The Queen’s Head, Front Street, Lanchester (From The Northern Echo)

The Queen’s Head, Front Street, Lanchester

The best Sunday lunch in memory.

TRADITIONAL EXTERIOR: A lot of effort has gone into the decor of the Queen’s Head in Lanchester

ON first walking into the Queen’s Head in Lanchester, customers are greeted by a rather gloomy portrait.

The painting shows a former Queen of England. Although in her day, she was clearly the nation’s most important woman, sadly neither I nor my partner had the first clue who she was. The painting illustrates the point that, in the end, reputation counts for nothing because it comes and goes.

And so it is with the Queen’s Head itself. Not so long ago, it was considered a run-of-themill pub grub venue and the poor relation of some of its village rivals. But over recent months, there has been a new buzz about the pub’s restaurant, now under new management.

From the moment you get beyond the sombre portrait in the corridor, which is in stark contrast to the pretty white-washed exterior, it is clear that this is a restaurant making an admirable effort.

It is only small – ten or so tables – but perfectly formed.

The decor is a remarkable mix of ancient and modern, which shouldn’t work, but does.

From one corner, the trunk of an ancient tree grows up towards the ceiling, then spreads out across the whole room like a cloud, its branches festooned with blue pinpoint lights.

One wall is adorned with modern art, including a fabulous abstract triptych, others are covered by enormous and ornate golden-framed mirrors which look like they belonged in a stately home, while the paintwork mixes burgundy and turquoise.

It may perhaps be better suited to autumn or winter evenings than a sunny summer’s afternoon, but the overall effect is to make a bold statement that the Queen’s Head has no intention of being just another twee village pub restaurant.

Our original plans for a Saturday evening visit had to be changed at the last minute, which was a shame because the main menu looks interesting: linguine of mussels with Greenland prawns and braised shin of beef with red onion, horseradish mash and red wine sauce being among the highlights.

We had booked in advance, which was just as well because the restaurant was busy when we arrived late on Sunday lunchtime when the menu was restricted to traditional roasts, with alternatives of salmon or a vegetable lasagne.

To cut to the chase, what followed was probably the best Sunday pub lunch I can remember.

Both my son and I went for the pork, while my wife went for the chicken.

The food arrived promptly, simply presented and plentiful.

The roast was perfect, thick cut slices of succulent pork, accompanied by a tower of sausagemeat and onion stuffing which was utterly delicious.

If I was trying to find a fault, it could be argued that the roasters were maybe a little underdone, but the mash was excellent and never in all my born days have I had such a gravy, which was fullbodied perfection itself.

The meal was served with a sizeable platter of vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, delicious carrots and peas, all expertly done.

We cleared our plates, although I am not certain how we managed it.

Dessert was unnecessary, but in the interests of research we gave it a go. My summer fruit crumble, served with cream, was impressive. Fabulously fresh, although maybe a little too tart, it was of excellent consistency and immaculately presented.

My wife declared herself equally pleased with the lemon cheesecake while my eight-year-old was finally defeated by a mountainous sticky toffee pudding.

While there were a couple of quibbles – we had to ask for salt and pepper and were initially undercharged for the bill – overall service was very good. Staff were cheery and easygoing, yet attentive, all queries answered promptly, all requests dealt with efficiently.

With a two-course meal priced at £9.50 per head, the final bill, including two glasses of pretty decent house white and a handful of soft drinks, came to £39.65, which I thought was exceptional value for a meal which was better than good and bordered on excellent.