Hospital Inn- Preston.

I've not posted in a while now due to being to busy with studying and moving.  But since I've managed to magic some free time (nothing on TV, except Gok Wan cooks Chinese and since there are no veggie dishes this week there seemed to be no point in watching it) I decided to do a blog post.

One of my favourite pass times is eating out, it stems from frequent pub meals as a youngster, when my Dad use to pick my Mum up from work (he worked nights, my Mum 9-5) and on the way home she'd say:

"So what's for tea?"

My Dad, having got too distracted by Neighbours (and therefore was frequent late on picking her up) to think about tea would say

"Pub???"

Although becoming a Vegetarian has made eating out more challenging, it still something I do whenever I get chance to. So I thought I would start to do my own restaurant reviews. This post is about the Hospital Inn in Preston (sorry it doesn't have a website!).

It all started on the Boy's and his twin brother's (also a veggie) birthday two weeks ago, they planned on going to Smithills, however that was out the question when we found out it didn't open Wednesday tea time so the hunt began to find a new venue. After driving to two other pubs in Bolton- one who's veggie options were mushroom risotto with parmesan and roasted stuffed aubergine with brie (both of these were £15!) the other had only one option of cauliflower cheese risotto with parmesan (and then asked if we ate fish) a decision was made to drive to Preston and go to the Hospital Inn, a place The Boy's family rave about but I had yet to visit.

When we arrived there, I noticed that the specials board- which in most places only has meat options, had a whole section of vegetarian specials. Including:

Sizzling Halloumi with stir fried veg in a teriyaki  sauce and served with rice
Leak, broccoli and Stilton pie
Pasta with home made cherry tomato pesto served with garlic bread

Plus various other options on the regular menu.  I opted for the sizzling halloumi special (halloumi is the one few cheeses I like).  The halloumi was well cooked, sometimes it can be 'squeaky' but this had been cooked to perfection and hence, was 'unsqueaky', the teriyaki sauce was divine and  although I got 2/3 of the way through it and started to feel full, it was too nice not to finish.  So I finished it, and then felt very sleepy afterwards! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I haven't any pictures.

The Hospital Inn goes to show that British pubs can be veggie friendly, and vegetarian food doesn't have to be an after thought, and it can be as different and exciting as the meat options.

I would definitely recommend that you give the Hospital Inn a go.