http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/the-50-best-country-pubs-2009337.html

This is a pain to read (design) and not a single one in Berkshire. The worst thing is that I have never been to any of these!

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June 2010

Address: Alltwalis, Carmarthenshire, SA32 7EB, Wales

Telephone number: 01559 384044

Website:

Date of visit: 21 June 2010

Approximate cost per head: Less than £5 for a standard bar meal

Comments on wine list/beer: Forget the wine. Real Ales is Brains S.A. – Rev James (£3.05 a pint)

Summary:

The only reason why I reviewed this Pub is that it is located on the main road to West Wales after Carmarthen. It is open from lunch till closing time (11pm) and they serve food all day. On top of this, it is easy to park – pull in off the main road (A 485) – and the loos are clean.

The menu is mainly rolls and basket meal – from ham egg and chips to fish and chips. They are all priced at under £5 and the food is nicely cooked, especially the chips. They also offer children’s meals.

As you enter, there are several tables then the bar at the back of the pub. There is a pool table sited by the bar. They also have a huge dining room and a beer garden.

This is a good place to stop.

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Address: South John Street, New Quay, Ceredigion SA45 9NP, West Wales

Telephone number: 01545 561 844

Website: www.traeth.co.uk

Date of visit: 21 June 2010

Approximate cost per head: Ranges from £15 to £30 plus for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: basic but OK

Summary:

This is a very unusual restaurant for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is located on the first floor with a side entrance. You could easily walk pass without even realising that there is a restaurant there. Secondly, they do high quality steaks with a price to match – still less than London prices.

This was the site of the old Thai Restaurant – they have since migrated into the suburbs offering only a delivery service that majors on main courses.

The restaurant is housed in a bright and  airy room with a huge balcony that also serves as a drinks area. The tables are well spaced apart. The balcony offers a fantastic view over the harbour and bay.

There are two menus: an upmarket steak menu and a bistro menu offering burgers, pasta etc at around £10.

We went for the steak menu – I had the tartare steak (£19.50) whilst my friends had the fillet steaks with bone (£24.50). The tartare steak was served with skinny chips – a cross between pommes aluminates and french fries – and a small water cress salad. The steak was similar to AWT’s Greyhound Pub (they used a lot of green peppercorns in the raw meat mixture). I am actually surprised that they offered steak tartare as a starter or main course – New Quay is not an area that you would associate with this type of food.

The fillet was the fillet side of a T Bone – cut thick. The restaurant can cook the steak in 6 different ways – from blue to well done. One of my friends ordered blue whilst the other ordered medium. They got exactly what they asked for. The steaks were served with various sauces and chunky chips. I was very impressed.

The wine list was pretty basic. We had a bottle of rioja at £19. It was fine.

The tap water had slices of cucumbers in it – unusual but refreshing.

The steak here is as good a piece of steak as you will ever get. If  fact, having dined at various steak houses reound the world and the USA – Prime, Gibsons (Chicago only) and Mortons. I rate the steaks here in the A plus bracket. Lets pray that this place survives.

We finished the meal with a peach melba (£5.50).

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Comment from Nigel (Chef)

Thanks for the comments. For information, the steak tartare has no green pepper corns in. It does include capers, together with other traditional ingredients including dill cucumber, red onion, shallot, dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, tabasco, anchovy and, of course, a freerange egg yolk.
We believe we have sourced the best possible meat and fish available in the UK, and freeze neither! Well spotted regarding the similarity to AWT’s Greyhound. The recipe is almost the same. Regarding the steak pricing we are competitive for the area, even compared to inferior quality cuts / meats, and considerably cheaper than London! For example, the most ecpensive steak, our fillet on the bone, at £24.99 is £2 (nearly 10%)cheaper than a local competitor, is 2oz heavier and exceptionally well sourced. Exactly the same cut in London is £35! Thanks again for the review , and very many thanks for visiting us. I hope you revisit

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/7835273/Malaysian-food-A-taste-of-the-tropics.html

I like Malaysian food. There are plenty of good Malaysian Restaurants in London.

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June 2010

Address: 95 High Street, Esher Surrey KT10 9QE

Telephone number: 01372 477 139

Website: www.siamfoodgallery.co.uk

Date of visit: 20 June 2010

Approximate cost per head: From £20 – £30 plus depending on how many dishes.

