The Greyhound Inn
Letcombe Regis , Oxfordshire
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You can still pop in for a pint of (effervescently fresh) ale at this inviting old country pub with rooms in a little village outside Wantage, but the many dining tables in a succession of rooms of varying colour schemes (dark red, aquamarine, beige) give a clue to its priorities. Forget pickled eggs: ‘nibbles’ might include macaroons filled with creamy goat's cheese and beetroot jam – a very grown-up combination of crunchy and creamy, sweet and savoury. A new chef arrived in November 2021, and was soon eliciting praise for his ‘exceptional’ seafood risotto and ‘smooth and silky’ rhubarb bavarois. The menu is divertingly adventurous, with hits outnumbering misses in the execution of often complex dishes. No complaints at inspection with an exemplary cheese soufflé to start, which arrived in a sauce-like smoked haddock chowder featuring generous chunks of fish and halved new potatoes. Elsewhere, the intriguing accompaniments to Asian-spiced pig’s cheek with pear (wasabi and lime mayonnaise alongside pear and star-anise purée) may have been surprisingly timid, but there was no doubting the quality of the meat or the theatricality of its presentation – in a Kilner jar foggy with wood smoke. Complexity also distinguished the main courses, from duck breast (beautiful juicy pink meat unusually boosted by blobs of Shropshire Blue cheese sauce, as well as very sweet red cabbage and blueberry ketchup) to precisely pan-fried coley with potato and nori terrine, smoked mussels and a dashi beurre blanc. For pudding, the peanut-butter parfait with sweet-salty miso and banana purée tasted as good as it looked. Service is informal yet engaging. The well-annotated wine list holds plenty of interest at fair prices, and the ‘lunch for less’ deal is also enticing – as is the new outdoor dining area. Pinpoint accuracy with flavours would make this Greyhound a racing cert, but already it’s definitely worth a punt.
