Location: Ermin St, Shefford Woodlands, Hungerford, RG17 7AA

Telephone number: 01488 628284

Website: www.thepheasantinnlambourn.co.uk

Date of visit: 20 November 20089, updated 6 Dec 2009 with recipie

Approximate cost per head:  over £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Beer is mainly by Loddon, fairly serious “budget” wine list. Good range of wine by the glass.

Summary:

According to Sawday’s (Pub and Inn Guide of England and Wales), this is the best place on the M4 for a pit stop for miles. As Sawday’s is a very high quality guide, I decided to pay this place a visit.

To start with, there is ample parking as this place is on the B4000 and nowhere near a bus route.

The place is roughly divided into a bar with two areas set aside for dining. Each of the “dining area” is as big as the “drinking area”. This suggests that most customers are diners. The menu is a ‘dated’ one pager which suggests that they cook according to what they can get rather than to a fixed formula.

The prices are more “restaurant price than pub prices”. Service in the restaurant area also attracts an optional 10% service charge.

The food is unpretentious and very good. We had sausages and mash; calamari which came with home made mayo and devilled kidneys. The next table had lamb shanks. Starters are around £8 and the main courses are around £15.

As The Pheasant is down the road from Lambourne, it attracts the racing set. This is evident by the photographs on sale which portraits horses and jockeys in various posts.

update:

Back for another meal. This time, we had, fish cake, smoke haddock welshrabbit and duck’s breast. They were all good.

The smoke welsh rabbit  was a very simple but excellent dish. The chef put a piece of smoke haddock on thinly sliced grilled tomatoes with an au gratin cheese sauce on top – simple!. Oh by the way, there was a sprinkle of chopped basil on the tomatoes.

 Eddie