Out & About Winter 2019

Out&About food & drink

This was on top of fregola studded with pine nuts and shaved fennel, there were slivers of orange around the edge and all was drizzled with a chive dressing. Deliciously different was Dijana’s verdict. But we have to say the real love was found in the puddings. You can if you want order a sharing pudding board at £12.95 and I would recommend it even though we didn’t have it. Because what we did have were some of the best puds around. A Mini Butterscotch pot at just £2.95 was teensy tiny, but packed a massive punch of creamy, vanilla-dotted crème fraiche and a hit of the saltiest caramel sauce. We scraped the bottom unashamedly. Also we had a pile of pillowy chocolate meringue (almost blush in colour) rippled with a hot chocolate sauce, more crème fraiche and a salty nut crunch. At £5.45 we had more than enough for the two of us. As Dijana comes from the land of pavlovas (well the hemisphere, she’s Aussie not a Kiwi, but let’s not get into the pav debate here) she declared it one of the best. Our wine from a good list was a Languedoc Viognier Domaine de Vedihan – sharp and dry, but with elderflower and citrussy flavours and at £22.95 a good price. In summary, Swan fans won’t be disappointed – we ate all this with a clear view of the Thames even though it was a drizzly day, sitting slightly above the old enclosed terrace, which is still in use. And Coppa fans will be happy as it’s one of the prettiest branches. A few menu tweaks and they’ll have got it just right. Apprehension well and truly over.

Smoked Salmon

Seared King Prawns

Trout on the Plancha

Mini Butterscotch

Chocolate Pavlova

The Swan at Streatley, Streatley-on-Thames, RG8 9HR 01491 878800 www.theswanatstreatley.com

Pictures by Dijana Capan/DVision Images

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O&A WINTER 2019