The George and Falcon, Warnford, 30th April 2015

This month's outing was organised by new member Gordon, who very wisely chose to visit a pub in his neck of the woods, The George and Falcon in Warnford. After lying derelict for several years this pub was refurbished a few years ago, and we've been meaning to visit it ever since, but we were put off by the difficulty in getting there. There are no buses from Bishops Waltham to Warnford, and it's too far to walk, so on a fine day in April we all bundled into a couple of taxis and off we went. We were honoured to be joined on this outing by a Lord North's guest, Mike.

First impressions on entering the pub are that the restorers did a very good job. It's a large pub with a huge bar area that has several little alcoves where rowdy groups can enjoy themselves without disturbing the other customers, and a good selection of leather sofas for relaxing in after a large meal. Just right for us then. 

We were given a warm welcome as we approached the bar, but sadly found that there were only 2 real ales
available: Ringwood Best 3.8%, and Ringwood Forty Niner 4.9%. These are both fine ales, but we were hoping for a bit more choice (especially when we noticed that there was a row of casks behind the bar, but they were all empty). All the same, when we tried the Ringwood Best we found that it was in excellent condition and served our needs admirably. We saved the Forty Niner for last, as it is such a strong ale, and found it was also very good. Matthew, the landlord, explained that there is usually a wider choice of ales available at the weekend (our visit was on a Thursday).

We knew that Gordon had organised the meal in advance with the landlord, Matthew, and that we were getting a Lamb and Port Pie, which is an unusual sort of pie, so anticipation was mounting. 

We weren't disappointed when the pies arrived. We had individual pies, nicely presented with mash and mixed vegetables (carrots and beans), and with individual pots of gravy served on the side, just how we like it. We prefer individual pots as it prevents any fighting over the gravy. The pie filling was packed with meat and very tasty, although the port taste was quite subtle. The pastry was near perfect, and the chef managed to avoid the pitfall that is common with individual pies of having too much pastry and not enough filling. All in all, this was a very good pie. We nearly all managed to clear our plates and leave room for some pudding, for which there was a good choice.

Unfortunately there was only one Sticky Toffee Pudding left, which could have led to some serious trouble between us, but we're gentlemen and managed to resolve the issue in a gentlemanly way. Those who had them reported that the puddings were very good.

The Ringwood Best was £3.85/pint - not cheap. The pies were £11.95 and the puddings were around £6.95, so they weren't cheap either, and sadly this meal didn't get a very good value for money score, but the quality was very good. Ambience was also very good: the staff were welcoming and gave good service, the premises were clean, there were no distracting tvs or fruit machines. There was some background music, but we could barely hear it.

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry  4.10

• Filling  4.27

• Beer  4.16

• Ambience  4.20

• Value for money  3.93

• Total  20.65

All in all this was a very pleasant experience, marred only by the poor choice of beer and the rather high prices. Nevertheless, the final score means that this pub leaps into 2nd place in our rankings of pubs visited so far this year, just ahead of The Crown, and not far below The Woodman. Well done, Matthew.

The Kings Head, Hursley, 29th May 2014

This was Eric's first time to choose the venue, and he surprised us all by choosing to go to The Kings Head at Hursley, described by Google as an "Ivy-clad Georgian inn with classy bedrooms and a rustic-chic restaurant with a Modern British menu", so ... maybe not in the same league as the pubs we usually go to, and maybe a bit too classy for the likes of us. Still, "onwards and upwards" we said to each other as we waited in our customary position outside the Bishops Waltham Tandoori  for our taxi, working up a healthy appetite by breathing deeply in the curry aromas wafting from the nearby kitchen. Once again we were let down by the pre-booked taxi, but Chase Cars came to our rescue, and soon we found ourselves in the unfamiliar surroundings of Hursley, outside the Kings Head.

