Plume of Feathers, Barlaston

We’d been meaning to lunch at the Plume of Feathers for a while before we actually got around to it.

We really had no excuse as, located in the village of Barlaston near Stone in Staffordshire, it’s not far from Downs Banks which is one of our regular weekend dog-walking spots.

After rocky beginnings, which perhaps attracted more than its fair share of publicity due to one of the owners being actor Neil Morrissey, the Plume of Feathers has since gained a good reputation for its food and beer, including being shortlisted in the 2017 Great British Pub Awards.

first visit: an enjoyable lunch

Myself and my partner, ID, finally got around to visiting one Monday lunchtime with my brother who was up from London for a few days. We’d been walking at Downs Banks and were after a quick lunch before my brother had to catch his train.

If you didn’t know Neil Morrissey was a co-owner beforehand, you certainly would as soon as you enter the Plume of Feathers, as there’s lots of images of him over the walls. We didn’t find this intrusive though, so even if you’re not a fan or into celebrity doodah, then you shouldn’t let that put you off.

The large, square bar area is the dog-friendly portion of the pub (along with the outside seating) so that’s where we’ve sat on each of our visits. It’s a pleasant space with windows along one side, cleverly placed large planters in the outside seating area obscuring the road beyond.

There’s a good range of real ales on offer including one of my favourites, Titanic Brewery’s Plum Porter, and a real ale tasting board where you get to sample three different beers, each in one third of a pint glasses.

As for the food, I often find that on pub menus, even very long ones, there’s not that many dishes that take my fancy – in fact, very long menus put me off as they tend to mean the freezer’s well stocked but there’s not a lot of actual cooking going on. However, there were lots of things that sounded good here and the menu stated that everything was homemade and that ingredients were sourced locally.

I decided on the ‘Boatman’s Lunch’: a very good homemade sausage roll, a thick slice of flavourful cider-braised ham, honey mustard chipolatas, cheese, pickles which included a memorable sweet piccalilli, a bread roll and dressed salad. I had a side order of huge and lovely triple-cooked chips too. I couldn’t fault any of this and really enjoyed the different tastes and textures.

ID had panko-crumbed chicken fillets & Caesar salad on a baguette, served with chips and more salad. He said everything was ok, nothing particularly special, but did eat every single morsel.

My brother had the rump steak with chips and salad, and the steak was the only slight disappointment of the meal. Although it was well-flavoured and cooked medium-rare as requested, the steak was a little tough. However, when this was mentioned to staff in response to them asking if we enjoyed the meal, they insisted on taking one of the pints of beer off the bill, even though we said that was unnecessary as pretty much all the steak had been eaten anyway. In a world where you’re all too often met with a shrug if, when prompted, you point out that something was not quite right, it was refreshing that the Plume of Feathers felt compelled to try to put things right.

With just this one error, we decided that we’d definitely be back.

second visit: loved it

Coincidentally our second visit, two months later, was also on a Monday lunchtime – weird, as the only two times we’ve been to Downs Bank during the week we’ve ended up at the Plume of Feathers. Despite it being a weekday though, there were plenty of drinkers and diners already there when we arrived around 12.30pm.

As we had time for a more leisurely lunch on this occasion, we decided to have starters as well as mains and maybe a pudding too.

To start, I had the smoked haddock scotch egg with Stornaway black pudding, beer-pickled onions & curry mayonnaise. When it arrived, the plate looked stunning and the aroma of the smoky fish  coming off it was really appetizing. Even our server said it had made her mind up about what she was going to have for lunch. The taste didn’t disappoint either: the soft-cooked egg, surrounded by perfectly seasoned smoked haddock and its crispy coating was just right. Part of me was disappointed that the black pudding wasn’t local, but on the other hand Stornaway black pudding is just about the best you can get, so I’ll forgive them that. The almost sweet taste of the cubes of fried black pudding were a good contrast to the pleasant astringency of the accompanying crunchy slices of beer-pickled onion. There seemed to be an awful lot of mayonnaise on the plate but, eating the dish, I found that the kitchen had judged it absolutely right and not a trace of the lightly curried sauce remained when I’d done. So, a really stand-out starter with excellent combinations of taste and texture.

Unusually for me, I chose a curry for my main course. Don’t get me wrong, I love curry, but I’ve virtually never ordered it in a pub. Maybe it’s because I lived in Leicester for over 25 years where you’re spoilt for choice if you want to eat an authentic curry, or perhaps it’s the thought of those identical chain-pub curries that are made god knows where, shipped around the country and microwaved. Whatever the reason, I normally avoid the pub curry but the menu at the Plume of Feathers suggested they knew what they were talking about.

The Rogan Josh was described as 24-hour marinated and slow-cooked lamb shoulder, served with cumin and coriander basmati rice, naan, spiced onion pickle and raita.

I think I made the right call on this one, as the flavouring of the curry was very good. The kitchen clearly knows its way around spices as this curry was a million miles away from the mass-produced version you’d get in lesser pubs. As you’d every right to expect from long cooked lamb, the meat was perfectly tender and was also nicely cloaked in the complexly-flavoured sauce. The onion pickle and minty yogurt alongside nicely lightened the whole thing.

Like the starter, the rogan josh came in a generous portion and with both rice (delicately flavoured and perfectly cooked) and naan (soft, pillow-like and studded with black onion seeds). Despite this being a lot more carb than I’d normally choose to eat, I couldn’t resist ordering the suggested side of onion bhaji rings and a poppadum – a nice, fun idea, executed well, although I’d have liked a little more spicing in the bhaji batter.

With all this generosity, we found we didn’t have room for pudding after all.

But with its friendly and capable staff, choice of great beers and a talented kitchen turning out quality plates of food, we’re sure to keep returning to the Plume of Feathers  –  so I’ll let you know about those puddings.