Eat My Words: Lynn News team enjoy delicious meals at The Jolly Sailors in Brancaster Staithe as part of Norfolk pub crawl
Take four journalists, copious amounts of alcohol and some delicious pub grub, and what do you get? A very jolly day out.
That’s certainly how the Lynn News team felt after a trip to The Jolly Sailors in Brancaster Staithe as part of our coastal pub crawl at the weekend.
Numerous beers, rums and gins were had during pit-stops at Wells, Burnham Overy Staithe and Burnham Market to kick-start the day, providing us with a metaphorical jacket of sorts against the chilly breeze.
Eventually, however, some food was required - and so myself, Alice Hobbs, Molly Nicholas and Lucy Carter trooped happily into The Jolly Sailors.
Thankfully for Lucy, it sits right next to the bus stop. I feared for our reputations when she started claiming she could do a handstand.
The pub was packed, as you’d expect at 6pm on a Saturday evening.
We found ourselves a table for four in the outside area, which was nicely sheltered from the wind, and set about meticulously deciding on our next drinks.
Fresh from a number of pints in previous pubs, I decided it was time to move onto the spiced rums. I ordered a double with diet coke, and was joined by Alice (£10.80 each).
Lucy enjoyed a bottle of Peroni (£5.80), while Molly had a break from the booze and ordered a glass of water.
We ordered our food at the bar at the same time. Brain a little fuzzy, I picked out the dressed Cromer crab (£18.50), which came with a delicious Norfolk peer potato salad, lemon, and dressed Blakeney leaves.
The texture of the crab was lovely, arriving packed tightly into a gorgeous shell. The sides complimented it perfectly, and the potato salad lined my stomach nicely - particularly helpful as I didn’t eat again until the following morning.
Meanwhile, Alice tucked into a cauliflower chickpea curry (£15).
It came alongside steamed basmati rice, garlic butter naan, and mango chutney.
“Just writing this is making my mouth water,” she says.
“I'm not ashamed to admit that we were all a little bit jolly at the Jolly Sailors, but I, for one, was certainly revived after wolfing down my meal.
“I'm not sure what it is about having a curry when you have been drinking, but I would rate it as one of the best feelings in the world, so when I spotted a vegetarian option on the menu, there was no question that it was going to be my choice.
“It was a good-sized portion, tasty and set me up for the rest of the day - what more could you want?
“With my plate cleared and stomach full, I would definitely recommend it for the non-meat-eaters out there.”
Meanwhile, Lucy enjoyed the jolly vegan Margherita pizza (£13).
"Stone-baked pizzas are simply the best in my opinion,” she says.
“My pizza had a beautiful, crispy base and it was nice to see a plant-based pizza option on the menu.
"It was quite a thin pizza. Next time, I would get some extra toppings on it, or try the shiitake mushroom burger."
Molly, renowned in our office as a chicken connoisseur, didn’t let us down as she went for the ‘Big Nick’s’ chicken curry.
Just like Alice’s, it also came with basmati rice, garlic butter naan and mango chutney.
“A curry has to be up there with one of my favourite dishes and this one didn’t disappoint,” Molly says.
“It was full of flavour, and I particularly liked how the chunks of chicken were of a great size - as well as the portion size, which enabled me to clear my plate and left me feeling full.
“The naan bread tasted freshly made and was complimented well with the mango chutney.
“Overall, I could not fault my dish at all.”
Our bill came to a total of £90.15, which we did feel was pretty pricey for four meals and three drinks, obviously discounting Molly’s water.
However, we certainly had no complaints about the quality of our meals - and I won’t pretend that, given we’d already been drinking for six hours at this point, we really minded paying the bill.
Admittedly, the double rums drove the price up a tad.
After paying up, we hopped back on the bus (after a failed handstand attempt from Lucy) and enjoyed a few more drinks in Hunstanton before heading back to Lynn.
Our day epitomised just how great the West Norfolk coast is. The pubs are all superb, full of character and varied enough to make a good crawl.
The Jolly Sailors was the perfect place for a bite to eat, and we’ve all come to the consensus that we could easily go back - with so much great choice on the menu waiting to be taken advantage of.
If I have one complaint, it’s that my crab failed to provide a miraculous headache cure come the morning…
Ratings out of five:
Food: Tasted delicious and kept us fuelled for a long day. ****
Drink: Good choice but on the pricey side. ****
Price: Not the cheapest of venues, but a nice treat. ***
Decor: A great spot along the coast, lovely inside and a smashing beer garden. *****
Staff: We didn’t speak to staff an awful lot and ordered at the bar, but they were very helpful and friendly when delivering our food. ****
