 The Navigation 
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Recommendation added: 01/05/2007 22:04
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +714)dewberry has been thanked 3 times for this contribution
"Today as the weather was so good we decided to stop off at The Navigation in Kings Norton for a pub lunch followed by a couple of hours sitting soaking up the rays in the beer garden.
I've not visited the Navigation for ages so was pleasantly surprised to see that it's been refurbished both inside and out pretty recently, and the pub has also made itself into one of those Two-for-One eateries that seem to be springing up all over the place just lately. For those of you unfamiliar with Two-for-One pubs, you basically eat with a partner or friend and the cheapest meal you choose is free - here at the Navigation this offer is available constantly seven days a week, including for Sunday lunch which is unusual as most places tend to offer cheaper meals during the week and then drastically bump up the price of their Sunday roast in a blatant attempt to pick up some of the profits they've lost by giving out free meals!
Anyway, the Navigation. In the summer this place always looks sunny and fantastic thanks to the beautifully maintained paintwork of the exterior of the building, and also the gorgeous hanging baskets which are displayed from every available eave. The pub backs onto a junior school and library and this gives the building a very 'out of the way' look and feel which can almost make you think you're in the countryside rather than 5 minutes away from a bustling shopping area. This is particularly true when sitting in the beer garden as this is located behind the pub; traffic noise is reduced so much you can forget you're in the middle of Birmingham for a couple of hours!
Inside the Navigation is great, I've always found it a really comfortable place to sit and eat or drink and since the refurbishment it's gotten even better. There's an excellent choice of seating; squishy leather sofas, upright leather seats, bar stools, tall stools - all sorts! Today I flopped down into one of the sofas as soon as I walked in because at nearly eight months pregnant it was as much as I could do in this heat to walk from the car to the entrance, let alone find a particular spot to park my bum! It turned out to be a good choice anyway as we were in the perfect spot to get the cooling breeze from the wide front doorway…
Ordering your food is a piece of cake. Simply grab a menu from the bar, choose what you want and order at the same time as ordering your drinks - remembering to make a note of your table number before going to the bar otherwise you'll be walking backwards and forwards through the pub a few times before eating! Tell the member of staff who takes your order what you want and the deduction for the Two-for-One offer will automatically be applied. Because the till will ALWAYS pick up the cheapest meal it's worth trying to order a couple of meals which are roughly the same cost - for example, one of their steak dishes will cost you over £12 so it'd be silly to waste a free meal on a £4 plate of pasta wouldn't it? Or is that just my bargain hunting head going into overdrive???
Today Mark ordered an 8oz Rump Steak with chips, peas and onion rings. This was served with a fresh looking side salad and a small pot of tomato ketchup. I watched him cutting his steak using the not-very-sharp knife he was given and it literally went through the juicy, well cooked meat like a hot knife through butter. The steak was thickly cut and cooked thoroughly; he'd asked for his steak to be well done and it was honestly cooked to perfection exactly as he'd requested it. The chips had a good home made texture and flavour and weren't dripping in fat as are the chips in the majority of these kinds of pubs I've visited recently. The only thing which let the meal down for me (and it wasn't even my meal!) is the fact that the onion rings were TOO FRESH! I know that sounds weird but Mark gave me one of his onion rings and they're literally battered rings of onion whereas I like my onion rings as synthetic as possible with a mashed and diced onion filling… But then I can't fault a pub for being BETTER than I'd usually like!
I opted for a Fisherman's Feast which was a huge battered fillet of cod, wholetail scampi, calamari rings, chips and peas. Everything on my plate was fantastic, although the meal was so massive that there was no way in the world I could have eaten everything! The battered cod was excellent; the batter was dry rather than greasy with the moist tender fish being perfectly complimented by the bubbly and crispy batter. The scampi and calamari were both also delicious, being breaded in home made quality breadcrumbs rather than the more sickly batter used for the fish fillet. All aspects of my meal were cooked perfectly with the same lovely chips and side salad as Mark had.
The dessert menu is very good; I had apple crumble with custard and it was gorgeously traditional in flavour and appearance. The crumble topping alone was worth the £1.95 price tag on this pudding, wonderful! You can also choose from various cakes, ice creams and fruit based desserts to round off your meal.
The bar is well stocked as you'd expect for such a large pub. All the standard and high-end lagers are available both on draught and bottled along with various ales, beers and cider. The newer lagers are also available including Fosters Twist and Kronenbourg Blanc which surprised me somewhat as it's only really the trendier pubs in Brum that tend to stock these at the moment. The Navigation has a very good wine list which is reasonably priced with a wide selection of good quality wine available by the glass or the bottle. Those of you who want a soft drink, like me, are also well catered for with the full range of J20's at possibly the cheapest price in Birmingham!
Prices at the Navigation are very reasonable across the board; our two huge main meals cost just £8.95 (on Two-for-One) and each round of two drinks cost around the £3.50 mark for a pint of that extra cold Carling and whatever I was drinking at the time, usually J20. We spent around three hours here today and this cost just over £40 including our meals, drinks and nibbles in the beer garden. A pretty damned cheap way to spend May Day in the sun.
The pub is very well laid out and fully accessible to wheelchair users and families with pushchairs. The doorways are wide and space between tables is adequate for you to be able to manoeuvre your way around the building, and there are no steps or narrow aisles once inside. Children are welcome in the Navigation until 9pm and there is a special childrens menu for them to choose from. There's a large and well equipped children's play area at the back of the pub which is overlooked by the beer garden so the kids can keep themselves amused in the sun while you supervise them in comfort. There are also no less than three plasma screens showing the days football or Sky Sports News so older kids' are kept entertained too.
Parking is easy when visiting the Navigation as they have a large car park in the front of the pub which includes several disabled parking spots near the entrance. To find the Navigation you need to get yourself onto the A441 Pershore Road which runs through Birmingham and follow the signs towards Cotteridge and then to Kings Norton. When you get to the very end of Pershore Road there's a small island, look to your left and you'll see the gorgeous white and brick scene as pictured above. Simply take a left at the island and the entrance to the car park is located 100 yards down the road on your left.
The Navigation
1 Wharf Road
Kings Norton
Birmingham
B30 3LS
Tel - 0121 458 1652"
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