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Address: Church Road, Cookham Dean SL6 9PD
Telephone number: 01628 482905
Website: http://www.jollyfarmercookhamdean.co.uk/
Date of visit: 22 March 2011
Approximate cost per head: Less than £20 for 2 courses
Comments on wine list/beer: Several different draft beers (Binghams, Brakspear, Courage Best etc) on tap. From around £3 for a pint. Wines by the glass around £4. Michelin starred wine (what ever that means) supplied by the local deli
Cuisine: simple pub fare
Summary:
For 20 years, The Jolly Farmer (opp the church) has been owned by the local village. On a Tuesday lunch time, there were over a dozen people in the pub – half just drinking and the other half dining). I suppose if you own the place, you might as well use it.
The pub is listed in The Good Pub Guide. I was introduced to the place nearly a decade ago when I went canvassing with the local MP – I was active then. One of the owners who were then the Head of the Local Party as well as the Church Warden met us there and we had a jolly lunch in the sun. In those days, they only do lunch in the second half of the week.
The menu was chalked up on several black boards and looked very simple. For starters, you can have soup (£4), grilled goats cheese salad (£6), scallops and bacon (£7). For main courses: haddock and chips (£11), Scampi and chips (£8.50), ham egg and chips (£8.50 etc.
I had the haddock and chip which came on a large plate with a big piece of fish, mushy peas and a huge pile of chips – no tartare sauce and no plate decorations. It was a fairly decent meal but nothing special.
I had a pint of Binghams (guest beer at £3.30). It was nutty and quite flavoursome. I the spotted the Courage Best (£3) and also had a pint – it was not what I remembered, quite tasteless after a pint of Binghams.
When I asked where Courage Best is being brewed, nobody seemed to know. One chap said Reading.
Well, I do know that Courage (the old Simmonds site is now The Oracle and the M4 brewery is now Green Park and Madjeski Stadium) is no longer brewed in Reading since Scottish and Newcastle took them over a decade ago – in fact, I am not even aware that it is being brewed anywhere as Scottish and Newcastle were taken over by Fosters over 5 years ago. Does anyone know?
Well, its never the same once they move the brewery as the water is different. Courage, Brakspaer Morlands, Youngs and even Gales (now brewed by Fullers) are not the beers they used to be – I think!
E
Hi,
I am surprised that we only had a hand full of people entering the first competition.
Here is a repeat of what was published on 21 Feb. Use the comments page on this article if you want to enter. There is still time. It will be a random draw.
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Since January 2011, Bottles and Cooks.com has over 1200 regular unique users.
To thank you for your support, I have dug out a few bottles from my cellar.
To enter the competition, all you have to do is enter your details and the words “user competition” in the “leave a comment” section of this article. All entries will be acknowledged.
Your email address will not be passed on or used for anything other than for this competition. We will destroy the data when the competition ends.
Every month (deadline is 12.00 noon on the last day of each month) for the next 3 months (March-June), we will randomly draw a user from the pot of emails addresses submitted. Please, no spamming, no funny email addresses and one entry per user only. Once you have entered, you will stay in the draw until the competition expires. Winners will not be re-entered. However, this does not exclude you from winning the “review” prize if you enter articles on shopping experiences or dining experiences.
My decision (E) is final for both the users and reviewers competition. Please also be aware that we will not guarantee the condition of the wine. As far as we are aware, the wine has been kept in perfect conditions.
If you live in the UK, I will try to get the bottle to you within 2 weeks. If you live outside the UK, you will receive wine vouchers to the value of £150 (per draw) if we are unable to get the wine to you because of logistic or “local laws on alcohol import” . If we can’t find a suitable wine merchant in your country, you will receive a cheque to the value of £120. Please note that the vouchers and cheques are only applicable to non UK residents there is no cash alternatives. All winners outside the UK will bear the cosequences – if any- of exchange rates changes, commission and local or import tax.
If we can find a suitable wine merchant in your country to issue vouchers, there will be no cash alternative. By entering the words user competition, you will have read and agreed to the rules. We will disqualify enteries that have not followed the above procedures.
The first competition will run till the end of March 2011.
For this competition we are offering abottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1989. There is also a bottle of the same wine on offer for ALL reviews submitted from now till 31 March 2011
Parker gave it 90 and said: It is a medium weight clasic Lafite. It is elegant, restrained……..Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025.
I had a bottle the other day and it offered elegance and smoothness that the modern day wines from the New World lacks. It is currently available at over €1,000 a bottle from certain sites!
Good luck. The competition starts NOW!
E
February 2011
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The area of New Malden has been mentioned by several publications including The Good Food Channel as Korean Town.
I thought that I’ll test it out.
To be honest, there are a few Korean Restaurants such as
Butchers (Korean BBQ) on the 27 Coombe Road (continuation of High Street) and
Gengis Khan on Kingston Road
The other “Korean outlet” are hairdresser, garage and a Korean Supermarket known as K-Mart
K-mart New Malden,
71-73 High Street
New Malden, Surrey
KT3 4BT
Tel : 020 8942 8374
There are 2 branches of K-Mart, the other one is in Golders Green. The products on offer are mainly Korean, Japanese and Chinese. However, they do offer Korean dumplings (frozen), soya sauce and the famous Korean BBQ sauce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_barbecue .
