Location: near Duntisbourne Abbots, GL7 7JR

Web site: www.fivemilehouse.co.uk
Telephone number: 01285821432

Date of visit: 12th March 2011

Approx. cost per head: £16

Comments on wine list/beer: Three draught ales on handpump.

Media link:

Review:

Firstly, note that the address of the Five Mile House is NEAR Duntisbourne Abbots and not in the village (very pretty) which we visited by mistake whilst looking for the pub for Saturday lunch. It is, in fact, easy to find when you know how and is just off the A417. Follow the small white home-made signs with a large Roman 5 (V). This 300 year-old coaching inn has never been in the hands of a brewery and has thus retained the charm and features of a truly public house. For example, the snug has been made out of the previous landlady’s sitting room complete with ancient fireplace. We received a warm welcome at the bar and I was pleased to see three bitters on handpump. The Bridge Bitter (Burton Bridge Brewery) was so good that, with my lunchtime ration of two pints, I didn’t get to try the other two ales! We were seated in the dining room – most tables are old wooden sewing machine tables complete with the Singer logo. Having reminisced with my wife (L) about my grandma’s old sewing machine it was time to order lunch. I chose the Gloucester Old Spot sausages from the extensive blackboard menu and L had the mushroom omelette from the lighter lunch selection. My three sausages had seen a bit too much oven and weren’t as succulent as I would have wished. However, they were very meaty and flavoursome and were served with the most delicious Dauphinoise potatoes…and chilli jam. The chilli jam worked quite well but, call me old-fashioned, I would have preferred onion gravy with my bangers. L’s omelette was nicely cooked and served with chips and a generous portion of salad. The home-made coleslaw was particularly good, with a hint of tarragon we thought. As we planned to walk off lunch on the Cotswold Way the dessert menu beckoned. L raved about her chocolate and walnut brownie (moist and very chocolatey) and I enjoyed the apple and raspberry pie. All desserts are home-made. The bill came to £42 including 2 pints and 2 halves of beer. I didn’t look at the wine list but I’ll check it out next time because we definitely plan to be back.

Mike Hibbs

Address: Danesbury House, Sidbury, Worcester, WR1 2HU

Telephone number: 01905 611 120

Website: www.theglasshouse.co.uk

Date of visit: February 201124  

Approximate cost per head: £20 plus for 2 courses

Cuisine: modern British/French

Comments on wine list/beer: Fairly basic wine list at low prices. Quite a few under £20 a bottle.

Summary:

There are 3 restaurants listed in the Michelin Guide for Worcester and the surrounding areas. They were all rated as 2 knives and forks. I have been to the Venture In several times (last reviewed on 24 July 2010). It is fairly “old fashion French” which means lots of heavily reduced sauces and heavy use of cream and butter. It was Margaret Thatcher’s favourite restaurant when she visited the area. The other one is Browns (24 Sept 2009).

Glasshouse Brasserie is the third place recommended in the Michelin Guide. Similar to Browns, they serve modern British cuisine and French food.

I took my friend M along on a Thursday night and the place was over half full. There is a sort of bar/dining area downstairs and there is a  dining room upstairs that can take 40 covers plus a private dining room for about 12. The whole place is very modern.

We had a table upstairs. We started off with a rustic bread  (£3.95) which were large chunks of grilled buttered bread with a pot of tomato chunky sauce and a whole head of baked garlic which was original and nice.

M then had the roast rump of lamb (£15.95) and I had the ribeye steak with triple cooked  chips (£17.95) . I was told that the rump was good. It was served with a pesto sauce but this version of pesto sauce had mint in it.  I thought that pesto was basil and pine nuts chopped together.

Now, let me tell you about my steak and chips. The chips came as huge cubes and the best way to describe it is that it is mashed potato with a crispy skin.

As far as I am aware, triple cooked chips were invented by Heston Blumenthal. It is now copied all over the place. The Hind Head (owned by Heston), Riverside Brassiere, The Royal Oak (Paley Street) and The Hand and Flower all do triple cooked chips well.

According to Heston’s book – In Search of Perfection, Triple Cooked Chips (page 229) should be simmered until the chips are nearly broken up (it is the fissures that form as the potato breaks up that trap the fat creating a crunchy crust)………

The so called triple cooked chips had no fissures. I can’t understand why if they went to all the trouble of declaring that they do triple cooked chips, they then can’t get it right. You may recall that The Three Horseshoes in Radnage, another pub recommended by the Michelin Guide also try to palm of their rubic cube chips as triple cooked (24 November 2010).

