I know what kind of cuisine I like. I like powerful flavours. I like them sharp, sour, bitter, umami. Ferments and pickles. Charring and smoking. Herb and spice. I’m not so bothered by delicacy and cream, butter and elegant simplicity. I think this explains why sometimes my lukewarm reviews of places like Five Fields and …
Tag Archive: Cotswolds
Review: Tierra and Mar, Cirencester
This little restaurant in a tucked-away corner of Cirencester is really hard to pin down. Is it fine dining or casual? Is it modern or trad Spanish? Is it brilliant value or a bit confused? Is it tapas or tasting menu? I’m not sure I can answer all these questions, but Tierra and Mar is …
Review: The Bower House, Shipston-on-Stour
I love a place that has its own ambience. Something deliberate, done well enough that you can really soak up the atmosphere. I am bored to bloody tears of “oh look, reclaimed floorboards walling. Oh look, scaffold tube and copper pipe as furnishing and lighting.” You get the feeling there must be catalogues for this …
Review: The Hare, Milton-under-Wychwood
Just a quick one. Almost every Cotswold village now has a pub that has thrown itself over to evening meals and Sunday lunches for the country set, with varying degrees of success. You have to say this for the lot of ’em: they all aspire to cook fresh food, with plenty of local sourcing and …
Review: Eat Wild, Cirencester
Oh wow, that was a good burger. No, it was a great burger! And just for good measure, it came with great fries. Oh, and Maureen’s pulled venison lasagne was super-great too, with star anise to give it whumph. And then for afters I scoffed a stick toffee pudding with so much (oh so very …