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The Swan Stafford: Brasserie & Restaurant
- Thread starter Andreas Rex
- Start date
Great idea, don't know why anyone would moan about the place to be honest. Good for food, good for going for a drink, or for the live music. Can't afford to go every week, but the prices are all about the prestige of the place. If someone comes to the town you don't know, take them to the Swan and they have that 'wow' factor about it.
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
So did they do draught goblin?
Pie and ale have now gone bulmers only on bottles, and the sun have replaced all their decent bottles with fruit flavoured girly ciders. They still have the 3 still ones, but lately they seem to stick to the cheaper stuff like bounds scrumpy. I need somewhere else to drink!
Pie and ale have now gone bulmers only on bottles, and the sun have replaced all their decent bottles with fruit flavoured girly ciders. They still have the 3 still ones, but lately they seem to stick to the cheaper stuff like bounds scrumpy. I need somewhere else to drink!
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
On the subject of lunches... Hope you don't mind some thoughts:ChrisLewis said:
Just having a quick whizz through the website. It mentions that you'll cater for special diets if mentioned when placing an order. I'd be interested what training staff receive in this, as I've been put off eating at the Swan since my experience at a Christmas dinner a few years back. I'm vegan - which was mentioned at the time of booking - but when it came to the meal, a member of waiting staff tried to palm off a risotto quite clearly ladled with cream as vegan and when challenged categorically stated it contained no dairy.... when I asked another member of staff they admitted it did. I'm by no means singling out the Swan here but at a lot of restaurants, staff seem to lack basic knowledge in different dietary requirements. In some cases requirements are down to a choice not to eat certain things, in others it is down to an allergy - both should be treated with equal importance though.
Whilst I accept carnivorous people are in the majority in the population, the number of veggie dishes seem very limited. Increasingly a lot of meat eaters wish to eat meat free meals sometimes. Also, when with a group of people, the choice of place to eat is often based on the menu having something for someone in the group. On occasion I've been with friends (all carnivores!), and we've rejected places that couldn't cater for a vegan - so they lost the custom of not just one person but several.
The other thing that strikes me is that the veggie dishes you offer don't seem to be very easily adapted to remove certain ingredients (e.g. cheese) which presumably means more work for your chef if someone does come in and request something for a particular dietary requirement! There does seem to be a great deal of cheese thrown in to most of the vegetarian items and this isn't really a healthy way to get protein in place of meat.
Also, it doesn't inspire confidence when you have prawn crackers included in a dish labelled as vegetarian....!
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
I often wonder why places don't just choose vegan as their vegetarian options. I can't imagine that a vegetarian is going to mind vegan food and you've covered two groups of customers with one dish. The thing that really...really irritates me is when menus indicate which of their starter/main dishes are suitable for vegetarians and then leave you with no clue whatsoever when it comes to puddings. A goodly number of which will include gelatine. Also, things will be described as 'suitable for vegetarians' while including a liberal helping of Parmesan cheese, which is not vegetarian. To be fair, it is getting a lot easier on the soup-front, these days. Most will use vegetarian stock or at least be able to tell you about the stock.henryscat said:
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
Yes, I agree. Quite often it wouldn't take a great deal to make a veggie dish vegan, and there would be no difference in the taste or the cost of making it.flossietoo said:
There's a few examples that spring to mind.... Where veg sausages / burgers are concerned, more often than not they contain egg, but there are plenty of eggless ones on the market which are just as good. Nut roasts (the archetypal veggie dish) and similar sometimes have egg in but there's no need. Bloody Quorn mince is a common one, that's made with egg white, but using "Vegemince" or similar would make it vegan (Quorn seems to crop up in veg chillis). Where pasta dishes are concerned using wheat rather than egg pasta, and making cheese optional would work. Soups sometimes get cream added in, but this isn't necessary and could always be added later giving the option to have it with or without. Pizzas can be done without cheese. I don't think any of it is particularly complicated, but just needs a bit of thought.
I know that a number of Forumites are vegetarian/vegan, so given how much you lot apparently love to eat this is an excellent topic for discussion, and this:
Although I'm sure ChrisLewis is eager to answer your specific question regarding The Swan, henryscat.
...is a particularly good point! Worthy of a new thread, no doubt.flossietoo said:
Although I'm sure ChrisLewis is eager to answer your specific question regarding The Swan, henryscat.
ChrisLewis
Well-Known Forumite
Flossietoo
We normally do a session on allergy & special diets about twice a year, just before Christmas we did a session in preparation for Christmas & covered celiac menus, vegetarian & vegan as these are the most common we encounter, plus the allergies that we tend to face on a regular basis.
Apologies over your recent visit, with regards the cheese issue and vegetarian dishes we are fully aware that Parmesan, has no vegetarian alternative due to its PDO recondition, hence we now use pecorino as an alternative which we can source as a vegetarian product.
I fully agree that what it needs is more thought on our behalf, I also take on board the points made my Henryscat, my challenge now is to ensure that in the new year our new menu encompasses your comments.
However I am open to a bit of plagerisation, so if you were to email me some vegan dishes that you believe suitable you never know..... I might just get our chaps to borrow some great ideas
Happy Christmas & thanks for the feedback
We normally do a session on allergy & special diets about twice a year, just before Christmas we did a session in preparation for Christmas & covered celiac menus, vegetarian & vegan as these are the most common we encounter, plus the allergies that we tend to face on a regular basis.
