Anyone fancy a bit of menu planning for my GDs new business.

Some pubs do a child size portion that is adequate for us, rather than huge platefuls. Wishing her good luck.

I'll eat anything, if it's well cooked and appealing. What you rarely see these days on pub menus is good old fashioned puddings.
You find apple pie or sticky toffee pudding sometimes, but I would love to see baked jam roll, hollygog pudding, spotted dick, served with real custard, nice and thick, not the watery stuff you often see.

A choice of portion sizes is a good thing. We might be there with children and grandchildren, so some of us only want a small helping and others want a big one.

A good choice of vegetables please. So many places the healthy option is only a salad (which I hate) and the only veg are frozen peas!

If she can make a good basic sponge pudding that is not stodgy, it can be varied by including apples, jam, syrup, dates, sultanas, ginger etc etc. That with custard will get the custom of the grandads (and a lot of the grans) A few tablespoons of cocoa in it and chocolate sauce - yumm.

These are great thanks, Please tell me what hollygog pudding is

Soup of the day - not out of a packet!

One non-meat dish at least on the menu, preferably something that even a meat-eater can enjoy.

A good variety of salads. Not just lettuce and cucumber etc.

Junket? Light and tasty, easy to make at home. A taste from the past

I often lunch with friends but am unable to eat much at lunchtime so I like Elegran's idea of soup of the day. I would enjoy a small wholemeal bread roll with that and a pat of lurpak.
I also like BBbevan's idea of salad. It's awful when you just get loads of lettuce. How about a piece of quiche or maybe falafels with say, four choices of salad? Choose from coleslaw, tomatoes, sun blush tomatoes, cucumber, edamame beans, spring onions etc. and she could put a sprig of watercress on the side.

Definitely a choice of portion sizes - I hate to see food thrown away - I go out to lunch once a month with some ladies, some of whom are quite elderly, and they simply cannot eat all that is on their plate. And indeed neither can I. I finish up ordering a starter as that is usually sufficient for me.

Anyone have any views on Poached salmon or any other poached fish?

Decent fish pie with good mash- a favourite choice for my late Mum, her very much alive 91 year old twin, and me. With a choice of portion sizes.

Meant to add - warm plates please! Makes a difference for people who may eat rather slowly.

Wishing your GD well in her new venture. I'm not sure older people need to have food from their childhood though - most of us still have our own teeth these days!

Junket? It's a pub not a convalescent home

I would hate poached salmon but one of my friends would probably order it.
One of the pubs we go to does a lovely child size battered cod and proper chips. Perfect for pensioners who lunch!
Proper chips could be a crowd puller.

I know some where they offer half a pudding portion with coffee or tea at the same price as a full pudding. It's just right for those who want a sweet end to a meal, without feeling over full!

Good luck!

We stopped eating at one local pub when they went through a spell where everything in the Mains section of the menu had cheese in it. When I complained to the landlord about it he said that in his opinion everything tastes better with cheese. I disagree. I'm intolerant. So for me it isn't "everything tastes better with cheese" but rather "everything with cheese in makes me vomit".

We haven't been back since. Keep a varied menu and don't fall into that trap.

I don't think she means that people can't manage the food, Riverwalk. She was more doing it from a nostalgia point of view. Some dishes take a long time to prepare and cook and many places won't do them. So there are no frozen vegetables or frozen prepacked puddings. She is trying to create a welcoming Home-cooked atmosphere.

The previous owners actively discouraged Older people, but the new owners are hoping to concentrate more on this market. So Steaks, pizzas and burgers have been taken off the menu. She recently made a stew with proper dumplings and it went down a storm. Also Hunters Chicken is proving very popular.

Oh! Junket and clotted cream with nutmeg - divine

I went out for lunch to a pub with a friend last weekend but what spoiled it for both of us was the gravy poured over the food. I like a teaspoonful of gravy and prefer to add it myself, my friend feels the same.

If she is good at making a stew, she could make a large one and keep it in the fridge. When required, she could put a portion in a small pot, top with suet pastry and put in a hot oven to crisp the pastry and reheat the stew.

We often take Mum to a smart hotel - the portions are always just right always in season and absolutely delicious. Thats the real secret employ a good chef.