So your on Slimming World and you don’t fancy cooking, you’re celebrating something special, or just want a night out, but you also want to keep on track! What do you do? Well, you could just decide to give this healthy eating thing a miss for one night, you could look for the healthiest option on the menu, tell them you are dairy free or you could go to Newbold Comyn Arms in Leamington Spa.
The website boasts – ‘Newbold Comyn Arms is set in the one of the finest venues in Leamington Spa, the former Willes family Manor House. With a large expansive outside garden along with the homely restaurant, the Newbold Comyn Arms makes for one of the very best places to enjoy a great meal or simply relax in a beautifully tranquil setting’. So is it everything it says it is?
Well I think the photos above speak for themselves don’t they? I love the friendly atmosphere of their dining area. The black beams and open fire give a real homely feel to it especially on a cold winters night. The outside space is perfect for warm summer evenings. They have a large carparking area and the service is also second to none. Not bad so far! That’s all well and good but what about the food?
Well come on lets be honest. You don’t expect to eat out and still eat the same healthy food you can cook at home do you? How many restaurant kitchens will you go into that have Frylight in their cupboards. Come to think of it, have you ever seen any celebrity chefs have you ever seen using it? Probably the same number as me – none. Yes there will be kilos of butter and litres of cream but Frylight – are you mad!!
Well Newbold Comyn Arms will certainly surprise you. What’s amazing about this pub/restaurant is that it serves ‘Slimming friendly meals’. I don’t just mean that they will vary the menu for you, no they actual cater for us folk who want to food optimise. They actually have Frylight in their kitchen and better still they actively use it!
The pub is run my Sarah Miller. When asked about the ‘slimming friendly’ menu Sarah says ‘The reason we started offering slimming friendly meals is because a few of my children joined Slimming World and realised that with a little tweaking we could offer an opportunity to actually enjoy going out for dinner, still be on plan and not have to ask for a bland salad or jacket potato. Plus, if your partner wasn’t on the same diet they could have their own choice of food without feeling guilty.
Everything is made freshly at the pub, so after a little encouragement and explaining about fry-light, Head Chef and I put our great brains together. Its funny, because once we got into the idea of lower fat options everyone seemed to have their own story and favourite meal. It turns out our Kitchen Porter was slimmer of the year! He brought in all his Slimming World recipe books and we had a lovely afternoon looking at menus that we could prepare in a commercial kitchen’.
We all know that Slimming World isn’t a diet, its a new healthy way of eating. But lets be honest, when you go out for dinner with family and friends, going down the menu and looking at what you can and can’t have can be depressing! If you do find something you like, to keep in on plan you then have to ask the waitress to ask the chef if he can change it – leave off the butter or sauce, grill not fry etc. Then when the food actually arrives you find they have substituted the butter for oil and put on a fatty dressing on the side salad! As for dessert well you have no chance!
At Newbold Comyn Arms you don’t have to worry. You can order straight from the menu. It takes a lot of the pressure off you, so you can chill out and relax and enjoy your evening.
I had a Valentine Meal here last year the day before weigh in day! We all know that most Valentine menus are fixed 3 course menu’s. I’d been good all week but knew a bad night that night could massively impact on my weight loss the next night. I called them ahead and explained I was on Slimming World. My husband and I both ordered and enjoyed our meal immensely. I had’t told my husband that I had told them I was on Slimming world. We both chose what we wanted off the menu. It wasn’t until the end of the 3 courses we were asked what we thought of our Slimming friendly food. My husband couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t even noticed the difference.
I had treated myself to a couple of glasses of bubbles with the meal too. That week I lost 3lb! It just goes to show that you can eat well and still lose weight if you know where to go.
I don’t know of anywhere else in my area that offers such a great selection of food targeted at those on Slimming World. Even if you are not on Slimming World, knowing what you are eating is lower in fat and calories is still exciting.
The food they serve isn’t supported by Slimming World hence why they can’t say Slimming World friendly on the menu, but I have been assured by them many times that they follow the recipes as we do at home, so I feel very confident with their syn values.
So what sort of things can you find on their menu? Here are a few to tempt you off a recent sample menu:
Starter
Minted lamb kofta balls — served with low fat Tzatziki
Cumin dusted salmon skewers— with peppers and a low fat herb yoghurt
Main
Roasted Butternut Squash lasagne—with wild mushrooms and spinach served with lower fat slaw
Spicy, butter chicken curry— lightly spiced chicken curry with mixed peppers served with rice and light pitta sticks (contains nuts)
Dessert
With dessert they even give you the syn value!!
Newbold mess — with fat-free yoghurt, fruits and coulis – 3 syns
Chocolate pudding cup toped with lower fat squirty cream – 4 syns
If there is anything else off the usual menu you fancy the chef will also oblige.
For the purposes of research I hope you will understand, I decided I should pay them a visit again on Saturday night! I wasn’t disappointed.
It was snowing outside and absolutely freezing . The log fire and the warmth from the staff was so welcoming .
Originally I wanted to order the salmon skewers for my starter but sadly they were not available. The waiter offered me another suggestion which was the Lamb Kofta, which he said was equally as good. Unfortunately I don’t eat lamb. I decided to go for spicy, crispy chicken strips. It comes with a blue cheese sauce but to keep down my syns I asked if they could do an alternative. This was absolutely no problem. Chef did me a mint and yoghurt sauce which was delicious. For main I had the chicken curry. Oh wow that was delicious. It came with a mini naan but if you wanted to keep it syn free you could always leave it. I have a sneaky feeling it was the one from last months Slimming World magazine.
My husband isn’t on Slimming World so had the Soup of the day – Leak. It was a massive bowl, and what I liked is they gave him a choice of white or wholemeal bread to go with it. For his main he had the Lamb Shank. You could see it literally falling of the bone as he cut into it. This was served with colcannon and a carrot puree. He said it was all delicious. We were hoping to go for dessert as I had my eye on the Newbold Mess! The portions were so good neither of us had room for it though.
In addition to Slimming Friendly meals they also cater for gluten free, vegetarian and of course dairy free. Some dishes include all of these too. I cannot recommend this place enough. Even if you are not watching your waistline.
They are due to change their menu very soon. I can’t wait to see what other ‘slimming friendly’ meals they will introduce to their spring menu.
Give it a try and let me know what you think! I think you will be returning there regularly!
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