I have been to the Wellington Arms in Baughurst before. I always compare it to a little Manoir in that it has the most wonderful home grown vegetables, its own livestock and sells home made bread and preserves. In fact I am not sure the Manoir does the selling bit of home made bread. The grounds are beautiful as is the pub itself, stylish yet homely, a great combination. We were warmly welcomed despite being an incredibly rowdy party of 5
We were immediately offered drinks and water and Tony was, for the first time in his life, offered his West Berks Brewery Mr Chubbs in a straight glass or a handled one! Very impressive (he is straight by the way but very open minded)
Alice started with a very impressive Bloody Mary, I can never work out how to drink these without getting a black eye. She said it was great.
This is a massive hunk of home cured ham hock, fennel and parsley terrine with tangy mustard mayonnaise and sourdough toast (and a caperberry for cuteness) Big chunks of meat offset with the bite of the mustard mayo.
Fine duck of liver and ruby port parfait with cauliflower pickles and sourdough toast. The cauliflower pickles were an inspired addition and the parfait was smooth and delicious
My favourite starter, and gosh luckily it was mine so I didnt have to stab any of my friends to get to their food. This was incredible, the twice baked cheese souffle sat on a bed of delicious creamy braised leeks and was covered with a mound of parmesan. This was superb, I seriously considered having it for every course, my fork easily entered the delicious souffle scooping up the creamy leeks. Oh yum
Chilli with smashed avocado and tortillas and sour cream. Small very nice chunks of meat and a generous amount of all the different elements. This was a special that was truly special.
Sides cost around £3.50 and were good, crushed green peas with mint leaves, spinach sauteed with butter and garlic and fine beans with olive oil and black pepper, a lot better than the average sides and worth it.
Char grilled ribeye steak
Potpie and mash, Hampshire leg of lamb slow braised with root vegetables, white wine and rosemary. The pie was lovely and correctly titled as a potpie, I was with a bunch of pedants who insist on the correct labelling. In all honesty I would have liked a smoother more buttery mash but it wasnt my dish and the person who ordered it certainly loved the pie.
This is utterly a dish of beauty, smoked salmon, avocado, home grown leaves, shoots, grapes and a marie rose sauce. The sauce was a light touch which was perfect for the dish, the tomatoes seemed to be semi dried, certainly they had a great flavour.
Ok I am a numb skull so it took me a few minutes to realise there were cocktail sticks there that were making the dish quite chewy but that was totally my fault! I loved this dish as well, it was advertised with a parsnip puree but I loved it with the pea puree which I was told was coming instead. The pancetta was crisp and the scallops were perfectly cooked.
The lemon posset with blackberries and shortbread, another picture below of the cute shortbread. Delicious, HUGE blackberries and a tangy smooth lemon posset.
A great, and again, generous portion of cheese with the most amazing crispy crackery things. I so wish I had a video of my husband trying to butter them, why you may ask would he want to butter them, it is one of the mysteries of life and pretty pointless.
Sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream, considered to be delicious
The cute biscuit
So on trend
The whole place is so beautiful and perfect AND they do rooms
Nothing more likely to woo me than topiary rabbits!