Back to the steak. It was cooked medium and was perfectly all right. It was declared as 10 ounces on the menu and I would have preferred a thicker cut than the 1cm cut that I had and the steak trimmed. They did that at the Blacxk Cow in Launceston.

By the way, we also shared a bottle of  2008 Ch Bellefontaine which was quite drinkable at £24 – the second most expansive red wine on the list.

To be honest, it was a pretty good meal and you do get veg with your main course, but, I get annoyed when people try to copy Heston and can’t get it right.

E

Address: Remenham Lane (A4130), Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 2LS

Telephone number: 01491 411 008

Website: www.thelittleangel.co.uk

Date of visit: 23 February 2011

Approximate cost per head: set lunch 2 courses £12.95. A la Carte approx £20 + for 2 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Brakspear on tap (£3.30 a pint). Medium size wine list with normal mark up. Expect to pay £20 a bottle

Cuisine: Modern British

Summary:

I have driven pass this pub many times but I have never been in. It is now mentioned in several guides as a gastro pub. I decided to pay it a visit just before Xmas but didn’t get in as the place was taken over for a party.

The pub is sited near the ”bridge”, on the Berkshire side of Henley town centre. There is a large car park. Upon entry, there are two bar areas and several large dining rooms all with fairly modern decor. They provide magazines, games (monopoly type not traditional pub games) etc. The customers were mainly the aging “Henley” set – posh and talked a lot as they like the sound of their own voice!

Onto the food and drinks. The Brakspear I had was fine. Being greedy, I went for the black pudding starter (£6.95) followed by Welsh Rarebit with chips (£6.25).

The black pudding came as several chunks cut at an angle, lightly fried with a sweet corn sauce and a small dressed salad (lambs lattice) on an oblong plate. I thought that it was original and very good.

The Welsh Rarebit was melted cheese on a slice of ciabatta with a lovely leafy onion salad and a bowl of proper French fries. It is so good to see French fries again – I am getting fed with the thick chips.

On the whole, I greatly enjoyed my meal. The serving staff was young and very attentive. Slight downside was to listen to someone’s heroic exploits over the last 50 years – on the next table.

E

Address: Main Road, Fyfield, Oxon OX13 5LW.

Telephone number: 01865 390585

Website: www.whitehart-fyfield.com

Date of visit: 11 February 2011

Approximate cost per head: Set lunch £16 for 2 courses, £18 for 3 courses, Dinner from £20 plus.

Cuisnine: Modern British

Comments on wine list/beer: Cheddar Valley (£3.30) on tap + Hook Norton. Middle of the road wine list at reasonable markup. You can pick up a reasonable bottle from £20 plus

Summary:

After a month of Aussie food, I was looking forward to this place. The White Hart is in every guide that I have come across – from Michelin to Sawdays.

On a Friday lunch time, the place was relatively quiet. The place is in two halves, restaurant on one side (tables laid, but no table cloth) and the drinking area (tables still have salt and pepper on it, but no knives and forks). Loos are outside with no heating!

I started off with a pint of Cheddar Valley which is not a beer that I have come across before. To my surprise, it was a bit tart and very cloudy (similar to Everards Tiger in taste). The bar man assured me that it was ok. I am not sure about this as I have only come across cloudy drinks that won’t settle in Weissbier and Scrumpy. Was he palming me off with the bottom of the barrel?

I settled for the set lunch and ordered the garlic custard with home made bread and fish and chips.

The garlic custard was essentially a savoury egg custard infused with garlic – it was very mild. The surprise and the best bit was the bread. They were fried finger sandwiches in garlic butter and filled with garlic mushroom. It looked good and tasted good.

The fish and chips was a large piece of battered hake on a pile of fat chips with marrow fat peas (whole) in a ramekin covered in some darkish sauce. The tartar sauce was home made and had loads of cut up pickled cucumber in it. The slightly downside was that the chips and the batter were salted.

On the whole, I can see why this place is highly rated but, please go easy with the salt.

E

Address: 123 High Street, Teddington, London TW11 8HG

Telephone number: 0203 1662 900

Website: www.whitebrasserie.com

Date of visit: 11 December

Approximate cost per head: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Pretty good range of beer by the bottle or on tap. Main bitter is Fullers. Reasonable wine list with a reasonable mark-up.

Cuisine: modern “British & European” cooking

Summary:

This is Marco Pierre White’s modern brasserie “make over” at a former pub. It is now trendy to keep the pub name as well as the restaurant installed within it. At present, there are 2 branches – Teddington and Weybridge.

