16/9 - The Farmhouse Brinsley

Update: May 2014 - this restaurant has now closed

This week has been a week of celebrations, Tony's birthday, our wedding anniversary and also Grace's birthday. Grace is the daughter of my oldest friend - no not the oldest person I know - we've been friends for the longest time - about 39 years. I remember Grace being born so her birthday always makes me feel old and as she turned 15 this year it was no exception. It also means we do more grown up things to celebrate her birthday and on this occasion she decided to try The Farmhouse, on Cordy Lane in Brinsley. The Farmhouse used to be a pub called the Yew Tree, which like a lot of pubs closed down never to reopen as a pub, instead opened by a company who already has a restaurant in Coventry, as a sizzler restaurant serving both Indian and English food. I have to admit to being a little disappointed at her choice, we had been holding our for Grace choosing The White Lion as it has nice beer, but Grace's decision was made based on the choice of pudding and you can't fault her reasoning. Also, we had been to the Farmhouse before and I remember the meal being OK, but I hadn't been blown away and my overriding thought was that it was overpriced. I'd heard mixed reviews from friends some saying how lovely it was, others not so favourable, even one "worse meal I've ever had".
So 6:30pm on Friday off we all headed, 7 of us altogether. We ordered drinks, the boys were drinking pints of bitter, we had Corona's with lime, Conor who's 19 (makes me feel even older) had Kopparberg. The drinks weren't outrageously priced but not cheap either.
It took us quite a while to order as the menu is extensive over 4 pages long for the Indian one and a separate English menu.
For starter we all had the obligatory poppadoms, with delicious chutneys and some pickles - I tried a lime pickle - it's not my thing!
Conor also had Stuffed Mushrooms, stuffed with spicy lamb and topped with that most Indian ingredient - mozzarella! They were tasty but there were 4 big mushrooms, a lot for a starter, would have made a meal with some rice or chips.

Lasagne

Grace and Lauren decided to go for the English Menu - well strictly speaking Italian.
Lauren had a lasagne, it came with a salad and some garlic bread.
It looked nice, but it was mostly cheese. The little meat there was in there was dry, I always expect lasagne to have a juicy tomato sauce and be topped with creamy cheese sauce, but this was a pasta sandwich of dry mince topped with cheese and sprinkled with parsley. Lauren did it justice but ended up eating quite a few of Grace's curly fries.

Salmon Tagliatelle

To go with her curly fries Grace ordered Salmon Tagliatelle, which again was sprinkled with parsley and served with garlic bread. The tagliatelle and salmon were served in a rich, cheese and salmon sauce. Grace couldn't manage it all she said it was very rich.Tony tried it and wasn't impressed, he said it had a very fishy taste.

Tikka Masala?

The sizzler past of the sizzler

Lamb Balti

I'm not sure what Conor had looks like a tikka masala, he did his best but after his starter and chips and rice and a couple of bottles of Kopparberg, he was getting pretty full.

Sizzler part 2

Chris ordered the Lamb Balti with Fried Rice, the rice was lovely not at all greasy and with lovely crunchy fried onions. He said the Balti sauce was delicious but the lamb was cooked terribly and was hard and rubbery, so he ended up leaving some.
Tony and Jean both ordered Mixed Tandoori Sizzlers, a 3 part extravaganza. First a sizzling platter of onions and peppers topped with lamb, prawns, chicken and kebab. Then a side salad, some vegetable rice and some vegetable curry. Finally it was accompanied by what was described as a mini naan, but when it came it was big as a plate, so goodness knows what size the non-mini naans are! Tony really loved his, he said it was really tasty and interesting.

Balti Tandoori Mix & Fried Rice

Finally I had a Balti Tandoori Mix. I really liked the sauce and the chicken, it was rich and tasty, with a spiced taste but not too hot. They had left the chutneys so I got my heat from the sweet chilli. The prawns were lost a little in the sauce, they had a good texture but seemed tasteless. The lamb - well we all had the same problem with the lamb - tough as old boots! What a shame!
Just when we thought we couldn't take any more Grace ordered Apple Pie for pudding. To me it looked like a very commercially produced pie, she enjoyed it, but was too full to finish it all.
Overall the meal was OK. The staff were helpful, even though there were a few "new starters". For example Lauren's dinner came on a very hot plate and they were quick to bring a cold replacement. The meal wasn't without it's issues though, we had a glass of flat lemonade and then there was the lamb.
The restaurant itself is nicely done, standard decor for new restaurants these days, white walls, leather chairs etc. It was very busy, there was a 50th birthday party going on, so hard to have a conversation over dinner and we ended up going back to ours for a night cap.
I think the Farmhouse would benefit from narrowing it's menu, too much choice is not always a good thing. I would say give it a go if you want an Indian, but if you want something less spicy there are better restaurants to visit. The bill for the 7 of us, not including the drinks was £74, so about £10 a head, not bad.