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Address: Craven Road, Lower Green, Inkpen, Berkshire. Rg17 9DX
Telephone number: 01488 668326
Website: http://www.theswaninn-organics.co.uk/
Date of visit: 28 July 2011
Approximate costs per head: Around £20 for 2 courses
Comments on wine list/beer: Local beer (Butts) from £3.10 a pint, organic wine
Cuisine: pub food and Italian dishes
Likes and dislikes: interesting place, makes a lot of noise about “organic” food. I am neutral about this place – not over the moon and nothing to dislike.
Note: opening times – see website
Summary:
This is a Pub, Restaurant, Hotel and Organic Shop complex.
The Pub
If you are driving there, the last stretch is really narrow and its on a bus route.
This place is listed is the good pub guide, good bear guide and is a Rick Stein food hero but it did not make Michelin or Sawday’s.
There are about 6 tables on the outside – new furniture. The inside is divided in to the Pub part and a dining room complete with table cloths.
The menu is a strange mixture of all the traditional pub dishes, inter dispersed with lots of Italian dishes.
As it was a very nice day, I decided to sit outside. I had a pint of the local special and a pint of mild from Cheddar Brewery. I have to put my hand up and say that beers were quite strong. This is not a place for a couple of pints, food and drive. Mind you, I liked the Butts – it had a certain woody taste. The Cheddar mild was a dark golden colour not black. I first came across milds that are not black in the Hobgoblin in Reading. The manageress (extremely knowledgeable) told me that milds are defined by the way it is brewed, not the colour.
Onto food. I did not fancy the Italian so I had two starters. I started off with a trio of smoked fish – trout, salmon and mackerel – served with horseradish cream and a small salad (£6.50). The fishes were ok except for the mackerel. It was full of small bones. I had expected the kitchen to remove all the fine bones. Next I had the deep fried brie which came as a nice wedge with again a small salad. The small salad was a mix salad with shredded cabbage, lattice and carrots – 10 out of 10 for freshness. The brie was ok but not great as it was a bit young and not runny. Most restaurants that serve deep fried camembert or brie use young cheeses which are less tasty than the mature ones.
In conclusion, it was fine but not great. Next, the shop.
The Shop
It was closed so I had to get the lady behind the bar to open it up.
This was a big disappointment as Rick Stein raved on about it in his book.
There were very few things on sell. In the centre was several freezers offering frozen organic meat or dishes (lasagne, pies etc) from the restaurant/pub. There was a shelf lines with organic bottles beers and ciders and then jam, porridge and dried pasta. The prices were not too bad, it was just the small range and the lack of fresh food that was so disappointing.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jul/26/consider-sushi
An American invention is Yum Yum Roll – deep fried sushi – I had it in Atlanta – all the chefs were Hispanic and my host was a Columbian. The fish is still raw in the middle as it was deep fried quickly
E
July 2011
Address: Peachcroft Farm, Twelve Acre Dr, Abingdon, OX14 2HP
Telephone number: 01235 535 978
Website: http://www.wellsstores.co.uk/
Date of visit: 21 July 2011
Opening time: 9 – 5
Summary:
Wells used to be the cheese shop (80s) in The Thames Valley when it was owned by Patrick Rance. Patrick wrote a book on French cheeses and was considered by many to be one of the most knowledgeable people in the game. It was nearly 2 inches thick, full of wonderful descriptions but not a single photograph. It used to be my “bible” on French Cheeses until Dorling Kindersley came along and started putting wonderful colour pictures into books.
Patrick passed away over 20 years ago and his son moved the business onto Abingdon. The business is now owned by Gill Draycott and is housed in the Peachcroft farm (much better for parking) just outside Abingdon. Gill was an employee in Wells Stores before she bought the business.
I have long heard good stories about the place.
The store has a vegetable section on the outside with some fantastic looking vegetables – onions with the green tops etc.
Inside are a few counters and a tea room. One counter is devoted to British cheeses and another devoted to mainly French cheeses. They also sell bread and quiches – these look remarkably like the ones that The Old Farmhouse Bakery make.
On the day I went, Gill was there. I wanted some Mrs Appleby but she actually advised against it and got me some Cheshire instead as Mrs Appleby wasn’t 100% right. I had a brief chat and she obviously knows her subject as she has been in the trade for over 20 years.
The selection here is not ridiculously huge but still pretty extensive and everything she sells is in peak condition and comes from a decent supplier.
If you are in the area, I recommend this place to shop for your cheeses.
E
Address: Abingdon Road, Drayton, OX14 4JB
Telephone number: 01235 531457
Website: http://www.theredliondrayton.co.uk/restaurant.htm
Date of visit: 21 July 2011
Approximate cost per head: Range of prices: salads undef £9. Most meals under £1`0. Blackstone Grill – £10-£16
Likes and dislikes: Needs re-decorating, interesting food
Cuisine: standard and non standard Pub food
Comments on wine list/beer: Morlands (Greene King) £2.80, Wines available – normal pub list
Summary:
I was going to pay The Sweet Olive at The Chequers a visit. This is another Pub taken over by the French and is highly recommended by Sawdays.
When I got there, I discovered that it was closed for 2 weeks – no reason given.
I the proceeded onto Wells Store, located at The Peachcroft Farm in Abingdon – another story. NB, Peachcroft Farm’s retail outlet and Wells are located at different ends of the farm .
As I left Wells stores, I decided that I will head towards the A34 and stop at the first Pub. Believe it or not, there was only a Beefeater before I came across The Red Lion in Drayton – they serve food all day.
The Pub is a large room with the bar in the middle, a drinking area and pool table on one side and a dining room on the other.
Only Morlands was available on tap at £2.80 a pint.
