http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food/food-reviews/17-must-have-kitchen-spices/articleshow/10267643.cms

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/01/23/55440/

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January 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/9037965/Celebrate-Burns-Night-and-Rabindranath-Tagore-anniversary-with-indian-haggis.html

I actually like to combine the inside of a haggis with black pudding and reheat it with a mash potato topping a la cottage pie.

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January 2011

Address: Inkpen Common, Inkpen, RG17 9QR

Telephone: 01488 668325

Website: http://www.crownandgarter.co.uk/

Date of visit: 26 January 2012

Costs:  Set lunch: £19.95 for 2 courses, £13.95 for 3 courses. Most a la carte dishes between £10-£15  and you get free bread with both butter and an oil and vinegar dip.

Wines and beer: Amazing wine list. Most expensive wine is under £20. The house champagne is £21. West Berkshire Brewery and Doombar.  Guest beer from £3 a pint.

Likes and dislikes: Clean tables, cheap and decent food. Pity about the location – miles from anywhere unless you live locally.

Cuisine: Traditional pub food.

Summary:

I have been trying to eat here for a while. Unfortunately, it is firstly a longish drive and secondly, they are closed on a Monday and Tuesday lunch.

The Crown and Garter is listed in Sawdays’, The Good Pub Guide (Which) and AA’s pub guide. Although Inkpen is in the middle of a really rural location, the roads from A4 and Hungerford are good.

The inside of the pub is modern – more like a farmhouse  – with a pub side and a restaurant.

The a la menu is short – fish cakes, trio of game, grazing boards, fish and chips etc. There is a set luch with 4 courses to choose from – several designed for vegetarians.

I went for the set lunch. To start with I had the pheasant sausage in a mushroom sauce. This came as a skinless sausage with a very loose texture, like an over boiled frankfurter. The mushrooms were a medley in a brown sauce. It was nice but the texture was too loose for me.

Next I had the smoke haddock. This came in an au gratin dish with three whirls of mash potatoes on the side – cooked in the au gratin dish. The haddock was cooked just right and it came in a cheese sauce with wilted spinach.  The Old Boy (£3.50) from West Berkshire Brewery was a decent pint.

As I was leaving, three toffee nose young solicitors turned up. You can tell by their uniform: blue denim jeans and a tweed jacket with an open neck shirt. What tells them apart is that they have a handkerchief in their top pocket. I first came across one of Mr Dewhurst’s sons dressed like this. (Please note that although Top Gear presenters dress like this, they do not have handkerchief in their top pocket. As soon as they start speaking, you can hear it : the plummy accent, the constant use of words like Yeah and Fantastic – by the way, superb which was heavily in use in the 80s is no longer fashionable. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not against them but I just found the dress code amusing. Another interesting fact is that they mainly drink halves and will have a large glass of wine with their meal but not a bottle.

For a food point of view, this is an extremely decent place for plain old fashion cooking.

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