The place is modern with the wall and ceiling painted terracotta red. The furniture is more traditional and the table have different types of legs. We (5) were offered a table for 4 with the leaves pulled out. Unfortunately this meant that 4 of us have to sit with a table leg in between our legs. Whilst the 5th (a one year old), had a side to herself. I’ve checked. There are tables without “legs” in the wrong position.

The menu is fairly extensive with an a la carte, set meal (£12.50 for 2 courses and a glass of wine – for a glass of champagne add £2.95 extra) and specials of the day. Two of us ate off the set lunch which was offered a combination of 3 starters and 3 main courses. We had the hot smoked salmon – which turned out to be potted “hot smoked” salmon – and the bean salad. The bean salad was cooked small white beans tossed in a Cesar dressing with radicchio and lettuce. I liked the bean salad very much. The other two members of the party had the “hot smoked” salmon (£6.20) and the smoked morteau sausage with a poached egg (£6.25) off the a la carte menu. It was interesting to note that portions of hot smoked salmon were the same for the a la carte and the set meal.

For mains, we had slow cooked beef with horseradish mash off the set menu and the fish cake (£10.50) off the a la carte as well as the pork T-bone(£14.95) from the specials board. We also ordered two side orders of chips (£2.75) a portion. The sides were large portions and one portion is enough to share between 2.

The slow cooked beef was excellent and literally melted in the mouth. It was served with caramelised onion gravy. My friends claimed the pork T-bone was excellent but the fish cake was a bit bland.

The one year old ate free and had cheese on toast followed by chocolate ice cream. One of us actually managed to try the dessert – she said that it was good.

We had several beers and a rioja crianza (£24.10). It was interesting to note that they will offer you wine by the glass, carafe as well as the bottle on most wines – a concept that I totally approve of. They are too many restaurants that charge a hefty price by the glass and if you have 3 glasses, you might as well buy the bottle. The other problem with wine by the glass is that they are usually the bottom of the range wines.

This is a nice place and is very children friendly. Service was fast, courteous and efficient.

E

Address: 75 Kingsgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9PE

Telephone number: 01962 853834

Website: http://www.fullershotels.com/rte.asp?id=129

Date of visit: 3 December 2010

Approximate cost per head: £20 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Pretty extensive wine list at the usual (approx 300%) mark up. Beers supplied by Fullers- from £3.20 a pint

Cuisine: Modern British Cooking

Summary:

This is an 18 Century institution round the corner from the Cathedral and Winchester School.

You get a sense of history as you enter because the tables near the bar are all “old” writing desks – from the school?

The place was packed out on a Friday lunch time as Winchester Cathedral is currently hosting a Xmas Market – mainly bric-a bracs with hardly any food stalls.

The menu here can only be described as a cross between gastropub and a brasserie.

The “dining” areas are housed in several rooms all accessible via the bar. I believe that they would probably serve around 80 covers.

My friends (M & D) are old Winchester hands. M seemed to know everyone – he is the nearest thing to “human silk – ultra smooth” that I have ever come across.

We started off with a couple of pints in the bar and it was fine – usual Fullers standards – before we were ushered to one of the side rooms to have our lunch.

We had a table that overlooked a deli on Kingsgate Street. We ordered 2 bottles of Rioja Crianza 2005 (£25.20 a bottle) but we were served with the 2006 – significantly inferior year; much more watery. I wish restaurants would tell you that THE YEAR one ordered is no longer available. Instead most of them would slip in a newer vintage and pretend that nothing has changed. Do they not know that wine prices change from year to year and there is such a thing as VINTAGE. To be honest, I noticed it straight away but I decided that it was not worth complaining as I didn’t want to ruin my friends’ lunch.

We ordered fish and chips with mushy peas (£11.50), lambs liver with faggots (£11.50) and a slow cooked pork belly with mash (£13). D who had the fish and chips kept going on about how good the chips were but said very little about the haddock and mushy peas. M thought that the gravy (reduced sauce) with his belly of pork was too salty.

I had the lamb’s liver with faggots and mash. To start with, the faggots turned out to a single large faggot about the size of a snooker ball. It was pretty good, had the right proportion of liver to mince meat. The lamb’s liver – one thickish slice – was over cooked and was a bit on the hard side. The mash ok but then the gray was as M said, too salty. Did the chef – more likely the under sous chef – added salt before the reduction or did he/she added the salt at the end without tasting the sauce. Life is such a mystery.

My conclusion is that this is another place trading on its historical name. The menu was not just basic pub grub but has a lot of very “innovative” sounding dishes to it but the execution is below par. However, I understand that M is still going to have his Xmas dinner there. Well, he is slim and smooth so I don’t think that he has high blood pressure and the extra salt won’t damage him.

