Harwood Arms, a pub or a restaurant?

When is a pub a pub and not a restaurant?  Before I answer that with my opinion, which is after all only an opinion and not fact but as a pub landlord I feel entitled to have a view, I want to say that the Harwood Arms is great.  So why does it matter whether a pub is a pub or a restaurant?  Well it matters from a point of expectation, add a Michelin Star and you have a serious identity crisis as expectation suddenly quadruples.  The Chelsea set have standards you know...

The Harwood Arms battles with the desire to still be seen as a pub and the fact that you now can't book a table for 2 months! Drinkers give way to diners, lets face it if you are running a successful business then you are not going to give a table to drinkers when diners are waiting.  That is the essence of a pub in my opinion that it has drinkers.  A pub originally was a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic beverages and rarely served food unless you call the jar of decade old pickled eggs and onions and pork scratchings food.  The invention of the gastro pub was a restaurant in a pub (and a great way of hiking prices) .  Competition from many other sources of restaurant chains, bars etc. meant that the way to survive was to change but that's the point they have changed and as such can't be called a pub (or does having a quiz night mean you are still a pub?).  I guess the difference between a restaurant is that its closed when the kitchen is closed and a pub remains open.

Anyway that doesn't alter the fact that the food was very good, and very well priced baring in mind this establishment is a Michelin Starred restaurant (note 'restaurant').  The prices for starters hovered around the £6-£7 mark, mains around £15 and puddings around £6.  That is cheaper than many of the pretentious gastro pubs that exploded a few years ago selling overpriced kangaroo burgers and ostrich pie.

So down to business what did we have?  The menu is a well balanced selection of dishes, not overly fussy and complicated with an obvious, I say obvious as Mike Robinson, the chef, is passionate about it, slant towards game and in particular venison.  Venison features heavily on the menu and we shared the venison platter for 2 which consisted of the now famous venison scotch egg, carpaccio, glazed rizolle and (not sure why this was on a plate of Roe Deer?) smoked ham with pickled wild mushrooms and radishes.  The scotch egg was molle, perfectly cooked.  The winner was the raw venison, that seemed to have more flavour than the venison around the scotch egg.  Venison has very little fat and I felt that it lacked the moistness that you get from pork.

The other dishes ordered were the snails cooked with oxtail and bone marrow and were sensational, a great mix of texture and flavour.  The ox tongue which was served with a cauliflower croquette was a little bland and personally I am not mad about the texture of the meat, the croquette was a nice addition.  One thing that was starting to feature heavily was deep frying and breadcrumbs with each dish had breadcrumbs included, even the snails and three items deep fried.

For the main course 2 people went for the Cullen Skink, I went for the braised beef cheek and one, the cod with salsify fritters.  The Cullen Skink came with a crumbed deep fried hen's egg which again was cooked perfectly.  The CK was served more like a stew than a soup and was made with mussels and not smoked haddock as I would have expected.  I think I went for the best choice - the beef cheek was beautifully tender and served with a silky smooth jus which had to have been a stock made with pig trotters as it was stunningly gelatinous and flavoursome, one of the best I have ever tasted.  The purée mash was as you would expect, rich and creamy and the glazed carrots were nicely al dente and well seasoned.  I can't say what the pickled walnuts were like as they were forgotten!  I didn't get a chance to try the cod but it was apparently excellent.  The only comment was that all the dishes were served in bowls which made sense for the CK but not sure that it was the best choice for the cod dish.

We couldn't not try the mini doughnuts, what a great idea for a pudding and perfect for sharing as so often when you get to that stage of the eating process sharing is the only option.  The doughnuts have a marmalade centre and served with an orange sherbet and whipped cream.  It's fantastically indulgent pudding (yet more deep fried action).  Finally the last dish was Camp coffee ice cream with bourbon biscuits which I did not try but again was reliably informed was delicious.  

We chose a bottle of Monte Velho Branco, Heredade Do Esporao, Alentejo, Portugal, 2008. Portugal has been terrible at marketing wines as you rarely see them. The only Portuguese wine you tend to see is the fortified variety but this was, as they had described as rich and fruity but crisp which it was, I will be hunting that one down. With my beef I was recommended a glass of Campo Nuevo which never fails, a good tannic wine that got to work on the lovely richness of the dish.

The service was very friendly, not the quickest but as we were reminded that they are a pub not a restaurant! We also weren't informed about any specials even though I understood there was. The bill came to around £50 per head and we had ordered aperitifs and 3 bottles of the lovely wine. I think that represents tremendous value and I hope that they don't succumb to the temptation of increasing the prices as a result of their overwhelming popularity. It is a great place to go and eat, laid back, friendly and exceptionally good food for the price.