Comments on wine list/beer: Normal wine list for this type of restaurant. For example, Pinot Grigio is under £16  a bottle

Summary:

The restaurant is sited on the High Street. Parking could be a problem but you can park in the Waitrose car park if you buy something.

There were four of us. We decided to share dishes.

For starters we had satay kai (chicken sate – £6.50), Tempura Jay (vegetable fritters -

£6.50) and Po Pia Pad (duck spring rolls). We were lucky. The satays  came in 4 skewers, the spring rolls in 4 halves …… so everything shared out equally. The satay were quite tumeric but the sauce were not peanutty. The skewers were quite small – little chicken cubes. The duck spring roll had more noodles than duck, the vegetable fritters were spot on. On the whole, the starters were fine.

For main courses we had: kang kai wan kai (chicken green curry £11.90), moo pad  prik khing (spicy pork £9.50), nuea pad nan mon hoi (beef in oyster sauce £12.95), kung pad nor mai farang (king prawns and asparagus in oyster sauce £12.95). The above dishes were accompanied with several portions of kao kra ti (coconut rice 3.95 per portion) and finally pad thai kung (prawn noodles £9.95). We washed the meal down with tap water and a bottle of pinot grigio.

With regards to the main courses, I thought that the dishes were pretty mild but the pad thai  was too hot for one of my friends. The portions were adequate but then I can’t remember a Thai serving large portions. The green curry was very gingery, The dishes in oyster sauce on the sweet side. But they were fine. The coconut rice was slighly green in colour – what was in it – but it tasted of coconut.

After the meal we had liqueur coffee. We ordered Tai Maria and it was quite a ritual. The glasses were filled with Irish Whisky. It was the sprinkled with brown sugar and the rim rotated round a flame to caramelise the sugar – think margaritas with a salt rim. Hot black coffee was then poured in, the glass then topped up with cream. Next, they flambé the liqueur and poured it on top of the cream so you get a flaming glass.

On the whole – a pleasant meal.

When we got back to the Waitrose car park, it was full of spotless convertrables and range rovers – but then this is Esher

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Address: Bath Road, Woolhampton, RG7 5RT. On A4 between Reading and Newbury. Approx 5 miles from Junction 13, M4

Telephone number: 0118 9713 307

Website: www.thea4angel.com

Date of visit: 18 June 2010

Approximate cost per head: £20 for 2 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Very heavy on New World wine. Seemed to have all the D’Arenberg wines.

Summary:

This is a self styled gastro pub. It’s in the Michelin and Sawday guides.

The pub has tables at the front garden (lawn to be exact) and a beer garden at the back.

Inside are 4 rooms, the drinking and dining area, a library with all sorts of classic literature, a more formal dining room and a games/function room – not exactly your ordinary pub layout.

Only two real ales are on offer – Otter and Fullers London Pride. I had a pint of Otter (£2.95) and it was fine. The usual lagers are on offer.

Within the pub/drinking area, the ceiling is covered with bottles – held in near horizontal wine racks. There were a lot of fascinating bottles on view especially the white burgundies. I was very impressed. However, when I surveyed the wine list, most of these excellent bottles were not available. The list was quite heavy on the New World with The Dead Arm (D’Arenberg) selling at a massive £59.95. When I last bought this in Oddbins , it was about £12 a bottle.

Onto the food, I had the fish and chips (£9.95). It was cod and came with normal size chips and a small salad of radicchio and endives in a balsamic dressing.

However, the chips and fish batter were not normal. They have been dusted with – in the case of the fish, incorporated into the batter – a paprika (smoked) and garlic mixture. A very unusual take, almost Creole.  It did work and was very nice. The dish was presented on a piece of absorbent paper with a piece of newspaper underneath – another interesting touch. The home made tarter sauce was not over vinegared as in commercial preparations.

I’ll be back to try some of the other dishes.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-real-sweet-and-sour-sauce-2001349.html

Unusual recipe.

E

June 2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-real-sweet-and-sour-sauce-2001349.html

If you have difficulty in getting hold of it, try the middle east/turkish/persian stores.

I get mine from S Kensington in the  Persian food stores - good for caviar as well – near Olympia.

E

June 2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/meat-and-potato-diet-reduces-risk-of-lung-cancer-by-half-2001625.html

No comment!

E

June 2010

See competition page