Address: Llandewi Skirrid, Abergavenny, NP7 8AW, Wales

Telephone number: 01873852797

Website: http://www.thewalnuttreeinn.com/

Date of visit: 25 November 2009

Approximate cost per head: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Very interesting list. Reasonably priced.

Summary:
I have missed two great chefs at the peak of their trade. They operated at The Carve Angel and The Walnut Tree.

The Walnut Tree, whilst under the ownership of Francesco offered Welsh/Italian cooking. A few years ago, Francesco retired. His son took over the management but it did not survive. Very similar to the great Patrick Rance who ran a cheese shop in Pangbourne – I drove miles just to buy cheese there. Patrick passed away, his son relocated the shop to Abingdon and then it went down hill and finally closed.

Now, to happier times.

A year ago, Shaun Hill (The Merchant House, Ludlow), took over The Walnut Tree and things have been looking up again.

I went there with a couple of friends including David Powell. His family farmed around Abergavenny before Francesco made his home there. According to David, it was just a farmer’s pub in the 60s. David is a well known Bourbon and whisky connoisseur as well as a top international veterinary surgeon in the horse racing world.

This place is like a gastropub (i.e. charge restaurant price but there is no table cloth).

We all had the set lunch (£16.50 for 2 courses and £22 for 3 courses) which was very good value for money and the place was pretty full.

The menu is essentially modern british. For starters we had plaice goujons and “pigs head ceomesqui”. Ok, let me explain, essentially, it is the meat from the pigs head, made into a large sausage. This is then bread crumbed and fried so it looks like a fish cake on salad. This is not the first time I came across this. The best recipe is in a book called Momofuku by David Chang (ISBN 978-0-307-45195-8). This is one of those “yuk” recipe that taste fantastic.

For main course, we all had braised ox cheek – slow braised dark meat – with mash potato. The other dish on offer was smoke haddock. Ox cheek and oxtail are fantastic meats and they are really cheap. If you want to cook it, just use a beef bourguignonne recipe. Roast the meat in a hot oven for 20 minutes to get rid of the fat then follow the recipe. The deserts on offer were bakewell tart and white chocolate mousse.

The wine list was very extensive and it was also very strange. It starts at £16 and goes up to £148 for a bottle of  puligny montrachet 97 and £148 for a 96 barolo. We had a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Franc for £24 which was pretty good. I had never drank  cabernet franc as a single grape before – it is normally used as part of a mix (less than 10%) in making Bordeaux red wine.

On the whole, it is very good. So if you are in the vicinity, do pop in. Apparently Shaun Hill is down here once every month.

Eddie

PS The Walnut Tree was reviewed in June 2010 by the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7821030/Restaurant-Review-The-Walnut-Tree.html