They also sell meat and vegetables. So you can make your own kim chee or buy ones already made.
Please note that K-Mart also offer an online/delivery service.
There is also the now compulsory Polish Deli (Polski Sklep) on 23 Coombe Road and my find of the day:
Shree Ganesh – an Indian Deli. 178 |High street, New Malden. KT3 4ES (0208 949 7708). They offer a huge range of spices. There are still a few missing but it is pretty good.
The truth is that unless you live locally, Japan Centre on Lower Regent Street is still the best place for Japanese and Korean food.
E
March 2011
If this trend continues, sooner or later we will ban the Bangladeshi Restaurants from calling themselves Indian!
E
March 2011
Address: Ruscombe Lane, Ruscombe, Nr Twyford, Berks, RG10 9JN
Telephone number: 0118 934 5190
Website: www.burattas.co.uk
Date of visit: 18 March 2011
Approximate costs per head: Bar menu less than £10. A la carte: starters mainly under £10. Under £20 for main courses, and desserts all at £4.95. Ice creams and sorbets all at £4.25
Comments on wine list/beer: Binghams (local brewery sited opposite the pub) and Fullers London Pride (£3.20) on tap. Simple wine list at low mark ups. Plenty of wines by the glass including a Montepulcian at over £6 for 250mls
Cuisine: British pub food but up market dishes on the a la carte menu.
Summary:
The pub is listed in the good food and good beer guide.
It is a quirky place. To start with, the Landlords Jenny and Stefano Buratta have added their name to the traditional pub name. Stefano who serves behind the bar is greying but has a mullet tail and a goatee beard. But then, the place also serves as an antique shop.
The inside is biggish with a bar area, a dining room and a sun lounge which also act as a second restaurant area.
The table next to me had the burger, sausages & mash and ham, egg beans and chips. The portions were generous and they looked very good.
I was going to have 2 starters or the fish and chips off the bar food menu but then the a la carte menu caught my eyes. Its full of interesting dishes and at the bottom of the list is lambs kidney and rice (£13.95). It is very rare to come across kidneys these days – especially as a main course. The last time I came across kidneys was at the Half Moon in Cuxham. They offered devilled kidneys on toast as a starter. I had to try it.
The food came in about 15 minutes. There was a good size portion of kidneys swimming in a brown sauce – bit similar to beef gravy enriched with red wine. This was accompanied by a mould of white rice and a side serving of carrots, cabbage and broccoli.
It was a 7 out of 10 dish. The gravy was thick and tasty, the rice not soggy and thankfully, no butter had been added. The vegetables still has a bite to it. The only slightly down side was that the kidneys were not pink but it was not over cooked and rubbery.
I found it difficult to describe the type of cooking here. They do traditional British Pub Food (available on most times except Friday and Saturday evenings – at their discretion) and an a la carte menu that looks quite ambitious and up market.
I had my usual 2 pints of London Pride and the beer was fine. It was also filled to the top – not with a centimetre of froth.
E
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/13/modernist-cuisine-worlds-heaviest-cookbook
Written by a former executive of Microsoft. I am going to get a copy.
E
March 2011
Address: 7 Market Place, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 2AA
Telephone number: 01491 574377
Website: www.gabrielmachin.co.uk
Summary:
This place is listed in Rick Stein’s food heroes as a butcher but it has everything.
They manage to squeeze everything into a tiny shop front. There is a charcuterie section with food smoked at the back of the shop.
There are also a fish and seafood section and a cheese counter. The fish on offer covered a wide range. On the day I went, there were mussels, turbot, salmon etc.The cheese counter have a variety of British Cheese from within a 50 miles radius as well as some excellent French Cheeses.
The meat counter also offered “french cuts” of lamb and beef. They also offer offals – couldn’t see any tripe, and some interesting pre-prepared meats including chicken thighs boned and stuffed with goats cheese. I also managed to finds Haggis- made by Ramsay of Carluke.
A very interesting shop. The prices are reasonable.
If you go on a Thursday, you can shop for bread in the open air market outside the shop. The bread stand (no name – but there is only one), offers a fantastic range of bread, cheese with rosemary, 3 types of rye, spelt etc.
E
PS Machin also offers a nationwide delivery service – see website.
March 2011
Location: near Duntisbourne Abbots, GL7 7JR
Web site: www.fivemilehouse.co.uk
Telephone number: 01285821432
Date of visit: 12th March 2011
Approx. cost per head: £16
Comments on wine list/beer: Three draught ales on handpump.
