Global menu with a local heart at The Red Lion
The Red Lion ****
Claverdon, Station Road, Claverdon, Near Warwick. Tel: 01926 842 291 www.thecrossatkenilworth.co.uk
There is close knit – and then there is Claverdon.
This rural village near Warwick – home to the likes of Barry Cleverdon, the former chief executive of the NEC – boasts a corner shop like no other.
Mr Cleverdon, and fellow residents who want to maintain the identity of the village, decided to club together to keep the local village shop running when it was threatened with closure.
Heavily involved with the project was Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham, who lives nearby.
Of course the former Minister of State for Trade was not thinking of branching out into the retail business. The aim was simple. A village needs its village shop. Otherwise there would be nothing left but Tesco superstores.
The village pub, The Red Lion at Claverdon, is run on the same lines. Why go to Australia for your food when you go to Alvechurch.
The chicken is locally smoked, the beef local reared and the ale is locally brewed.
One gets the impression that the only import at The Red Lion is the majority of the guests, which is understandable for a pub in a village the size of Claverdon.
But it is nice and easy to get here from Birmingham, just a few miles off the M40 and a clutch-stroking manoeuvre at the top of the hill and you are there.
However, before the red flag gets hoisted on the people’s republic of Claverdon, it appears that there has been an invasion from as far wide as Alaska, Japan and India.
The pub has recently introduced its ‘world tasting plates’, which gives customers a chance to sample dishes from far and wide at a cost which isn’t going to impact on the global credit crunch.
There’s Alaskan crab and Californian roll (£5.50), Japanese pork maki with sesame seeds (£4.75), and Tandoori lamb cutlet on tamarind jam (£6.25). I should have brought my passport.
But The Red Lion still has that homely feel of a local village pub. The rolling hills of Warwickshire are just beyond the windows. The beer garden might be less welcoming this time of year, but there is no confusion of your whereabouts in the country, thanks to the traditional interior of the Red Lion.
The welcoming vibe is perhaps not surprising, as it is the sister pub of another Warwickshire favourite, The Cross, in Kenilworth.
With its stripped wooden floors, modern furnishings and decked exterior, this is certainly a gastropub with a sense of style.
Anyway, it was time to strap on my seat belt and touch down on The Red Lion’s world tasting menu. For starters it was spicy green chilli chicken salad (£4.50). The chicken had a certain zing to it, and the salad was a refreshing accompaniment.
We also had the panko crumbed king prawn (£4.95). And this is not using the royal ‘we’. The world tasting plates are fantastic for sharing. Be prepared for a rouge fork to make its way from the other side of the table. This is a world without borders.
The prawns were cooked in Japanese breadcrumbs until they reached a perfect golden brown colour. They were crispy and tender; only three, but they tasted like they had time lovingly spent on them in the kitchen.
The menu changes week by week at the Red Lion – as it does at The Cross. The week’s special when we attended included sushi and lamb.
The sushi came with a portion of vinegar and a saucer of wasabi that could cure even the most blocked of noses. Everything tasted very fresh, which explains why pubs like The Cross change menus so rapidly.
The lamb too was excellent. Cooked in its own jus, the plate was covered in flavour and the vegetables soft and tasty.
For desserts we shared both the chocolate bombe (£5.95) and the chocolate fondant (£5.95).
We were by now full and content. It felt like such a long journey back to Birmingham. No wonder, I thought, the residents of Claverdon are so fond of their village.
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