Four Horseshoes – big lunch

Went for a walk around Thornham and popped into the Four Horseshoes – a Greene King pub -mid-afternoon to find their carvery still in full swing. It runs all day and is £10 for a plate enough to keep my teenage son happy.  Good choice of nice veg but we are starting to spot the obvious but fatal flaw in a Carvery – how do you keep the meat moist and juicy?   We have to keep choosing the fatty Pork Belly (which was quite tasty) as everything else looked a bit dry…

Pakenham Fox

Sunday lunch at Pakenham Fox this time, where a crowded pub indicated this is a popular event.  The buffet had a choice of three meats (had the roast belly of pork – looked the freshest and tasted pretty good).  You get called up table by table and can pile your plate as high as you like for £8.95.

 

 

Something for everyone at the Gardeners Arms

After football what you really need is a big old plate of roast beef, half a bitter shandy and a chance to read about Arsenal/X Factor in the News of the World – and they serve Sunday lunch until 3pm. 

Tracey comes to Suffolk

Tracey Macleod features fellow food blogger (listed on here first, Tracey) and new pub owner – The British Larder – in last weekend’s Independent. Also listed are Trinity at Crown and Castle in Orford, Maison Bleue in Bury and The New Roundhouse at Thorington – wherever that is?

Spain comes to Thurston?

Hola! A new sign outside the Victoria in Thurston.  Are they really Spanish? Love the sign and can’t wait to find out.

White Horse – Whepstead

Had lunch here to write the article for last months Suffolk magazine – delicious creamy haddock chowder with bread, followed by chilled rice pudding brulee with rhubarb, and that was more than enough for me. Nice menu with lots of choice and all kinds of things on it (especially jams and chutneys) made by food conscious local people. The great thing about this pub is how hard they are trying to do local food, and the big square family size pine table in a room by itself near the garden, which could seat ten easily for Sunday lunch. And then there are those lovely country walks with maps included to walk it all off. www.whitehorsewhepstead.co.uk 

Red Lion – Gt Bricett

All you vegetarians and vegans – fed up with the unimaginative offerings in most restaurants and pubs? I had a really nice lunch here at this completely vegetarian pub a few miles out of Needham Market. What a treat! No meat!

Seven starters, eight mains, seven puds – plus a specials board.  And you can get takeaways and freezer meals too.

Cretingham Bell

Come back from a sunny and freezing Sunday morning walk around the village (according to the village sign it was first settled by Goths although we didn’t see any today) and although the pub looks dead from the outside, it’s busy inside with a warm fire and serving food until 4pm…hooray! There’s a warm welcome for us in our wellies and several families with children eating lunch.  They can’t do me a mulled wine (red wine + spices + sugar + microwave?) so have cider instead. Their seasonally-limited menu of food tastes better than described on the board which is always a bonus - but don’t fancy curry or chili so chose a burger from depressing childrens menu of burger and chips or sausage and beans (and chips). After filling it with salad from my sisters curry plate it was ok but hoping next time for oxtail stews, shepherds pies, casseroles… and in the summer a barbecue under that huge oak tree.

Still in search of the delicious liver and bacon special…

On the way back from trendy Suffolk-meets-Islington Satis House in Yoxford. Black goldfish in a bowl on the bar named Michael Jackson, and good food at London prices.  On that long and winding road I see free marrows on the side of the road and lots of pumpkins as we near Halloween. Have already made pumpkin soup at home so don’t buy one, and fed up with marrows/courgettes.  Stop at Yoxford pub on the way home and visualise the home made casserole or delicious sandwich I would like to find on their menu, unlikely on a Monday I know. Choose liver and onions. Yet again served vile dry chunky liver, glutinous gravy, frozen veg and huge pile of instant mash that you could plaster a house with. At least it didn’t have redcurrants on it like the one I had once on the way to Newmarket once.

The Golden Boar – Freckenham

Sous chef from 5* Aldwych One in London apparently but hardly any publicity so basically just a busy village pub.  Took three hungry teenagers -  had nice home-made scotch eggs as a starter and crab on toast was good. Lovely main course of duck/chorizo/chick pea combination but seafood rissotto had inedible razor clams and no sign of some of the ingredients listed on the menu which at around £16.95 for a main course is a hefty bill for four. A bit of waitress-informing would be good too – wine? Red or White madam.