Open for just eight months, The Jolly Farmer in Cliddesden is the epitome of what a local pub should be, but is it worth travelling across the county to sample its delights? Editor, Elizabeth Barnett finds out...
The Jolly Farmer
By the time we arrived at the Jolly Farmer I was starving, the atmosphere was buzzing as soon as we walked in, plenty of locals were propping up the bar but all I was interested in was the menu. As soon as we sat down our lovely waitress welcomed us and drinks arrived extremely quickly.
Doing a quick scan of the menu I could see a couple of locally sourced dishes, the prices were a little more than I was expecting but that only raised my expectations of the food. Opting for the saut�ed mushrooms on olive bread toast to start, I was surprised to see such a large portion, which might explain the prices, but the flavour was great and I couldn’t really complain.
The main course of pan-fried rainbow trout on home made saffron linguine with shellfish cream sauce and asparagus wasn’t really to my taste and I felt could have been cooked for a little longer, but my partner Jon’s seared rib-eye steak was incredible which left me with serious food envy. Again, the portions were huge (including the side portion of chips) and the desserts were incredibly sweet, which is fine for most of the time but I had rhubarb crumble so would have liked to have tasted some bitterness there.
All in all the d�cor is beautiful, atmosphere is lovely and I felt that if you’re looking for good pub grub that’s just round the corner, then you would be lucky to live near the Jolly Farmer. Give them a year or so to settle in and find their signature style however, and I’ve got a feeling the staff will be getting to know a lot more of Hampshire than the surrounding areas. Definitely one to watch!
Meet the chefMoray Cameron
“Eating out is about enjoying your time and your company, and good food and service is key in ensuring that you do. It is not about breaking new ground, it is about getting the basics done right so that familiar dishes can suddenly seem like a whole new experience.
We offer a regularly changing menu and daily changing boards that use the best available produce at the time so that simple ingredients can really make an impact, like fresh daily fish from Lymington, just pan fried with a dressed salad, or coq au vin with rich dark red wine sauce with creamed potato through to indulgent caramelised fruit crumble and home-made ice creams.
These are the dinners that make you feel comfortable and relaxed with familiarity which is why you go to a pub to eat in the first place!”
Book a table:CliddesdenBasingstoke, Hampshire RG25 2JL01256 473 073jollyfarmercliddesden.co.uk
