Reviews 2006

2006 Good Food Guide County Round Up

Who said:

Jacobean panelling graces the bar in this affluent, seventeenth-century country inn/restaurant close to John Bunyan's stamping ground. Meals in the conservatory-style restaurant make a feature of fish (chargrilled marlin with minted pea purée and a tomato and chervil dressing); otherwise expect potted duck rillettes with sweet pimento jam (£6), beef fillet with tarragon and sweet potato mash, then desserts like mango crème brûlée (£4.50). Well-spread wine list, with prices from £11.50. Accommodation. Closed Sat L and Sun D

AA Restaurants in Britain Guide 2006

AA Restaurant Rosette Award

Who said:

Restaurant Guide
Description
Situated in the village centre, this 17th-century inn restaurant has historic links to John Bunyan and acquired its wood paneling from old Houghton House; the model for House Beautiful in The Pilgrim's Progress. The light and airy dining room is an attractive Victorian-style conservatory overflowing with plants. Uncomplicated, modern British dishes prepared from high quality local ingredients. Typically you could begin with marinated herring and potato salad and follow with black pudding in puff pastry with a caramelized apple and sage sauce.

AA Pub Guide
Description

Light meals and hand-drawn ales are served in the bar, where leather sofas and winter log fires bring a welcome comfort. The conservatory restaurant specializes in fresh seafood, as well as a varied choice of meat and vegetarian dishes. In summer, meals are also served in the attractive cottage-style garden. Start, perhaps, with clam and mussel chowder or ham hock and caper rillettes with warm leek and mustard bread and cranberry confit. Main courses might include organic smoked salmon and smoked haddock en croûte; or rack of Welsh lamb with slow-cooked courgettes and herb and mint salsa. Bedrooms come in a variety of styles, these are located in a separate garden wing, all are comfortably appointed and well equipped; deluxe rooms are particularly good. Service is professionally delivered in a caring, friendly and helpful manner.

2005 Good Pub Guide,
(2005 Dining Pub of the Year for Bedfordshire )

Who said:

Dishes at this attractive 17th-c dining pub are stylishly presented, contemporary and fully flavoured, with the same care taken over ingredients and cooking in the bar as with the separate more elaborate (and pricier) restaurant menu. While some readers find it a bit too restauranty for their tastes, others are grateful to find such well prepared and fairly priced food in an area where pubs serving really good meals are a little thin on the ground. Beware that it does get very busy, and on Saturday evening and Sunday lunchtime if the restaurant is fully booked they may not serve bar meals: soup of the day such as carrot and ginger (£3.50), ploughman’s (£4), filled breads such as chicken and bacon ciabatta (£5.95), salmon and shrimp fishcake or a dish of the day such as braised lamb shank with black olive mash (£6.50), thai-style seafood noodles (£6.50), caramelised onion and goats cheese pancakes (£6.95), moules marinière (£7.25) and puddings which might include apple brioche and butter pudding with calvados custard or home-made ice-cream (£3.75), and there's a proper cheeseboard (£4.95). The comfortably civilised bar has dark panelling which is reputed to have come from nearby ruined Houghton House, as well as maps, drawings and old documents on the walls, and a blazing fire in winter. The airy white-walled no smoking conservatory restaurant has rugs on the tiled floor and lots of hanging plants. There's also a no smoking family room. Service is really welcoming and efficient. Well kept Batemans XB and Fullers London Pride on handpump, Stowford Press farm cider, around 30 good wines by the glass, and over 20 well aged malt whiskies; unobtrusive piped music. There are tables on the terrace alongside a neatly kept appealing garden, and the church opposite is worth a look.

Which? Guide to Country Pubs 2006

Who said:

The Knife & Cleaver has grown over the years, extending into a large conservatory dining room to the rear and, across a courtyard, to some ground-floor bedrooms. With the bar area now a pleasant lounge devoted to pre-meal drinks and food ordering, the swinging sign outside proclaiming 'restaurant-with-rooms' is no surprise. But Bateman XB and Fuller's London Pride are on draught, with Stowford Press for cider drinkers, and the bar menu is an appealing mix of pub favourites and more unusual ideas, showing that the place hasn't lost sight of its origins. Interesting filled baguettes and ciabattas, as well as ploughman's, are there for those after just a snack, and among starters might be pheasant and wild mushroom terrine, and marinated herring fillets with a lobster and dill dressing. Confit of duck leg with an apple, potato and celeriac cake, or pork and Stilton sausages with parsnip and honey mash show the range of main courses, and desserts could well include pear and frangipane tart with an unusual English Brie ice cream. Fish is the main thrust of the restaurant menu, although something like rack of Welsh lamb with layered Mediterranean vegetables and an olive and garlic jus might make an appearance among meat dishes. Wines come on two lists, the first offering around 20 by the glass or 50cl carafe, the second a full restaurant list, grouped by style, that sweeps happily from £11 basics to expensive French classics.
Sample dishes: smoked haddock chowder £5; salmon and shrimp fishcake £6.50; sticky toffee pudding with Calvados toffee sauce £3.75.

Last update 9/5/2008

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