The meals was mild and scrumptious, however the invoice wasn’t.
I visited Heston Blumenthal’s Michelin-starred pub—I used to be floored when the invoice arrived (Picture: Sophie Harris)
Nestled within the charming village of Bray, a tiny Berkshire riverside spot that’s dwelling to a number of advantageous eating eating places, lies The Hinds Head, owned by legendary chef Heston Blumenthal. Whereas Bray’s fame arguably started with The Fats Duck, Heston’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant, The Hinds Head provides a extra relaxed but nonetheless deeply considerate expression of British cooking, steeped in historical past and creativeness.
Relationship again to the 1400s, The Hinds Head has traded as a training inn and native pub earlier than changing into a part of Heston’s portfolio within the early 2000s. Its focus is on basic British fare with intelligent twists, suppose triple-cooked chips, Scotch eggs, quaking pudding and hearty mains. It earned its personal Michelin star in 2013, including to Bray’s spectacular assortment of top-tier gastronomy.
The historic constructing from the skin (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The restaurant is positioned in Bray, Berkshire (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The within of the restaurant was cosy (Picture: Sophie Harris)
There was ample house for eating (Picture: Sophie Harris)
My mum and I visited for what we supposed to be a lightweight lunch, and what a lunch it was. The service was impeccable from the second we arrived, with pleasant and attentive workers joyful to information us via the menu and drinks checklist.
I used to be somewhat stunned to be introduced with a carafe of water once we had particularly ordered nonetheless water, anticipating a bottle to reach on the desk. Whereas I trusted the workers that this was really bottled water, it could have been good to see the bottle, contemplating we had been charged almost £4 for it.
We kicked off with a starter of spicy sausage, served with brown sourdough and salted butter. It was easy however wealthy and stuffed with flavour, an ideal starting to the meal.
For our principal, we shared the fish and chips, a fantastically crisp but mild batter over contemporary fish, paired with mushy peas, a velvety curry sauce, and a pleasant “chippy dip”.
The sauce was a playful tackle that chip-shop sauce tradition as featured on the present menu. It options mashed potatoes with vinegar and onions, impressed by the underside of a chip packet and provides an unexpectedly comforting, nostalgic twist to the plate.
The dish additionally comes with our very personal vinegar spray bottle, excellent for a fair coating on the fish and chips. We additionally ordered an additional portion of the triple-cooked chunky chips, although at £9 they had been reasonably eye-watering for what they had been.
The sourdough and butter was tremendous tasty (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The menu was restricted however nonetheless had tasty choices (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The fish and chips was fantastically introduced (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The candy store pudding bag at The Hinds Head was £19 (Picture: Sophie Harris)
The fish and chips had been completely scrumptious and extremely contemporary, although I’m glad we positively shared because the portion was massive. We opted to pores and skin our fish earlier than cooking, which solidified our impression that it was tremendous contemporary.
The fish and chips had been £31, which I believed was pretty cheap, seeing as I paid round £35 for a latest fish and chips within the Cotswolds.
For dessert, it was time for one thing quirky and memorable. I opted for the candy store bag, a homage to The Fats Duck’s well-known “Like a Child in a Sweetshop” idea, stuffed with selfmade sweets and goodies crafted by the group subsequent door.
The presentation might have been a lot better and arrived in a pink stripe candy bag, as I had seen on-line, however I obtained it in a transparent plastic bag. Whereas it was scrumptious, it was £19, once more a little bit of a jaw-dropper on the invoice.
My mum had a stunning quaking pudding, a comforting, indulgent dessert. It’s a Seventeenth-century British dessert, typically described as a fragile, wobbly cross between a custard tart, panna cotta and bread pudding.
It was fantastically introduced and completely scrumptious, although it too got here in at a premium value of round £15.
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Total, the Hinds Head delivers, with the atmosphere, service and considerate takes on British classics making it price a go to. Simply be ready for the invoice to lift an eyebrow, even when your style buds are happy.
It was round £115 for 2 individuals for what was basically a shared mild lunch. It’s actually not an on a regular basis outing. On this planet of Michelin-starred eating, it might not be stunning, however for a pub lunch, even considered one of this calibre, it does really feel eye-watering.
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