It’s good to explore the countless dining establishments around the area in which one lives and a voucher for 40% off the price of a main course was enough for me to suggest a visit to the Swan in Fairfield near Bromsgrove, a short distance from the excellent Wildmoor Oak at Wildmoor. Fairfield is another tiny and picturesque north east Worcestershire village and the attractive Swan sits opposite one end of Swan Lane there though, like the chicken and the egg conundrum, I’m not sure which came first, the name of the inn or the name of the lane though I expect it would have been the former.
It’s a very pleasant and spacious inn and on our arrival it was hosting a good number of lunchers who may or may not have been taking advantage of the 40% off the cost of the main course as we were. There is a section where diners accompanied by dogs are accommodated and we were settled there with my still youngish pup who strove to cause as little trouble as a pup may cause if given the opportunity. There was a choice of dining from an à la carte menu or opting for a two course lunch at just £16. I was keen to have dishes which were not on the lunch menu and so we dined à la carte. The dishes on offer were pretty standard pub offerings and I wasn’t entirely sure that these were not dishes prepared and delivered to the Swan and reheated there.
I chose the chicken liver and brandy paté which was served in an interesting cylindrical format along with a yellow beetroot piccalilli, peashoots which contributed very little and “toasted focaccia and salted butter”. The butter, however, failed to make an appearance but the amount of paté was generous enough to coat the focaccia which, if it had been toasted, had been subjected to a minimal amount of flame. The dish was quite edible though the paté was a little too bitter for me. My lunch companion chose a starter of “our garlic and cheddar baked mushrooms” - which the menu described as “sautéed button mushrooms in a cheese sauce, topped with Cheddar cheese, crispy smoked streaky bacon, Mozzarella pearls, chives and toasted focaccia”. My dining companion was very pleased with her starter and had no grumbles about it.
For my main course I opted to lunch on a very satisfactory beef and Malbec pie served with an equally satisfactory Malbec gravy. The vegetables were far from perfect though I enjoyed the large honey glazed carrot but the mashed potatoes were somewhat claggy as one finds when prepared meals are reheated. On the whole it was quite edible and with the 40% price off offer, one could hardly complain. My companion again very much enjoyed her choice of sausage and mash which was served with “crispy smoked streaky bacon” (strips of distinctly uncrisp bacon as far as I could see) and onion gravy and a generous helping of green beans.
We rounded off our meals with desserts - my companion once more enjoyed her salted caramel sundae but I found the flavour of vanilla rather difficult to identify in my “classic vanilla cheesecake” although the accompanying cherry compote was not without some pleasure.
The pub itself is very attractive but the staff that day were too stretched to deliver any feeling of warmth to us and the other customers. The food on offer was standard pub food not rising above the mundane in the main though the pie itself was the highlight for me with very good pastry and a tasty filling. The Swan is just a short distance in geographic terms from the Wildmoor Oak Inn but several hundred miles from it in the standard of food served there.
Rating:- 🌛🌛
18 August 2025.
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