Apologies over your recent visit, with regards the cheese issue and vegetarian dishes we are fully aware that Parmesan, has no vegetarian alternative due to its PDO recondition, hence we now use pecorino as an alternative which we can source as a vegetarian product.
I fully agree that what it needs is more thought on our behalf, I also take on board the points made my Henryscat, my challenge now is to ensure that in the new year our new menu encompasses your comments.
However I am open to a bit of plagerisation, so if you were to email me some vegan dishes that you believe suitable you never know..... I might just get our chaps to borrow some great ideas
Happy Christmas & thanks for the feedback
flossietoo
Well-Known Forumite
You've eaten at Ottolenghi's*? I'm so jealous! Incidentally, kudos to Chris Lewis for using the Forum to seek feedback in this way. I hope my own comments didn't seem like a direct criticism, they weren't meant to be.hammerman said:
* Admin edit: See this post for the original.
Flossietoo....yes, have eaten at many a fine, interesting and not always expensive places in London...fortunate to do quite a bit of business down there and in different areas so get the chance to try different cuisines.
on another note (Post House) will not be eating there yet awhile if at all......the prices are outrageous...by that i mean...do not mind paying £12.00 for a starter but if i do i expect the service and experience to be as good as the food is meant to be....it is a package and not just about the food.....and if they (Dennis Foster) is charging full whack from day one then he had better be sure that the experience and service measures up also from day one . they go on about Michelin this and that.....but if you are going to bandy this around you had better make sure you can deliver, otherwise you end up looking foolish
on another note (Post House) will not be eating there yet awhile if at all......the prices are outrageous...by that i mean...do not mind paying £12.00 for a starter but if i do i expect the service and experience to be as good as the food is meant to be....it is a package and not just about the food.....and if they (Dennis Foster) is charging full whack from day one then he had better be sure that the experience and service measures up also from day one . they go on about Michelin this and that.....but if you are going to bandy this around you had better make sure you can deliver, otherwise you end up looking foolish
ChrisLewis
Well-Known Forumite
Ottolenghi book purchased, can I just say only two willing volunteers for my forum about The Swan.....come on folks, come out from behind your screens & keyboards and hit me with some valuable feedback....
Would some of you be willing to meet face to face and act as a consumer panel shall we say, prior to The Swan having a facelift, tell me you loves, hate, gripes and moans are, what we can improve, where we are going wrong, what we should try harder at.
If any of you are amicable to this, I'll even buy you lunch (nothing like some bribery) simply email me and I'll get back in touch in the new year:-
chrislewis@thelewispartnership.co.uk
Would some of you be willing to meet face to face and act as a consumer panel shall we say, prior to The Swan having a facelift, tell me you loves, hate, gripes and moans are, what we can improve, where we are going wrong, what we should try harder at.
If any of you are amicable to this, I'll even buy you lunch (nothing like some bribery) simply email me and I'll get back in touch in the new year:-
chrislewis@thelewispartnership.co.uk
Bear in mind that it's the Christmas period, so there aren't as many people online! I dare say many people haven't seen your original post.ChrisLewis said:
In fact, you could even start a new thread, to ensure people are aware of your invitation. Something along the lines of "Invitation to a face-to-face feedback session at The Swan".
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
Thanks for coming back with such a positive response. Its good to know that staff do receive the relevant training. As regards menus, nothing wrong with getting good ideas from elsewhere.... The Warehouse Cafe in Birmingham (more a restaurant than Cafe really!) normally has a pretty varied selection, though sadly they don't put their specials board online - http://www.thewarehousecafe.com/menu (they are behind Moor Street station if you're ever in Brum).ChrisLewis said:
Quite often there it's only one ingredient that stops a veggie dish being vegan. For example - with Sunday lunches, if the veggie option is veg sausages then choosing ones without egg in would make the whole lot vegan. Similarly pizzas, a decent veg pizza offered with an option to leave off the cheese would be fine. On the sandwich menu, using veg margarine instead of butter or the option of hummous in place of butter could work.
Veg chillis or veg curries are quite common but amazing how many end up with either cream in or in the case of chillis quorn mince gets used.
Chatting to the staff in the Brown Lion in Jewellery Quarter in Brum, they mentioned that their menu was put together with advice from a veggie place in Moseley. http://brownlion.twotowerstaverns.co.uk/
A bit further afield in Capel Curig the Bryn Tyrch inn http://www.bryntyrchinn.co.uk/good-food.htm does really nice food, with a veg/vegan options always on the menu.
Kingy
Well-Known Forumite
Mrs King and I will sample your wares if you don't get any more offers from grubhunters.ChrisLewis said:
I take it there will be some wares to sample (?) from the new menu on the consumer panel otherwise you might as well get people to fill in an online form on the website. Face to face is nice but food to face is better.
Wormella
Well-Known Forumite
This sounds like a wonderful idea - I'm sure Goldilox and I can take you up on that. I know his current gripe is places only having a pasta option as a veggie main, irrespective of the cuisine of the restaurant, time of year, and then charging the same as meat dishes...ChrisLewis said:
It always seems like a bit of a lazy option, especially when fresh pasta isn't hard to do at home..
ExiledInStaffers
Well-Known Forumite
Love the swan. My first night in Stafford was at a live gig outside there. Jolly good. Cocktails are a disaster though. Bar prices don't bother me too much. Price out the riff raff and all that but my god the gin and tonics are expensive.