Out & About Summer 2018

The Dundas Arms, Kintbury FOOD & DRINK - RESTAURANT REVIEW

HILARY SCOTT sings the praises of newly-refurbished The Dundas Arms, much-loved by locals

T he times they are a changin’ – and so are we’ – so stated The Dundas Arms’ website before we visited. We were there on day three since they closed for a few weeks to refurbish – so it was a bit of a test. Would we be singing its praises, Bob Dylan-like, as we left? Well, the interior looks fresh – the walls in the restaurant are hunting green on top and a lighter myrtle green below. There’s a whole new entrance, all glass and chic and welcoming. The staff are on top of their game and the locals were packed in on a rainy Friday evening, creating a great atmosphere.

olives and just as we finished demolishing them our starters arrived. Service was good and all evening- long, which, considering how full it was, was no mean feat. Charlie’s chalk stream smoked trout on toast with shaved fennel, watercress and capers (£8.50) was Tracey’s choice and as pretty as a picture. The soft trout was under a large drape of smoked salmon and the chopped fennel tasted slightly pickled. The portion was generous and she liked it a lot. My Garganelli (like penne but

with ridges) pasta (£8.75) came in a creamy crab bisque with spinach and dots of white crab meat on top. The bisque was strong and was, I think, loaded with brown crab-meat. I loved it, but you will need to be a crab lover to enjoy. For mains we had another fish dish (£16.50) – grilled hake fillet with clams, samphire and

The restaurant was busy too and we were glad we’d booked an early table by the window. The menu is varied – there’s a nibbles section (sticky chicken

wings, olives, fish croquettes with aioli, focaccia), the usual starters, mains and sides. But there’s also a pub section with dishes like the Dundas short crust ‘proper’ lamb pie with mash and spring greens, Ramsbury-ale battered haddock and the Dundas burger. There’s a salad choice too – grilled lemon and thyme chicken with potatoes, artichokes, endive, crispy bacon and Parmesan and a melon and feta salad. So there’s plenty to choose from. We had some mixed

fregola pasta (pea-sized balls). The hake was cooked well, though it was a wee bit salty, and the crunchy samphire and green beans were the right side of crunchy. The clams were big and fabulous said Tracey. I went for the confit duck leg on cannellini beans with buttered cavolo nero (£17). The beans were delicious, soft and floating in a duck flavoured jus – I could have eaten a bowl of them on their own. The duck was soft and yielding too.

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