Web site: http://www.birdinhand.co.uk/

Telephone number: 01628 826622

Date of visit: 24 October 2009, updated 22November 2009

Approx. cost per head: £17

Comments on wine list/beer: Camera Pub of the year 2007, 2008. Wine by the glass – good selection, better average. Will serve tap water with meal.

Review:

This is a charming coaching Inn on the A4 between Reading and Maidenhead and have been in the hands of the same family for several generations.

They have an excellent range of beers with new guest ales almost every week.

 The patrons are mainly diner who live by. No music. There is a formal restaurant which serves “slightly more” up market food than the bar.

The bar offers an intertesting selection of food ranging from a selection of mezze via fish and chips to roasts and fish.

On the day we went, we had the T Bone which unfortunately was cooked well done when we asked for rare but then most of the people who eat there doesn’t do “pink or bleu” meat. We also had the “de rigor” fish and chips which was excellent. The moussaka was slightly on the herby side and the steak and kidney pudding was slightly dry. We had profiteros with chocolate sauce for deserts which was pronounced by some as the best they ever had.

On the whole, this is a very cosy pub with a real fire during winter. The meals are good but don’t expect gastro pub type standard or cooking. Main courses are around £10.

There is a large car park to the front of the pub.

Update:

Went in to try the Sunday roast, between us, we tried beef, lamb and pork. The plates were huge and were covered with a good portion of meat and vegetables. Everything was cooked well done. This is not a place for rare beef, I recalled that  we had a well done steak despite asking for rare in the last visit. Roasts from £10+. By the way, they don’t do fish and chips on a Sunday.  

Eddie@bottlesandcooks.com

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

Location: 1-3 Parson’s Green, London SW6 4UL

Web site: http://www.whitehorsesw6.com/

Telephone number: 02077362115

Date of visit: 26 September 2009

Approx. cost per head: Around £20 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: A comprehensive list at a reasonably price

Review:

This pub is located in a prime spot on the Green – about 2 minutes walk from the underground. It’s open from 9.30 for breakfast and goes on till midnight at the weekend.

It is well patronised. When I got there around 2pm, it was packed. I had haddock and chips at £10.05 – it was very good (portion, presentation and taste) but someone on my table thought that his fish was a bit damp in the middle.

My other friends shared a cote de boeuf for 2 at £32 (Chateaubriand price). The beef was well cooked and look very nice but the outer meat had been removed which only leaves the rib eye. Excluding the bone, I think that there were around 12oz of meat which in my view was expensive and not big enough for 2. They were also mean on the fat chips with the steak.

A very interesting wine list which was the longest that I have ever seen in a pub. There were also an interesting range of real ales including a mild – don’t see this very often.

Good atmosphere.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com

Location: 21 Bank St, Malvern Link WR14 2JG

Web site: None

Telephone number: 01684574373

Date of visit: 12 September 2009

Approx. cost per head: Less than £10 for pub food

Comments on wine list/beer: Amazing array of beers

Review:
You go there to drink – take a tee total friend to drive. Park opposite the pub on the road.

There were beers from Kent and Cornwall and we are near Worcester! Drink halves so that you can try a variety.
Food is average pub food. I had the fish and chips which was ok. They offer brown and white bread for sandwiches. There is a restaurant but there was nobody neating in it – saturday lunch time?

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com

Location: 2 Broad St, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 2BH

Date of visit: 23/9/2009

Comments on wine list/beer: Constant change of real ales and ciders

Review:
This is not a pub to take your first date. It is a real ale paradise. The landlord and his assaociates behind the bar know their stuff. There is a constant change of guest ales – I have had milds from Swansea there. The walls and ceilings are covered in beer mats and the furniture should have been part of a giant bonfire 10 years ago. They don’t serve meals – crisps and peanuts are available.

Eddie, eddie@bottlesandcooks.com