The Leopard Inn, Bishops Tachbrook

Set in a lovely rural location, the Leopard is very nice inside and has a very welcoming lounge area near the restaurant back room, with the most comfortable leather sofas! The Sunday menu mains were local Lighthorne Lamb roast with red wine, Beef roast with red wine, Pork roast with apple and sultana sauce, Chicken roast including some black pudding (which went very well), Beer Batter Cod and chips and the only vegetarian option, some sort of vegetable and goats� cheese tart.

We ordered the Lamb, the Pork, the Chicken roasts, which all came with plenty of roast potatoes, and we were even asked if we wanted Yorkshire pudding even though we weren�t having beef (we all did!). The roasts were all excellent, with mine being the best roast dinner I have ever had out. We also had the vegetarian option, which was most tasty, and a half portion of fish and chips for the little one in our group, which seemed to go down well.

For dessert two of us had the red fruit soup with vanilla ice-cream, which was the fruitiest thing I have ever tasted; the richness of the soup was incredible, and the flecks of vanilla seed in the ice cream gave it an extra lift. The Chocolate delice with cherry compote was ordered on behalf of the little one, but we all ended up having a try as the chocolate mousse element was absolutely divine, and perhaps slightly much for a two-and-a-half year-old, which I suspect was well known when mother ordered it!

Service was discreet yet attentive, from friendly staff who also interacted well with the very social little one, who was made very welcome. Although the prices are not cheap (�11 for all mains, even the vegetarian), this was one of the best meals out I have ever had, and the whole table was all smiles and favourable comments for the rest of the afternoon. So the whole experience was good value for money. We will definitely be going back for another visit to check out the weekday menu.

25 Apr 2006 13:36