Sometimes you enjoy a meal so much that you know you’ll remember it for a long time, and that’s exactly how we felt after a recent visit to The Grey Goose in Gilmorton.
We were invited by the owners to visit the smart looking pub, which has cemented itself as a real foodie gem in Leicestershire with its broad European inspired menu using quality local ingredients. The pub itself has a very contemporary look and feel, with exposed brickwork, a log fire and a new outdoor area that is an absolute must visit.
Owners, Lois and Shaun, have really put their own stamp on things since taking over the running of the pub. Shaun, who is also the Head Chef, is very passionate about quality produce and supporting local with their supplies wherever possible. The quality of ingredients really shows through throughout the menu, with every item handmade by the team (even down to the elderflower cordial).
The menu covers small platers or starters, mains and grills with an excellent seafood selection included. Seafood is something that we don’t tend do very well in Leicestershire (or certainly not very widely), but The Grey Goose serve daily fresh seafood platters, as well as other dishes combining scallops and giant king prawns. The vegetarian/vegan selection was a little more limited but you can enquire ahead about the changing menu to find out what will be on offer when you visit.
For a lighter meal choice or if dining outside you can also opt for the pizza and pasta menu, including a fresh seafood tagliatelle or chicken, wild mushroom and truffle risotto, to name just a couple.
Back to the main menu though. We sampled a number of dishes including starters of octopus served with honeyed chorizo, pulled beef spring rolls with crumbled blue cheese and bearnaise, and goats cheese with heritage tomato and beetroot. One look at the starters and we knew that this was something special.
The flavours popped out of every dish. The combination of honeyed chorizo with the large portion of octopus was absolutely delicious, and the goats cheese had an almost brûléed top, giving a perfect sweet and savoury flavoured treat. The pulled beef spring rolls were a huge surprise, bigger than expected and stuffed full of juicy, tender pulled beef brisket. The crumbled blue cheese and bearnaise providing a fab addition.
The choice of mains is a tough one with so many delicious options on the menu, but the confit pork belly with seared scallops jumped out. Two pieces of tender but crisp pork belly came served with two big juicy scallops plus a black truffle potato rosti, field mushrooms, asparagus, tenderstem broccoli and a wonderful red wine jus. It was a perfect main course and I can’t wait to go back and have it again.
Other main course options included pan fried chicken with chorizo potato bravas, organic monkfish or scallops, lamb rump with roasted Jersey potatoes, Mediterranean vegetable tart with sweet potato fries and Roquefort, a choice of steaks and beer battered fish and chips. Now, I’m never one to order fish and chips in a restaurant, but having seen a portion delivered to the next table this could definitely sway me. If you’re a fish and chips fan absolutely please go and give this a go, it looked amazing!
Given the quality of the starters and mains we knew desserts would be a guaranteed winner, but thought we’d better test them anyway. A quick mention for the elderflower cordial that was served alongside the desserts, with the waitress explaining that one of the team had hand picked the elderflowers earlier in the day for the chef to use. Delicious. Unable to choose between desserts the chef kindly prepared a sample plate with vanilla bean panna cotta, a melt in the middle chocolate fondant, millionaire’s salted caramel cheesecake, Eton mess and more.
I think you get the point by now, everything is delicious. A special mention for the millionaire’s salted caramel cheesecake, which had sea salt crystals on top of the glazed layer of chocolate ganache. Fabulous flavours.
The atmosphere in the pub is lovely and whilst the menu has a high end restaurant feel to it, there’s a nice relaxed atmosphere throughout the venue. The front of the bar remains open for those just wanting a drink and the new decked garden area opens up into the restaurant space.
Looking at menu pricing for the quality of food on offer it seems very reasonable. Starters range from £6-£8, main courses sit on average around £16-£18 (steaks and seafood platters are slightly more) with pizzas and pastas available for £10-£12. It’s worth noting that on a Saturday night they offer a 3 course menu for £35, which proves very popular.
“That’s one of the best meals I can remember us having in Leicestershire” – I think that about sums it up!
Gilmorton itself is a lovely village that sits on the edge of Lutterworth, close to Bruntingthorpe. It took us under 25 minutes to reach the pub from Leicester so it’s within reasonable reach for a special date night or option to explore somewhere new.
Due to typical British weather we enjoyed the meal in the indoor restaurant, however we’ll certainly be returning to enjoy their beautiful new terrace very soon.
The Grey Goose is located on Lutterworth Road, LE17 5PN and is closed on Monday.
Find out more and book a table via The Grey Goose website.
We were invited to visit The Grey Goose and received our meal free of charge for honest feedback. We were under no obligation to give a positive review.