Does The Wheel Inn, Wisbech St Mary justify its place at the top of my daughter’s ‘Best Sunday Roast’ list?

In our Eat My Words feature, Jeremy Ransome and family visit a village pub in search of the perfect Sunday roast…

One of my adult daughters is a huge fan of Sunday roasts. Such a fan that, before she took off for university in 2023, she would visit a different establishment every weekend with her then-boyfriend to enjoy this most English of traditions.

The portions have to be plentiful, the meat well-cooked, the gravy generous, and she wants none of this queuing up lark. If she is paying with her hard-earned cash, she wants to sit down and be served. To be fair, add a decent vegan/vegetarian option, nice surroundings and a good atmosphere, and me and Joanna agree on the prerequisites for our perfect Sunday roast.

And the eatery that fits all these criteria? After two years of research, she declared The Wheel Inn, Wisbech St Mary, the hands-down winner.

So, this beautiful, sunny Sunday, on one of those rare occasions when all the family was available, my wife Josi and I, Joanna, my son Alfie and my other daughter Tilly and her boyfriend James decided to pay it a visit.

The Wheel is a lovely, traditional old country pub. You enter via one of the rear doors, while taking in the big beer garden, and are greeted with the wide bar area, with seating also in the front room and a restaurant area at the back.

We were first served drinks - pints of Moretti lager and Somersby cider for the boys, a lager shandy for me, Pinot Grigio for Josi and cokes for the girls. Later, the boys and Josi had the same again and Joanna had a double vodka and coke - the whole drinks bill coming to a reasonable £50.70.

With drinks in hand, we headed to our designated table, where we found sheets and pencils so we could name them and tick what we wanted. I’ve never come across this method of ordering before, but it’s a great idea and means you can have exactly what you want for your £16 - that includes having more than one meat.

The choice was from beef, pork, turkey, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, mashed and roast potatoes, sprouts, cabbage, peas, carrots, cauliflower cheese, parsnips and gravy. Vegetarians need to book ahead, me and Alfie already opting for the broccoli bake.

As you can guess, we had a mix of everything between us, with Tilly, Joanna and James all having two meats but most (not me!) deciding not to accompany roasties with mash.

One thing that often spoils an otherwise perfect roast for me is too little gravy, but there was a plentiful supply, with the vegetarian dishes accompanied by their own jug.

Assorted comments were that “the beef was really tender, the carrots were beautifully sweet and the stuffing was something else” (James), “the honey-glazed parsnips were amazing and the pork crackling was superb” (Jo), “the cauliflower cheese was banging” (Tilly), and “the gravy was thick and juicy and the sprouts lovely and crunchy,” (Josi). For my part, the broccoli bake was lovely too.

There was a good choice of desserts, mostly for £6.50, but we were too stuffed to even consider them, plus a list of hot drinks with the price ranging between £2.50 and £4.

After our food, we sat for a while in the sunny beer garden, which has a lovely hedge backdrop, ideal for taking family photos.

Our total bill, for six roasts (£96) and drinks (£50.70) was £146.70. Divide that by six and it’s £24 each, which I think is pretty good. And did it live up to Jo’s claim of supremacy? It’s a yes from me.

Ratings out of five:

Food: Very tasty and a good choice. ****

Drink: There was a good choice behind the bar and hot drinks too. ****

Price: Very reasonable. ****

Decor: Homely and welcoming. ****

Staff: Polite, down to earth and chatty. ****