When I received an invitation to go and review The Bull Bracknell it didn’t take me long to say yes! I didn’t know much about it, but had been
past when I went to The Lexicon when it first opened. I mentioned it to my Dad, as The Bull kindly offered to
gift me and a plus one with a three-course meal, and he told me how he used to
go to the original The Bull pub years ago, when he worked in Bracknell! So he
was really interested to see what they had done with the place.
The Bull is one of Bracknell’s oldest and most loved
buildings, but it has been given a new lease of life with the help of the
premium pub company, Young’s. The brand is known for serving seasonal British
food and drink, from craft beers and classic gin and tonics to fine wine. The
original part of The Bull is a Grade II listed building, which stands at the
heart of the town centre. However, it doesn’t look like the old, slightly
run-down pub that it used to be. Instead, it has undergone an extensive
refurbishment to restore it to its former glory, as well as having the addition
of a modern, light and airy extension to the rear.
I’ll be completely honest and say that I wasn’t
expecting that much from our visit – standard pub grub and a dark and dingy
interior were what I had in mind. So I was incredibly pleasantly surprised when
we stepped inside the newly refurbished building. I could automatically feel
the warm and cosy atmosphere of the old pub, as I made my way with my
wheelchair round to the extension at the back. They even had a wheelchair lift
to get me down a few stairs between the old and the new! Going into the new
part of the pub, the high ceilings, made from original wooden beams with
impressive arches and exposed brickwork, struck us. It didn’t look like it
should work, but it totally does! We were shown to our booth, where we made
ourselves comfortable and browsed through the menu.
As I mentioned, The Bull had kindly offered myself and
a guest a three-course meal to review. But we decided to bring my Mum along as
well and pay for her meal separately. We started by choosing our drinks – my
Dad went for a Hogsback TEA, I went for an orange juice and lemonade and my Mum
had a Diet Coke. The staff were very attentive and helped us with any questions
we had about the items on the menu, and we had soon placed our orders.
For our starter, we decided to go for something we
could all share – a selection of artisan breads, garlic butter, extra virgin
olive oil and sweet tomato relish, coming in at £6.25. Our eyes lit up when
they brought the board out – just look at those chunks of bread! I’m not
usually one for chutneys or relishes, but the sweet tomato relish was insane.
Unfortunately, there was too much bread for us to get through, but what we managed
to eat was so good.
We didn’t have long to wait for our main courses, and
boy did they smell and look good! I had trouble picking because everything
looked so amazing, but in the end I went for a seasonal game short crust pastry
pie, buttered Chantenay carrots and creamy mash for £13.95. I don’t really eat
a lot of red meat, and had never tried game before, but I’m a sucker for pie
and mash (especially mash) so knew I needed to try it. And I’m so glad I did.
The meat inside the pie was tender and so incredibly flavorsome, and it came
with this amazing gravy in the cutest bull jug. And the mash – oh my goodness,
I don’t even know how to describe the taste of it! It was so creamy and I’m not
sure what they put in it, but it just tasted amazing.
My Dad chose the 28 day aged Angus sirloin steak,
triple cooked chips, roast shallot and mustard butter and watercress for
£22.50. He’s not always the easiest person to please, so I was interested to
hear what his thoughts were on the meal. All I could get out of him was him
constantly saying, “This is the best steak I’ve eaten in a very long time!” So,
as far as I’m concerned, that’s a glowing review from Dad! I did pinch one of
his chips, and they were so crispy on the outside and then soft and fluffy on
the inside – yum! My Mum went for a classic fish finger butty, pickled egg
tartare on sour dough for £7.50. We were fully expecting them to bring out a
couple of pieces of bread with a couple of little fish fingers in it. But oh
no, that’s not how The Bull does a fish finger butty! It came with soft fluffy
sour dough and proper fillets of fish cased in batter. My Mum was very
impressed!
I wasn’t able to eat all my pie (partly because of my
digestive problems and partly because it was so big!) but I managed to save a
bit of room to share a pudding with my Mum. We chose Immy’s 3 ways chocolate
brownies for £5.50, not really knowing what to expect. Out came this chocolatey
goodness, which consisted of a layer of brownie (with lots of rum!), a layer of
chocolate mousse and a layer of chocolate ganache. On top was some passion
fruit cream. I expected it to be really sickly, but because there were the
different layers and it was dark chocolate, it was really nice. My Dad opted
for a couple of scoops of Jude’s ice cream – they had an amazing range of
flavours to choose from, which is always good. He also had a cup of coffee,
which came with the cutest little milk urn! Again, he did nothing but rave
about the quality of the coffee, which says a lot, as he’s definitely a coffee
snob!
Overall, all three of us were absolutely bowled over
by The Bull – the food, drinks and staff were all fantastic, exceeding our
expectations ten fold. We spent the rest of the day talking about how brilliant
it was, told all our family and friends to go and check them out, and will most
definitely be going back again very soon! Big thank you to The Bull team for
treating us to such a lovely meal.
Have you had a meal at The Bull? Or have I been
able to tempt you into going? I’d also love to hear about other restaurants you
would like me to review for you!
*The Bull team kindly gifted me and a guest
with a three-course meal, however we paid for the third meal ourselves. All
opinions are my own and I would only review places I would genuinely visit and
that fit with my blog.
