Review of 'The Swan'
It is a bit of a challenge finding somewhere for dinner each time my wife and my birthday comes around. This year she was ahead of the game for her birthday and opted for local pub “The Swan” in Marbury (about 20 minutes drive) which she had heard good things about. No doubt as it has won various “Pub of the Year” awards over the years.
We have had a lot of rain recently so getting the pub turned out to be more of a challenge than normal with deep water on the road which, two miles from the pub, turned out to be too much and we had to find our way around showing up at the pub a few minutes after our 1:15 pm Saturday reservation. Marbury is quite small and “The Swan” bills itself as the “Best Pub in Marbury” but also freely admits it is the ONLY pub in Marbury. There is a large paved car park in the back which attests to it's popularity. The pub itself is quite cosy inside with a number of small rooms scattered about with chic mis-matched chairs and big bookcases stocked with books (some of which are for sale). The walls have historical pictures of the area as well as more quirky modern art. All of this makes the place seem quite relaxed and, dare I say it, cosy.
We gave our name to the bartender at the oddly short bar where he also took our drink orders before being shown to our small table just around the corner near the toilets but with a good view of the rest of the pub. To be sure, it is a pub though most tables are reserved for dining there are still chairs at the bar that those without a reservation can use. There are even a few tables outside if the weather is good.
It was good to see the double sided A4 “a la carte” menu had today's date at the top of it indicating that they pride themselves on being bang in season and up to date. There are quite a few options on the menu which is divided into “Cocktails”, “Bar Nibbles” (£6.50 each or 4 for £24), “Starters”, “Mains”, “Pub Classics” (fish & chips, sausage and mash, pies, etc), “Sides”, (turning over) “Sandwiches” (served until 5 pm), “Homemade Affogatos” (ice cream + drink), “Puddings” (all £9), “Selection of homemade ice creams and sorbets”, “Cheeseboard” (£10 for 3, £15 for 5 with lots of sides), “Hot Drinks” and finally “Cask Ale, Craft Beers and Alcohol Free”. Yes, it is quite crammed with lots of text but not a huge number of dishes with care taken to fully describe each dish. Of course, they do also offer roasts on Sunday.
Rather than order a lunch sandwich I wanted to try the main dishes so we ordered from that.
We both opted to start with the “Roast pumpkin and sage soup, toasted pumpkin seeds, fresh bread” (£7) which was attractively served on a wooden board with a big slice of butter that was about as round as the roll (“fresh bread”) that accompanied the dish. The soup was rich but quite heavy on the sage to the point that you got very little other flavour from it. The roll was served hot but, sadly, had very little flavour of it's own (same goes for the butter) though had a nice crunchy crust. It was best when dipped into the soup which somewhat tempered the strong taste of sage.
For my main, after some thinking, I opted for the “Rolled pork belly, crispy sage, black pudding boulangere, burnt apply puree, cracking” (£23). The dish was suitably impressive with the thick slice of pork belly perched on top of one my least favourite vegetables, kale, though in this case the kale was cooked well, losing it's normal harsh texture and sharp flavour which made it more of a tasteless bit of greenery on the plate. The pork itself was quite tender with a suitably crunchy skin but not a huge amount of fat. The black pudding potato tasted very little of black pudding despite the copious quantities rippling through it but they were quite tasty with a nice crispy skin and just a slight hint of cheese. The “cracking” was quite light and nicely soaked up the dark smear of apply sauce (very apple-y) and dark gravy though I am not sure why we needed the two strongly flavoured sauces on the plate.
The birthday girl had the “Grain-fed rib eye steak, Portobello Mushroom roasted vine tomato, chips, onion rings” (£32) done “medium”. She also opted for a side “peppercorn” steak sauce (£3) which came on the board accompanying the good sized portion of large chunky chips. The steak itself had little fat around the outside and was quite tender with the steak sauce quite a nice accompaniment (though by itself the sauce tasted quite mushroom-y for some reason). She is not a huge fan of mushrooms but found the Portobello Mushroom slice quite nice (until it got cold). The oily though lightly battered onion rings seemed quite superfluous here given the large portion of chips.
The service was quite good throughout as they just basically left us alone until needed when they would magically appear. They were pleasant enough and checked to make sure all was well. It seemed to be the perfect interval between receiving courses which were served piping hot to the table.
At £80.10 for the two of us including two non-alcoholic drinks it was a bit pricey for lunch but the general quality was quite high and the portion sizes seemed quite generous as well.
An impressive menu though our dishes seemed to be slightly off in their delivery with over and under whelming flavours struggling to deliver a consistent experience. The quality and presentation was exceptional for each of our dishes and we would be happy to come back and work our way through some of the other options.
If you chose to visit, be sure to take some time to walk to and along the canal which can be accessed by foot from the back of the car park then turning right to follow the road about a kilometre to the canal. It is a lovely walk along the quiet canal here and you are able to take in some of the pleasant surroundings.
Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2024-10-19
Cuisine: American/British
Address: Wrenbury Rd, Whitchurch Rd, Marbury, Nantwich SY13 4LS ENGLAND
Location: Cheshire (England) - Marbury
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1948 522860
URL: https://swanatmarbury.co.uk/