Restaurant Review - Hinds Head

The Hinds Head has an attractive dining room with some exposed beams; the pub itself dates back to the fifteenth century. The Hinds Head kitchen is now run by Kevin Love, previously sous chef here and who trained with Gordon Ramsay amongst others. He is bringing a little seasonality to the menu, which is welcome, though some perennial menu favourites will remain as “signature dishes”. Three courses run to £27.50 on the set menu, while a la carte dishes will work out more. The wine list has choices such as Buiten Chenin Blanc at £19.50 for a wine that costs around £7 in the shops, Prophets Rock Riesling 2006 at £47.75 for a wine that will set you back around £15 to buy retail, Antinori Tignanello 2007 at £136 for a wine you can pick up for around £49 in the shops, up to Chateau Latour 1994 at £600 compared to a retail price of around £323.

Scotch egg (£3.50) was made with a quail egg and pork, the outside using panko crumbs; it was very tasty, though I still prefer the Harwood Arms version (which, to be fair, is a different dish as it uses venison rather than pork). However the pork here had good taste and the egg was soft inside (5/10). Pea and ham soup was a classic rather than seasonal example from the menu: the taste was excellent, seasoning accurate (5/10). Devils on horseback (£1.80) were well made, the prunes moist, the chutney having plenty of depth of flavour and the bacon adding smokiness (at least 4/10).

Ham hock terrine (£9.95) was enlivened with a little layer of foie gras and served with home-made piccalilli, which had just the bite to cut through the richness of the terrine (5/10). Chicken, smoked guinea fowl and mushroom pie (£16.50) had excellent pastry and plenty of rich content, the dish well seasoned: this is what a pie should be but so rarely is (6/10).   Fillet of bream with bacon, mushroom and red wine sauce (£20.50) had good quality fish, accurately cooked, with the bacon giving an attractive note to the red wine sauce (5/10).   Triple cooked chips (£3.50) were excellent, not too large, crisp and well-made (8/10). Spiced red cabbage (£3.50) was less good, for me a tiny bit under-cooked, while I would have preferred a little more sweet and sour effect to enliven the cabbage (3/10).

Quaking Pudding (£7.25) is based on a mediaeval recipe, the idea being to combine the texture of a warm crème brulee with that of a jelly; this was served with slices of apple on the side and was a comforting, enjoyable dessert, though for me technically accomplished than really delicious (between 3/10 and 4/10).  Apple and blackberry crumble with vanilla ice cream (£7.25) was genuinely good, the Granny Smith apples not too sharp, the blackberry working well with the apples, the crumble having good consistency and the vanilla ice cream superb (6/10 easily).

Both double espresso and capuccino were £3.50 and of good quality, served with a few petit fours, though this is another restaurant that will charge you if you full price if you order a second coffee. Service from our Hungarian waitress was superb. Our bill ran to £96 each with some good wine.

The notes that follow are from a meal in June 2007, under a different head chef.

The menu reflects the traditional setting, and indeed in the case of dessert includes "quaking pudding", a seventeenth century recipe on its short menu. Potted prawns were pleasant and tasted properly of prawns, served with toast (2/10). Rabbit and bacon terrine was very good, a hearty terrine with good flavour and nice texture, served with a few pickled cucumbers (4/10). A tartelette of red pepper, goats cheese and onion had reasonable pastry and a garnish of salad leaves (3/10). The best dish was a fine pork chop using Old Spot pork, cooked very well and having excellent pork flavour. This was resting on a bed of pease pudding, something I have not seen for years, the peas cooked with a ham hock stock and providing a pleasing accompaniment to the pork; (4/10). On the side dish red cabbage was excellent, having I think been made with a little vinegar to give a pleasing sharpness (5/10) while of course Heston’s triple cooked chips are essentially as good as chips get (9/10).

Sherry trifle was another old dish revived, having high quality raspberries, smooth sponge and a nicely judged slug of sherry (5/10). The quaking pudding resembled pannacotta, but with a jelly-like texture and a rather plain, steamed pudding taste (3/10). Coffee is of good quality and comes with a single excellent chocolate truffle for each diner. Service was unusually good for a pub, the service friendly and efficient. This is the sort of "gastropub" that others should aspire to.