayre have recently had a bit of a makeover and all their play areas have been refurbished to incorporate the Dennis the Mennis theme. The pics on the website looked great so we couldn't wait to see for ourselves.

After a lovely afternoon exploring the nearby country park, we had a table booked for 5pm. We were shown to our table straight away and Elliot was given a colouring sheet and some crayons. We decided to sit by the play area entrance as we knew Elliot would be in there as fast as he could! "Play at Brewers Fayre" is a Dennis the Menace themed play area with a large softplay zone, grabber machines (where you win everytime!), a quiet area where Dennis was being shown on the tv, a counter which served drinks and snacks and most importantly plenty of staff on hand to supervise the playarea. The cost was £3 for 90mins which isn't too bad atall - if it means Elliot is entertained whilst we are waiting for food then I'd probably pay double that!

Elliot zoomed off to play whilst my husband and I took a look at the menu. There is lots to choose from on the menu including a hot chef's counter which has a different theme each day. All the prices for food are very reasonable and there seems to be lots of offers including a great daytime value menu featuring 2 main meals for £10. Unlike other pubs, this offer is on until 6.30pm which is perfect for an inexpensive midweek dinner treat if you don't fancy cooking!

The kids menu is also very good value with 2 courses for £4.49. Theres loads to choose from so even the fussiest of children will find something they like and whats great is you can change the sides to suit. We picked Spaghetti Beano-ese for Elliot with garlic bread and peas.

Within about 10 minutes of ordering, our food appeared.  Great for us, not so great for Elliot who didn't want to come out of the play area! I had scampi, chips and mushy peas whilst my husband had a mixed grill. All the food was hot and cooked well - my husband didn't leave one crumb on his plate so I took this to mean he enjoyed it!! Elliot took a bit of coaxing but he was soon devouring his spaghetti with gusto.

The dessert menu looked amazing so we had to squeeze a pudding in. Elliot chose ice-cream, I had a chocolate chip cookie sundae and Paul had a knickerbocker glory sundae. All very good however we did have a little incident with Elliot's ice-cream...he dropped it on the floor!!!! There were lots of tears, and lots of melted ice-cream on the floor but the staff were great and a replacement was brought out within minutes, phew!

Pudding, round 2!

We had a great meal at the Brewers Fayre and were very impressed with the play area. It's quite rare to find a pub with a decent play area these days and this one ticked all the boxes. It was also very clean which is so important when you have small children. I liked the fact the room was supervised and it was great for Elliot to have the chance play whilst we were waiting for the food.

We'll definitely return to a Brewers Fayre in the future now we know what to expect!

*Disclaimer:  We were provided with a voucher to use towards our meal but I have been 100% honest with my review

Table Table Pub Restaurant Review - Holes Bay Poole

We like to eat out as a family a few times a month and since having Elliot our choice of destination has definitely changed. Nowadays we like to find places that are family friendly with a decent kids menu, good value for money and most importantly, tasty!

The Holes Bay Poole - Table Table Pub Restaurant 

The Holes Bay pub is one of our favourite places to visit for a quick bite to eat. It is part of the Table Table chain which you can find all over the UK. Table Table cater really well for kids and this is a big part of why we keep returning! 

We decided to go along last weekend and we had a table booked for 6pm. Elliot was given an activity pack and crayons when we arrived and this is a great little touch to keep kids amused whilst waiting for their food! Table Table have partnered up with the Horrible Histories books and the activity packs feature games, colouring, history facts, jokes and more. The packs change every so often too - our favourite was last Summer when the pack included a sheet of rat stickers!! I would say the packs are aimed at older kids purely because of the content but a pre-schooler would still enjoy looking at the pictures and colouring in. 

Food

We ordered a sharing platter to start and this included breaded mushrooms, chicken goujons, calamari, onion rings, garlic bread, coleslaw and a choice of 2 dips. This arrived promptly and we all tucked in. Everything tasted fresh and wasn't too greasy. The calamari was lovely so I would definitely think about ordering this as a starter next time! 

For our mains I went for gammon steak with peas and a jacket potato. There was the option of pineapple, or eggs or both to go on top. I went with pineapple - got to be in the right mood for an egg! My husband was feeling hungry so he decided to have the 16oz t-bone steak which arrived cooked to perfection with chips, peas, grilled tomato and mushrooms. My gammon was very nice however I felt that it was on the small size compared to other gammon meals I've had in different restaurants. 

I love the kids menu in Table Table because everything is pictured and the sides can be mixed and matched. Not everyone wants chips or beans and so this is great for fussy kids, or kids that want to decide themself! Elliot chose cod cubes, skinny fries and peas. The meal of a generous size and Elliot really enjoyed it, especially dipping his chips in the little pot of ketchup! 

Elliot's kids meal came with a free pudding and he'd already picked what he wanted from the menu. There were lots of options but he went for the Scary Face Sundae which is vanilla ice-cream with strawberry laces, gummy teeth, smarties and a cone. The idea is to make a scary face but Elliot just gobbled all the sweets first before starting on his ice cream! 

My husband and I were pretty stuffed already but it would have been rude not to try a pudding....! The dessert menu is amazing and I really struggled to narrow down my choices but I went for Eton mess which was really nice and light, didn't fancy anything too stodgy after such a big meal. Paul had the apple & cherry crumble with custard which he said was very nice. 

 Customer Service

The staff are always friendly at the Holes Bay and even when serving in really busy periods such as when we visited, they are attentive and very willing to help. We had to wait slightly longer than usual for our food but it wasn't a problem as it was a peak time on a weekend and it was to be expected. This is where the activity packs come in handy! 

Value for Money

Our entire meal, plus several rounds of drinks for the 3 of us came to just over £60. This is great value for what we had although we don't usually have a starter AND a pudding! 

Table Table have an extensive menu and lots of daily offers including daytime deals starting from £4.99, 2 evening courses for £9.99 and even a Mums eat free offer on a Sunday. The best deal in my opinion is that kids eat free Mondays - Saturdays before 5pm. And the offer includes pudding too! 

Summary

Overall, Table Table is a great place for a quick pub meal and they do have some brilliant offers to save you money. We quite often go on a weekday to meet up with friends and their children and the kids eat free offer is absolutely brilliant, especially as it includes a pudding too. 

I love that kids are so well catered for and the staff are always very welcoming when we turn up with toddlers in tow...even when they are noisy, or demanding rat stickers, or trying to run towards to toy machines!! 

*Disclaimer:  We were provided with a voucher to use towards our meal but I have been 100% honest with my review

Linking up with the following: