Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Express Stansted

Free early brekkie for an express check out

If the thought of a succulent steak or fragrant curry makes your mouth water, the Great Room should be your venue for dinnertime dining. This lively bar and restaurant offers an extended menu compared to other Holiday Inn Express hotels and you can choose from an eclectic variety of dishes from around the world. Of course, pub classics like ham, egg and chips, jacket potatoes and beer-battered cod and chips are on the menu if you yearn for a good, old-fashioned, hearty meal.

The Great Room serves a lunchtime sandwich menu from 11am until 6pm, while the full evening menu is available from 6pm to 10pm, so you can grab a bite to eat when it suits you. Evening appetisers include soup of the day, chicken liver pate, king prawns in garlic butter, chicken pakora bites and Mexican chilli nachos. If you don't think one of those will suppress your hunger, you could try one of the burgers or steaks from the grill, a Thai green, chicken Balti or chicken korma curry, reggae reggae chicken with corn on the cob and roasted peppers, or one of the yummy stone-baked pizzas: Hawaiian, Italian, Mexican, Spanish or hot and spicy. There's always room for dessert, and you'll find it hard to resist what's on offer: ice cream brownie cake, chocolate fondant, tiramisu or ginger sponge cake.

Food for all the family

There's a lovely family-friendly feel to this Stansted airport hotel, so you won't be surprised that there's a children's menu full of their favourites on offer. While you spread pate onto your warm toasted bread, they can dunk their chicken dippers into barbecue sauce, or opt for a healthy and hearty soup or chunks of fruit to start. Kid's main meals include seven-inch pizzas, cod goujons with chips and peas and pasta with tomato sauce, while desserts include a traditional trio of ice cream, topped with strawberry sauce and sprinkles, as well as smoothies and ice lollies too.

The Holiday Inn Express at Stansted has recently added a Sports Bar to the Great Room, which not only features a pool table, fruit machines and flatscreen TVs, but also has its own menu of bar snacks to tuck into while you catch up on the sports. From 6pm to 10pm, guests can get sticky-fingered with the likes of potato skins and chicken wings, and can wash it all down with a beer that's bottled or draught.

The Express ticks the boxes for family travel on the food front. Children under 13 get a whopping three course meal for free with every adult who orders a main. So tummies will stay satisfied, and the purse strings won't mind much, either!

Breakfast

The Great Room is your venue for breakfast. The free buffet, which offers unlimited tea and coffee, fruit juices, yoghurts, fresh fruit, cereals, pastries, toast, scrambled eggs, sausages and beans, is available from 6am to 10am. However, a continental selection is laid on from 4am for early starters.