( great pubs )
The Bell at Sapperton
It’s always had a good reputation for food, but what impact have the new owners had on this village pub six months on? LAURA ROWE investigates
THE BELL AT Sapperton used to have a bit of a mythical reputation amongst my friends and family.
The food there was always “meant to be good”, but ask anyone for specifics and no-one had ever seemed to have actually gone. It’s like the Cotswold culinary equivalent of the Loch Ness monster – it’s reputedly swimming about as happy as Larry, but has anyone ever actually seen him? Not on your nelly. But that was before, of course. Now, six months into
a new ownership and there’s a reputation building that far exceeds just the plates of food. The bar, for a start, has been completely refurbished, with some subtle changes that make for an all-round more inclusive atmosphere. There’s still a parking bay for horses – indeed, Sundays
have now become Cirencester Park Polo Club’s after- party night – but inside the bar it has been sectioned off into distinct areas. To the left is a chilled-out dining room, in the front bar there is a new addition of music and trendy young things who will mix up your poison of choice (ours was one of their homemade lime and mint ‘ades’ with a cheeky slosh of vodka). Round the back is what manager Nick describes as a quieter locals’ bar, with lots of cosy nooks and crannies. (Look up and you might spot the fundraising barometer for the local primary school. Every Monday anybody who orders bangers and mash will see £1 from their meal go to the ‘Classroom Fund’ and every six weeks one pupil from the school will also be invited to work with head chef Carson Hill to design a dish for the menu, with £1 from every special meal sold again going directly into the pot.) The front terrace has been landscaped and now
provides a colourful alfresco dining room, heady with the scent of fresh summer herbs, while there are big plans for the rear courtyard in the new year thanks to the addition of a glass atrium-style roof, a deluxe playpen and buzzing café area for breakfast. But for now I wanted to see if the food lived up to
the hype. New chef Carson was handpicked by Nick – a former recruitment consultant specialising in, you guessed it, top-notch chefs – and previously worked as head chef at that Oxford institution, the Cherwell
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Boathouse. And his new Bell menu is just as inclusive as the restaurant itself. For a start, it’s realistically priced – a man-size bowl
of seasonal soup comes in at only £4.50 and a salad of rainbow carrots with sesame seeds, chilli and organic Cotswold honey costs £5.50, though if it’s ribeye steak (£22) or rump of new-season lamb with carrot purée, peas, courgettes, garlic and rosemary potatoes (£17.50) you fancy you’ll have to pay a bit extra. It’s also got the perfect mix of pub classics, quick sandwiches and salads with slicker-than-your-average fillings, alongside gourmet gastropub territory dishes. We started with a dish of hand-picked Brixham crab (£11.50) sandwiched between two crispy salmon skin ‘biscuits’ and a chilled pea soup (£4.50). The former consisted of delicate soft white meat, rich, buttery brown, and fishy little wafers of deliciousness, all complemented by three arty blobs of a sweetly sharp mango purée. The latter was poured at the table with a swirl of chunky wild garlic pesto and smattering of sweet pea shoots. Refreshing and clean, it was a lovely change for the vegetable not to be paired with (and ultimately overwhelmed by) mint. Delicious – a bowl of summer. Service is impressive, too. The staff are young and
buzzy and our waitress, Gerda, was just the right side of attentive and friendly. For mains, Bibury trout (£14) was calling. A top and
tailed, spankingly fresh piece of fish was perfectly cooked – the flesh sliding like silk off the milky bones. A buttery dressing of sweet (double shelled) broad beans, brown shrimps and toasted almonds was an oldie but a goldie., while our Jersey Royals had been laced with mountains of butter, chives and lemon and made the perfect platefellow, alongside buttered mange tout and green beans. A daily special of pan-fried duck’s breast (£17.50) was brought out with blushing confidence – crisp skin and all – accompanied by caramelised
✱ THE BELL AT SAPPERTON, Sapperton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6LE; 01285 760298;
bellsapperton.co.uk
onions, green beans and crunchy potato wedges. Special puds (£5.50 each) swiftly followed. A macerated strawberry Eton mess had a cheeky hit
of booze and just the right balance of floaty whipped cream and crunchy meringues. A kilner jar of rhubarb mousse was a fun take on rhubarb and custard, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, meringue kisses and a wedge of homemade honeycomb. (But if I’m being picky, and I usually am, the actual eating of it needed more thought – digging for a whole slab of hard honeycomb at the bottom of a jar is no fun. Shards on top next time, please!) I didn’t spot a monster during my visit, just an Ubley
Ale delivery, but I can officially confirm this pub’s reputation isn’t a myth. It’s got everything you want – good booze, smart food and a great atmosphere. And it looks after its locals. A squire and a gent.
crumbsmag.com
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