There's around 700 Red Lion pubs in the UK but if you want a real food treat, we suggest you head for the one in East Chisenbury, Wiltshire. If you do, don't expect to have the pub to yourself however because the secret (of how good it is) is rapidly spreading, such that on the occasion of our visit there, the place was bustling throughout both the Sunday lunch and dinner service. There's many reasons why the Red Lion should be so popular but let's stick to the food for now. The Red Lion is run by Guy and Britt Manning, an Anglo-American couple who met while both were working at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York. This was clearly a vintage period for Per Se for it was when James Knappett and Sandia Chang of Bubbledogs were there (and getting together also), as was Tom Sellers of Story. Prior to Per Se, Guy worked with Bruce Poole at Chez Bruce. It's easy to see why this Red Lion is not like other Red Lions when it come to food.

In and beyond the kitchen, they have a philosophy which they state on the website as 'trying to do everything the best we can... if we can make it in house, we do... if we can produce it, we do... we forage for stuff... we seek out and form relationships with the best and most local businesses and suppliers'. Look beyond the beer garden and you can see practically what this means, there's hens for eggs, a couple of West Berkshire piggies (see below) and cultivation of the land. And of course, anybody can talk about being the best and all that stuff but at the Red Lion, we continually saw evidence throughout our stay that showed they are serious about it putting these ideas into practice, something immediately evident in how perfectly polished the silverware is at the table. It may be a pub, but we have no doubt their standards would make Thomas Keller proud.  

But what's also endearing about the Red Lion is that it's also proper old country pub in a village that still acts as a hub for the community, where friends meet, guest ales are served, Sunday papers are on the side to read if you wish and dogs are welcome. Put another way, it's a place you want to be, so much so that we decided half way through lunch to stay for the night in the newly renovated guest accommodation, Troutbeck which is absolutely lovely (great beds!) and sits on the bank of the River Avon, albeit at the point where the River Avon is more like a stream than a river.

Moving on to the food, as has already been suggested, it's a menu with a lot of Wiltshire character and to start, the Tagliarini of Wiltshire truffle seems a must. We think it was after the first bite of this we properly fell in love with the Red Lion: exquisite pasta with a generous shave of Wiltshire truffle, in a pub. The other starter was Pressed terrine of Wiltshire partridge & pheasant with parsnip quince and prunes which is a riot of contrasting colour on the plate and impressively packed with sizeable chunks of game birds.

Being a Sunday lunch, there's a couple of roast options on the menu and a slow cooked lamb shoulder with roasties, mint sauce and gravy seems just the ticket for me on a Winter's day sitting next to the pub's wood burner. It comes as no surprise by this stage that it's a fabulous piece of lamb, generously delivered leaving you more than satisfied. A blanquette of pig's cheeks with January King cabbage, root vegetables, chervil & mustard showcases perfectly turned vegetables, separately cooked to perfection again highlighting the attention to detail here, reinforcing the idea that this is a kitchen that never takes short cuts.

Almost too full for dessert, we share a Bramley apple crumble though for our taste, the sour elements needed a little more sugar to balance them. By dinner time, still full from lunch despite a countryside walk, a warm crab tart and the cheese plate (Westcombe Mature, Bosworth leaf, Helford Blue & Wigmore) suffice. Both give us exactly what we want. And we must mention the FOH team who were all really great, really friendly, and who further impress upon you what a nice place the Red Lion is.

The Red Lion then is one of those places that you're really happy you stopped to discover. On our South West trip, telling folks along the way that our last stop was there, the feedback from top chefs was always the same, 'I've heard great things about them' but no one we met on our trip had yet been there. We're pleased to confirm those good things heard by everyone are true, we love it there and are already planning a return visit.

If you needed an indicator of how far Britain has come gastronomically, the Smokehouse is as good as any. As a makeover of a local pub, the Smokehouse very much remains at its core a pub as witnessed by its remarkable range of beers, but on the food side, under the creative leadership of Neil Rankin (Pitt Cue, John Salt), they have put in place a menu unlike any we have seen elsewhere in the UK, in either a pub or restaurant. This alone is a creditable fact.

