The Pot Kiln, Yattendon

[nickloman]

Mike Robinson has been quietly serving up refined pub grub to the lucky locals of Berkshire for years now. I vaguely recall him in a TV series documenting his trials setting up the place which used to be shown on UKTV Food (or whatever its called today). It was brought to my attention as a place to check out by a couple of posts by Dos Hermanos, marking it out as a place for great local ingredients cooked in an unfussy way (and consequently my kind of place). They even offer a venison stalking course including a tutorial in field butchery!

For Saturday lunch it wasn't particularly busy in the dining room and despite a midday reservation we sat outside with a drink for over half an hour before feeling like we should probably sit down and get eating.

The big deal here is venison. Not just any venison, most (all?) of it is caught by Mike himself on the local estate. I don't know much about vension and helpfully the Pot Kiln website has a guide to the various breeds, all different in character and eating.

The day we went there was muntjac, roe and fallow on the menu so if you like venison, or don't think you like venison but are open minded this would be a great place to come.

The three of us shared a platter of crispy pig cheeks, muntjac cutlets, pork rilettes, duck egg, beetroot and piccalilli. The muntjac cutlets were tiny little morsels. The pig cheeks were breaded and deep fried and worked nicely with some piccalilli. The rilettes were served on toast and were the best tasting thing on the plate.

Keen to try as much from the menu as possible we decided to order three different dishes. My mum (a venison-skeptic) chose the roe deer pave served with greens and pomme puree and my dad had the T-bone of fallow deer served with "farcement" potatoes and creamed spinach. A special of muntjac haunch was also offered but was for two people. So I ordered the Bucklebury mutton loin with a salse verde and crushed new potatoes.

First, the good: the T-bone of fallow deer was sublime, wonderfully tender, meaty, full of flavour, not at all "gamey", brilliantly seasoned. This worked well with the spinach and the fatty potatoes. Nothing fancy but a very assured bit of cooking. Serving an unconventional cut like this makes you realise that venison butchery is very much a lost art in this country, one we should try and bring back.

The pave of roe was also very good - again not a hint of gaminess, tender, correctly cooked.

Unfortunately my mutton was a rather sad case, nearly raw on the inside and gristley as a knee operation. This was made worse by being desperately jealous of the other two plates of food so I did pluck up the courage to ask for it to be changed for the T-bone, knowing that sending food back can sometimes kill the vibe of a meal. Of course the old adage that you should judge the restaurant not on the problems but how they deal with it is true and happily they graciously replaced the dish and didn't charge for either at the end. The replacement dish was perfect.

You don't come to a place like this for dessert and luckily so because the rhubarb fool served with jelly wasn't special. Cheese was fridge-cold Barkham Blue (a welcome addition to any cheese board) and Tomme de Savoie which hadn't really developed much flavour.

Coffee taken outside with the rather curious and fetching rare-breed cows in the neighbouring field. Chris Tarrant and his wife popped in quickly for a beer and some peanuts.

I wouldn't drive from Scotland to visit the Pot Kiln specially but if you are anywhere near Berkshire you can pretend this is your local and experience some very fine venison cooking.

Can't remember what the total bill was but it was very reasonable.

After lunch we popped into Vicar's Game in Ashampstead, a very fine farm shop specialising in game and even got a little tour of their sausage and bacon-making facilities!

Edited June 17, 2010 by nickloman (log)

[Soundman]

We have friends who live nearby and visit the Pot Kiln everytime we see them, funnily enough, I'm always quite keen to see them now I know where they live!

I love the Pot Kiln, Mike is a good bloke and the venison is without doubt, the best I've had.

[nickloman]

Pictures from aforementioned meal!

[Struts]

I remember Mike from watching early cooking shows on cable/sky. Even then he was promoting true locally sourced meat, game and vegetables. After this Mike took a considerable gamble in setting up a business using the core idea of locally caught/hunted meat and game and a show was produced following the hurdles he had to overcome to set up the Pot Kiln.

I was an avid viewer and this inspired my wife to arrange a weekend down in rural Berkshire with a visit to the Pot Kiln as the highlight. I wasn't disappointed, all of the dishes were presented in a rustic style using fantastic produce from the pigeon starter to the beautiful pave of roe deer. A mention should also be made to the welcoming snug of a bar as you enter offering a great range of real ales from the local West Berkshire brewing company.

If only I lived closer, the local game would be a little more nervous!