The Rose & Crown Hotel, Guildford

I have ate at the Rose & Crown in Guildford more times than I can remember. At one stage it came to a point where I would only order the pork belly, I was obsessed! It wasn’t until recently after yet another excellent meal there that I realised I hadn’t blogged about it.

To start with I love this hotel. Built in 1814 it is full of history.  Today you have the cosy bar with a wood fire burning and gorgeous oak barrel furniture, the fine dining living rooms (perfect date night material) “Posh Convict Restaurant” and “1841 Restaurant”, the underground cellar/bar area (be careful of the ghosts) and the trendy outside beer garden.

I have ate from both the bar menu and the fine dining menu. And naturally I have given the drinks menu a good going over. The weekend breakfast menu is not bad however I wasn’t completely wowed.

The bar and beer garden menu are your pretty standard breads & dips and tapas style small eats which are perfect to snack on over a few drinks. Every time I go to the R&C to either the bar or restaurant I always get the “local bread freshly baked, evoo, balsamic glaze and hazelnut dukkah” for $11. The bread is always so fresh and the dukkah is so scrumptious that the plate is completely clean within minutes!

I also really enjoy the pizza they do Friday-Sunday evenings – a small amount of toppings yet the flavours of those few ingredients work so well together that your taste buds are completely aroused. The Devil Woman pizza is a favourite! Plus the jugs of Pimms and Mojito go down a treat!

The only thing I wish they had more of were wines by the glass, I feel I’m on my 10th round of trying them all and particularly when I eat in the fine dining restaurant I do like to try and match my glass of wine with the different courses.

Typically I’ll order a sparkling wine while I mull over the menu and nibble on starters then I’ll end up going for fish, Mr. Spittoon for steak and then we’ll want something sweet with dessert so for us we tend to always order by the glass than by the bottle (and yes we live in walking distance hence why we tend to have a mini-degustation every visit!).

The fine dining menu is small and concise; it is a one pager with just enough to keep everyone happy and makes the decision easy enough that you don’t spend hours trying to decide. Plus there are always the daily specials as well (keep an eye on these as I have had some amazing dishes from this menu).

Like I said earlier I am a HUGE fan of the “pork belly twice cooked, potato galette, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, apple relish, pedro ximenez glaze” – it is just melt in your mouth goodness. The steaks are also a favourite, always cooked to perfection upon your preferred request and the steak chips are AWESOME.

I have tried the lamb ragu and salmon off the standard menu, which are also very tasty. Click here to view the full menu.

Last but not least is the dessert menu. Wait one second while I mop up my drool….

It is totally and undoubtedly divine. From the taste to the presentation to the dessert wines on offer. I cannot go to the R&C now without getting dessert, no matter how full I am. It would be sacrilege if I didn’t indulge. And 9 times out of 10 I just have to wash it down with either a nip of Talijancich 1961 solero or Noble One or the John Kosovich autumn harvest – yum!

I do find a night out at the R&C rather pricey. Obviously if you’re eating from the bar menu it is not so hard on the wallet but if you’re going for the full deal at the restaurant be prepared to spend a couple of hundred for two. Recently we took my parents there on their visit to WA and for 4 of us we would have spent $500-600 including a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the underground cellar.

The price tag may be high, but I always know that I won’t be disappointed at the end of it. I have to admit when we first started going there we use to play ‘spot the smile’ on the customer service team however over the past 6 months the team have brightened up and not only come with a smile but they’ll help with wine suggestions for dishes and give explanations on what some of those weird foodie terms mean without making you feel like an idiot for asking.

For more information please visit the Rose & Crown website.