If over the past couple of years you still haven't come across Chef Neil Rankin, he is a classically trained chef but has chosen a direction that usually involves a good piece of meet and fire. The menu here plays with that concept in full such that even a vegetarian curry option is described as a 'coal roasted aubergine curry'. And while the back blackboard states as most good places do now that their beef is sourced here and their fish is sourced their, at Smokehouse they even discuss the sustainability of their woodchips that put the smoke into Smokehouse. 

We modestly over-ordered because there's so many temptations on the menu that narrowing it down to just a couple of dishes is too hard and we want to get a sense of what's on offer. The kitchen kindly send out some extra food also, such that we really got to see a lot of the menu. 

Starters offer a full range of wonderful sounding items and the Twitter-verse had been raving about the foie gras, apple pie and duck egg so we felt we really should see what the fuss is about. But remembering that Neil's crab dish in his previous gaff was a knockout we couldn't pass over his crab on toast here either to see what he makes of it and, for good unhealthy measure, we ordered too the duck confit with fourme d'ambert on toast. 

All plates were generously proportioned and the foie gras dish, at £10, didn't skimp on the foie making it actually very good value such that foie gras lovers everywhere should just flock to Smokehouse because the foie gras itself is a beautiful example of the kind and pairing it with an apple pie to provide both acidity and texture is both fun and interesting, all coated with a highly viscous slow cooked egg. The crab however was also a big hit because it's not 'just' crab on toast but a lobster/crab bisque reduction sauce also coats the toast for additional depth of flavour elevating it above what is so often served elsewhere making it quite special.

The benefits of Smokehouse being a smokehouse are most obvious on the mains where the smoky aromas and flavours have worked themselves deep into the mutton chops leaving you in no doubt of the benefits of Neil's style of cooking. A peppered ox-cheek comes with a densely sticky and dark peppery glaze but we're both in agreement that the absolute star of the mains is the shortrib bourguignon where the beef arrives as a single cut on the bone and is meltingly tender from goodness knows how long it's been cooking through the day: it really is a special piece of meat and no-one who enjoys beef surely could do anything but adore this. For us, only the smoked pork rib-eye failed to work, its merits to us unclear. We also got to sample a side of the Korean pulled pork which is simply excellent, though quite which main would make you think 'I think I had better order a side of pork to go with this' we have no idea.

The food here is generously portioned and quite rich such that most people we imagine would leave Smokehouse satisfied in every way. We've said a few times now on the blog that a lot of the pub food in London just isn't that special but Neil's menus are always interesting and for a pub in Islington to be doing food like this is simply fantastic. For the carnivores of the world then, Smokehouse then is a must: Neil has a real passion for this type of food it seems and it shows.

The Anchor & Hope pub is a short walk away from Waterloo station and is a pub that has gained a strong reputation for food stretching back a decade. The philosophy for the style of food is derived from St John which then makes instant sense of the menu. Accordingly, you might find pig's head, grouse and hare on the menu and nothing resembling a 'pub classic'. Yet this is resolutely a pub where no bookings are taken, where they don't have a website and there is as much space given over to drinkers as there is to diners.

Because of the no bookings policy, you are generally advised to arrive early 'to avoid disappointment', though at 1pm on a Thursday lunchtime, the place is busy but there's the odd table available and this was no problem. While there is a dedicated dining room (one half of the pub), in the drinkers half you can still order food from the same menu which makes things a little easier. Being a pub, I go to the bar for a drink but they do offer to bring it to the table even in the pub section which is nice. Decor, as can be seen above, is proper London pub. 

