Vegetarian: Yes   Parking: Own car park   Wheelchairs: OK    Loos: Average

Visited August 2009

 From their website we learnt that "The Cricketers dates back to the 1820's and has always been a watering hole for the local community, mainly the workers from the numerous farms around the area." 

This free house and has been owned by Julia & Keith Gallocker since August 2007.  Their aim to provide a good pub & restaurant serving fresh local seasonal food & good wine of a high standard and at a reasonable cost.  We feel they have succeeded.

Coming from out of the area its not that easy to find (Google Maps were not that accurate on this occasion) but its worth the hunt.  Luckily there are the pubs own signs to The Cricketers at the end of the road.

Paulina who is charming greeted us upon arrival and continued to give excellent and unintrusive service throughout our visit.

It is a warm and welcoming pub and restaurant with a very attractive exterior and interior.  There is also a flower filled terrace area where as it was a lovely sunny day we enjoyed our usual G & T's whilst making our choices.

A small menu is always a good sign of freshly cooked food but we did feel that perhaps even one more choice of mains, some red meat for example would be welcome.  They offer 2 courses for £12.95, three for £15.95 or courses individually priced  They also have a sandwich menu.

We chose Chicken Liver parfait with spiced peaches, Grilled sardines, lemon & fennel salad and Golden cross goats cheese beignets with walnut salad (this was our favourite choice, loved the combination of the cheese and walnuts).  Must mention that when we first sat down we were served with delicious home made warm bread rolls, buttermilk and pumpkin seed.

Our mains, Pasta Tagliatelle with blushed tomatoes, basil & Parmesan, excellent flavour, Lightly battered fish and hand cut chips with crushed peas & tartare sauce and finally Crispy Broadoak Chicken with creamed potatoes and spinach.  Chef Nick Alvis who has trained/worked with many celebrity chefs obviously believes in quality rather than quantity but 2 courses would satisfy most appetites and represent good value.  The food is very fresh and cooked to order.  We enjoyed a bottle of dry Rosé @ £16.50 to accompany our food.

We shared a selection of English cheese and a very controversial Pavlova!

Having lived in New Zealand, where it is the national dish, JI considers herself the Pavlova queen.  She and Chef had an amicable discussion about the recipe; we all felt the base should have been true Pavlova and not very firm meringue!  Chef says his recipe comes from the Ritz in Paris, JI says her recipe comes from its original Kiwi source..... they agreed to differ!

We finished with coffees on the terrace.

The Cricketers is well worth seeking out.

 

Cost £ £ £ £ £

Quality of food  4/5    
Variety of menu  3/5
Staff & Service  4/5    
Ambience, setting and decor  4/5
Value for money  4/5  

Total Yummy Factor 19/25

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5/5 = Cannot be improved upon, 4/5 = Very good, 3/5 = Good, 2/5 = Satisfactory, 1/5 = Poor, 0/5 = Terrible
The higher the "Yummy" factor, the better the food & service.  The higher the number of £ signs the more expensive.  ( Roughly one £ sign = £5 per head )
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