Secret Diner Review: The Queen of Bradgate, Leicester

Published on July 25, 2014

By Jessica Edmonds

For a long time this unit on Leicester High Street has stood empty, so the arrival of a new gastropub was a welcome sight. This week my Mum was visiting, so we stopped off for lunch during a day in the city centre. The Queen of Bradgate is a large, airy venue filled with an assortment of sofas, stools and counters, dining tables and chairs. The first thing that Mum remarked on was the furniture, prompting our server to let us know that you could buy anything you saw that you liked. Mum looked quite shocked, but once I’d explained the drink/eat/shop concept to her she looked pretty impressed.

The menu has a decent selection of all sizes of meals (pies, sandwiches, sharing boards) in addition to specials on a sandwich board. We both opted for salad jars (yes, a salad served in a mason jar!) from the specials with a side of griddled courgettes. Mum’s was a sweet chilli salmon with giant cous cous and mine was orzo with caraway carrots and feta, and both were very tasty. The salad in a jar is a neat serving twist, keeping the whole experience a little quirky and different. We finished with tea, which was served in a pot complete with a miniature milk urn.

Service was friendly, and our many questions were answered with smiles. It also looks like they do discounts during the week (workers’ lunches) on some of the larger dishes. If you haven’t taken a look yet it’s well worth it: the food is fresh, made with a bit of love, and there are some interesting flavour combinations.

The author:

Matt lives in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He is passionate about the independent food & drink sector and founded Great Food Club in 2010 after being inspired by local producers near his home town.