For starters, crab on toast appeals obviously, the warm snail and bacon salad is interesting (in a pub) cuttlefish in ink is certainly different for 'pub grub', but I settle on Pressed Pig's Head in Vinaigrette. My friend has the day's special, burrata and tomatoes. For me, three large, thin slices of pig's head arrive, generously topped with vinaigrette, capers and diced shallot. It's reasonably fatty but that ensures you are never short changed on flavour and there's an earthy note there too, but the combination of the vinaigrette, capers and shallot worked brilliantly, overlaying the fats to balance out the dish, such that it felt cleaner and even lighter, helped too by slices rather than larger chunks. The capers and shallots also ensured the dish never fell down on texture either.

On mains, my duck leg fills the bowl, a hulk of a leg that is dark enough, especially when sat on a bed of prunes, for me to worry whether they might have overdone it or not. They haven't and the duck is a real treat, crispy outside, still juicy meat inside, prunes and bacon adding salty sweetness. Only the mash was a disappointment, missing any lightness or fluffiness and too much hard work to bother with. My friend ordered the wild halibut with chickpeas in crab broth and enjoyed it, though as both mains arrive, I can't help but think that on presentation, they are not entirely doing their food justice but I'm sure many will argue that it's only the taste that matters (and they are a proper pub, not a fancy Michelin restaurant).

Desserts were a plum and almond tart and a 'lemon pot, cassis and shortbread'. I wondered how the cassis would be incorporated here and when it came sitting on the lemon pot (presumably straight out the bottle), I still wasn't sure what to make of it. It worked however fabulously well as the lemon pot had a nice little bite to it that the cassis then tamed leaving me more impressed with this £4 dessert than I possibly imagined I could be on ordering. 

Overall then, The Anchor & Hope delivered a meal where I enjoyed all three courses and where the bill for that food came to just £23 before service which has to be seen as great value in anyone's book. Service was admittedly up and down but mostly friendly, and the genuine pub experience (decor, service, food presentation) will likely appeal to more customers than if their mash were in a quenelle not a dollop. Having been mostly disappointed by London's pub food so far, The Anchor & Hope impressed us with the diversity of its menu and the flavours they were able to extract from the ingredients. Given the price point too, we understand why The Anchor & Hope is considered one of London's top pubs for food.    

We are willing our meal to be good here because even before we have any food in front of us, everything seems right about the Butchers Arms. First, the location. Located in Eldersfield, 10 miles north of Gloucester, it is in a part of the world blessed with amazing local produce and their website lists farms in Staunton, Ross on Wye, and Tirley (Glos) as key suppliers. Guessing too that their Hereford beef actually comes from Hereford while they are also close enough to the south west coast for day boat fish to be available.

Second, as you arrive in the village, this red brick pub which dates back to the 16th Century is just beautiful, and beautifully kept. It's what you want a rural pub to be and that remains with you when you step in side to low wood beams, the glow and warmth of a wood burner and an equally warm and effusive welcome from the owner and staff. What's more, it's a real pub, not a restaurant that was formerly a pub and they have guest ales (which sadly driving precluded me trying). That said, the place is pretty tiny and can't have room for more than 20 people sitting. Needless to say, booking is essential. 

Third, we like the menu and basically want to have everything on it. Five starters, five mains, all begging to be ordered. Even an red onion tart, not something I might ordinarily go for sounds enticing as it comes dressed with 'melting wigmore cheese, balsamic dressing'. A Cornish fish soup is made from smoked cod, pan fried turbot and hake. Mains that we didn't go for included loin of fallow deer and a roasted Dover sole with chantrelle mushrooms.

The menu reads so well, can the chef pull it off?

So what did we order? We elected for some comfort starters, crispy middle white pig cheek with egg yolk ravioli, pennybu mushrooms, and Salcombe crab risotto. The pig cheek is pretty large portion, not far off what would be an acceptable main course in fact. Crucially, the egg yolk ravioli works perfectly and the pork packs in dense flavours with just the right amount of crisp while some apple sauce on the bottom clears the mouth with acidity and freshness so that even with the a larger portion size, you don't grow tired. This was a rich and classy dish and we loved it. Equally, the crab risotto showed its best side too with a suitably oozy texture. We have generally observed in the blog 'so goes the starters, so goes the meal' and these starters were good.