To my surprise, the menu was the most “interesting” Pub menu that I have come across for years. By the way, the outside of the Pub and inside was nothing special. In fact it looked very downmarket. They are doing it up – a new carpet was being laid in the of the rooms when I was there.
The menu offered items like Thai fish cake, Cajun chicken, fish and chips etc. In fact, it’s a very long menu, lots of interesting dishes.
At the front of the menu, they offered “stone cooking”. This is based on a Japanese principle – a piece of marble/ granite is heated to over 250C and raw meat is placed on it to cook. It is suppose to be very healthy as no salt or oil is added. You can have the meat seasoned or rubbed with garlic and spices before – if you wish.
The Americans have now refined this and have special plates to accommodate this. It is oblong white china with 3 compartments with the middle one holding the stone – resting on a metallic stand. Vegetables and meat are then placed in the side compartments for you to cook on the stone. I last had this in Vancouver (Stone Grill 3 Nov 2009) and I wasn’t impressed as they placed all the scallops on the stone and a third of it became over cooked by the time I got round to eating it. This medium works best as a semi-slow grill rather than flash grilling.
The Red Lion offered: Kangaroo (£15.95), Ostrich (as part of a mixed grill -£14.95) and Rump Steak (£8.95 to £14.95 – depending on size). I couldn’t resist the kangaroo as it is years since I ate kangaroo.
The dish arrived with chips in one compartment, mushrooms and onions fried in oil in the other compartment – so much for the healthy eating but they were nice. In the middle of the plate was a piece of black granite with two large fillets of kangaroo on it. The total amount of meat must be close to 500g.
So I started with “rare” kangaroo and ended up with “well done” kangaroo. The kangaroo tasted stronger than beef but less gamy than venison.
They served two sauces with it – a Mariana and a BBQ.
If you happen to be in the Abingdon area, seek this place out as it is interesting and different.
By the way, there are lots of great “foodie” places near Abingdon – Wells for cheese; Dews Meadow for meat – especially pork; Peach Croft Farm for turkey, geese and vegetables; The Old Farmhouse Bakery for bread and pies. Millets Farm Shop is also worth a visit. All of these places have car parks. So stock up.
E
This was a UK/US study. Can’t remember the UK media reporting this!
E
July 2011
Address: High Street, Wargrave Nr Reading Rg10 8DD (there is a public car park on the B447 side of the cross road)
Telephone number: 0118 940 3120
Website: http://www.thebullwargrave.com/
Date of visit: 19 July 2011
Approximate cost per head: All main courses at £8.95 during lunch time, Nearly all evening main dishes are under £10 except the sirloin steak.
Comments on wine list/beer: Brakspear and Jennings, wines available by the glass or bottle. Most wines are around £20 a bottle except for the Moet at £45.
Likes and dislikes: poor ingredients
Cusine: basic pub grub
Summary:
This used to be a self styled gastropub. When I last went – several years ago – the food was above average but not fantastic. I think that they have new owners as the menu has completely changed.
Wargrave is a simple cross road town but it has 3 pubs in the town centre and one just outside town. Most houses are expensive here.
This lunch time, there was hardly anyone in the Pub.
The lunch menu offered the usual range of starters and main courses, sandwiches and baked potatoes.
I went for the brunch – bacon, egg, sausage, baked beans and chips.
When it came, it was a proper greasy spoon fry up. The ingredients were of poor quality. The sausage was made from recovery meat – there were bits of bone or cartilage in it, the eggs were double standard – one with solid yolk and one with runny yolk, the bacon was wet cured etc. The chips were top class.
I had a pint of Jennings with the meal. It was awful and expensive – £3.60. The beer tasted slightly sour like a weiss bier.
I didn’t enjoy it. It’s not the pub I knew from a catering point of view. Service was fine.
E
Address: Cues Lane, Bishopstone, Oxon, SN6 8PP
Telephone number: 01793 790481
Website: http://www.royaloakbishopstone.co.uk/
Date of visit: 16 July 2011
Approximate cost per head: @£20 for 2 courses
Comments on wine list/beer: Arkell’s Pub – £3.10 for a pint of 3B. Wines available but nothing “special”.
Cuisine: British and International
Likes and dislikes: excellent place. Car park difficult to find
Summary:
This is a lovely Pub in the middle of a village – Pub, Post Office that also act as a general store and a church.
The car park is at the back of the pub.
This Pub is listed in several Guides: Sawday’s, Michelin, Good Food, Michelin etc. So, it comes highly recommended.
As you enter, you notice a large area surrounding the bar. On the Saturday I went, the place was packed with a large family and friends taking over a huge table in front of the bar.
The menu – printed on the day – was short with about 4 starters, 6 main course and 6 desserts including cheeses.
Starters ranged from: lentil soup with chard and lemon (£5.50) to Tuscan bread salad (£6.50). Mains include macaroni cheese (£9.50); beef burger (£13.50) and sirloin steak (£21.50). Burger and steak were served with aioli, salad and chips. For desserts, you can have chocolate brownie (£5.50), buffalo milk ice cream (£5.50), vanilla pannacotta (£6) etc.
I had the de rigor fish and chips – Hake – at £14.50. Very much priced at the top end. When it came, it was a decent size piece of fish sitting on a plate with big chips and a salad of lettuce and carrots. At that price, I expected something decent and it was. The fish was about 7/10 and the chips and salad 10/10. The chips were like triple cooked chips but without the fissures – still very crispy. The big tub of home made mayo was fantastic. This is a top 5 fish and chips.
I then had the “British” cheese platter (£8.50)e cheeses were a mixture of normal and blue, soft and hard, cow eve and goat – very nice.
As I left, I noticed that the place is supplied by its own organic farm – Helen Browning – and they offered to barter for local “fresh” produces.
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