the olive branch - clipsham

[Gary Marshall]

Driving down to aldeburgh last week i handily noticed a sign for clipsham which rang a bell as home to the one starred olive branch pub, even handier i realised it would be about lunchtime as we were due to pass on the way home so i thought it would make a nice final lunch of the week.

We booked for 1.30 and thankfully we had as it was full, i had a swift pint of the house 'olive ale' as mrs m fed and watered marshall jnr to keep him quiet during lunch - we won't be the ones with a screaming child in a pub rest assured! and got my bearings, it's a dinky 2-3 roomed pub, very cosy, very star at harome like. ALC and set lunch on offer and standard wine list plus four black boards of old/new world red/white wines of character/vintage.

we asked for a table with room for the pushchair and they gave us a great table in the window with room for 6, charlie happily actually layed on the bench quite happily for most of the meal.

bread and herb butter to start, an unusually brioche-y loaf half cut and then baked again so very crispy all over.

the alc was fine but dishes for me were either too pubby or too fine dining for what i fancied, the set lunch braised oxtail caught my eye and i couldn't let go.

so off the set lunch i had as guinea fowl terrine with picked carrots which was good and punchily seasoned, sarah had beetroot cured gravadlax. my main was herb crusted oxtail with mashed root veg and sarah breaded plaice , she was very happy with her dish and mine was very good especially with the remoissnet (sp) givry 2000 that accompanied.

to finish a good take on rice pudding, the rice in a rectangular dish with a frothed nutmeggy foam on top and on the side a pot of stewed fruits.

decent espresso to finish and a bill for c £75 half of which was wine/beer.

highly recomended seemed a very convivial spot.

[Bapi]

Cheers mate. Will bear that in mind for future trips to pick the mother in law up. Probably passed you on the A1 last Friday on 8 hour roundtrip to Suffolk! Meant to say that The Three Horseshoes in Madingley near Cambridge would be worth a go, but this sounds better. Glad you are introducing Charlie to the finer things in life already :-) Get your Aldeburgh reports posted and get green card stamped for mid November.

[Gary Marshall]

The Three Horseshoes in Madingley near Cambridge would be worth a go, but this sounds better. Glad you are introducing Charlie to the finer things in life already :-) Get your Aldeburgh reports posted and get green card stamped for mid November.

have you tried the three horseshoes? it's one of the many i have tried down south and yet to write up, it is good and i suspect could be very good. if we hadn't got into olive branch i would have gone there but i can go when i'm down south for work so not really something new.

I had an osso bucco main that was salty to the point of inedibilty and i like it salty! but everything else good, incl wine list. olive branch is certainly more convivial, 3 horseshoes was once a pub and has been stripped and painted white, personally i don't like that it's a bit too clinical, somewhere like the sun inn in dedham serves similar cuisine in a traditional setting and it works far better. (another one to write up). i will return to both, there's a trend of italian cooking in pubs in essex/cambs by the looks of it, also jamies dad's place the cricketers is good too, and my nearest.

charlie's been slipping, he was in the pipe & glass at 7 days old so about time he had another star under his belt (nappy?).

[MacD]

The Olive Branch is one of my favourites if we are ever over in that neck of the woods. I have never had a complaint about the food, and their daily set menu is great value. Strangely, their coffee is terrible - really watery. After a couple of times eating there, I even asked for them to make it a decent strength, and it was still really weak.

I reviewed their sister place in Stathern not long ago, and it isn't as good.

Talking of pubs in rural Cambridgeshire - has anyone tried the Queens Head in Newton, just south of Cambridge? It's just off the motorway, so great for an easy access lunch when you're on the road. All they serve is ham, beef and cheese sandwiches, soups (red or brown) and dripping on toast. Fantastic place, great beer and the food is quality stuff. On Sundays, there is a slight change to the menu, when they serve platters, rather than sandwiches - but it just looks like the same ingredients deconstructed - I'm sure there must be a reason for it.