Restaurant Review: The Running Horse

Hampshire is known for it's horses. New Forest Ponies are known internationally despite their habit of picking fights with cars. Moving away from postcards and on to betting slips, a famous stud farm and racing stables are within the county's borders.

Next door is the Running Horse pub. Unsurprisingly, it has a bit of a racing theme. However, despite this, gimmicks are not the stock in trade here. Good food and excellent beer are the front runners.

The pub has recently come under new management. As well as refurbishing the interior, the kitchen is cooking up a storm. Fresh, local produce is very much the order of the day. Not only was most of it alive until very recently (and in some cases, running around), it is beautifully prepared.

My starter was rope grown moules marinier. The mussels were plentiful; the sauce rich and creamy with just the right amount of garlic. It was served with a slice of toast, which seemed like a bit of an afterthought, and a spoon for the delicious sauce. There were enough mussels for a hearty starter and the remaining sauce filled any residual gaps.

The main course was roasted guinea-fowl with fondant potatoes, onion puree and a hazelnut/madiera sauce. It was magnificent. The guinea-fowl was rich and succulent with an intense flavour. The fondant potato light and fluffy with a delicious, earthy flavour. Everything was topped off perfectly by the sweet, rich sauce. There were a couple downsides to the dish. Firstly, the plate was lettered with some green gunk. I can only presume it was there for colour as it didn't look appetising. Painting a strategic bit on the plate might be a better alternative. Second was the fact that the dish was almost 20 minutes late. Unfortunately it had been missed off the order. To their credit, the staff handled it well and with great tact assuring me that it was being cooked at warp speed 6! Was it worth it? I think so.

Dessert was my traditional cheese board. There were a delicious variety of rich cheeses combined with plenty biscuits and some rather nice chutney. A perfect mix of tangy and creamy flavours which rounded off the meal nicely

All of this was washed down with a couple of pints of Tipster, an ale from the brewery owned by the company. Again, the emphasis on local produce! Although the beer wasn't brewed especially for the pub, it was still a nice touch.

The interior of the pub was elegantly decorated without the surroundings stealing the show from the food. A particular feature I liked were the tweed coverings on the cushions of the bench seats. The tables were uniformly large so there was always plenty space to spread out food, drinks and limbs.

Overall, well worth a visit. The delay in my main course lost it a few points but everyone makes mistakes and I'm more than happy to give it the benefit of the doubt for the first time.

TFB

The Kingham Plough

Gastropubs have always been a source of suspicion for me. The concept seems straight forward enough: a pub that serves excellent food. In practise though, things are rarely that simple. Often the term "Gastropub" is a synonym for a restaurant that is being run from an old pub building. A rose (or maybe Rose and Crown) by any other name as it were. These can be quite well concealed from the outside and only display their true colours (mainly white from the starched linen) once you cross the threshold. While I like formal silver service with all the trimmings, there's a time and a place. In the pub when you're looking for a quiet pint is neither.

At the other end of the scale are the perfectly decent pubs that use the prefix "Gastro" and/or overly elaborate menus (often featuring purple sprouting broccoli or shavings of parmesan) to bung a hefty price tag on to otherwise mediocre food. The kind of place where one has to choose from a vast array of breads when selecting one's lunchtime sandwich to go with your pint then being relieved of about fifteen quid for the privilege.

The above examples are bad gastropubs. What makes a good one? Well first and foremost, it has to be a pub. Somewhere comfortable and welcoming where one can relax, have a pint and generally let one's hair down, either sitting in the corner with the paper or with friends. It also has to serve excellent food. I am of the opinion that fine dining has it's place and that place is in restaurants. Pub food should be wholesome, hearty and not too fussy (although this should not be a barrier to quality).

Does such a mythical place exist? Until recently I had my doubts. Some things are perhaps too good to be true. However that was before I discovered the Kingham Plough.

This little gem first came on to my radar when I moved to Oxford and started looking at places to eat. The menu looked delicious yet unpretentious, the surroundings looked idyllic and the general attitudes expressed on the website gave me the impression that it ticked all the boxes. An appearance by head chef Emily on the Great British Menu didn't hurt it's appeal either.

We have now been a couple of times under various pretexts and I can confidently (and happily) say that it exceeded our wildest hopes and expectations. Even the drive there was an absolute joy, taking in, as it did, some magnificent Cotswold's countryside.

The pub itself is at the very heart of the village of Kingham, just by the village green. The building is built from beautiful Cotswold stone with a large car park out the back and a garden for dogs/kids to burn off some steam.