This time of year in the countryside, how could we not order the partridge? The crown is served up with faggot and onions while we assume the legs must have been confited as the meat fell off the bone after taking the first bite into it (making eating the legs a less messy affair than normal which was nice). This was exactly how partridge should be, the meat nice and moist and the delicate flavours preserved. I always like it just a little bit when I find a piece of shot in my game bird as a nod to provenance, and to be able to enjoy a precisely cooked partridge in a beautiful country pub seems to me one of the great pleasure in life. The fillet of beef showed equal precision in the cooking with some really great flavours to the beef. Only the small oxtail pie with it lets the side down, missing inside its own rich gravy. Given the quantity of food we have already been served, it's a minor matter.

Indeed, dessert is more out of curiosity and we share peanut caramel & pistachio macarons with pistachio ice cream, lemon & pear sorbet. Brown sugar donuts and orange marmalade pudding with Drambuie custard sound delightful but are definitely for another day. Maybe because we are full, maybe because it is slightly less country pub than what else we've enjoyed so far, but it doesn't quite deliver the same happy '"I never want to leave here" satisfaction as what's gone before.

London doesn't really do pubs with Michelin stars (except The Harwood Arms), while outside of London they are found in greater frequency. Some deliver outstanding cooking, like Royal Oak, Paley Street, while many others leave us aghast that they have been recognised by Michelin when the likes of The French, The Clove Club and Bubbledogs Kitchen Table have been passed over (as of the 2014 Guide). With The Butchers Arms however, we really did love it and as Tom Kerridge has shown everyone this year, the UK really is ready to embrace proper pub food. Indeed, even booking a couple of weeks in advance, we found The Butchers Arms to be full on our originally chosen day to eat there and we ended up moving our visit to accommodate when they had a table free. It was worth it.

If you are staying in the Gloucestershire area, you are now pretty much spoiled for choice when it comes to great places to eat, with Le Champignon Sauvage, Lords of The Manor, 5 North Street and Lumiere all in the county. We now add The Butchers Arms to this list (okay, it's technically Worcestershire by 20 yards), it's everything we think a country pub should be, and with game season upon us, it seems a great time of year to visit them. And with husband and wife team James and Elizabeth Winter so young, The Butchers Arms is another reason to celebrate British food and British restaurants. We'll certainly be back.  

As is so often the case, we're late to the scene. Upstairs at The Ten Bells has for some time been getting rave reviews, first as a three months residency for the Young Turks, but now on a permanent basis with Issac Mchale, Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith of the original line up continuing to manage it even as they build on that success with the brilliant Clove Club, a short walk away in Shoreditch. 

With grouse season upon us, we had heard that Upstairs offered some of the best, and best value, grouse in London. We had seen grouse on the menu elsewhere at eyebrow raising prices, coupled with questions around competency, and had decided previously to pass. To get our first grouse fix of the season then, Upstairs at The Ten Bells seemed just the ticket. It's worth knowing, and clearly we didn't, that the lunchtime menu is a much shorter affair than dinner and looking at the website now (I rarely look at it before a visit except for the telephone number), we see it is billed as an 'express lunch' menu. This gives a choice of two starters, two mains and two desserts. And no grouse! 

I asked the waiter, would it possible, maybe, perhaps, please please please? He couldn't have been nicer and said he would ask the chef (he didn't know we were bloggers if you are wondering). The chef said yes, it was no problem, and while this is clearly all my fault for not doing my research on menus, the easy going way they dealt with my request engendered such goodwill towards the FOH that if they had subsequently dropped a bowl of soup on my lap (they didn't), I still would be singing their praises. But there were no incidents of this kind and throughout the rest of the meal FOH remained the perfect example of the informal professionalism that is the goal of most modern dining establishments. By way of a mention, for grouse at lunchtime in the future, they suggest simply mentioning it at the time of booking and it shouldn't be a problem going forward either. 

