Reviews

When you've got children, especially young children, eating out can be a not-so-subtle form of torture.

The key is to find a venue that not only caters for kids food-wise, but can also provide some entertainment too; The Blue Boar at Sprowston fits the bill in every way - there's an extensive menu for tinies and a huge garden, complete with play equipment, which will keep them busy for hours.

Eight of us ate; four adults and four children. Two of the adults chose the pork Sunday lunch, £6.95 each; one chose the salmon fillet, £8.50; and the other chose a selection of starters costing around £5.

Two children went for burger in a bun, £2.25 each; one had cheese and tomato pizza, £2.50; and the other chose chicken nuggets, £2.50 - all orders came with chips.

There were a few vegetarian choices, but - as ever - there was no Sunday lunch option (Why? Would it be so hard to make a different jug of gravy and substitute meat for nut roast, vegetarian sausages or something similar?), just a variation on the normal pasta/heap of vegetables in cheese sauce kind of stuff. Boring.

The food arrived promptly, and there was a lot of it. Sunday lunch eaters said there was a good selection of vegetables and the roast potatoes were "excellent."

The salmon fillet proved to be the top choice of the day; moist fish, a lovely and unusual salad and heaps of chips on the side. Joyfully, the coleslaw was served separately meaning that it could be avoided at all costs and, indeed, used as a coffin for wasps later in the meal (what hell; to drown in coleslaw).

After they had been prised away from the climbing frame, the kids made short work of their burgers, pizza and chips. The chicken nuggets a little overcooked, but the chips went down the hatch without complaint. in the interests of giving a fair review, we decided it would be only proper if we tried dessert too. Ah, the sacrifices we make for you, the readers.

Three children chose ice-cream in a variety of flavours and with a teddy bear wafer (gl.50 each) and one chose chocolate fudge cake with ice-cream, £2.25.

The Blue Boar's dessert selection is truly impressive, and from it we chose lemon lush and lemon pavlova, £3.50 each. All desserts were fantastic - the children scoffed their ice-cream and cake in seconds and the lemon lush was a joy to behold and eat - layers of lemon mousse, cream, biscuit and white chocolate, while the lemon pavlova was a refreshing finish to a meal eaten on one of the hottest days of the year so far.

A special mention should go to whoever keeps the toilets clean at the Blue Boar (give that person a pay rise) and to the general cleanliness and decor at the pub which is above any criticism whatsoever.

The bill for food came to £51.25. Not cheap but what price can you put on an afternoon where you can relax while the children play happily?