Eating out is said to be one of the luxuries that a lot of people are foregoing in these difficult times. Mind you, nobody told the staff at Red Lion Inn, Stathern, which is a small village located about two miles off the main A52, Nottingham to Grantham road. If you know anything about English geography, you will be aware that this gastro-pub straddles the shire borders of Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln.

Located in the fertile Vale of Belvoir (the castle of the same name is around five miles distant), the pub is part of the three establishment Rutland Inn Company, of which its The Olive Branch restaurant is a single Michelin Star recipient. The atmosphere is friendly and welcoming, satisfying the needs of both locals and those people, who have heard about its culinary treats. Virtually all of its produce, meats, fish and dairy are supplied fresh, daily, from within a five-mile radius of the premises. As an old property, you expect little snugs, nooks and crannies and that is what you obtain. However, it is exceedingly comfortable, with plenty of space between the tables.

The staff is local, highly skilled and extraordinarily out-going, all factors that combine to raise Red Lion Inn’s status someway above the run-of-the-mill village pubs in some parts of the English countryside. The management knows that it has to work hard to engage with its customers, which goes someway towards explaining its permanent busy-ness.

Taking my wife along for the meal, we were keen to sample a good cross-section of the menu but elected to try the three-course luncheon priced at a very reasonable £14 per head. Diana wanted to try the Red Lion faggots, with swede and carrot mash, accompanied by spinach as a starter, followed by pan-fried sea bream on a chorizo parmentier, with more spinach. My first course was the pub smoked salmon, accompanied by dill pancakes and soured cream, while my main was the braised blade of beef, rosti potatoes and farmhouse cabbage and carrot. Wrapped in bacon as an alternative to using caul fat, the pork faggots, a traditional British comfort food, perhaps even a ‘fast food’ of our past, were beautifully spiced and possessed a beguilingly crumbly texture. The small platform of swede and potato mash absorbed the gorgeous juices, while the steamed spinach added some vital iron and its customary leafy texture, which tantalised Diana’s palate.

My smoked salmon was not the expected thin slices but randomly chunked steak, served in a ramekin, topped by the soured cream and delicious dill-flavoured pancakes. The flavours combined to provide a light and engaging starter course. Moving onto the mains, sea bream can be notoriously ‘tasteless’, yet Red Lion’s chef clearly soused Diana’s fillet in lemon, which did not detract from its freshly caught taste. Succulent and bright white, the flesh separated beautifully to drop into the parmentier-style cubed potato and chorizo spicy sausage. The spinach added some greenery to the finished dish.

As to my choice of the shoulder, I have always believed that the cheaper cuts can often provide the best overall taste and the braised blade was simply stunning. Tender. Packed with flavour. This is this is heart-warming, home-cooked food at its very best. Served on a crisped patty of pan-fried rosti potatoes and strips of al dente cabbage and carrot, a sort-of hot coleslaw, was a sheer delight.

Our dessert choices of vanilla crème brulee for madame and the house speciality of rhubarb and egg custard tart, accompanied by rhubarb sorbet, were also hugely satisfying. The warmed tart was awesome, contained within the thinnest, buttery, melt-in-the-mouth pastry that I have tasted for a long time, while the crème brulee was equally impressive. The sorbet provided a palate-cleansing final culinary flourish, its initial taste being of rose-water, which melted on the tongue, before the explosion of sweetly-tart rhubarb delivered its closing blow.

Red Lion Inn manages to provide fulfilling Michelin Star quality at home-made, pub-grub prices that guarantee to keep its customers returning. Fantastic.