With a choice of three snacks on the menu also, and feeling not as express as the City folk who generally inhabit the lunchtime service, Bishopsgate being just a few minutes walk away, we decided to try a bit of everything (almost). Snacks offered the choice of Buttermilk Chicken, Smoked Cod's Roe Tarama and Razor Clam. The buttermilk chicken as far as we are concerned is a London legend of a dish, so much so that we asked Issac to serve it at our recent event EatPlayLove2013. There, 150 people agreed, people loved it. The cod's roe was well accomplished also, a smooth texture with just the right amount of body, scooped up with potato dauphine churros. These are good snacks.

The two starters on offer are smoked wild salmon together with ricotta ravioli. Both were pleasing plates with the ravioli providing beautiful little parcels of pasta with additional comfort flavours of roast butternut and sage with some contrasting nutty crunch on the plate also. This is a lovely Autumn dish and to enjoy food like this tempers the loss felt with the passing of Summer.

But Autumn and Winter do provide much to look forward to at the dining table and one of those things is the game season. Rather than the usual bread sauce and game chips, here they served the grouse with beetroot, cavolo nero, the grouse heart and a game sauce. In some ways simple enough but so easily ruined if you get it wrong. But there were no issues like that, it was textbook cooking and the grouse delivered up the full flavour that only game birds can. It emphasised the point once more: despite it being a quirky old pub with a very scary barman downstairs coupled with a fading decor, they really are very serious about food and they come good on that. Trying to think where else in the Square Mile you could get grouse and I struggle. For the record, the menu offered lunchtime starters were Cornish Plaice (ordered, tasted, delicious) and Beef Rump (not tried).      

The limited choices on the lunchtime menu only really impacted at dessert since cheese is one option leaving only one real dessert so in fact there is no choice. The day's prescribed dessert on our visit was poached pear. Undoubtedly it would have been excellent but it was not what we fancied on that occasion.

There has been much praise and many a blog post on Upstairs, but with Isaac & Co now at The Clove Club, that too is where the blog community has mostly migrated. But don't forget Upstairs, it's still there lunch and dinner, and from our visit and experience, still pushing out some of the best food City side in London, food that is as good quite frankly as anything else in the capital, including the West End M stars, but without the swanky postcode and the designer interior. The service at Upstairs is so friendly you wont mind that fact and when you step outside after the meal and discover that you still have money in your wallet for a round of drinks also, the migration East of London's dining scene seems like an even more welcome development. Upstairs at The Ten Bells then layers character, great food and value, another wonderful showcase of the hard work and talent now enshrined within the British food scene.      

The Drapers Arms regularly features in top 10 pubs in London to eat and more recently served up a great burger at YoungandFoodish's Burger Bash. In turn, we felt it was time to make the visit to Islington to try their full menu.

Step in to The Drapers Arms and it is apparent that this is a proper pub, not a pub that has converted into a restaurant that now only pretends to be a pub. It does mean that the full range is on offer here, everything from a pack of crisps through bar snacks to a full menu. But where The Drapers Arms really does differentiate itself is with the menu they offer, where if you do opt for a pie and a pint, that pie is likely to be wild rabbit, bacon and prune as it was on our visit. We always like seeing something a little different on menus and the menu here makes the Drapers Arms stand out.

Starters were all rather good with an on point mackerel stealing the show. With tail on and a golden sheen to its skin, they've eschewed serving up a fillet keeping a stronger connection to the idea of what you are eating. Not many pubs have surf clams on the menu and in a cider sauce together with chorizo it was a must order dish and had a nice little kick to it and I was admittedly sad when it was finished. A crispy pork salad was also well turned out and starters were enjoyed by all.

