Review: The Plough, Kingham

Our latest destination for a Sunday lunch. Since autumn had properly begun, and the day was moist and grey with dazzlingly red and gold leaves on the ground, it felt like the right kind of Sunday to find a really proper wellies-by-the-door fire-in-the-grate kind of country pub. So the Kingham Plough was a great choice, all flagstone floors and scrub-top tables. There was a big fireplace with logs a-crackle in it, and a cheerful publican in shirtsleeves with ruddy cheeks behind the bar. The Cotswolds at their cheesily bucolic best.

My starter was salt cod croquette, served up in crunchy panko with a good citrusy salsa verde, a gleaming sliver of crispy fish skin and a daub of amiable smoked cod roe. Very nice dish. Followed up with roast venison, as a bit of a change. These were lovely slabs of pink meat, with good gamey

flavour to them. The dark poached pear made a very good relish. Cavelo nero, bread sauce, red cabbage, all very good and starting to make me think of Christmas. And I must make a special mention of their roast potatoes – if you like ’em crunchy, then these were the king of crunchy roasties.

Pud was good. Mine was a perfect milk and honey panna cotta, scattered around with bits of fat blackberry and raspberry. I wanted something light and this hit the spot. Maureen’s apple charlotte was a much better pub pud, deep in delicious warm cooked apple flavour and served up with a very good cinnamon ice cream that crowned the Christmas theme perfectly. I could hear the sleigh bells in the distance – it’s less that two months away now, after all!

We had a really good country pub Sunday lunch at the Plough. Then again… you’ll be paying £42 for three courses before drinks, so it really did have to be absolutely tip-top nosh. To my mind it doesn’t quite merit its price tag.