The Sun Inn, Mill Road, Kislingbury, Northampton NN7 4BB

A beautiful sunny but cold Saturday, I was driving up north with D. Looking for a place for lunch near the motorway, armed only with a copy of CAMRA’s 2012 Edition of The Good Beer Guide, D expertly navigated us to the picturesque village of Kislingbury near Northampton (and just a few minutes from the M1.
On a tiny narrow lane we found The Sun Inn.  Looking beautifully rustic with it's thatched roof, we found it to be warm and cosy inside and without any pretensions.  Old-fashioned and friendly with a good number of real ales on the pumps and some ciders too. 

 We experienced lovely hospitality from the landlady and once we’d ordering some substantial lunch from a small menu of big pies, we settled down in one of the three seating areas (it was nice to have it to ourselves) with the paper, and relaxed.

After assembling a wide collection of condiments, and enjoying a giant cup of tea and a pint of 'Gobblers', our food arrived.  My stilton, peppered mushroom and onion pie was ultimate comfort food, and served with delicious gravy and the homemade cottage pie was also huge, and very much enjoyed by D, who felt the cabbage was also very tasty.

A lovely discovery.    We would have happily whiled away an afternoon there.  Well worth a visit should you be near Junction 16 of the M1 and very much recommended by ourselves as well as CAMRA.

The Charles Dickens, 160 Union Street, Southwark, SE1 0LH

The Charles Dickens on Union Street is an unpretentious and unassuming real ale pub in central London.  It was the ideal place for a beer and bite before going to see Dr Faustus at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Whilst super close to the Tate Modern, it was tucked away from crowds, and pleasantly quiet when we arrived.  It was a warm afternoon, so discovering the small outdoor area at the back was particularly great.

The choice and quality of the beers was very good (a lemon beer being a particular highlight for D), which is to be expected given that we’d found the pub in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Being a former English Lit student, I was admittedly a bit snobby about the quality and authenticity of the Dickens’ memorabilia.   But, this was saved by the food.  With all the meat provided from nearby Smithfield, the very simple British pub food, was totally in keeping with the atmosphere and feel of the pub.

Huge pie, throughly enjoyed by D's Dad

Fantastic chips with my chicken (above), and D's steak, (below)

Very reasonably priced with large portions, and fantastic quality, everything was good.   Service wasn’t always as attentive as it could have been, but it was friendly and little touches such as condiments being bought without us needing to ask, were definite plus points.  

If I had to mention a negative it would be the lack of dessert menu. 

Even with the Dickensian theme, this didn’t appear to be a pub that pandered to tourists, avoiding the prices and pretensions of most places in Central London.  Would certainly visit again!

Canteen, Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX

I love Canteen - I love how it avoids being pretentious or over-priced, even after winning numerous awards, and even  when all four of it's restaurants are located in the most central London locations.  But it is of course, this simplicity that is central to Canteen's ethos, as well as an emphasis on British, seasonal good quality ingredients.

This was my second visit to the Canteen at the Southbank centre location.  Sitting outdoors, surrounded by all the appealing aromas and hustle and bustle of the weekly food market, made for a fantastic atmosphere, even though it was a strange time to eat (5pm on a Sunday).  This isn't a problem at Canteen, who advocate "casual all day dining".  My previous visit had been just for tea and cake, which wasn't a problem at all to the friendly and efficient staff.

D was delighted by the real ale selection, particularly due to the appearance of several dark beers.  His choice of  'Moorhouse's Black Cat' -  is award winning, and impressive as it's one he has only ever previously seen at beer festivals.  He very much enjoyed it's chocolately, malty taste, whilst I was more than happy with my restorative pot of Teapigs Earl Grey.

The menu consists largely of various daily specials.  There is a daily soup, pie, roast and 'day boat fish', as well as all day breakfast/brunch dishes, traditionally British mains and puddings.  Sensibly, children are offered half portions at half price.  Fantastically, there is a separate 'cakes' section, on the menu.

D went for the roast of the day, which was beef, and he felt the quality was excellent.  He liked how it was presented in a tower with roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage, gravy and the largest yorkshire pud I have ever seen.  (It's non-perfect shape was pleasing).  The beef was very tender and each of the components tasty and well cooked.  There was only one thing D would change...he remarked that "most people would probably want less cabbage, and young men with hearty appetites (like me) would want one more potato."  Specific feedback indeed!

Mine was a posh chicken and chips (but not being very posh, I ate it with my hands.  The best way to enjoy food).  They roast a free-range chicken at lunch and dinnertime, and serve it first come first served, with garlic mayo and super crispy chips.  It was heaven on a plate.  Perfectly cooked, crispy skin, generous in portion size.  Wonderful!

Very sadly, I found myself without a camera, or room for dessert.  But not to worry, here's a picture of the incredible chocolate and beetroot cake, sampled upon my last visit with K.  The cake was almost velvety in nature, and very soft and moist as a result of the beetroot.  It's still on the menu.  You should go and try it.

