what meals do you like when out?

A question about : what meals do you like when out?

I am in process of buying a gorgeous country pub,that does well with food. I am curious as to what are the most popular meals people order when they go out for a meal.
The food we will be doing is similar to what is being served now..proper food,not ping and ding.
Do you prefer real chips or frozen? I find kids prefer frozen!!cooked obviously!
My fav is chicken breast wrapped in bacon with cheese and bbq sauce on top.mmmm

possette goes into kitchen cupboards to forage...

Best answers:

• Must admit I prefer frozen chips, although some places don't seem to cook them long enough.
  I'm quite a picky eater, so am always pleased if the establishment can be flexible and do things without sauces.
  Good luck in your new venture :-)
• It depends on the weather in my case.If it's nice & warm,I'll prefer to eat something light like say skinny fries with fresh made fishcakes washed down with a cold Magners or German Bier.If it's not so hot,like Autumn,then I'd got for a pint of Guiness with maybe an Irish Stew or maybe local sausages,onion gravy & champ.
  I prefer fresh chips although the with skinny fries you cant beat frozen in that case.
  But I think the seasons dictate what to serve,especially with seasonality of veggies being populay at present.
  Good luck with the new pub!
• Thank you..you are all agreeing with me! My partner the chef says he isnt doing frozen chips! I said he bloody well is, as an option. I believe people should have the choice with chips,and anything we serve with a sauce will be seperate in a jug.I decided that all sauces will be listed seperately so you can have any sauce with any meat. If you want the pepper sauce with fish you can,if you want the watercress sauce with steak you can!..
  Any other tips with desserts etc? My fav at mo is Eton mess,as its summer, but in winter a caramel apple crumble will be it.
  Spike and fish cakes..spot on..we are doing them and the irish stew towards end of year.
  The aim is to do childrens menu that is any adult meal just half sized.I am sure there are many parents who are sick of limited choice for kids,being nuggets/sausage and burgers! also this helps the elderly who cant eat a full meal.
  am i covering all bases? Coeliacs also covered.Partnet currently deals with them and lacto intolerants.
  Any veggies got a fav dish?
• sounds good to me, I like homemade burgers, lasagne, shepherd pie, fish/chips (homemade), sausage and mash, sunday lunch, fish, steak, irish stew, beef in guiness stew and pies,
  I dont tend to go for pasta dished but the wife quite likes them....maybe a seafood ravioli might tempt me though.
  I dont bother with puddings normally (more of a starter man) but treacle pudding would be the one for me or a nice crumble
  I see you are in Notts/Derbyshire are you ok to pm the name of your place and might pop along sometime and give it a try
• For the veggies, how about a vegatable chili stuffed inside a red pepper on a bed of spicy rice?
  For pud's,how about Double Choc chip brownies? slice them thinly for the kids or serve with ice cream on the side for the grown ups?In the summer I'd go with a selection of ice creams,not many pubs do that & especilally if you can get good ice cream local.Or individual strawberry pavalova's?
• also meant to say good luck with it
  jim
• Just a thought,If the's an RAF or Army camp nearby,I'd stick on some German food.A lot of us still hanker after the odd Brattie or Currywurst (especially good idea on a Saturday,like now when the world cup's on) & not only that,a the's bound to be some Frau's married to the servicemen & would like a taste of home.
  Also,if the is a station nearby & you have an opening,each camp has a 'hive' (sort of families info center) so it'd be an idea to advertise there too.
• oooohhh drooling here..Have been looking at ice cream cakes online.The brownie is very good idea thanks.
  We will be on the Notts /Lincs border with the pub,near Grantham.It hasnt gone through as yet but we are hoping to complete this week. When it does and we are in..your all welcome! It would be fun to hold a MSE meeting with food and drink!! Ill even do you discount!!
• My fave veggie pub meals are all served locally anyway [and we ARE near you]...in the Victoria in Beeston...go there and have a look at their food and you will get an all round idea of what good home cooked pub grub should be.
  A sunday roast PLUS a good veggie roast, with roast spuds cooked in veg oil would have us visiting regularly.....it's one thing that pubs find so hard to get right and yet it's so simple to do!
  We aren't backward in paying for good food; and one thing that drives me mad is the '40 options all done badly rather than 5 done well' pub, or the 'two for one' pub.....it's all too cheap and we would rather have better quality food at a decent price than cheap tat.
  Also, have newspapers in the pub; it really makes a difference when waiting for good food to come!
  Once it is through, PM me the details and we'll come over as well.
• Here's the website from The Balloo House,a loverly place near me owned & ran by Chef Danny Miller,who was in the Great British Menu.
  His food is lush!
  https://www.balloohouse.com/
• Wow Spike that Baloo place is fab..id be there all the time.Prices are really good for that standard also.. We are lucky enough to have a split pub.The garden room can be more bistro,as it has stripped pine floor and pews french doors to patio,and the restaurant can be more upmarket,with table cloths wine glasses etc..i will be keeping that Baloo menu on my computer,great ideas.Are you on a Raf site spike?
• I'm a vegetarian. I am fussy and don't like spicy foods which are often the vegetarian choice. I usually go for chips and salad or vegetables from the extras part of the menu. My husband will eat anything but rarely chooses chicken - usually goes for beef or fish.
• I love eating out and for me both chips and gravy should be 'proper'. I hate frozen chips and gravy should always be made with meat juices. Good mash is hard to find too these days! I find any pub which has a good fish menu always seems to be popular, its something that people are often a bit scared/unsure of cooking or like me, just don't know what to do with it so it seems to be popular when eating out. I'm in heaven in our local pub with a tuna steak, proper chips and a really nice side salad - not just a 'garnish' consisting of 1 piece of tomato, 1 piece of cucumber, a bit of lettuce and a load of 'awful flowers' (cress!!!) but a decent sized nice crispy mixed salad.
• The gravy will be proper meat gravy, (veggie available),We both love fish so we will do a great choice of fish with sauces to accompany.Mash HAS to have butter in it,no arguing. Salads willbe colourful and plentiful too.Radish/peppers/cuc/sweetcorn/crispy leaves/red onion etc...god im getting hungry now. Taking all advice on board.
  Spike cant recall name of camp. We will be approx 5 miles east of Grantham and we drove from Newark direction,so its on the road between them! will look next time we visit,so i can see if there are many people we can attract from there.
• Nothing beats real chips - frozen chips are just poor quality fillers as far as I am concerned. A place near us does good food and real home made chips and they are superb - people always comment on them, and when I take friends they always go for chips once they have heard they are fresh and home made. Anywhere selling decent quality food who offer chips as an option should not spoil it by dishing up frozen chips - it lowers the tone of the whole meal. Some people may prefer frozen chips, but then some people actually like MacDonalds....
  I like lots of meals... but if I was eating in a pub, I would be very happy with a good quality steak with a nice fresh salad and real chips, or salmon wrapped in pancetta, or steak pie...
• Real chips as long as they are cooked twice. Fry them till soft on a lower heat then leave to cool. Fry at a high heat when needed - perfect. Proper steak pie - not stewed steak with a square of puff pastry obviously cooked seperately. Local ingredients are always popular. Mmmmm this is making me hungry. Oh, if you're serving families - proper kids meals not strange chicken dinosaurs :-)
  Sorry I sound dead picky now.