The Bridge Tavern in Newcastle leaves our reviewer wishing he'd ordered the brilliant beef

What's a Sunday in Newcastle without a trip to the Quayside Market? Well after myself and Mrs Eats treated ourselves to a stroll along the stalls, all that walking left us famished.

So we dived into The Bridge Tavern for what we hoped would be a quality roast. And the pub ticked all my boxes at least.

It offers a wealth of proper pints to pick from local and not-so-local breweries. There is porter, lager and ale and everything in between. As a watering hole, it has the works - two decent beer gardens, snug corners to wind away your day in peace and a well-staffed bar with workers who actually know what they are talking about.

I wasn't here to drink (well, bar the pint of the home-brewed Molton Brown). But the menu didn't look like it would disappoint. There are Sunday roasts on there, but there are also pigs head croquettes and Lindisfarne Oysters on the bar bait menu.

We ordered some olives as Mrs Eats had already stuffed her face on the free samples down the market. More about those olives in a bit, but we also plumped for the lamb and beef dinners at £13 a pop.

I hadn't pigged out on the samples, so I also asked for extra roasties (£3) as I was a little freaked out that there was no mention of them on the menu - just seasonal veg.

I needn't have worried, as our plates did arrive with said spuds - but it was the mash which was the king of potatoes on my plate. It is what mash should be - delicate, rich and oh-so moreish.

Mrs Eats moaned the roasties were a bit greasy on the outside. I could see her point, but the fluffiness inside was what I left with.

But back to those olives, which much to my surprise arrived with our Sunday roast. I'm happy to accept that may have been partially my fault in mis-communicating our order, but even my waitress (who was spot on)  admitted she was a bit baffled when she brought them over with a plate full of gravy.

I'd have thought they may have double checked we wanted olives with our roast, but no harm done as our fab waitress happily arranged for us to take them home for a snack that night (and they were good).

But back to the roast, and specifically the meat; Now this proved a sticking point.

I wanted the beef. I should have ordered the beef. Mrs Eats had the beef. Mrs Eats loved every bite of it. And so did I. It was my mistake that I ventured for the lamb, which just wasn't as good as that beef.

It was slightly too fatty for my liking, although it didn't lack flavour.

But Mrs Eats' rump of rare breed beef was our winner. What quality, and thankfully, there was so much I got to finish hers off. And the rest of my plate couldn't really be faulted. The yorkies were big, the gravy was everywhere. It is just a very good quality Sunday roast.

As a meal though, it was the puddings which took it to a higher level. The menu has a lovely mix of old-school-dinner-type stodge and dishes to make magic on your tongue.

Wanting something which could have been in the top  corner of one of those school dinner trays, I went for jam sponge and custard. It didn't look too dissimilar to what I used to get served at noon every Thursday as a bairn, but it tasted a million times better and was packed with flavour.

But Mrs Eats won this round too with her roasted summer fruits, with coconut cream and honeycomb.

On the vegan menu, it did nothing for me on paper - but everything for me on my mouth. Taste this pudding if you can. It is class. The fruit seemed ever so lightly stewed while the berries had been blacked just a tad. It was marvellous, the light cream dancing a merry dance alongside the honeycomb with all three elements working so well together.

She loved it, I loved it and both puddings were well worth the slightly pricey £6. Everything was worth it though. It is much easier to lavish praise on the pub, and the food, than to find fault.

Just make sure you ask for your starter to arrive first.