Sunday Lunch at The Blackbird, Ponteland

We spend most Sundays sulking round the house complaining that the weekend is too short and feeling miserable about having to go back to work. So this year, in an effort to stop wasting the day, we've decided to dedicate the final day of the weekend indulging in something lovely, a roast dinner! Starting with Sunday Lunch at the Blackbird in Ponteland.

My "North East Food List" has recently been updated with a new category "Sunday Roasts" and I'm eager to discover as many delicious lunches as I can in the North East for those Sundays when we want to eat our body weight in food before retiring to the sofa for a snooze.

We decided to tick the first place off our list with a visit to The Blackbird in Ponteland over Easter weekend. Despite being on a post-Honeymoon diet we decided that if you can't enjoy a full roast over Easter then when can you? So we booked a table at 12:00 pm on the dot, eager to beat the crowds and get the full choice of meats!

You'll find the Blackbird in the heart of Ponteland and it's a great choice for a family meal. The pub is a beautiful traditional country pub steeped in history and with a very warm and welcoming bar area. The place was buzzing with smiling people, families and dogs - just want you want on a Sunday lunch time.

A new menu is printed every Sunday with a great choice of courses to suit the eager foodie. There was a choice of six starters but needing to satisfy our sweet tooth we decided to skip this in favour of a dessert at the end of our meal.

If there's one thing I love in a Sunday Roast menu it's a great choice of meats and the Blackbird certainly didn't disappoint, offering us Beef, Turkey Breast, Leg of Lamb, Chicken Breast, Leg of Pork as well as a Trio of Meats (Beef, Pork and Lamb) for the indecisive. If that wasn't enough Roast Hake also made an appearance on the menu along with two vegetarian dishes.

With all of the meats appearing on the Sunday Lunch menu, I changed my mind a fair few times before our waitress came over but in the end opted for the Breast of Chicken (£10.95). My plate appeared in front of me impressively fast and I was so happy to find that my food and plate were both piping hot, so much so that despite taking an age to photograph my food for Instagram (priorities!) my food was still the perfect temperature.

We all know that sometimes chicken can be a little dry so I was eager to begin the taste test, really hoping to have found somewhere that does a perfect roast.  I'm very happy to report that my chicken breast was perfect, moist and tender, just how I like it.

Simon decided on the Sirloin of Local Hadrian's Heritage Beef (£12.95), a dish that I was so tempted by but I'm always a little nervous about ordering beef when I'm out and about as so often the meat can be too tough. Again, his meat was perfectly prepared -  a little on the pink side and easy to cut through I had serious food envy watching him enjoy his lunch and I'll definitely be ordering the beef when we return.

All of the roasts were served with Duck Fat Roasties, Yorkshires and plenty of Vegetables. I was so happy with the generous amount of extras that appeared in front of us. Every vegetable imaginable was piled up on our plate - we definitely got more than our five a day to balance out of all that Easter chocolate!

We were feeling pretty full after our full roasts but there was no way we could resist the pudding menu when there were eight delicious sounding treats to choose from.

I ordered the Almond Panacotta served with Cherry Compote and Cherry Ice Cream (£5.95) which had my mouth watering as soon as I spotted it. I love anything involving the delicious flavour combination of almond and cherry. The Panacotta was lovely and light, just what I needed after that hefty main course and the cherry flavours were the perfect accompaniment.

Simon decided to go for the Warm Chocolate Brownie served with Caramel Sauce, Popcorn and Salted Caramel Ice-Cream (£5.95). Again he had the winner of the meal and I felt a little tortured watching him tuck in, I swear he was spooning that brownie into his mouth in slow motion just to annoy me. Wow, it was good!

We thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday Lunch at the Blackbird at Ponteland and I'm so happy that the first Sunday Roast from our list was such a huge success.

I currently have only 6 more places on my list to try so please do let me know your favourite pubs in the North East for a traditional Sunday Lunch. I really would love some more inspiration!

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