Eat My Words: We review The Blue Ball at Braunston in Rutland

If you imagine Rutland, having never visited before, you probably picture quintessential country cottages with thatched roofs and perhaps a meandering path to the reservoir beyond.

And just two miles outside of Oakham, you’ll get more or less that - without the reservoir (it’s in the other direction) - in the village of Braunston. In the centre of the village sits its thatched roof pub - The Blue Ball - which is the county’s oldest inn and has been offering hospitality for more than 400 years.

When you step through the stained glass door - duck if you’re as tall as I am - you’ll find a gem of a traditional pub with beautiful fairy lights hanging delicately from the wooden beams and a cast iron fire place.

But the menu is anything but traditional - and that’s the real hidden gem.

Just over three years ago, the pub was taken over by Bups Chaggar, who had more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry but was determined to embark on a new adventure.

We were invited to give it a go and were told that some of the food has an “Indian twist”.

We were served quickly at the bar and then seated - albeit it at a table set for eight when there was just my husband and I which was a little odd - and given the menus. I’ve got to be honest and say I wasn’t expecting great things when I saw that the menu was four A4 pages long - a page for starters and three further pages for main courses. In addition to this, our waiter told us about not just one but three pies of the day and a curry of the day. Sometimes less is more and you wonder how good the quality is going to be when there is so much choice.

Having seen an advert for a Punjabi curry night on the first Tuesday of the month, my eyes were taken by the Indian offerings on the menu.

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I opted for vegetable samosas to start followed by Punjabi style chicken shashlik and my husband, Richard, opted for courgette bhajis (he doesn’t like onion so often misses out on the bhaji experience) and the curry of the day which on the night we visited was butter chicken.

The food came out quickly and was beautifully presented. Forget flimsy samosas that are half filled - these were thick traditional samosas absolutely jam packed and with two different dips, including a really fresh minty dip. Richard’s bhajis were similar with their own dip too.

Clean plates whisked away, our mains quickly followed. Richard’s curry looked beautiful and I was given a “side” plate with a circle of fluffy rice, a poppadom, a pan of butter sauce, some mango chutney and a side salad - my only regret was that Richard also got a yoghurt mint dip and I didn’t.

My hot plate of chicken with sizzling onions and peppers arrived - with smoke rising above it so much so the pub soon had a smoky glow and it came with a warning from the waiter to be careful because it was so hot. I quickly moved the contents from the hot plate to my dinner plate so we weren’t disturbing other nights - on a Thursday autumn night, this village pub was reasonably busy.

The food was absolutely to die for. I’ve eaten a fair few curries in my time and the butter sauce that accompanied my beautifully cooked chicken and perfectly cooked rice was probably the best curry sauce I’ve ever had. I’m still thinking about it now.

Richard had a butter chicken but his sauce was totally different to mine. You could tell that every element of both dishes - including the poppadoms - had been home-made.

The only way I can emphasise how beautiful both dishes were is that barely a word was said between us while we were eating, other than the occasional ‘mmm’ and his plate was totally wiped clean, while mine had a few grains of fluffy rice left because I was just too full.

We were offered the dessert menu but having seen a neighbouring table receive their generously-sized desserts, I only accepted so I could take a photo for the purposes of this review. I usually love a dessert but nothing especially stood out and I was way too full to even consider one. They did look nice though.

Having paid the bill, we left the pub into the cold night, it struck me again as remarkable that the perfect curry could be hidden inside a country pub with a thatched roof. We’ll definitely be back.

Out of five

Food: Quite simply perfect. *****

Drink: I had a large glass of Pinot Grigio, which was much needed after a stressful day at work. Richard had a trusty Coca Cola. There was plenty behind the bar to choose from though and there were also people drinking around the bar. ****

Decor: Cosy and comfortable. ****

Staff: The servers were friendly and the food came out quickly *****

Price: As we were invited, our meal was complimentary but the total bill came to £63.60 - £6.50 for the starters, £17 for Richard’s curry and £18 for mine. I would happily pay that for that quality of food. I can’t recommend it enough. *****

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