Date Night at The Bulls Head in Meriden

I live on the outskirts of Birmingham, and because of this, I have the real luxury of having some wonderful restaurants on my door step.  I love venturing out into the city, but I equally love visiting places to dine in and around the surrounding countryside.  The gastro country pub The Bulls Head in Meriden is a lovely village and not far from Solihull.  It has recently had a refurb and transformed it’s restaurant and bar to offer visitors a more modern, stylish and contemporary feel.

The Bull’s Head is a listed building and is located on the main road that runs through Meriden.  Matt and I arrived to the press night (which I was super excited to be invited to!) at 7.45pm and were greeted by the lovely staff who took us through to the bar area.  We were welcomed with a roaring fire, conformable arm chairs and a gin station – what more could we want!  I decided to take full advantage of the gin bar (where I could help myself to the garnishes and fruit on offer).  With help from the bar staff I was advised on what would be a tasty addition to my Tanqueray Sevilla.  I went for an orange slice and mint.

Our experience at the Bulls Head in Meriden

We enjoyed our surroundings of the bar with some lovely canapés.  The waitress advised us that some on offer were smaller replicas of the starters they had on the menu.  We thoroughly enjoyed working our way through duck liver and port parfait, lobster and king prawn on rustic bread, Thai fishball and Katsu chicken.  Whilst relaxing in the bar, we really took in our surroundings.  The Bulls Head really does have a homely feel to it.  With soft furnishings and warm autumnal tones, it felt lovely to be relaxing in a rustic yet sophisticated bar.

Starters

We got taken to our seat after a short while and perused the menu – there was so much choice!  The restaurant had a real cosy feel to it despite it being a big place. We were seated in a corner of the room which gave out experience a romantic touch.

We both chose our starters – I went for the Sweet chilli king prawn roll and Matt went for the deep fried brie.  To get the whole experience, we both felt was important to share (of course!)  I wasn’t expecting the prawn roll to be served cold, but it actually had a lovely mix of flavours and the sweet chilli sauce really complemented the roll.  As always, the deep fried brie was delicious!

Main courses

There was plenty of choice from the main menu.  But I was easily drawn to the lab dish.  This consisted of roasted rack of lamb, served with aubergine, roasted sweet peppers, potato dauphinoise, red wine jus.  And it tasted delicious.  The portion size was very reasonable, with ample amount of vegetables and jus.  The lamb was cooked to my liking (pink) and was presented in a stylish gastro fashion.

Matt is an avid burger fan.  So surprise surprise he went for a burger!  There was several burgers on the menu.  He really wanted the Wagu Burger but unfortunately they didn’t have any Wagu beef in stock.  So he went for the home made British beef burger with an addition of bacon.  We also went for a side of mac and cheese!  He was really impressed with the burger describing it as juicy and flavoursome, especially with the added element of bacon!  We shared the mac and cheese which was super cheesy and we thoroughly enjoyed the side dish with our meals!

Dessert

Finally, we finished off our meal with two tasty desserts.  There was plentiful to chose from.  As one of my favourite desserts is creme brûlée, I had to order the Vanilla creme brûlée with home-baked sultana and oatmeal biscuits.  As Matt is a chocoholic, he went for the melting chocolate and peanut bomb…which was a dessert in its own right!  He said it was so good, it didn’t get any shares!

What a lovely date night we had at The Bulls Head in Meriden.  If you live local, take a visit for a lazy G&T or try the delights of this inspiriting menu.  If you have been, let me know in the comments below!  Or if you fancy an overnight stay, The Bulls Head is also home to 13 stylish en-suite bedrooms.  Perfect for a country weekend away!

Local to Birmingham?  Read my Smokey Barrells review here!

*This is a collaborative post.  We were invited to the press tasting night at The Bulls Head in Meriden *