E

Address: Newlands Lane, Stoke Row, Oxon RG9 5PU

Telephone number: 01491 681048

Website: www.thecrookedbillet.co.uk

Date of visit: 10 November 2010

Approximate cost per head: Set lunch £14.95 for 2 courses, a la carte from around £20 for 2 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Brakspear on tap, simple wine list with several interesting wines. Reasonable mark up. Top red wine at over £50 is a 2005 Barolo.

Cooking style: modern british

Summary:

I have had a long association with this pub before Paul Clerehugh took it over some 20 years ago. In the 70s, it was owned by an eccentric landlord who was into operas. He had the barrels on gravity drip in the kitchen. There was no till, just a bucket with coins in it. On most nights when he is not there, you would just help yourself and put the correct money in the bucket. The pub never closed and you could turn up at 1am and have a pint. On several occasions, the local policemen would turn up after midnight and have a few drinks before they went home.

It has all changed. To start with, the whole of the inside – 2 rooms – is now taken up with tables for diners. You can still sit outside and have a pint. Paul the chef patron has become a local celebrity chef. He is also part owner of The London Street Brassiere – Oracle in Reading. The menu here is similar to London St. However, the cooking is superior. The place was made even more famous by Kate Winslet, who celebrated her first wedding here over 12 years ago. This pub/restaurant is listed in the Harden’s guide as one of the top ten gastro pub in the country. It is also listed in my favourite guide – Sawday’s.

On this cold and sunny morning, I decided to give it a try. I called at noon and booked a table for 1pm. The place was half full when I arrived on the dot of one. However, by 1.30pm, the place was full – there are only 7 tables inside – and they had to turn several couples away.

I chose from the set lunch – £14.95 for starters and main course. Pudding will set you back another £4.95.

There were quite a few choices for each course. For starters, you can choose between onion tart, fish cakes etc. I went for the terrine of partridge and ham with toasts. When it came, it was a thick slice with a piece of white breast meat between two chunks of ham. There were puy lentils stuffed in between the meat. The whole thing was then set in aspric and wrapped with layers of lettuce and savoy cabbage. So when you sliced it up, the green is on the outside. A delight to look at and it tasted great. I washed this down with a large glass of Chilean cabinet sauvignon (£6.15)

For main course, one can choose between: rabbit, tuna, lamb etc. I went for the battered haddock, chips and mushy peas. When it came, the fish was a sizable piece with a pile of chips and mushy peas plus a tub of home made tartar sauce. The batter was light and crispy, the fish slightly over cooked and the chips – divine. I had a pint of Brakspear (£3.85) with the fish.

I didn’t have the pudding but on offer today were: cheese, apple crumble, bakewell tart, chocolate mousse etc.

Both the starter and the main course were big portions and the food is good. I can now see why this place is so popular.

E

PS this is not an easy place to find. It is on a crescent just behind The Cherry Tree Pub. If you can’t get in or find The Crooked Billet, do go to The Cherry as it is just as good (reviewed on 17 June 2010)

Address: Baughurst Road, Baughurst, Hampshire, RG26 5LP

Telephone number: 0118 9820110

Website: http://www.thewellingtonarms.com

Date of visit: 3 November 2010

Approximate cost per head: Approx £20 for 2 courses. Set lunch £15.50 for 2 courses, £16.50 for 3 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Interesting selection of wine especially Chapel Down (English) wines (£22-£43). Beer is Wadworths.

Summary:

My butcher – Tony Hayworth (Vicars and Sons, West St, Reading) recommended this place as somewhere worth visiting. He eulogises about the sausages which he specially make for The Wellington Arms – apparently the secret is a touch more garlic than the version he sells in the shop.

I first came here 2 years ago and thought that the food (British) was pretty high class. What really made my day was the kids on the next table complained that the food was very adult – no burgers etc.

The pub is still managed by Jason King and Simon Page. Since my last visit, Wellington Arms has appeared in Diana Henry’s latest Gastropub book. The tea pots are still hanging over the bar for sale at £40 each and the place is now open for food 7 days a week (except Sunday dinner).

The pub is rather small – about 10 tables – but they have a large outside dining area and a car park that will take over 40 cars.

On weekdays, they have a special deal for lunch – £15.50 for 2 courses and £16.50 for 3 courses. The set lunch offers several dishes from the a la carte which is chalked up on a blackboard, so it is a very good deal. Typical dishes are partridge (£16.50), plaice (£16.50), steak (£22).

I ordered field mushrooms on toast followed by gnocchi with. butternut squash.