The Bounty, Cockmarsh, Bourne End

Accessible only by boat or on foot, The Bounty was one of those pubs that I had heard plenty of great things about, but I hadn’t managed to ever visit. It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for our walk from Marlow. With its beautiful riverside location, I expected the place to be heaving with people, but whilst it was certainly busy, we were delighted to find plenty of outdoor tables available as we approached.

The Bounty manages to be quirky without being pretentious – there’s a skull proudly displayed by the bar, which as well as booze, sells greeting cards, Curly Wurlys and ginger beer (on tap). As well as a lovely range of bar snacks and a hot food menu, there was a cake of the day (my kind of place!) and ice cream also on sale.

The sign above the entrance to the pub welcomes punters to ‘The People’s Republic of Cockmarsh’ where “the laws of common sense apply”, and upon walking into the pub, my immediate reaction was that I’d walked into some other land. There was a queue at the bar but the bar staff were lovely and the wait didn’t seem to matter, as there was plenty to look at inside.

Given the heat of the day I drank lashings of firey ginger beer through a pink straw (I wanted to make the most of finding somewhere that served it on tap), but on the beer front there were some local Rebellion Brewery offerings (the fresh and hoppy Rebellion Blonde was sampled) and a fantastically named ‘Grumpy Cow’. The cider option was the extremely potent scrumpy, Old Rosie. D commented on the good condition of the beer which was at the optimal temperature.

The food is simple but brilliant.

Cheesy chips are great, but The Bounty goes one better and offers…STILTON CHIPS! Utterly utterly divine chunky chips covered with slabs of melting Stilton. The simple things taste the best. Other food sampled included an old school but still lovely bacon toastie, and a ham Ploughmans. Portion sizes were more than generous. The home cooked ham was clearly of good quality and there was plenty of pickle. Quavers were served on the side!

The outdoor area stretched out on either side of the pub, with a children’s play area (complete with Big Scary Tree) on the opposite side to where we were. Truly a place with something for everyone, I can’t wait to visit again.

The Artichoke, 162 Yarmouth Rd, Broome, Norfolk NR35 2NZ

As expected we were waiting outside The Artichoke before it opened at 12 noon (in keeping with D’s Mum’s pride in punctuality). And for good reason. This is a very popular pub. My second visit, I was looking forward to both the food and the drink. A regular entrant of the Good Beer Guide, it won Norfolk’s CAMRA pub of the year in 2009. Once the home of Crowfoot Brewery (a very long time ago), it truly boasts a great selection of drink –D likes the choice of real ales (they always have 4 on the hand pumps, 4 on gravity in the tap room, and my personal favourite, there are always three fruit beers on draught!) I’m always filled with excitement when I find fruity Belgian beers on offer!

I also love the look of the whisky bar, with around 70 varieties of malt whisky, decorated with pump clips and mugs hanging from the ceiling. The drink list is handwritten and presented above the bar, along with a note (consider it an old-school ‘status update’) about one of the regulars ‘Terry,’ and his new tow bar. It’s a cosy, welcoming place, with a real fire in the corner in the wintertime. The staff are exceptionally friendly, treating us like old friends (which D’s family almost are), and the bar seemed to fill up almost immediately after opening time.

My first beer was my favourite, ‘Kriek’ (Belgian Cherry beer), served in half pints only (due to the 6% potency), in an authentic Belgian Beer glass.

The menu is simple and traditional, with a daily changing specials board. We took our seats in the original restaurant area (a bit more atmospheric than the newer conservatory dining area in my opinion – and closer to the bar), and the huge portions of food arrived. Scampi and chips for D’s Mum and Gran, Plaice and Chips for D, and a Chicken and Mushroom Pie and chips for me (healthy wasn’t really a theme of the afternoon, as you can tell).

D’s plaice was “hoooge” (as the Norfolk folk would say), extending a long way underneath the peas and chips on his plate.

My pie was divine. Very generous on the filling, with large meaty chunks of chicken, ham and mushroom, topped with a slim rectangle of rich short-crust pastry, served with greens, carrots and wonderful crispy chips.

D’s Mum is a scampi expert, sampling all the pub scampi and chips, in the local area, and she rates The Artichoke as having consistently the best of the lot. Again, portions were large, with D benefiting from extra chips from his Gran.

Stuffed, I was somehow talked into sampling another Belgian beer. This time I opted for raspberry (Bacchus Frambozen), which I found less sweet and slightly less enjoyable than my initial Kriek. D went for the third available fruit beer, Peach (Timmermans Peche). This was a little too beery for my liking but it had a subtle peachy aroma and taste.

I really was going to decline dessert, having eaten far too large a lunch to manage the delicious sounding but hefty options of crumbles, sticky toffee puddings or bread and butter pudding. D opted for his favourite, Summer Fruit Pudding whilst his Gran went for banana fritters. D’s mum’s choice of Maple and Walnut ice-cream was my downfall though, and I found myself helpless to resist ordering such a magnificent sounding dessert from local ice-cream maker Parravani.

I was not disappointed – deliciously nutty and maple-y sweet, it felt luxurious and light at the same time.

We finished everything. Everything ordered that been wonderful. I’d more than happily visit a third time – highly recommended for both food and drink!