I tried the Wetherspoons Christmas menu and it was missing two festive favourites

We decided to taste test the new festive menu at Wetherspoons to check out if the value price of £13. 52 (including a drink) is worth the money for your traditional turkey dinner. We all love a Christmas dinner, right? But we know they can be a bit of a faff and take a long time to prepare.

Well, that’s certainly something you don’t have to worry about in your local Wetherspoons. The food arrived on our table before I even sat down and said “Father Christmas”.

The Ruthin Wetherspoons is not your typical Spoons as it is housed in a fine-looking Georgian building. The venue dates back to 1730 and was originally called the White Lion.

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The inn was owned by the Myddelton family, whose coat of arms features a white lion. The name changed to the Castle Hotel in 1883 and it was taken over and refurbished by Wetherspoons in 2012.

The interior is designed in a manner sympathetic to its origins, with wrought iron candelabras, suits of armour and the coat of arms of Owain Glyndwr. There were a few moose head wall mounts staring at you from the wall. Some of them were decorated with baubles and tinsel, which made me think of poor old Rudolph the red nose reindeer.

The main dining area has a long adjacent bar that serves the various nooks and crannies of the pub and hotel. Inside, there are further unique dining areas so you should be able to get a table even when the place is quite busy.

The festive menu had various Christmas burgers and paninis on offer stuffed with variations on turkey, blue cheese, maple cured bacon and brie. The festive pizza seemed to push the Christmas theme somewhat with a chicken, stuffing and bacon topping. It’s all good fun though.

The Spoons version of Christmas dinner includes four slices of turkey breast, which were all stacked on top of each other. The winter vegetables were roasted chantenay carrots and a few small cubes of parsnips.

The Maris Piper mash along with garden peas soaked up gravy whilst the Xmas essential of pigs in blankets had a thin slither of bacon wrapped over a mini sausage. I spread a bit of the cranberry sauce over the turkey breast but it was the delicious savoury pork and apricot cranberry stuffing that livened things up for the taste buds.

What no roast potatoes I hear you all cry? Yes, I know it’s a bit controversial but I expect it’s something to do with kitchen operations and the cost.

My wife went for a chargrilled chicken and stuffing burger, which had two pigs in blankets on top of the bun held there by a large cocktail stick. The chicken breast and maple cured bacon were accompanied by lettuce, onion and tomato with that tasty pork stuffing again.

There was a small pot of cranberry sauce on the side along with a generous helping of chips. She thought it worked well as a Christmas combination and enjoyed it as a bit of fun. Ho ho ho!

There was only one festive treat pudding on. offer, which was a warm chocolate brownie with cookie pieces, chocolate cookie crumb and vanilla ice cream. It didn’t sound that Christmassy to me so we didn’t bother.

It was keenly priced at £4.99 but without sounding like a Grinch, I am a bit surprised that they didn’t offer something like a mince pie with a bit of ice cream.

For the included alcoholic drink we went for a Leffe beer, which is a Belgian full-bodied ale. The strong beer will certainly put you in the Christmas spirit and possibly leave you with a red nose just like Rudolph. The festive drinks on the menu included prosecco, sparking rose or a Christmassy sounding chocolate orange expresso martini.

The festive menu at Spoons may not win any Michelin stars any time soon but neither will it break the bank. You would have to be a bit of a Scrooge to moan about the cost of the turkey, trimmings and an alcoholic drink for under £14 and it’s even cheaper with a non-alcoholic drink.

There was even a children’s festive menu that offered two pigs in blankets, with a choice of fruit snack and a drink for £5.62.