Media link:
Review:
Firstly, note that the address of the Five Mile House is NEAR Duntisbourne Abbots and not in the village (very pretty) which we visited by mistake whilst looking for the pub for Saturday lunch. It is, in fact, easy to find when you know how and is just off the A417. Follow the small white home-made signs with a large Roman 5 (V). This 300 year-old coaching inn has never been in the hands of a brewery and has thus retained the charm and features of a truly public house. For example, the snug has been made out of the previous landlady’s sitting room complete with ancient fireplace. We received a warm welcome at the bar and I was pleased to see three bitters on handpump. The Bridge Bitter (Burton Bridge Brewery) was so good that, with my lunchtime ration of two pints, I didn’t get to try the other two ales! We were seated in the dining room – most tables are old wooden sewing machine tables complete with the Singer logo. Having reminisced with my wife (L) about my grandma’s old sewing machine it was time to order lunch. I chose the Gloucester Old Spot sausages from the extensive blackboard menu and L had the mushroom omelette from the lighter lunch selection. My three sausages had seen a bit too much oven and weren’t as succulent as I would have wished. However, they were very meaty and flavoursome and were served with the most delicious Dauphinoise potatoes…and chilli jam. The chilli jam worked quite well but, call me old-fashioned, I would have preferred onion gravy with my bangers. L’s omelette was nicely cooked and served with chips and a generous portion of salad. The home-made coleslaw was particularly good, with a hint of tarragon we thought. As we planned to walk off lunch on the Cotswold Way the dessert menu beckoned. L raved about her chocolate and walnut brownie (moist and very chocolatey) and I enjoyed the apple and raspberry pie. All desserts are home-made. The bill came to £42 including 2 pints and 2 halves of beer. I didn’t look at the wine list but I’ll check it out next time because we definitely plan to be back.
Mike Hibbs
Address: 196 Stanley Road, Teddington, Middx TW11 8UE
Telephone number: 020 8943 1059
Website: http://www.imperialchinalondon.co.uk/
Date of visit: 11 March 2011
Approximate cost per head: £20 plus
Comments on wine list/beer: Basic list. Mark up on the low side. Have got first growths (in a bad year) on the list. Pre-ordering required for first growth
Cuisine: Cantonese, Chinese
Parking: Outside on the road – after 6pm and at weekends.
Nearest station: Strawberry Hill
Summary:
I booked for 4. Unfortunately, J and C’s daughter couldn’t make it, so we were down to 3. J &C have always been generous to me so I decided to row the boat out.
Luckily for me, Simon (chef patron) was there and he made a few suggestions.
To start with, we had “dragon beard prawns”. This is a Simon invention and is not on the menu. It is a large “tiger prawns”, stuffed with sliced mango and deep fried in a batter with thin noodles. The result is that you end up with a “hairy” looked prawn. It was excellent – we had one each.
Next up was lobster in ginger and onion sauce. Simon recommended that the lobster is served on top of a nest of fried crispy noodles. Again, this worked extremely well as the clingy sauce from the lobster is “soaked” into the noodles. The sauce was just right, not too gingery – perfect combination of garlic, spring onion, ginger and Chinese wine.
We then had a quarter crispy dick in taro. This is a boned piece of crispy duck – cooked but not shredded – covered in thinly shredded taro – a really fine combination of crispy exterior with melting duck flesh on the inside.
Next up was Chinese steak – sliced steaks in a tomato and onion sweet and sour sauce. What was nice about this dish was that it was not too sweet. This was accompanied by scallops with asparagus. This was very pleasant, slight down side was that the scallops were previously froze. We also had “do mew” – the greens of mange tout or pea shoots with mushroom and garlic and mixed fried rice.
The total bill including a bottle of Moet champagne (£45) and service charge came to £163.60.
In my view, Imperial China is probably one of the best Chinese Restaurants in the UK – offering “authentic” Cantonese cooking. It certainly is the best I have eaten in so far and I have eaten in a few rated in the Michelin Guide. The décor of the place is good. They will have to improve their wine list if they want a Michelin star.
E
Web site: http://www.loddonbrewery.com/
Address: Dunsden Green Farm, Dunsden, Oxon RG4 9QD. (Near Sonning)
Telephone number: 0118 948 1111
I have just bought my second 5 litre can of Hare Brained from the Brewery this month.
Loddon has been around since 2003 and you can sample its fare in various Pubs around Reading or buy directly from the Brewery. So far, I have stuck to Ferryman’s Gold, Hocus Pocus and Hoppit which are all right but nothing that special – I buy from them because they are sited within 2 miles of where I live.
This month I went to the brewery to pick up some beer for my friend J as a birthday gift . J is an ex-Welsh international, was an orthopaedic surgeon and know his bitter inside out but is not so good on wines. The strange thing is that he will pay a lot for beer but not wine.
The owner at Loddon recommended Hare Brained – special brew for March 2011. J and I both thought that it is fantastic.
I have since been back to get more and will get even more before the end of the month. This is what proper bitter used to taste like. Unfortunately, most brewery have now gone for a milder (taste) or stronger (alcoholic content) brew. For example, Youngs and Brakspear are no longer the beer they were. London Pride (Fullers) is still there but Hare Brained (4%) is far superior. Try it bedfore the month is out – just in case they stop brewing it.
E
PS My views are totally independent. Bottles and Cooks will pay the full tab for anything we sample. We do not accept free gifts or promote anything for rewards!