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<a href=press.php target=_top>Back</a><br /><br /> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=300> <tr><td bgcolor=#9DB783><img src=images/spacer.gif width=1 height=1 /><br /></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <b>Bristol Evening Post</b> <span class=date>January 2003</span><br /><br /> SEVEN RESTAURANT REVIEW<br /><br /> If I had a pound for every time somebody came up to me and said "you've got the best job in the world", I would be considerably richer than I am. <br /><br /> Most of you probably think that reviewing restaurants is the cushiest job in the world and, in many ways, you would be right, but for every truly memorable feast devoured and digested in the name of research, there are a high percentage of average culinary experiences which have to be chewed, spat out and reported. <br /><br /> It's the duty of the restaurant critic to guide the reader towards the high temples of good food, while steering them away from the over-priced and downright average eateries which simply don't deserve your money. <br /><br /> At the end of the day, it is down to money and the committed food writer appreciates the fact that eating out regularly is a luxury few of us can afford on a regular basis. <br /><br /> After six years of reviewing restaurants (that's hundreds of meals and a few more belt-holes), I'm choosier than ever about which restaurants deserve my hard-earned cash. <br /><br /> In the Bristol and Bath area, I'm afraid to say, there are now only a handful of places where I am happy to spend my money. <br /><br /> People often ask me for recommendations and I am happy to reel off the same old names, but over the past year, there has been a new addition to the A-list and the fact that it is The Other Side Of The Bristol Channel shouldn't matter. <br /><br /> Depending on how you get there, The Foxhunter in Nantyderry, near Abergavenny, is less than 50 minutes away from Bristol. I travelled by train and taxi and was still there within an hour. <br /><br /> Indeed, it probably takes more time to drive to Cribbs Causeway, park the car and queue up for a double chocolate cookie than it does to reach what can only be described as one of the finest gastropubs around. <br /><br /> The last time The Foxhunter appeared on these pages was as "pub of the week", which in hindsight was almost worthy of breaking the Trades Descriptions Act. <br /><br /> It may be housed in a picturesque former pub (and before that a former railway stationmaster's house and a tea room), but The Foxhunter is as far removed from being a pub as it could be. <br /><br /> That it appears in Diana Henry's excellent The Gastropub Cookbook may also mean that it will take a while to shake off its "pub" tag, but chef/proprietor Matt Tebbutt and his wife Lisa are running one of the most serious restaurants outside of London.<br /><br /> The simple fact that it doesn't have a proper bar or any real ale should be a giveaway sign that The Foxhunter is far from a cosy country local. <br /><br /> A quick look at the menu, however, indicates a gifted chef who has worked with, and learned from, the very best teachers. <br /><br /> In the case of Tebbutt, his mentors were Alistair Little, Marco Pierre White and Sally Clarke - the giants of Modern British cooking in the the 80s and 90s - all of whom he worked with in London before returning to his Welsh roots. <br /><br /> The Foxhunter's close proximity to the legendary Walnut Tree certainly hasn't hindered Tebbutt, who recently scooped the AA Restaurant Of The Year For Wales 2003/4, as well as counting recent customers like Gordon Ramsay and Simon Hopkinson. <br /><br /> And the reasons for so much interest in The Foxhunter? Well, basically, most of the things lacking in the majority of restaurants and pubs in Bristol and Bath. <br /><br /> Tebbutt is passionate about seasonal local produce, simply cooked, and uses a broad canvas (Mediterranean to Thai) to create a palette of modern classics. <br /><br /> From the daily changing lunch menu on December 13, I could have started with deep-fried oysters with Thai dip or kicked off with taglione with wild duck sauce and aged pecorino. <br /><br /> I didn't, preferring to start with a generous plate of rich eel, crisp bacon, fiery horseradish cream and a warm, fluffy potato pancake. <br /><br /> For main courses, Italian classics (osso bucco with mash and Italian black cabbage) jostled for space with British stalwarts such as Welsh rib-eye with red onion and garlic butter and field mushrooms. <br /><br /> As it was almost Christmas, I took advantage of the roast local partridge from the specials board. In the wrong hands partridge can often be dry and bland, but here it arrived as a juicy, flavoursome bird served on a garlic bruschetta doused in a gamy gravy, with buttery cavalo nero on the side. A great dish and substantial enough to make the extra portion of calorific Jersey cream mash redundant. Well, almost. <br /><br /> Desserts at The Foxhunter are short and simple, although the apple tarte tatin with Jersey cream (for two persons) is a glorious exception. <br /><br /> Fortified by some excellent house wine and seduced by the smell of woodsmoke from the log-burning fires in the restaurant, I ordered the Christmas fruits and nuts with marsala and greek yoghurt ice cream - a twist on the festive Delia classic, served warm in an elegant glass. It was like Christmas pudding in a glass, but without the stodge. <br /><br /> It may seem strange to start the year with a review of a Welsh restaurant, but in many ways I see The Foxhunter as a benchmark for what, hopefully, could happen even closer to Bristol over the next few months. <br /><br /> I truly hope that this time next year, I am waxing lyrical about a similar operation closer to home, but in the meantime, when I want to spend my own money and indulge myself, to Nantyderry I will go and I urge you to do the same. <br /><br /> MARK TAYLOR <br /><br /> Star rating: FIVE STARS<br /><br /> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=300> <tr><td bgcolor=#9DB783><img src=images/spacer.gif width=1 height=1 /><br /></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <a href=press.php target=_top>Back</a>
AA Notable Wine List 2008 & 2009
Perfect Pub Awards : Best Food 2007
Wales the True Taste (Cymru y Gwir Flas) - Dining Out Gold 2005
AA Restaurant of the Year for Wales
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Telephone: 01873 881101
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