The mains struggled a little more in our view and we saw four of the eight choices that are offered. Best up was the fore-mentioned rabbit pie that provided a hearty bite with full flavours but elsewhere, they seemed to struggle to make the most of the ingredients. A plate of Scottish girolles, poached egg on sourdough caused most contention, not least because the poached eggs were presented with yolks that were moving towards hard and served cut open, but of course not running through the plate given their firmness. We asked the staff if we could have the eggs with a runny yolk, which they obliged, though we were told that of the less than runny yolk, 'that's how the chef likes to serve them' and that 'the eggs are poached, you shouldn't expect a runny yolk like a fried egg'. But even when the new plate came, it seemed flat, not just a function of under-seasoning but overall it needing something a little extra to lift it.

The burger alas did not have the depth of flavour as their earlier in the month burger entry into Burger Bash though I can see why some might like it. It is a big fat burger, so much so that it was a physical impossibility to eat through it, you end up eating round it. Bite into it and the juice bursts forth leaving a puddle on the plate below so it has a USP versus the hockey pucks served in other pubs, but by the end, the departed juice and the hardening cheese made the final third hard going. Seasoning again was for us an issue.

For desserts, a chocolate fruit and nut brownie together with a salted caramel cheesecake begged to be ordered. The brownie, densely packed with fruit and nuts, quickly disappeared under a spoon fight and the cheesecake was considered moreish.

The Drapers Arms has, and has been recognised as having, food ambitions in the very top tier of what London's pubs have to offer and that is always to be applauded. At times, these ambitions are realised, as they were with the starters. Elsewhere, especially through the mains, we felt that they came up short, though not in the ideas which were sound, tried and trusted even, but in those touches through the cooking process that take the dish to where it deserves to be. Service meanwhile was, for the most part, friendly and helpful. Overall then it makes for a good pub, but on our visit, given the mains, falling short of being a must travel destination for those outside of the local area in our view. 

The Jugged Hare is part of the ETM Group who, if you've not heard of them, is a pub and restaurant group owning 10 venues across London including the well regarded gastropub The Gun in Docklands and The Cadogen Arms in Chelsea. The Jugged Hare itself is located in the City, on Chiswell Street, itself the home of The (Old) Brewery that hosts corporate events, is a boutique hotel and contains Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, another ETM property.

From the outside, the Hare looks like a regular sized traditional boozer, which I assume it was for a long time, but it now boasts a dedicated dining room that is located in the building next door (formerly part of the Brewery itself). As such, the dining area is larger than that seen in most restaurants and seats 70 people. There's an open 'theatre' kitchen and a walk in wine room. Furthermore, downstairs, there's a private room that can accommodate a further 50 people. Tagged as the 'latest creation from ETM', it's clear that The Jugged Hare has been the recipient of significant investment, and overall, it works. There's much to like here and it has to surely be one of the City's more comfortable venues to eat and pass time.

The attractiveness extends to a menu that reads well and where there's a good range of available foods, with starters for example embracing everything from tomato soup through to tripe. On the menu there is of course hare, and being the time of year, Yorkshire grouse. We assume that as we progress further into the game season, other favourites such as partridge will also make an appearance. While the menu is generally priced in line with its peer group (City speaking), the grouse comes in somewhat dearer at £38. Not knowing at this point if the kitchen can actually cook, that seemed a leap of faith too far so we decided not to.

We did choose among the starters the day's special: lobster, crab, crayfish and pea risotto. When it arrived it came in a pretty generous size including equally generous amounts of lobster and crayfish. With the crab worked through it also, it really did deliver on flavour though texturally it was alittle stodgy and would have benefited from being a little looser. Breaded skate knobs were fine so at this point we do have a quite favourable impression of the place. With the mains however, they somewhat let themselves down.

On the pan fried fillet of cod, they had just stopped short of getting the skin right but more importantly, the fish cream sauce was more like skimmed milk, so thin it was barely there. A whole roast baby chicken, smoked bacon, Caesar salad was also disappointing. The Jugged Hare make a selling point of their 'state of the art eight spit rotisserie' yet the baby chicken had dried out somewhat while the salad, served in a hard to eat pot was drenched in a bland Caesar dressing.  The chicken and salad come served on a relatively small circular wooden board that's hardly fit for purpose. Not sure why restaurant's seem so wedded to serving things on wooden boards still. Finally, on a shared dessert, the salted caramel chocolate pot, it lacked any noticeable salt denying the very point of the pudding. 

