If you are looking for the best dining in rural North West England then look no further than The Lion at Malpas.
Open since September 2020, The Lion as Malpas is a hub within the village of Malpas and the surrounding villages and the perfect place for locally sourced amazing food and menus.
The Lion has been at the centre of the village since the medieval times and was renovated to become the luxury gastro pub it is now.
Every night is busy at The Lion at Malpas and it’s not hard to see why. The menu’s have a fantastic wine selection and the bar stocks an arrangement of locally sourced spirits and other popular drinks.
Cheshire is home to several gin distilleries and you can stay at The Lion and dine, then try out a tour a short taxi ride away.
Inside the The Lion at the Malpas you will find a quirky, warm traditional vibe with different areas for all occasions.
They all flow well with a beautiful dining room area for larger parties. They also serve breakfast here too. Then you have your traditional bar area keeping with the village look with the old beams. Oh and the bathrooms are incredible! They have added luxury with a chaise lounge chair and luxury products.
The Lion’s menu is mostly locally sourced and offers many options with choices from nibbles, lunches, evening meals and Sunday lunches.
We had the 3 course evening meal and while the menu has some regular dishes, they have some newly added dishes too and I gave them a go.
Starters: The Lion at Malpas
For a traditional countryside starter, I opted for the potted rabbit with carrot salad and Huxley’s farmhouse bread. The carrot salad was refreshing and the lean meat shredded with a lovely texture on the bread was a great summer starter.
Keeping with the sweet carrot flavour, we tried the carrot soup with a hint of chilli and Huxley’s bread. The soup was well blended and the chilli was very discreet. The soup was light and beautiful and great for all year round.
Mains: The Lion at Malpas
If you are in a group, the menu offers sharing dishes of local fish or an American option too.
The Lion kitchen has it’s very own Josper charcoal oven allowing it give the meat a unique flavour and giving it an authentic BBQ taste.
We opted for the 8oz beef burger, streaky bacon and mature cheese. It comes with house sauce, onion rings and homemade chunky chips. The onion rings were light and crispy and the chips were perfectly cooked without being too greasy.
The beef burger was made with high quality beef cooked to perfection. Meaty juices with the house sauce ware a great combination. This dish remains on the menu regularly.
We also tried the newly added Josper grilled Lamb Skewer with Bombay potato terrine, masala sauce and goats cheese yoghurt. A classic Indian flavour dish uniquely added with the Josper lamb was a flavour overload.
The masala sauce really brought the dish together, along with the perfectly cooked lamb made the way I ordered. The dish wasn’t spicy, just packed with flavour and everything on the dish complimented each other well.
When I was looking at the menu, I asked the front of house staff for a recommendation according to the food I liked and this was the best choice!
Desserts and Digestifs: The Lion at Malpas
If, by this point, you have little room left for dessert, you can choose from the “little puddings” menu.
But, if you are like me, of course I went for a pudding.
The Pavlova comes with strawberries, compote, lemon curd and chantilly cream. The portion size was great and it was fresh and light. To be honest, I wanted more but probably couldn’t have fit any more in.
For a chocolate lover, there is always one choice on the menu and this one didn’t disappoint. The Chocolate brownie was dense and moist. It comes with summer berry compote which adds the sweetness and chocolate sauce.
To top off the dish was the Snugbury’s vanilla ice cream locally sourced from Cheshire.
The Lion at Maplas during it’s renovation on 2020 added 16 self contained rooms for accommodation. All are of luxury standard and a suite for events too.
All of the rooms are named after local places and we stayed in the Harthill room. It came with a flat screen TV, free parking, free WiFi and all bed and breakfast.
Our room was beautiful and welcoming. All of the facilities were luxury and modern. We enjoyed a lovely sleep in the luxury beds and duck feather pillows.
The rooms at The Lion at Malpas come with plenty of storage. Great if you were planning to stay longer and explore the beautiful Cheshire. They also have accessible rooms and larger rooms for longer stays with a separate living area.
For things to do in Cheshire during your stay check out this post.
*ad gifted experience
