A Royal Sunday Lunch for Yew and I!

Being a self-confessed (amateur) foodie, I do love to make a Sunday Roast for the family most weekends. It’s rare that we go out for Sunday lunch, and thought that we could try it this weekend.

Looking for somewhere close enough to home, but far enough out to feel like we were in a traditional country pub, directed us to try the Royal Yew, at Dean. Just 15 minutes from Workington, and in close proximity to Cockermouth and the rest of the Western Lake District, it was the ideal choice. I rang up to book and managed to get a table for 12.30. This was perfect as we wanted to go walking afterwards.

We were welcomed by friendly staff, and the roaring fire was a nice touch, especially on a quite chilly March morning. One tiny critique is that we weren’t shown to our table, we were simply given a table number and rough directions! I know this isn’t a huge deal, as we’re fairly intelligent people, but it did seem to confuse some other patrons; a number of groups sat in the wrong place and caused a bit of chaos. This, however, is possibly down more to human ignorance than a fault of the staff or running of the pub!

We decided to go straight to our main meals. Three Roast Beef dinners, please! The adult’s meals were £9.95 (Mr Guru thought that this was steep, I thought that it was reasonable), and the child’s portion was £5.95. Service was fast and our meals arrived within 10 minutes of placing the order.

The portion sizes were generous, without being obscene. I asked for my gravy to come separately, which was no issue at all. The meal consisted of a generous portion of beef, a huge Yorkshire Pudding, mashed and roasted potatoes and a side dish of broccoli, cauliflower cheese and red cabbage. For us, this was perfect, as Mr Guru doesn’t eat many veggies (other than carrots and turnip) so there was plenty for myself and the little one to eat. Mr Guru benefitted from me sticking to my Slimming World plan, so he got most of my roasts and half of my Yorkshire Pudding! I feel, had we been a family of three with normal eating habits, we would have definitely needed more vegetables than what we were given.

The beef was delicious. It wasn’t overdone and it was a good cut. Too often you go out for a roast to find your meat chewy or insanely fatty. This was neither!

The waiting on staff were attentive, without being hoverers. I am really put off by being asked five times during my meal how everything is! Ask once or twice, that’s enough. Our waitresses were excellent with Mini Guru. It’s definitely refreshing to find somewhere that’s child friendly without being gimmicky.

The hardest part of the meal for me was avoiding the Sticky Toffee Pudding… The menfolk enjoyed their puddings (Chocolate Fudge cake with cream and ice-cream… bonus star for this; Lakeland ice-cream for Mini G). An adult’s dessert was £5.95 and the child’s ice-cream was £3.95. I opted for the “Coffee and Mini-Pud” option, so I felt like I was having an indulgent moment, but I was also not being too naughty. The options of mini-puddings were Chocolate Pot, Lemon Posset, Crème Brûlée or Bakewell Tart. I had to have the chocolate option and it was wonderful. This was £5.

As a family, we will definitely be returning to the Royal Yew, possibly to try their other offerings (and on a day that I can try a many, many gins that are available). The total cost for the three of us was just under £45. Possibly a bit on the expensive side for a Sunday Roast, but the service and atmosphere was, minus the seating hiccup, excellent. I could’ve stayed there all day had we not planned our latest wander in the Lakes to burn off those extra calories!