This week I headed off to ‘The Swan’ at Kibworth. From its website
The Swan presents itself as a modern, gastro ‘pub and eating house’ serving
‘British food at its best’.
Great! As a result, my expectations were that in exchange for a
willingness to pay above average pub food prices. I would be dining in a
modern, comfortable, relaxing environment, enjoying high quality, British food,
whilst receiving a good standard of service. I was right about the high prices
bit but everything else fell somewhat short of the mark.
I will start with the décor. Worn, leather brown sofas, check.
Wood burner, check. Pale green painted walls, check. So far, so gastro. But
then looking down you notice the bold, colourful, patterned carpet you find in
traditional British pubs. The paint work was scruffy and patchy in places and
the dining tables, although rustic and sort of ‘modern farmhouse’ in their
design, were too close together so you felt crammed in and a little
uncomfortable. Not quite the sophisticated, elegant dining experience you might
expect from a modern day gastro pub?
The menu was stylish, minimal, simple, sleek. Very gastro. The
prices were also gastro. £5-6 for a starter and £12-£17 for a main. Seems fair
for good quality, locally produced, freshly prepared food but not sure that’s
quite what we received.
The starters were good. My ham hock was a little bland but the
homemade Piccalilli made with chunks of vegetables, made up for that. The
chicken liver pate was particularly nice, presented on a wooden chopping board,
in a little closed glass jar, served with a beautifully spiced apple and date
chutney. Good start, ticking the gastro boxes. But then came the mains. I had a
marinated pork steak, with buttered broccoli (£16.95) and my friend had pork
belly served with Chantilly carrots (£13.50). Both were nice dishes but just
nice. Nothing more, nothing less. More importantly, they were both missing
something….. ah yes, a potato of some description and perhaps even a second veg?
Turned out the £17 literally brought you a pork steak and a few broccoli
florets. Pretty shocking really. In fact I think I am still in a state of shock
now. I can not believe that £17 doesn’t buy you a whole plate of food. If you wanted that you had to spend a further
£2.50 on a side order. I was so perplexed by the whole situation I began to
wonder if it was me. Maybe I was out of touch with the effect rising food
prices had on the cost of eating out? But then I remembered The Red Lion at
Gilmorton and Café Soya, a Vietnamese restaurant in Birmingham I went to a few
weeks ago. An unbelievable plate of food
in terms of taste, quality and quantity and all for about £6.
In some situations, even if the food doesn’t warrant the higher
prices sometimes the service or the dining experience helps to justify the
additional cost. But from my comments above regarding the atmosphere and
environment this was not the case at The Swan and although there was nothing
wrong with the service we received, the young girl who waited on us was
pleasant but it was pretty standard.
So sadly, I won’t be recommending The Swan at Kibworth as a place
to dine, mainly because it represents such poor value for money. Although the
food was nice, no part of the experience justifies the prices they charge on
the menu. It’s a real shame because if the meal was more like £10 or even £12
and came with a few chips or new potatoes my experience and review of the pub
would be completely different. But as it is, The Swan presents itself as a high
end gastro pub, charges accordingly, but fails to deliver on any of its gastro
pub promises.
Restaurant 3
Service 3.5
Value for money 2
Total 12/20
