Address: The Street, Crudwell, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 9EW (Opp Rectory Hotel – same owners)

Telephone number: 01666 577 833

Website:  http://www.thepottingshedpub.com/

Date of visit: 8 April 2011

Approximate cost per head: £20 plus for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Timothy Taylor Landlord, Hook Norton at £3.50 a pint. Pretty good wine list at reasonable mark up. Expect to pay around £30+ for a decent bottle.

Cuisine: gastropub

Summary:

Despite the naff name – The Potting Shed, this is an award winning pub (Good Pub Guide and Sawday’s) and is listed in all the guides including Michelin.

The car park is to the rear of the pub. There is a lawn with quite a few outdoor tables.

The inside is divided into several rooms painted in white and grey (wood). The menu is more of a gastro pub menu than normal pub food menu. The staff are young and were very attentive. On the day I went, the place was about 60% full – outside and inside.

I started off with “asparagus with a soft boiled quail egg (£6.75)”. I was surprised to get 4 thin pan fried asparagus (obviously local and British) an egg and a few dressed salad leaves. It was Ok but I was not that impressed as the asparagus were too thin to register a proper taste. It is good policy to buy local products but sometimes local products are not that good. We are bang in the middle of the asparagus season – I therefore expect a bigger plant.

For the main course I ordered haddock and triple cooked chips (£12.95). The dish was the largest plate of fish and chips I have ever seen. Let’s start with the triple cooked chips. They were more the size of roast potatoes than fat chips. However, they were properly triple cooked with all the right crunchy fissures. The haddock was close to a foot long and there were a tub of home made tartare sauce and a tub of mushy peas and a few salad leaves. Make no mistake, this was probably one of the best if not the best fish and chips I have eaten for some years

The whole meal was washed down with two pints of Hooky (£3.50 a pint) – slightly on the pricy side.

Over all I was impressed with the service and the fish and chips. In fact I even managed to sun myself for 20 minutes in the garden after the meal.

Address: Chalkhouse Green Road, Kidmore End, Near Reading, RG4 4AU

Telephone number: 0118 972 3115

Website: http://www.thenewinnrestaurant.co.uk/index.php

Date of visit: 14 February 2011

Approximate cost per head: Around £20

Cuisine: Gastropub

Comments on wine list/beer: London Pride (£3.25) and Brakspear  (£3.05) on tap, middle of the road wine list.

Summary:

The New Inn has been listed in the Michelin Pub Guide for several years as serving adventurous fare.

My friend Z who lives round the corner had told me that she does not rate the place.

So some 2 years on – after Z’s advice, I decided to give the place a trial.

The Pub is several hundred years old and is situated in Kidmore End – a pretty little village outside Reading.

As you enter the building, there is a dining room – with table clothes – to the left and a bar to the right which can be described as rustic. There was no body in the restaurant which was set up for Valentine’s day dinner, so I decided to eat in the bar.

The menu which was chalked up on the board offered various salads to start with and fairly “common” dishes such as haddock and chips or ham egg and chips etc for main courses.

I asked for the fish and chips (£11.50) and a pint of London Pride.

The pint that the barman poured was the end of the barrel and it was all froth. He then went into the cellar to change the barrel. When he returned, he offered me the frothy pint which has now settled – 5 minutes later – and was about 90% full. I should have refused - but, being a good chap, I did not.

The London Pride actually tasted strange, slightly tart but it was clear. I have always said that I have never had a bad pint of London Pride before. Well there is always a first time and this was an awful pint. I drank half of it and felt ill all afternoon.

I asked for another pint (just to compare the 2) and was told that the next barrel of London Pride was being settled and will not be ready for a few hours. So, for my next pint, I had the Brakspear which again wasn’t quite right.

The fish and chips – when it arrived – was a large piece of battered haddock on a pile of thick chip and a ramekin of home made tartare sauce. There were no peas or salad with it – just the fish and chips. The fish and chips were slightly on the greasy side but it tasted fine and it was not salted – about the only positive angle so far!

So on two separate occasions, I have been served “drags”. Has profits gone to the head of these places? I certainly won’t be going back, and next time, I will refuse end of barrel rubbish.

E

Name of restaurant or pub: Five Mile House

Location: Old Gloucester Rd, Duntisbourne Abbots, Cirencester, GL7 7JR

Web site: www.fivemilehouse.co.uk

Telephone number: 01285 821432

Date of visit: 1 Oct 2009

Approx. cost per head: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Stick to the beer unless you really want wine

Review:
This is a great place to break your journey between M4 and M5 (via A417). The only problem is that the beers are very interesting and good.

Excellent selection of food served in the various rooms – the place has more rooms than a Hobbit’s burrow. There are tables outside. The food served is Gastropub type of food.

On the day when I was there, I had the home made pate (bit soft in texture) and the whitebait which was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. My friend had brie and cranberry which turned out to be brie on toast with a layer of cranberry jam.

Service was quick and friendly. Starters under £10 and main above £10.

Its not an easy place to find. When you come off the A417, it is on the end of the slip road where the Texaco Garage is sited (From the north). From the south, come off the A417, take first right and then go under the A417 and turn right again.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com