Operating as an inn since the 1650s, The Red Cow in Leicester offers classic pub fayre combined with quintessential country decor. It takes its name from an old rhyme based on the pub restaurant - "The old red cow, Which never did low, With coat as soft as silk. Come in, if you please, And sit down at your ease, And taste her nut brown milk".
Fitting, then, that sitting down to taste is at the heart of the current incarnation of The Red Cow. The food line up is vast. Classics are combined with more recent additions to pub menus, such as burgers and pizzas. For starters, choose from king prawn cocktail, salt and pepper calamari and oven-baked mushrooms. After that, options include a pie of the day, fish and chips, and a rich red wine lasagne. As well as these pub staples, The Red Cow serves select standouts from throughout global cuisine, such as chicken and vegetable Panang curry, aubergine parmigiana and hunter’s chicken schnitzel.
All pizzas are stone-baked to order. In addition to margherita and pepperoni, there’s also hoisin. This uses a base combining the traditional tomato with the famed sweet and salty Cantonese dipping sauce. Those after something grilled need look no further than the jam-packed signature burger or sirloin or rib-eye steaks, each of which is served with chips. Sundays at The Red Cow of course call for a roast. Turkey and pigs-in-blankets are available all year and there’s also a Sunday trio - all three meat options (beef, pork belly, turkey) served with roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, parsnips, a Yorkshire pudding and unlimited gravy. A candied vegetable roast is on offer for non meat eaters.
The Red Cow is part of Vintage Inns, a network of 180 country pubs across the UK. Each of Vintage’s pubs is dog-friendly and can be hired for a variety of special occasions.