Marigold Tavern: Currying favour with diners and drinkers

What is it going to bring to the table? Innovative new dishes, amazing luxurious setting, incredible service standards?

What I like about The Marigold Tavern it doesn’t fall into that trap of raising expectations and failing to deliver. It sets it stall out quite honestly, opting for the more than a restaurant, not just a pub approach .

And it has the balance just right.

From the outside, there is little to give away what awaits you inside – not even the name, which reflects the colour scheme and the fact it is very much a pub! One that serves food. Where you can just go for a drink and watch sport on the big screen TVs.

Tarun and the team behind the venture have been keen to emphasise they want provide a “local” for the village while drawing in people for the food.

The colour scheme is kind on the eye and entering from the large park the first of many murals greets you in an entrance bar area with tables and chairs and a big screen TV for those who want to combine eating/drinking and live sport.

There is also a much bigger room, served by the bar, with much-muralled walls and big screens aimed at the pubgoers.

We were seated in an area aimed primarily at diners. Simple but comfortable tables and chairs with plenty of space around us. And to give it more of a restaurant feel, table service.

We ordered drinks – an impressive array of premium lagers if that is your tipple – and turned our attention to the menus (which we had already checked out online).

Now there are no apologies for not trying to be ground-breaking in terms of the menu. Good, traditional dishes – curries and grills, which everyone will know by name, and probably smell!

A starter menu of pakoras, bhajis, samosas and side dishes of saag aloo, saag paneer, tarka daal, all very much as you would expect.

The same can be said of the mains – tikka masala, madras, vindaloo, jalfrezi, korma…..

And it was the latter which interested the girls – the youngest choosing chicken korma from the children’s menu (£6.50). A decent sized bowl of thick creamy sauce with plenty of meat and that unmistakable coconut aroma and taste, with a nice, soft naan.

Her older sister went for the main menu offering (£10.95), a bigger helping it must be said but that same great taste. A bowl of plain rice (£2.75) was enough for us all to share.

My Marigold Table Tandoor (£16.50) was a treat – and I did like the copper pot serving vessel. Chicken tikka, lamb chops and huge king prawns on skewers – not great on the eye on the plate, but beautifully cooked and just what I was hoping for in terms of flavour.

A much prettier dish – and in Donna’s opinion as good as any around – was the stunning chicken shashlik (£13.95) that tasted as good as it looked; golden chunks of meat with succulent onions and topped with fresh coriander.