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The Bull in
Stony Stratford was our choice for a meal out on a freezing
Saturday evening in January. This hotel has a small restaurant
and will soon be opening a new venue to the rear of the building
for events and music nights with live bands. Their menu for the
restaurant is dominated by burgers and steaks – nothing
pretentious or overly complicated.
Décor
Old oak
flooring and a bricked fireplace with wood panelled walls and
beamed ceilings are the predominant features of The Bull. There
is an eclectic collection of wooden chairs and tables. There are
minimal pictures adorning the walls and whilst this simplistic
approach will be well received by some, I felt a themed
collection of images of any kind would have given the restaurant
more character.
Food
A choice of
over ten varieties of burgers that are flame grilled on bap with
salad and fries form the main menu and you also have a choice of
sirloin or rump steak. In addition to the starters (there are
only four) you will find specials on the blackboard.
I opted for
the Moroccan Lamb Soup with fresh baked baguette (£4.25). This
soup looked like it needed more body to it and was not as thick
as I would have liked. It was tasty with the perfect helping of
chick peas. The bread was warm and very soft and I used this to
soak up the remainder of the dish. Not a bad way to start.
Pitta bread
and hummus with olives (£3.95) was the choice of my guest. The
pitta bread was cut into strips and these were criss-crossed on
the plate to form a cute looking dish which, given it’s
ingredients, was quite colourful. The hummus was particularly
creamy. This was a pleasant introduction to food at The Bull.
Onto mains, we
naturally opted for the burgers. My guest plunged for the CBC
Burger, whole grilled chicken breast, brie and cranberry (£8.50).
We both felt this dish would have been better served in a ciabatta as opposed to a bap. The chicken was a delight and my
guest was pleased to have ordered a side of salad. We both
agreed this was a must needed contrast for this particular meal
which can be quite heavy. The salad itself was wonderfully fresh.
My own choice
of Blue Cheese with melted Stilton (£7.95) was lovely but it
missed that little something to give it that ‘wow’ factor. So
onto the chips. These were very crisp on the outside and
amazingly soft on the inside. I always say you know you are
eating good chips when you do not need to season them. These
were definitely good!
We found
ourselves quite full so opted to share the Movenpick Ice Cream.
Two scoops were ordered, one being the Swiss Chocolate (premium
chocolate shavings blended in a creamy ice cream) and the second
being the Caramelita (creamy caramel with real caramel pieces).
We were both in agreement that the Caramelita beat the Swiss
version hands down, but that said, these two actually combined
well.
Service
The restaurant
was quiet (we had booked early) so we were given all the time we
needed to make our choices and our friendly, smiling waiter was
helpful in explaining exactly what came with our food and was
always at close hand to check if everything was fine with our
food and if we needed anything.
Atmosphere
The Bull did
not score highly in this area simply because the place was so
quiet. We did however say hello to a couple of the locals in what
was a genuinely friendly environment and we felt comfortable and
relaxed. This is a good place to go away and escape
to your own little corner and unwind.
The management
are still working on perfecting their menu and the addition of
some sauces and salsas as options to go with your burger are
surely a must if they want to move things forward. We really
enjoyed the experience and when I next fancy a quality burger, I
know I would far rather come here than visit a probably more famous
location for this type of food situated in the city centre any day of
the week! |
