Address: Binfield Heath, Oxfordshire, RG9 4JI

Telephone number: 01491575755

Website: http://www.thebottleandglassinn.com/

Date of visit: 7 May 2010

Approximate cost per head:  Nearly all main meals under £10 except sea bass at £12.95 and steak at £17.95

Comments on wine list/beer: Didn’t see a wine list, wines available by the glass, Breakspear £3 a pint

Summary:

I used to come here on a regular basis in the mid 70s when I was a postgrad at Reading University.

In those days, they did scampi and chips and steak and chips – both under a fiver and significantly better than those served at Berni Inns.

Alias, Berni Inn is no more although the next generation of cheap steakhouses- Beefeaters – are still around.

Bottle and Glass’s cuisine has already moved on as they are under new management although the décor and furniture (inside and outside) have stayed nearly the same. There are two bars, the public one has long tables and benches or chairs and there is a sofa in the lounge bar (that’s new!). There are only one set of toilets accessed via the lounge bar.

The menu is a simple one and there is a lunch as well as a supper version. Sandwiches at £4 and all puds also priced at £4. The main courses range from spaghetti bolognese to sausage and mash. I had the fish and chips off the lunch menu priced at £6.60 (£9.50 in the evening).

The fish – a pretty big piece – and chips were excellent. To start with, you get proper french fries not chunky chips. The batter was light and the peas were previously frozen – more and more places are introducing sweetened pea puree or mushy peas. Mushy I like but not the sweetened puree. In fact the Hand and Flowers (Marlow) serves sweetened pea puree with their “famous” fish and chips. You also get pea puree at the St George and Dragon (Wargrave) and The Royal Oak (Paley Street).

It’s certainly worth a visit.

E

Address: High St, Wargrave, RG10 8HY

Telephone number: 0118 940 4474

Website: www.stgeorgeanddragon.co.uk

Date of visit: 27 December 2009

Approximate cost per head: less than £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly extensive wine list with coverage over Europe, Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Wine by the glass is possible on certain wines. Beer is supplied by Loddon.

Summary:
This restaurant/pub is sited on the Thames just outside Wargrave – on the way to Henley. During the summer weekends, the place is packed.

The inside of the pub is a huge room with square tables for dining and round low tables for drinking and dining. When you book, be sure to ask for a square table as the round ones could be a bit low.

The food can best be described as an upmarket US diner with quality food. You can have salad, pasta, pizza, fish, steak, chicken etc….

Between us, we had the pizzetta which is a thin crispy pizza bread topped with shaven parmesan cheese and rocket. For main course, we had the salmon fish cakes, haddock & chips, burger and spit roasted chicken. The meals were served with fries (thin) – no salt (great). Vegetables were extra: from £1.95 for peas, cabbage and leeks.

On Sundays, they also offered a selection of roasts but I couldn’t sight anyone eating the roasts near us. The special of the day also offered scallops which looked very nice on the next table. The other tables were eating: pasta, pizza and & chips. The main courses were all priced at around £10 plus and the starters around £7.

This is a place where you can get a decent meal and the range of food on offer would cover most tastes. This is not haute cuisine.

The wine list had no vintages which suggest that you would probably get the most recent vintage. The price range from £15 to just under £40 with a pink Moet & Chandon, Amarone and a Chassagne Montrachet at the top end of the list. The Moet is good value for money as its only 100% mark-up whilst I would stay off young Amarones which tend to be very sweet (good as a desert wine). When they are aged (15 years) and browned out, they are great with game.

Ample parking outside the pub.

Eddie

Location: Station Road, Bransford WR6 5JH

Telephone number: 018886 833399

Website: www.bear.uk.com

Date of visit: 8 November 2009

Approximate cost per head: around £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Very good wine list for a pub and not a very good range of beer

Summary:
Went there with a few friends for lunch.

The first thing that struck me was that the pub was devided into two halves with a restaurant on one side and the “pub” side on the other – bar is in between. This is the first pub that I came across with “pristine white table clothes” in the restaurant.

The bar was serving only 2 types of real ales – as far as I can see – with about 4 other lagers and gassy beers. The real ales were London Pride and a“blonde” ale from Hobson. I had the “blond” ale –  from a hand pump and NOT a bottle. It tasted like a “summer” ale.

The food menu was extensive and although it was a Monday, it had a whole blackboard devoted to fish – sole, salmon, sea bass etc. I had the non-gluten fish and chips with mushy peas. Again, it’s the first time that I had a batter that had no gluten.

The batter was very crisp and the whole dish was priced at £10.75.

My friends has sea bass and the sole. I was pleased to see that it came with a large side dish full of vegetables and potatoes.

On the whole a nice experience but is this really a pub?

Eddie