Owners of renovated pub The Red Lion in West Deeping are awarded 2 AA Rosettes
A couple who took on an historic pub and renovated it themselves are toasting the award of two AA Rosettes status.
It has taken just four years for Frazer and Emma King to turn The Red Lion at West Deeping into one of the most desirable places in South Lincolnshire to eat.
The AA scheme recognises culinary excellence and Frazer demonstrated his considerable skill to land the accolade.
A career chef, he has previously been part of a team which has been recognised by the scheme. However, this award acknowledges his own efforts and Emma could not be prouder.
She said: “We’re really pleased with the award.
”It’s a team effort with 90 per cent based on Frazer’s skill.”
The couple, who have been married for 14 years, had long held the ambition to run their own pub and saw The Red Lion, which dates from the 1600s, as their perfect opportunity.
”We moved in during lockdown and did the renovations ourselves, with our parents’ support,” said Emma. “We’re continuing to work on it now by de-modernising it by, for example, taking out the gas fires and putting in log burners.
”It was a bit dark beforehand but it’s a really beautiful building.
Read our Eat My Words review from our visit to The Red Lion in January
”We’re really proud at what we’ve achieved. We’re a little bit in the middle of nowhere but people do travel to us and we have a lot saying ‘we haven’t been here for years.’”
The process of achieving an AA Rosette status begins with an application and there are several hurdles to clear before an establishment knows whether it will be considered.
After confirmation, a judge will visit in a ‘secret shopper’ style and it is only when they hand over a business card at the end that the staff know who they had served.
The Red Lion three-course meal which impressed the AA judge comprised toasted crumpet with a fried bantam egg, Grasmere chorizo and wild garlic butter; sea buckthorn roast halibut with samphire pakora, curry sauce and seashore greens; and a miniature dessert.
Emma said: “We are fiercely seasonal so our menu changes weekly, allowing us to choose the best local ingredients.
“We chatted to the judge after the meal and were really thrilled when she told us her recommendation before she left.
”You then have to wait a couple of days for the ratification.”
According to the AA, the two Rosettes status is for excellent restaurants that achieve higher standards and better consistency.
”A greater precision is apparent in the cooking, and there will be obvious attention to the selection of quality ingredients,” it says.
Establishments often have a secret visit before the judge’s to enable consistency to be evaluated.
The Kings are so pleased and proud with the award plate that they had a shelf built to display it behind the bar.
The pub, which is supplied by Market Deeping’s Hopshackle brewery and Deeping St James’s Grasmere Farm, is open from Wednesdays to Fridays midday-11pm, Saturdays 10am-11pm and Sundays midday-6pm.
