Glossary of featured eateries in the Roadside Gastro Guide - from North to South cont ...
10. Café Skylark, Wimblington, Cambridgeshire Part of Skylark Garden Centre, owned and run by a local farming family, Skylark Café provides low-priced food with a big local produce input. In fact, you can see the team of egg layers pecking in the field! A mere £2.99 will buy you free-range eggs and fenland chips ‘piled high on a simple plate, fluffy and crisp’. The cakes are home-made locally and the portions are generous.11. Milsoms Bistro Restaurant, Dedham, Essex Situated less than a mile from the A12, Milsoms is a popular destination for young professionals along the Essex-Suffolk border. The bistro is set in a country house in the rolling hills of ‘Constable Country’, with a heated terrace for diners. Local dishes include delicacies such as Pinney’s smoked mackerel fillet with grain mustard potato salad and Suffolk roast pork belly with sauerkraut.
12. Y Polyn, Capel Dewi, Nantgardig, Dyfed Set back in a wooded area, this traditional whitewashed country pub is owned and run by people who really know their stuff. Y Polyn serves ‘some of the most honest food in South-West Wales’. Sewin (Welsh sea trout), Welsh black beef, local goat’s cheese, lamb and home-reared pork all given starring roles – and often credited as to farm or breed. Their website proclaims ‘Fat equals flavour. Live with it’.
13. The Hardwick, Abergavenny, Gwent A menu that is all things to all people, yet ‘every dish is superb’. Alongside British classics such as ham, eggs and chips (‘the best you’ll ever taste’) and snacks such a big sandwich filled with roast mushrooms and melting Fontina cheese, Italian dishes dominate. Try carpaccio of Herefordshire beef, potato gnocchi with sausage from nearby Trealy Farm. Everything is sourced as locally as possible.
14. The Gumstool Inn, Calcot, Gloucestershire What was formerly an old Cotswold cowshed has been transformed into what appears to be an old Cotswold pub. Now under the astute direction of chef Michael Croft, it is far enough from the A46 – the main Cheltenham to Bath road – ‘so as not to be audible but close enough almost to toast a passer-by’. The menu is ‘well thought out, well sourced and consistently good quality at reasonable prices’.
15. The Crab at Chieveley, Donnington, Berkshire Just off the M4 and well worth a detour for anyone heading west. This thatched dining pub made its name with fish - an unusual achievement for a landlocked establishment. ‘Delightful quirky décor with ceilings covered in fishing nets with racecourse badges attached to remind you that Lambourn is near’. Crispy squid with sweet chilli is ‘as good as it gets’
16. The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, Berkshire This ‘gem’ of a country pub lies hidden at the end of a narrow wooded lane ‘like a cep in the bracken’. Unlike other country pubs, the Pot Kiln has a sister cookery school nearby. The food reflects the surrounding countryside, with game high on the menu. Main dishes are also supplemented by harvesting the hedgerows and the abundance of mushrooms that grow in the area.
17. The New Inn at Lower Westwood, Wiltshire There’s nothing ‘new’ about the appearance of this lovely coaching inn dating from the 1600s. Run by a father-and-daughter team, the New Inn offers ‘hard to resist’ pub favourites – half-pint of prawns, hand-made sausage and mash and a traditional Ploughman’s are all ‘excellent’.
18. The Tea Shop at Watts Gallery, Compton, Guildford, Surrey This ‘local treasure’ has both a sustainable vision and a devoted cult following of walkers, cyclists and local residents. They buy all their produce from within a ten-mile radius of the teashop, and produce their own artisan chutneys and jams. A specials board featuring seasonal produce may announce delicious homemade soups (such as celeriac and orange or courgette and rocket) and healthy salads, while a core menu runs alongside.
19. Hiker’s Rest, Saddlescombe, East Sussex Nestled in the foothills of the stunning South Downs, around four miles from the A23, the Hiker’s Rest is a tranquil place to take a break and enjoy no-nonsense, freshly made food. Expect to find tablecloths, quirky old bone china and vases of flowers. They serve organic and local salads, sandwiches, homemade cakes and specials such as homemade spicy potato cake with goat’s cheese and salad or local honey-roast ham, cheese and pineapple olive bap.
20. Hive Beach Café, Burton Bradstock, Dorset Housed in a simple wooden shack, this award-winning café is situated on one of the most beautiful stretches of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, with sweeping views across Lyme Bay. They serve ‘top-quality’, locally-sourced seafood’ in the summer months only, with crab and lobster coming from the café’s beach. Tempura-battered cod with ‘golden, rustling’ chips and Lyme Bay scallops with chorizo and pancetta are firm favourites, along with crab sandwiches, fry-up breakfasts and homemade cakes.