Once inside, the pub has a lovely rustic feel with solid wooden furniture, tweed upholstery on the chairs and decorating the windows, and lovely exposed stone walls hung with pictures by local artists. So far we have only been in summer but I expect the genuine log fire will only add to the ambience during the winter months. After a tantalising glance into the kitchen one enters the main bar.

The bar scores major brownie points with me for being a proper bar not just a few bar stools grudgingly laid out next to a meagre offering in the corner. It is well stocked with a good range of local ales, spirits (including some rather good malts), an extensive wine list and an impressive looking humidor. Beyond all this though, it feels like a really cosy local. This is only enhanced by the (very sensible) dog friendly policy.

Off to one side is the dining room with tables set out more formally. One feature of the dining room I particularly liked was the lighting. It managed to be gentle and soft without ever making the room feel dingy and dark. Not an easy feat to pull off.

The pub is run by husband and wife team Miles and Emily. As Emily was off on maternity leave during our visits we have yet to have the pleasure of meeting her, however Miles was a true character and started our night with a bang. He is a master of non-verbal communication and is able to speak volumes with a nod of the head or a raised eyebrow. His welcome set the tone for the evening; very relaxed and casual making us feel completely at home. This was continued by the other staff who were extremely friendly and soon had us feeling like we were long-lost friends catching up. All of this gave huge warmth to the evening. Most importantly, it didn't have the forced and false feeling of the scripted "banter" in some imported chain restaurants.

Sadly, there was one key member of the team we did not get to meet. Someone who managed to cement our good impressions of the pub before we even got close. Her name is Ootie and she's the pub Jack Russel who, according to her blog on the pub's website, does like pork scratchings and tummy tickles but is emphatically NOT cute! It's a shame really. Since we're both massive dog-lovers we had treats secreted about our person in expectation of meeting her.

Anyway without further ado, let me get on to the food. If you want a one word summary then let it be this, "Wowitwasbloodyfantastic!" (ok slight artistic licence there but I am quarter German so I'm allowed to use compound words). Not only was the flavour amazing but the nigh-on impossible was achieved: the portion sizes were judged to perfection. They left me (a reformed rower with an equine appetite) feeling suitably sated while not over feeding my girlfriend's mother who has the stomach capacity of a sparrow with a gastric band. I swear the plates must have been made by the same person who made the tardis.

My starters at various points were smoked mackrel with bloody mary sorbet or duck terrine with lentil salad. Both were beautiful with rich, bold flavours and a lovely array of textures and temperatures. Each had me desperate for more. The food was artfully presented on the plate without being fussy which is always a relief since it means one doesn't have to chase several elements round a plate to get a decent mouthful.

The main course caused me to break one of my main rules of eating out; I had the same dish twice. Usually I wouldn't dream of this so I get to try a decent amount of variety. Each time I went to the Kingham Plough however I had the steak, chips and onion rings. The flavour of the steak was unbelievable (quite the best bit of skirt I've ever had... well skirt beef anyway), the onion rings beautifully crispy and the triple-cooked chips light, fluffy and crispy.  I can also confidently recommend the chicken with the cock-a-leekie pie; the few scavenged morsels I managed to get my mitts on were delicious.

Dessert was my customary cheese board; I liked being able to choose between various local cheeses and I particularly liked the fact that as well as more mainstream cheeses there were some slightly left-field choices such as a range of sheep's cheese. This reflects one of the main philosophies of the Kingham Plough; local produce. Most of what is cooked is produced within about ten miles of the pub. The cheese board also scored major brownie points with me for having enough biscuits/bread to have all the cheese. The lack thereof is a pet hate.

Finally, with coffees we had the selection of sweets. These are an absolute must. Usually there is a fudge, a truffle, a muffin and a jelly. All are absolutely delicious and were a perfect way to round off the meal. I was genuinely impressed by the fact that the sweets had taken flavours I'm usually not a fan of (such as banana) and made them delicious.

Overall, I really can't find fault with either of my experiences at the Kingham Plough (apart from lack of dog). The quality of the food and the cooking was superb, the surroundings were magnificent and the atmosphere was just perfect. I can't think of a better goal for other gastropubs to aim for. My opinions were shared by my girlfriend and her family. None of us can stop raving about it (as this post may suggest). In fact the only individual who was anything less than bowled over was her parent's dog who came with us the second time and who didn't get nearly as many titbits as he thought he ought to get!

We will be going back soon.

TFB