Whilst I was waiting for my courses, I had a pint of Wadworths (£3.70) and some “craft” bread (£0.60). 3 slices of bread of different colours came in a basket. The bread was light rather than heavy – pretty fresh. Then, I disgraced myself by putting my pint down on a fork and spilt beer all over the table and floor. To their credit, no fuss was made whilst they cleaned up the table and the floor. In fact, they offered me a free refill for the beer I lost.

The first course of field mushroom and toast consisted of several types of mushrooms over a piece of white toast and some “brown gravy” sauce. The mushrooms were cooked perfectly. They still had texture and were sizable – not reduced to nothing. The only down side was the toast. It was slightly soggy because of the sauce. If they substituted toasted sourdough for the white bread, the toast will stay crisp a bit longer.

Next, the gnocchi. This was a dream dish, close to perfection. To start with the gnocchi were soft and slightly elastic with a crisp (burnt) outside – much more superior than the ones I had in Del Posto which cost $40 plus tax and 20% service charge. This came with several pieces of roasted orange butternut squash, walnuts, deep fried sage leaves and a shaving of parmesan cheese. Fantastic – from a visual, texture and taste point of view.

I washed this down with a glass of house red (£6) from the Languedoc. It was very drinkable for a house wine.

After several weeks of ordinary food, I was very pleased to find a restaurant that is at the top end of the game and still charge an affordable price – total bill £28.30 including 10% service charge.By the way, no table clothes but proper napkins.

If you want to visit this place, I strongly advise that you book in advance.

E

Address: Shepherds Green, Rotherfield Greys, Nr Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 4 QZ.  Sign posted off B481.

Telephone number: 01491 628 482

Website: www.thelambpub.net

Date of visit: 26 August, 2010

Approximate cost per head: Around £20 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Large selection of wine by the glass. 6 reds, 6 whites, rose and prosecco. From £4 for 125ml to over £8 for 275 ml. Most wines by the glass are from Italy. They also have a very interesting bottle list – from £13.95 for a basic Italian red to  Dom Perignon 2000 at £120 (pretty good value). Beer is from Loddon and they have a bitter brewed specially for them at £3.30 a pint.

Summary:

This used to be part of AWT’s empire and is listed in Sawday’s guide. It is an old building with exposed beams and low ceilings – beware if you are around six foot six. There are hens in the garden that provides the place with fresh eggs. This seemed to be a new approach as this is the third pub that I have come across in the Berks/Oxon area that farms chicken.

When we got there at 12.15, we were the only customers. When we left at 1.30pm, the place was more than half full.

My daughter who was with me noticed that the window stills had a few dead flies on it and that put her off the place.

The menu is of a modern British approach. They offer a lunch menu as well as an a la carte (steak, guinea fowl etc). For the lunch menu, you can have a starter and a brunch dish for just over £10 – see web site. On the other hand, you can have a starter, main course and half a bottle of wine for £20. We settled for 2 main courses – pork chop, colcannon and cider gravy & their famous fish and chips both were priced at £10.50. On the a la carte menu, I noticed that you can have a whole suckling pig (enough to feed 10 plus) with all the trimmings for £250 – pre-ordering is required.

The pork chop came spiked with slivers of garlic and sat on top of a generous helping of colcannon (they used leek). The fish and chips came with two small tubs – home made tartare sauce and mushy peas. The haddock was cooked in beer batter and the chips were fat chip. It was fine but a better version can be found at The Hand and Flower at Marlow for just under £15.

Re the pork chop and colcannon, the colcannon was deemed excellent but the pork chop just an ordinary fried chop. I had a pint of their special brew and it was nothing special.

Our conclusion was that, it was nice food but pretty average and the place could do with a bit of a clean around the windows.

E

Web site: www.thewalterarms.com

Telephone number: 01189774903

Date of visit: 03/08/10

Approx. cost per head: £15 – £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Fullers on tap, £3.15 for a pint of London Pride.

Media link:

Review:

First impressions were that it was well decorated, well laid out and slighlty upmarket for a pu

Complimentary bread with oil and vinegar to start was a nice touch.

To start we shared a garlic pizzette (£6.95) between 3 of us which was delicious.

Mains were also good. One of us had cod and chips with mashed mushy peas (£10.95). The chips were fat chips – unsalted. The others had spagetti carbonara (£9.50) and risotto (£10.95) of the day – chorizo, pepperoni, chicken and pesto – it was a bit on the wet side. However if you are not particularly hungry, we recommend the smaller size (risotto and pasta were all available as starter or main course portions) as we both found our meals slightly too much which meant we couldn’t manage dessert.

The waiters were friendly, however one forgot our drinks and did not check to see how the meal was. We would say service on the whole was average.

We would go back again, however we wouldn’t race back.