On our best behaviour, we ventured inside, to be met by a very welcome sight:

In no time at all we cast aside our inhibitions as we surveyed the choice of ales and settled into our first pints of Itchen Valley Belgarum 3.9%, except for Tall Paul, who, as usual, preferred Guinness.  As we enjoyed our Belgarum, we checked out the other ales that were available: Andwell's King John Ale 4.2%,
the ever-popular Bowman Ales' Wallops Wood 4.0%, Ringwood Ales Best Bitter 3.8%, and the ubiquitous Sharp's Doom Bar 4%. All in all, a fine selection of ales which some of us did our best to sample, but others were content to stay with the Belgarum for the whole session as it was such a fine ale and in very good condition.

Eric had already discussed the menu with his friend Jimmy (current owner of the Kings Head), so we knew in advance what we would be getting. Jimmy explained to us that we weren't in the pie season so he'd had to provide something special for us. No complaints there! We had a choice of Beef Bourgignon Pie or Rabbit & Prune Pie. This put us all in a bit of a pickle as we'd never had either of those pies before on any of our outings. After some discussion we realised that "Beef Bourgignon" means "Beef with Mushrooms and Red Wine", which we all agreed sounded rather good. On the other hand some of us have digestive systems which have seen better days (it happens to men as they get older) and were rather concerned about the effects that prunes might have on them*. In the end, after a lot of discussion, 2 of us decided to try the Beef Bourgignon, 4 of us decided to live dangerously and try the Rabbit & Prune, and none of us was disappointed. The pies all came with "greens and mash" - no choice - but the Beef Bougignon pies were served with plain Mash and a red wine gravy, and the Rabbit & Prune pies came with Mustard Mash and a mustard gravy. The "greens" were broccoli. 

At first glance the portions looked to us to be a bit on the small side, but in fact they were ample. The pies were individually made, with a rich shortcrust pastry that literally melted in the mouth. The pie fillings were full of tender moist meat, and just the right degree of moisture. Even the prunes tasted good. In fact rabbit & prune is a partnership made in heaven. The sauce/gravy was served separately, in a jug, just the way we like it, and complemented the pies perfectly.  The mash and greens were done very nicely.  After we had all (without exception) cleared our plates, some of us found that we still had room for a pudding. The pudding menu lacked any of what we would call the old school favourites (which gentlemen of a certain age seem to relish), but the puddings that we tried were presented very nicely and were very tasty.

This is a very clean and tidy place to eat. Dining here is a very pleasant, refined experience, quite outside what we usually experience on other outings. We ate in a separate dining room, away from the bar, and the room was less than half full, so it was quiet and we had very few distractions, although when we first sat down we found ourselves sitting directly beneath a loudspeaker from which musak (one of our pet hates) could be heard loudly enough to make it difficult for us to hear what others were saying, but when we mentioned this to a nice waitress it was turned down (not off!) straight away, so it wasn't really a problem.  The service was excellent - actually maybe a little over-attentive at times, as we were asked several times if we were ready to order our puddings. 

Our final bill for the food came to £38 each,  (The pies were £12.50 each, puddings £6.50 each, ale £3.80/pint), so it wasn't a cheap meal (compare with our previous outing, to the Brewery Bar, where the final bill was only £28 each), but the quality of the whole experience was outstanding, .

Scores for The Kings Head, Hursley (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 4.42

Filling -  4.48

Beer   -  4.26

Ambience - 4.22

Value  - 4.23

Overall  - 21.59

These scores are in some ways quite curious as the pastry and filling were rated less good that those at the Brewery Bar, but the Beer and Ambience were scored much higher. As it is, the overall score of 21.59 is just high enough to nudge The Kings Head into first place in our rankings of pubs visited this year, ahead of the Brewery Bar by a mere 0.04 points. It just goes to show that we gentlemen appreciate a bit of class from time to time. Congratulations to Jimmy and the staff at the Kings Head, who looked after us very well, and thoroughly deserve this high score. 

* Regarding the prunes, at the time of writing, no ill-effects have been reported.