Hinds Head Bray

[Matthew Grant]

Lunch here yesterday was pleasant enough but it is not really worth a special trip. A starter of Potted Shrimps at £7.50 was a little strange, the bottom of the pot appeared to be a prawn cocktail mixture with a small layer of shrimps in butter on top, the watercress alongside came with a free creepy crawly which made up for the disappointment of the shrimp, I pointed this out to the waitress. A tart of goats cheese, roasted peppers and tomato tasted as you would expect. A main course of Lancashire hotpot was particularly tiny for £13.50 and the potatoes were over browned on top. I had been warned about the Oysters in the dish so was disappointed to only find one, my disappointment was offset by the deeply flavoured meat and sauce within which was particularly good. Lemon Sole with brown shrimp, cucumber and spiced butter was a successful dish, the spice in question being cinnamon (if there were more spices we couldn't detect them), the cucumber thinly sliced, a generous portion of shrimps scattered over the well sized and cooked piece of fish. Very good. We shared a portion of triple cooked chips (£4.00), wonderfully crispy and fluffy in the middle

We shared a good dessert of treacle tart with milk ice-cream, the tart finished with a crispy ginger topping. With 2 Espresso, a £21 bottle of wine, a bottle of water, OJ and lemonade and half a lager shandy this came to a not inconsiderable £79. This did not include service and the credit card slip had actually inserted 0.00 into this space so that we couldn't leave one unless you were carrying cash, we weren't.

[Matthew Grant]

Has nobody been eating here?

I returned to the Hinds Head yesterday, it was only my second visit, maybe I should have reread my previous review “Not really worth a special trip” would have saved me some money and a whole heap of disappointment. Tea smoked Salmon was decent enough, delicately smoked and served with good soda bread. Tomato, red pepper and goats cheese was pretty darn awful, the onion and peper barely identifiable, the puff pastry distinctly average and to make matters worse the base was heavy, not cooked properly from having the onions cooked on top, presumably from the beginning of the baking process. Main courses were pretty dire. The roast lamb could have pretty much been any £7.50 pub lunch aside from a decent enough gravy (more of a sauce) and reasonable quality lamb. The leg and been boned and rolled and was cooked through. The potatoes were an abomination, they looked like they had been deep fried, however I think its more likely that they had been reheated and left sitting around in an oven to keep them warm for service. They were horribly dark in colour and crisp all the way through, no identifiable fluffy white potato at all. Green beans, roast carrots and cauliflower finished off the plate. For £15.50 I expect better.

Oxtail and kidney pudding was again spoiled by what I think was undercooked pastry. It had a skin on the outside it and the base had the texture of undercooked pasta. The filling itself was decent enough but what’s the point of a pudding if the pudding element isn’t good.. A side order of Triple cooked chips at £4.50 was again poor. A fair amount of the bowl given over to broken crispy bits, the type of thing the chip shop can manage cooking them just once. The intact chips had a hard, almost chewy exterior and a not particularly fluffy interior. Another side of broccoli with anchovies was good.

Service was also pretty shoddy, around 30 minutes passed between starters being cleared and main course arriving, other tables had main courses being brought out while they were still on starters and a request for tomato sauce to go with the chips was brought out once they finished eating. When paying I told the Maitre D’ of the problems with our meal and he advised that he would tell the chef. Apparently it was the regular kitchen team which surprised me.

So £65 including 4 pints of lager shandy, not good value for money at all, overall I’d have to adjust my previous assertion that it wasn’t worth a special trip and advise to avoid at all costs. Does anybody know what HB’s roll is in this place now?

[Gary Marshall]

i'm pretty sure he has no financial inolvement now, i seem to remember reading that he'd sold his stake to his uncle and the money would ensure the future of the fat duck (of which the story appears to be was financially struggling until it got it's third star). He's also out of the riverside brasserie too iirc ?

[ameiden]

After reading Matthews comments, we expected the worst when we went to the Hinds Head last weekend. But I tell you what, it wasn't too bad at all. Of course one should not be expecting anything grand or even similarities to what's happening a few yards over the road in the Fat Duck.

But my Colchester Oysters were perfectly fresh and well prepared, my rump steak with bone marrow sauce was cooked as I wanted it (and came with the famous triple cooked chips and green beans), the treacle tart with milk ice cream was a greatly revised British classic. My wife had a red pepper and goats cheese tart with rocket salad to start (perfectly all right) and then a very good roast of lamb leg with mint sauce, red cabbage, croccoli, roast potatoes.

The young service staff were friendly and attentive, maybe the only thing I would have wanted would have been a slightly wider and better wine selection, also by the glass. As a framed certificate on the way to the lavatories documents, this business is still owned by "Fat Duck Ltd", so I assume that Heston IS still involved here, perhaps not quite as much in the day to day running, but certainly in an overall sense.

