Quickie this, and no photos, totally forgot. Well, all we were looking for was a bite of lunch on our way down to Winchester. Stockbridge is a postcard-perfect little town in the Test Valley in deepest Hampshire. For me, the Test Valley is perhaps the most beautiful bit of rural countryside in the whole south of England. It is magical and the villages are all a delight – they accomplish with old red bricks, thatch and flint what the Cotswold villages manage more effortlessly with their golden limestone.
Anyway, Woodfire is billed as pizza & mezze, and has a great little riverside location right in the middle of the high street. They’ve got a bright front room, another back room, and a few tables on the terrace for those sunny days. You will fight for those with hikers and cyclists, though. Did I mention the Test Valley was quite picture-skew?
Pizzas are the order of the day, and we split a daily special – nduja, mozzarella and turnip leaves. They’ve sourced some great mozzarella, always a good start. The pizza base was thin, with a glossy and crisp-edged crust. The spicy nuggets of nduja explode with the cheese and bread so much more than a slice of pepperoni or chorizo, and the wilted and slightly salty turnip leaves, with their lovely turnip-y taste that make you start thinking about kimchi, were a smart companion. Great pizza.
We ordered a couple of mezzes to go with. Baba ganoush was lovely, managing to be both fresh with the juicy aubergines but also carrying that lovely burnt smoky taste without which lesser specimens are just meh. The scattering of pomegranate on top was an absolutely spot-on addition. The other dish was a smooth and creamy (and garlicky!) hummus with a pile of slow-cooked shredded lamb on top. This was very lovely too, though a bit of a big bowl of hummus to attack without any bread.
Pizzas are around £11-ish depending which you order, big enough for one for dinner. Oh, and they make a dang good cup of coffee to boot! So rare. So especially rare in small country towns where you’re much more likely to find earnest salts-of-the-earth serving up delicious local produce and scorched crap in a cup with it. Woodfire’s coffee is excellent. Woodfire is excellent. Lucky Stockbridge!