Address: Old Raglan Road, Abergavenny, Wales NP7 9AA. (On B4598 off A40)

Telephone number: 01873 854220

Website: www.Thehardwick.co.uk

Date of visit: 13 August 2010

Approximate cost per head:  Around £20. Set lunch available at £18.50 for 2 courses and £23.50 for 3 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Otley. Fairly serious wine list at around 300% mark up – A 2008 Albarino was priced at £29 whilst a 2006 Chateau Neuf du Pape was priced at £68.50. Certain wines were available by the glass or half bottle.

Summary:

The Hardwick is listed in the Michelin as well as Sawday’s. This makes it a serious proposition. I paid a visit for lunch whilst I was enroute for the Penderyn Distillery.

The pub is sited on the main road. I nearly missed it as it was covered with scaffolding. Only the “wick” part was visible.

Inside the pub are two traditional rooms and a large modern extension like a huge conservatory. The place was about 90% full.

I was offered a table in the modern extension next to a family with 4 young children. In between courses, they all played games with their mother and grandparents – well, it was Friday 13. The grandfather did offer a good tip to the waitress aftwerwards for the disturbance but he didn’t apologies to me or offered me a drink!

There was no draft beer as the bar was being renovated. I had a bottle of large Otley Ale @  £3.20.

I went for 2 starters as they all looked very interesting on the menu. To start with I had the belly of pork stuffed with black pudding (£9). This turned out to be terrine style with layers of “pulled pork” and thinly sliced black pudding. The whole terrine was then covered in bread crumbs and fried. It was served hot and sliced with apple puree and a radicchio & cooked fennel salad. This has got to be one of the most interesting and inventive dish I have eaten for a very long time.

For my second starter I had a chorizo, courgette flower, peas, broad beans and potato salad (£8). It was served warm. Again, I was highly impressed. Only the flower petals were served as part of the pea and shelled broad bean salad. The chorizo was fried till crisp and the fried potatoes were served as wedges with their skin on.

The food here is definitely close to being awarded a Michelin star. Go quickly before they put the price up.

E

PS  The pork belly recipe can be found in Diana Henry ‘s Gastropub Cookbook (ISBN  978 1 84533 337 9). This is one of the most difficult recipe I have come across in the last few years. It is a true restaurant dish and it is not worth doing unless you are creating 50+ portions.

Address: 7-9 High Street, Aylesford, Near Maidstone, Kent, ME20 7AX

Telephone number: 01622 719273

Website: www.hengistrestaurant.co.uk

Date of visit: 30 July 2010

Approximate cost per head: Set lunch £13.95 for 2 courses, £14.95 for 3 courses, A la carte main courses around £18

Comments on wine list/beer: Very reasonable wine list. House wine starts at just under £15. Most expensive is 1988 Clos des Lambray at £395 a bottle

Summary:

This is part of Richard Phillips’ empire. He also part owns Thackeray’s and Richard Phillips at Chapel Down Vineyard.

The building is a 16 century town house in the middle of the High Street – there are 2 car parks just outside the High Street with ample spaces.

I was impressed as soon as I entered the building. It was very modern in the foyer – glass and chrome. However, in the dining room, the furnishings are more in keeping with the age of the building. They also have linen table cloths and napkins – none of this bare wooden table and paper serviette nonsense which you now get in quite a few restaurants that charged over £30 a head.

There are 3 menus – degustation (sampling), a la carte and set lunch. One of us (it was a get together with relatives) was going for the degustation but the restaurant was only prepared to serve the degustation  if the whole table (5 of us)  ordered it as there are over 7 courses (£48 or £65 paired with wine)  and this would put the serving out of sync – a lot of restaurants practice this which in my view is a nonsense as they are quite happy to serve a diner with a starter or desert even if the other diners on the same table only have a main course.

So, we all ordered the set lunch. We were all given a complimentary dish – spoonful of a small cube of smoked chicken (smaller than a cube of sugar) which I can’t taste as it was too samll. The bread on offer were quite fancy (e.g. garlic and tomato was one variety) and it was warm. However they have that awful habit which some British Restaurants  practice – serving bread once and removing the plate before the main course.

Our starter was organic salmon cured in beetroot. Salmon cured this way is now very popular in a lot of restaurants. You can buy it at Foreman and Field http://www.formanandfield.com/. It’s colourful and the sugar from the beetroot compliments the brine in the cure.

The salmon was very tasty but I found the dressing on it slightly too sharp.

Next, we had roast belly of pork, grilled hake and grilled plaice with a crayfish sauce. All the dishes were beautifully presented. With the set lunch, you will have to order sides (£2.50 per item). The pork was a rolled noisette and the crackling served as a strip positioned over the pork like a bridge. The sauces for the fish and pork were served separately.

For desserts, we had the cheese platter (Kent and Sussex cheese – £2 supplement) and chocolate crème brulee and raspberry tart.

Every one agreed that this was an excellent meal (including me). The service was overall very attentive and not obtrusive.

We had two bottles of still water and two bottles of house white (£14.95 per bottle – perfectly drinkable, saugvinon) with the meal. The whole bill including service came to £137.

I have to conclude that it was one of the best value meals I have eaten for a long time – it is modern European (French biased) and is right up there with Forbury (Reading), Venture In (Ombersley). However, it is by far the cheapest for food and wine.

I shall visit again for the degustation menu with wine next time when I am en route to

France.

E

Address: Old Mill Lane, Bray SL6 2BG

Telephone number: 01628 788500

Website: http://www.caldesi.com/

Date of visit: 28 November 2009

Approximate cost per head: From £15.50 but think in terms of £50 for the a la carte

Comments on wine list/beer: Excellent list. Some very good Italian by region

Summary:
Nearly every restaurant guide and review starts by asking why Giancarlo Caldesi opened a restaurant here when The Fat Duck, Hind Head and The Waterside Inn dominate the landscape. Ok we also have the Riverside Brassiere (Bray Marina) and The Royal Oak (Paley St). And they could be right.

On the day we went, it was quite empty with about 4 tables being occupied.

They have a set lunch at £15.50 for 2 courses. We ended up having 4 courses off the set lunch, had two bottles of Santa Maria (Veneto) @ £31 / bottle, drinks before the meal and coffee. The bill came to £210 for 4 including 12.5% service. Not bad at all.

To start with, we had the antipasti which was essentially slices of  bresaola with a salad. For secondi, we had  pasta in a cunky tomato sauce and for the main dish, a chicken leg in a chilli gravy. All dishes were well presented and very nice. With the main dish, they offered spinach and sauté potatoes on the side. For desert, we had the tiramisu and pannacotta. This is good basic Italian Food. I like it.

The restaurant is bright and tables are set apart with proper linen. We didn’t get a table cloth at The Walnut Tree, Hope and Anchor etc and they were about the same price.

One minor note: The second bottle of Santa Maria was corked. As the waiter poured it straight into our existing glass (had wine in it) without offering a tasting, the aroma was diluted but then, I have been drinking wine for close to 40 years. The waiter could not detect the problem but the manager did.

Eddie