THE BREWERS

Lower Road

Rattlesden

Bury St Edmunds,

Suffolk

IP300RJ

Tel: 01449 736377

EMAIL hello@thebrewersrattlesden.co.uk

WEBSITE: https://thebrewersrattlesden.co.uk/

OPENING HOURS

Wednesday 12:00-22:00

Thursday 12:00-22:00

Friday 12:00-23:00

Saturday 12:00-23:00

Sunday 12:00-22:00

Type of Restaurant: Traditional high quality pub food

Type of Food: Wide choice of food with classic English and European dishes all served with fresh, local and seasonal ingredients

We had a Cousin come up from the smoke and we wanted to have an early lunch as his train back to London was due to go from Stowmarket at 3.30pm. We wanted to find somewhere we could have a nice meal a little bit more than ordinary Pub Grub but not full blown fine dining.

We had seen that the Brewers in Rattlesden had re-opened in October 2018 and had picked up some good reports. We had been visitors to the Pub/Restaurant for the past 30 years but probably haven’t been there for the past 5 or 6 years as standards had slipped with previous owners.

We booked a table for six people at 12.00 on a Thursday a few weeks ago.

On their website they claim;

“A proper pub, with proper food. We deliver bold cooking with fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. A friendly, comfortable atmosphere for everybody, including the dog”.

And we are pleased to report based on our experience they are absolutely right.

The staff were very attentive and pleasant and Tom our waiter even showed our group how to “Floss” correctly which was very entertaining.

The décor in the Pub and Restaurant area is modern, clean, light and stylish, a long way from the previously old tired look. Obviously a lot of thought has gone into this relaunch project.

We had a few drinks before we sat down and a top up at the table.

As well as the Adnams Southwold bitter £3.40) there was a good quality dark real ale called the Brewshed Best Pint (£3.90). The recent introduction into the pubs of a very low alcohol Adnams Ghost Ship (0.5% at £3.20) is very welcome and is as close to a real hoppy beer as I have found. I didn’t find a Wine list on their website but our group had a couple of glasses of White wine, Tinpot Hut sauvignon blanc (£7.50 175ml) and a fruity version from Spain El Circo Tempranillo (£4.60 175ml) A Schweppes Bitter Lemon cost a reasonable £2.00

The restaurant does have a good main sample menu although there was no Specials Board. Starters from this menu range between Soup of the Day with Artisan bread, flavoured butters at £5.95 to Seared Scallops – Artichoke puree, dried pancetta, kale crisps, lemon oil at £9.95 there was a choice of 3 other starters.

The main menu has a choice of 5 main courses including

Venison Wellington Roasted squash puree, baby vegetables, jus £23.50

Bouillabaisse Shellfish bisque, salmon, mussels, onion petal, pollock, scallop, crab croquette, rouille £22.95

With a vegetarian option of Charred Butternut (v) Butternut puree, sage, mushroom, silverskin, blue cheese, parsley 16.50

The restaurant also has a Pub Classics Menu, a Sunday Lunch Menu, a Gluten free menu and Menus for special occasions such as Christmas and New Year as well as a Bar Snack & Sharing menu.

We all decided to go for the Pub Classic Menu. My sister had the Wild Mushroom Risotto with Rocket and pine nuts with a super smell of garlic

(£10.50) as did my 94 year old mother, albeit we requested a child portion for her (£7.00). Our cousin went for the Sausage of the Day with mustard mash, gravy and onion rings (which were huge) (£10.95)

Gladys went for the JD & Coke Glazed Ribs served with slaw, house salad and fries (£12.95) as did my brother in law. They both absolutely loved the food although my brother in law would have preferred a plate rather than the slate it was served on but he is bit old fashioned in that respect.

I went for the Adnams Battered Haddock — Chunky chips, crushed peas, tartar (£11.50) which competes very well to other fish and chips served up in various Suffolk Coastal Pubs.

All the food was served in very good time all together and the service was excellent as was the atmosphere considering it was Thursday lunchtime, with group of eight on the table behind us and a Christmas group in the other bar area

Four of our group went for sweet two went for Ginger Cake served with poached pear, brandy snap, Chantilly, rum & raisin ice cream (£6.50 per serving) one went for Sticky Toffee Pudding with Maple & walnut ice cream and one went for 2 scoops of Lemon ice cream (£3.50).

The overwhelming response from all everyone was that this was top end high quality Pub Food and we all want to go back and sample the other menus. Pricing is very reasonable for the high quality of food provided we will definitely recommend the all new Brewers in Rattlesden.

Reservation in advance is a must and the Pub & Restaurant is closed Monday & Tuesday. The rest of the week Food is served from 12 to 3.00 and again with service in the evening.

The total bill for the meal was £136.85 plus a generous tip and what made it even more special was that our Cousin picked up the bill.