Mazzy Snape - Creative PR, Journalism & Events

On Tuesday night I was delighted to get a taste of a selection of treats from the Rose Villa Tavern‘s new menu. I’m no expert but I do love good food, so here’s a simple, honest low-down for folk just like me!

As I had an early start the next day I only tried one cocktail, an ‘Elderflower & Cucumber Collins’. As a cucumber and gin fan this was the obvious choice for me, if you like those two things you will love this devine and cooling drink; if you don’t you won’t, simple as.

The RVT described it as ‘A refreshing blend of fresh muddled cucumber and sweetness from the St Germaine liquor sourness from fresh lemon and old tom gin making this a summer classic.’

Clover Club, Elderflower & Cucumber Collins

There seemed to be an endless stream of food, crispy fried chicken wings, ‘hipster’ vegan pasta, cobb salad with blackened cod and chicken, nachos, pulled brisket cannelloni, meatloaf, pulled pork and beef subs, grilled cheese and mushroom ciabatta, philly cheese ciabatta, veg chilli cheese fries and a selection of mouth-watering burgers. It all went down very nicely indeed!

Crispy Fried Chicken Wings

Blackened Chicken & Cobb Salad

The stand-out items for me (and this is my personal taste) were as follows:

Mamma’s Meatloaf

‘Homemade meatloaf to a secret recipe with sour cream and chive mashed potatoes, crunching green beans and white gravy with sausage.’

Meatloaf is something that we rarely eat here in the UK, it’s thought of mainly as an American dish. It hasn’t really had very good press from US TV shows over the years which portray it as an unadventurous and cheap meal option that the typical TV wife slops out of the oven onto her horrified children’s plates (and that’s if it’s not been burnt to a crisp).

As a result I expected this to be a fairly ‘nothing’ dish but, I was of course pleasantly surprised. The Meatloaf was moist and erm, meaty! Served with tasty bits of sausage and a creamy white gravy that was a perfectly scrumptious accompaniment. I found myself going straight back for more of the mash and green beans. Unfortunately it went so fast I didn’t get chance to get a photo!

Burgers

The Double Meat Treat, The Bacon Cheese & The Codfather Burgers

Everywhere in Birmingham has really upped their game in the past few years in the burger department and rest assure that The RVT have not been left behind.

I tried a bite of the ‘Buffalo’, ‘Bacon Cheese’ and ‘American Meat’ which were all as succulent and juicy as you would hope but the burger that really caught my eye was the fishy ‘The Codfather’. A beautiful fillet of cod in batter with tartar sauce an absolute bargain at £7.95, I’ll definitely going back for a whole one very soon!

Proper Nachos

It’s most upsetting when you order nachos and they get it wrong. The Rose Villa’s ‘Proper Nachos’ are crispy and fresh with tangy cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and everything you would expect. Simple but perfect.

I was absolutely stuffed by the time the ciabattas came out but still managed a tiny bite of the yummy grilled cheese with mushrooms (it’s a hard life), perfect lunch time treats.

Here’s a peek at the new menu to get you salivating! Or you can see it online here.

Writing this has made me ravenous! Off to the Rose Villa Tavern I go!

The fabulous header & footer image is by the very talented Jack Spicer Adams.