[Gary Marshall]

. As a framed certificate on the way to the lavatories documents, this business is still owned by "Fat Duck Ltd", so I assume that Heston IS still involved here, perhaps not quite as much in the day to day running, but certainly in an overall sense.

←

sounds like it is certainly designed to give that impression, true or not.

i would strongly suspect that the ltd co that runs 'the' fat duck is a different entity too

[Zoticus]

Londoner's can now look forward to a new Blumenthal venture.

[ameiden]

. As a framed certificate on the way to the lavatories documents, this business is still owned by "Fat Duck Ltd", so I assume that Heston IS still involved here, perhaps not quite as much in the day to day running, but certainly in an overall sense.

←

sounds like it is certainly designed to give that impression, true or not.

i would strongly suspect that the ltd co that runs 'the' fat duck is a different entity too

←

I also see a link to the Hinds Head on the Fat Duck website (under "Contact us"). In addition, the Hinds Head is listed in Heston's Book "In search of perfection" under the heading "Heston's restaurants".

[Catriona]

I would add my name to the "nice but not worth a detour" team. I went last summer with a group of girls (and I freely acknowledge that when dining in a group of 10 you can't expect the best service), and we were rather underwhelmed, with both food and service.

The service was just rather inelegant. Fair enough, it's a pub, and we were a large all-female group, we weren't expecting much more.

I had the potted shrimps, which I liked more than Matthew did in his first post - I don't recall mine being anything other than as you'd expect, none of that prawn cocktail nastiness (thankfully). I then had a steak with marrow, which was a very nice piece of meat, well cooked. Triple cooked chips were as per Matthew's second post and made me feel ill, and the fat that lined the inside of my mouth refused to budge for hours. Nasty. Treacle tart with milk icecream was chosen in part so that the ice cream would cleanse my palate of the fat from the chips, and sadly didn't do the job, although it was perfectly ok.

Edited November 13, 2007 by Catriona (log)

[Matthew Grant]

Londoner's can now look forward to a new Blumenthal venture.

←

I saw his interview with Ducasse in the Independent and he certainly sounded a little uncomforable talking about opening more places.

Saucepans at dawn

[Bapi]

As a further aside- I see that the former Hind's Head chef (and I think Riverside Brasserie)- Dominic Chapman has moved on. He's gone to work for long time Bray resident - Parky. See here.

[olicollett]

Has anyone been here of late?

I'm working in a "lovely" (you can probably guess) location not far from bray and was tempted to pop over to check it out over the next few weeks. Is it the kind of place you can just get in a walk in table midweek?

[howardlong]

Popped in there for a swift one on Friday while waiting for the car back into town after lunch at the Fat Duck. It certainly wasn't busy, with half a dozen blokes propping up the bar and a couple of diners from the FD similarly waiting.

Howard

[olicollett]

Well I finally got around to visiting the Hind's Head this week, and I have to say it was a fantastic meal.

I started off with potted shrimp and watercress salad which was spot on, followed by the shepherds pie with sweetbreads, which must have been by far the best shepherds pie I have ever eaten in my life. I finished with the chocolate and wine slush for desert accompanied by millionaire shortbread which was also good. One of my friends had the venison burger and treacle tart, another the fish pie and eton mess, both of whom were impressed. We also opted for the triple cooked chips which were cooked to perfection

I hadn't set particularly high expectations, but from start to finish the friendly bar staff, excellent service and great food made for a great meal. The only downside was the price - once you've added on side dishes and 2-3 drinks, you are looking at £40+/head which does seem a bit steep, but the food was that good I wasn't going to complain.

[david goodfellow]

Its fair to say that this place has not really been on my radar until Michelin 2010 was announced. It really was too far away to warrant a special journey.

This changed when it was announced ex chef Dominic Chapman now at nearby The Royal Oak had won a Michelin star, so I did a bit of research and hey ho it turns out that the new chef (newish, couple years?) here is Clive Dixon.

Now I know Clive, not personally, in fact if he bought me a pint at the bar I would not recognize him.

I do know his food though and was tipped off about him perhaps a decade or more ago when he was a young gun at The Mill and Old Swan in Minster Lovell. We spent a weekend there with some hotelier friends of ours from Bournemouth who were nurturing their own very good chef. Mightily impressed too we were.

His history to this stage was excellent having worked for David Everit Mathias at LCS and senior sous chef at Cliveden under Ron Maxfield

Lords of the Manor was next, gaining and holding a Michelin star for three? years. Then moving on to Hunstrete House again with a Michelin star.

We never made Hunstrete House but Lords of the Manor was a bit of a favorite.

Well by all accounts he became fed up with the country house scene and after a stint in a city centre place ended up here. So we had much to look forward to.

