Sunday Lunch at The Woodmans Arms Whickham

Sunday Dinner is a huge deal! Some people enjoy a Sunday Dinner on a Tuesday! We the Hooper’s being traditional prefer the Sunday dinner on a Sunday at Dinner time! It also just happened to be my Mam’s birthday too. So what better way to celebrate than with a Sunday roast.

I asked on our Facebook page for recommendations and the Woodmans Arms Whickham was suggested (along with others) and we took on the suggestion.

The Woodmans Arms

We decided to book a table on Thursday for Sunday at 1 pm. As it was getting busy already we were pushed into the 1:15 pm slot. Not an issue at all at least it was the right sort of time (Dinner time) for us.

The car park was packed. As we hunted for a spot we found literally 2 spots. I was glad we’d made a booking.

The interior is quite dark and atmospheric. It took a little while to get used to it and there was something else… although I couldn’t work it out at first. It took until our trip to the bar to work it out. Orange lighting. The lighting was ceiling spot lights with an amber tinge. Although this added to the cosy feeling, it was a bugger to photograph in (excuse already inserted there).

Abigail made her self at home slumped into an armchair with her ipad resting on her belly. All wrapped up in her tribute to Liam Gallagher’s parker.

She only looked up to grab the camera and photograph the quirky interesting nic-naks around the place.

Sitting down for a Family Sunday Dinner.

It wasn’t long before we were sitting down in the restaurant. Under a wash of amber lighting we sat to the back of a wine rack. You can see it in the back of this photo with Imogen. Notice how the rack is also draped in grape vines, complete with bunches of grapes. The ceiling is covered in a floral and tree canopy style print. Trellis and flowers are everywhere. The themeing is really well done, although I’m not sure what it actually is. My best guess is enchanted forest, meets woodman’s cottage.

Abigail spotted this secret stash of botanicals down the side of the wine rack. Although we weren’t drinking they do have a huge list of Gin’s in the menu.

The Woodmans Arms Menu

My Mam’s not a big eater, the kids sometimes eat like mice and I didn’t want to be the only one eating a starter so we chose mains only.

For Sunday Dinner there is a choice of 7 meat options. Roast Beef Brisket, Gammon, Roast Lamb Shoulder, Roast Sirloin Served Pink, Roast Pork Loin, Pink Leg of Lamb, and Roast Chicken Breast.

Imogen chose the Roast Beef. All the Sunday Dinners were served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, mashed turnip, Roasted root vegetables and seasonal greens (leeks, broccoli, cabbage and peas). The meal was presented really nicely, with the potatoes and turnip under the meat.

My Mam chose Shoulder of Lamb Sunday Dinner, which looked amazing. The portion for her was huge, but she battled on and finished everything bar the roast potatoes.

I went for the Sirloin Beef served Pink. At this point I didn’t realise that the Roasts were hidden under the meat and thought my Mam and Imogen had hogged them all from the veg platters.

Abigail, ever the traditionalist, chose a wood fired margarita pizza. It was huge. Easily a 12″ pizza for a little tony 8 year old. (We didn’t ask for a child’s menu and I don’t know if they even did one). Full credit to her that she managed to eat three quarters of it and she loved it.

I can’t really fault the Woodmans Arms (bar the amber lighting). The staff were super attentive from the start. When the orders were taken we were asked if we’d like any side sauces (mint/horseradish). These were brought to the table straight after ordering. At first I thought it was strange, but in reality, it meant we weren’t waiting for it after the food arrived. We were asked three times if we wanted any more drinks. The staffing was very efficiant.

All of us really enjoyed the food. Having the options of 7 types of meat was impressive. This meant we were tailoring exactly what we wanted. For example, I like medium rare meat, while my Mam prefers it medium/well done. We were absolutely stuffed and couldn’t attempt the desert menu.

Our bill came to £51 which was 4 main meals and 1 tonic water, 4 cokes and a J2O.

The Woodmans Arms is located near Gibside at Whickham, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE16 5BB. If you’r planning a visit I would really recommend booking a table as it was very busy the day we went.