Pub Sandwiches at the Grosvenor in Carrington up on Mansfield Road in Nottingham

The Grosvenor on Mansfield Road in Carrington is one of those pubs that seem to have been there for ages. I last blogged about this place back in 2014 when it was owned by John Barras, today it seems to be a Greene King pub.

We popped in for a bite to eat prior to a mini beer bimble around Doctors Orders and the Gladstone. As it happened this place also had a few good beers too and they accepted my CAMRA card so I was kind of OK with the whole chain pub situation

Last time I posted I recalled that “A pub has been on this corner since the early part of the 19th Century when it was known as the Blacks Heads Inn, In 1873 it was renamed the Grosvenor Hotel when it was bought by John Robinson who was the founder of Home Brewery. Locally it was then known as the Squires largely due to the stabling of horses fro the nearby Forest Racecourse. In the 1990’s the name was changed to the Grosvenor Pub”

I did a lot more research back then to justify the post.

Today though I admit that we were just here to fill a hole before we started necking a few pints of wholesome real ale. BUT hold on a minute mate! Lets just give this place a chance before you get all snobby again about Chain pubs 🙂 you aint all that and aren’t on the rich list for 2017 so be a bit more humble (note to self, stop talking to yourself, and also stop writing online notes to yourself too, someone might notice)

The menu always makes it look like the food is good

“satisfying Sandwiches & Wraps” ooh go on then

Normally on a Friday I am taking my chances with a Fish and Chips special, here at The Grosvenor they were offering a “Cod and Chips” – “Our signature cod fillet freshly hand battered served with seasoned chips, mushy peas or peas and tartare sauce” for £8.99.

But tonight I just ‘didn’t need’ the massive plate of food so I was looking at the Sandwich options instead.

I still wanted to stay on theme though. This wasn’t an excuse to leave room for beer (it was) it was just sensible cost effective eating 🙂

I made the effort though and got as close as I could to the Friday masterplan with my choice of sandwich! so Check this out 🙂

Cod Goujons

I picked the Fish Goujons sandwich which was described on The Grosvenor menu as “Hand battered Cod Goujons with tartare sauce and lettuce”, I chose to have mine on a white bloomer and it came with a dressed salad garnish.

This was basically a bit of a posh fish finger sandwich, but as it was served in a chain pub, lets not call it posh, although I expect (and accept) that the regulars would (and I did too).

I know it was a pub chain sandwich, but you know what? it was pretty good for what it was. I liked the white bloomer bread and I liked the goujon filling which was actually pretty plentiful. I think that there was at least three fried and battered pieces of cod in there, possibly four. I didn’t rip the beast apart to check. I quite liked the bottled tartare and the lettuce actually did its job of shielding the bread from sauce.

I know that in England we seem to judge a sandwich on how good the bread is, while in the States we judge it on how good the filling is. Here at the Grosvenor they both kind of balanced out.

Rump Steak Melt

Martin my erstwhile MyFoodHunt and Friday Pub Bimble partner in crime chose the Steak sandwich or as it was officially named the “Rump Steak Melt”. This was described on the menu as a ” 28-day aged Black Angus rump steak, with mature cheddar cheese, lettuce and red onion chutney” apparently for just £5.69

It did actually look pretty good for a chain pub sandwich, but I will lower my opinion of the steak under the ‘lets not talk about cousin angus’ radar. I am sure that all was fine.

Martin did say that ‘it wasn’t bad’ so that is a fairly good rating from the man

Sides of Fries and Onion Rings

We chose sides to share of Onion Rings and French Fries. The onion rings were OK, I was surprised, so I will give Green King some credit with their ability to produce something that has a crisp bite and a decent taste. I have had much better but I have had a lot worse. I would order them again

The fries were kind of frozen bag ‘average to sad’ I ate them because I was hungry but was not a massive fan

All in all, I found that these sandwiches were actually pretty decent and quite good value. I felt that I got what I asked for and to be honest, since I am writing about it they must have done something right :-).

I often find it hard to sum up the energy to pick my way through the chain pub menu with much enthusiasm, but as they are everywhere, we need to work out what meals are good value and are worth popping in for.

I probably won’t have the Goujon sandwich next time, but I am encouraged to spin the wheel of menu fortune and dine with Green King again. It was all quite decent