Last Saturday was perhaps the best weather so far this year reaching 18 degrees in these parts. I must admit to never seeing more convertibles anywhere even in ultra flash Miami Beach or indeed The South of France, we really are starved of sunshine.

Our table was fantastic, sun streaming through the windows, people outside in shorts, a wedding party arriving with pretty frocks galore, people posing for photos outside The Fat Duck,really top notch animation.

The bar was busy but civilized, so we started in true spirit of the place with some ale, Rebellion, not had it before, it did go down well but sadly had to be a bit careful because I was driving.

The menu pays homage to Great British food with Balmoral Venison Cheese Burger, Shepherds Pie with Lamb shoulder, Breast and Sweetbreads(which really took my fancy), Aberdeenshire Beef with Bone Marrow sauce with Triple cooked chips. Rump Steak, T Bone, or Fillet Steak on the Bone, etc, etc, etc.

It does have an Autumn, Winter feel to it but I suppose British food is like that really, besides being a "salads are for wimps" type of guy it suits me down to the ground. I am fortunate in one way not to dine with a stick thin model who has to watch what she eats, Mrs G (like me) eats for England.

I had the Pea and Ham soup (£6.35) with a side order of perfectly cooked Scotch Egg,(£2.95) runny yolk, crunchy outside. The soup was very light and tasty, tiny cubed ham in the base and a baby's handful of fresh peas.

Roast Onion tart with Goats cheese and Walnuts (£8.95) was the other starter, which was pretty standard stuff except that the pastry base was overcooked (and looked it) but by good fortune did not impart any "burnt" taste

We had one of the "Specials" Skate Wing Scampi with Tartare Sauce,(£8.50) which arrived on a wooden board. About nine or ten pieces of crispy balls, and they really needed the tartare sauce to wash them down.

Thats not to say we don't like skate, we love it as Wings with black butter sauce, perhaps I was expecting too much.

I nearly forgot the bread which was excellent. Its not made on site but nearby to their own recipe by Boulangerie de Paris, I loved the crunch from the crust as it gave way to the firm but soft flesh within.

Oxtail and Kidney Pudding (£16.95) was really a must try for me, and it arrived on its own in the classic white dish surrounded by a really rich and thick sauce which was sticky to the point I had to keep licking my lips to clean them. No bad thing at all in fact the opposite. The Pudding itself was about as good as it gets, how anybody could get any more flavour into it, well I don't think its possible.

We had the famed Triple cooked chips(£4.50) which sadly were over crisped and had far too little soft potato inner.

Another side was Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Anchovies and Almonds,(£3.50) which was pretty darn good.

The other main was Chicken, Ham, and Leek Pie with Mustard sauce,(£15.50) which again was perhaps as good as your going to get in every way. I was very happy with mine but could easily have swapped plates.

The meal really flowed helped along by the excellent service from our French waiter Romain? who told me he previously worked three years at a Michelin three star place, and it showed, he was a class act. He even persuaded us to try a dessert which we both adamantly vowed not too as we were stuffed.

"You must try the Chocolate Wine "Slush" with Millionaire Shortbread,(£6.95) its was on the Fat Duck menu until recently"

Now we went to the Duck last year and for the life of me I could not remember this dessert, so, well you guessed.

As we were sharing, the tiny pot of " Slush" arrived with two straws, to its side was the rectangle of shortbread looking slightly Mr Kiplingish.

We are sad to report that although its a bit of a fun dish we were not really impressed. We should have stuck to our guns.

Reading through the menu again it really is chock a block with comfort food, we would happily munch our way through it. Clearly its not cheap, not pub prices at all, but you know what they say "you gets what you pay for". Well mostly of course.

All in all a lot more hits than misses and indeed a thoroughly enjoyable outing. Anyone who lives within a decent radius of Bray who has not yet been should most certainly make the effort to get there soon as Clive Dixon is leaving in June to set up his own place with his wife.If you live in Bray deem yourselves very lucky indeed to have this place as your local.

I can't help but ponder over the rise of "Gastropubs" to Michelin star status, The Star, Pipe and Glass, etc, plus of course this year near neighbour The Royal Oak with former chef from here winning it. Another excellent newcomer Harwood Arms.

I can,t help but wonder if HB despairs as to being overlooked by the guide especially given his status and the quality of this kitchen. I am looking forward to hearing who the next chef is going to be to take this place forward they are advertising now btw.

As an aside Clive Dixon was not in the kitchen on Saturday it was a rare (I assume ) day off, not that it should make a difference of course.

Just looking through the bill again I notice the Chocolate "Slush" has been charged at £7.75 (plus service) instead of £6.95 as stated on the dessert menu. Well its obviously an oversight so I will let them off this time

All the above including five halves of Rebellion and a jug of some perfectly drinkable Thames tap water was,

£92.42 inc the dreaded 12.5% service charge.

[david goodfellow]

Edited April 15, 2010 by david goodfellow (log)