Bread at the farm
make their own superb piggy products from their herds of Mangalitza and Middle-White pigs. There is a rustic Italian boiled sausage called “cotechino” that they make which is absolutely the best thing ever done with a pig’s spare parts. They also have a little restaurant and rooms on the farm, which is where we took ourselves on a gusty day after Christmas.
The dining room at Coombeshead is posh-rustic at its absolute best, with an open fire for charring the meat, big wooden tables, old bentwood chairs with sheepskins on ’em for comfort, and all within the four stone walls of an ancient farm building. Service is warmly friendly and they have quite the range of interesting drinks and wines, lots of it local.
Squash and whey
The menu is an oddity. It’s a tasting menu but the dishes are pared-back and produce-led to the absolute maximum. Let me try and explain…
We start with crisps of cabbage, artichoke and potato. Oily, salty and with a drizzle of honey glaze, they’re very good. Then a little Berkswell gougere. Frankly I could wolf down a bowl of these, though of course we only have one each! So far, so bar snack.
Next it’s bread. Their dark sourdough is absolutely superb, with a bitter-nutty black crust and the most springy and chewy texture inside that you could imagine. Goes very well with their farm butter. Also with the dollop of Mangalitza pork rillettes that come with a chunky marrow piccalilli. The piccalilli is the best I’ve ever had, subtly warm and sweetly peppery. The final bread accompaniment are some darkly toothsome preserved beetroots, chewy as liquorice and with some fermented wild garlic leaves for zing.
Pork chop to share
Starter. This is a piece of crown prince squash, cooked to a most amazingly clay-smooth yet firm texture that is hard to describe. It sits in a pool of whey and brown butter that is just a filthy umami goodness. Lucky there’s a bit of bread left for soaking up duty.
Main. It’s a Middle White pork chop, fresh from the open fire. With a blob of Jerusalem artichoke puree and a bit of kale. The pork is of the finest, and very lightly cooked; the fire has just kissed the outside. The chop is equal parts meat and fat, so you just have to decide how many gooey blobs you want to devour for their flavour. It gets a bit much and to be honest this plate is begging for some potato, or any starch to cut into the fat.
Pudding. A small choux bun, dark and nutty in flavour, filled with creamy goat curd and tart blackcurrants. C’est tout.
Choux bun
Do you see what I mean? Bar snacks, bread and bits, a single piece of squash, a pork chop with garnish and a little choux bun. All for £75 each. In the paragraphs above I have named every single element we were served. You have to wrap your head around the idea that this is equivalent to a tasting menu where each of half-a-dozen dishes has been assembled from five to ten elements, carefully plated and presented together. Which means you have to respect and appreciate the produce and provenance at Coombeshead for its own sake and nothing else. If you’re down with that, you should come, because I doubt there is anywhere else in the country doing it quite like this.
Addendum: I do want to just caveat my review. They explained later that they’re about to close up for a two week holiday (hence very little stock of fresh produce in their lovely farm shop) and it’s certainly possible that this constrained their menu on our visit. Just saying.
Open fire and ready for service