We were slightly sad at the end because we were already on side and they lost us with the mains. Yet for our criticisms of the mains, the food here is close to being good, it just currently, on our visit and in our opinion, falls the wrong side of the line. It's good enough for a City meeting but not in our view good enough (yet) to be a destination restaurant. The venue is smart, the service good, our starters fine and the drink options excellent, while the menu overall is a menu we want to eat from. But when you are priced at the same level as somewhere like Jason Atherton/Paul Hood's Social Eating House, main courses have to deliver. If they can change up a gear, they could easily be a contender for best place to eat in the City, and we genuinely hope they do, for there's a lot to like about The Jugged Hare.

There's surprisingly few pubs in the capital that serve really good food. In pure number terms, there are over 7,000 pubs in London yet only The Harwood Arms has a star. It does mean that finding a pub that will reliably serve up a good meal is rare and when found, very much to be welcomed, which makes The Malt House in Fulham an absolute keeper.

We didn't of course pick The Malt House at random, and living East as we do, Fulham is a bit of a journey, but there's a very good reason to make the journey to the The Malt House if you like food. Two good reasons in fact. The first is that the pub is owned by Claude Bosi, holder of two Michelin stars at Hibiscus, and believe it or not, on the day of our visit, Claude was actually there. With Claude's brother Cedric managing the pub, this is an important, even if less high profile, part of Claude's business portfolio. The pub's website even suggests the kitchen shares the same suppliers as Hibiscus so the focus on quality remains.

The second reason making it worth visiting, reinforcing the idea of importance of The Malt House to Claude, is that the Head Chef there is Marcus McGuinness, formerly of Hibiscus (Head Chef) where he had been since 2006. Prior to that, Marcus was sous chef at another of our favourite restaurants, Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham. With a CV like this, he is possibly then the most hard core talented chef in a pub kitchen in London today. Accordingly, we've eaten Marcus's food before and we know he's a major talent.

Menu wise, Marcus walks a fine balance between fully utilising his cooking skills and staying grounded within the theme of pub food. So yes, you will still be able to get pub classics like fish & chips and mushy peas, a beef burger or steak and chips. But then also there are some rare find items such as 'Dorset smoked mutton' which is on the menu as a 'nibble'. Believing that mutton is too often overlooked on menus in the UK, we felt compelled to try this and it really was very good indeed; it's so nice to see now that domestic cured meats are becoming more prominent as the concept of 'British food' really starts to mean something.

On to our 'real' starters and it's spicy watermelon and cucumber gazpacho, a great summer dish with great flavours and textures from not only the diced cucumber and watermelon, but dehydrated watermelon also. It's those little extras, the subtle hints of technique and cleverness that bring a touch more to each dish and lift it above what other, even very competent pubs (and restaurants) can offer. The potted shrimp is another classic but also done to please, a deceptively large portion and with moreish toasted sourdough and a squeeze of lemon that provides a happily satisfying dish.

Mains are rich affairs and Marcus's classic French background means I hardly want to know how much butter and cream we must have got through that day. The pan fried bream with new season girolles and peach seemed the perfect summer dish to order and here at The Malt House you have no need to worry that the fish will be cooked anything other than perfect. The girolles were similarly lovely and the sauce rich and creamy, but that little touch of magic again, here, the inclusion of diced peach with the girolles that provides in almost every mouthful additional freshness saving it all from becoming too rich. Orzo pasta with confit Datterino tomato, goats cheese and green olive provides a similarly large, rich main that provides a less common vegetarian (or simply pasta loving) alternative to a big chunk of protein on a hot summer's day.

The desserts decision is easy, malted vanilla ice cream and salted caramel, and English strawberries, frozen cheesecake. Given how full we were, both desserts did a pretty reasonable disappearing act despite both of them also being quite large.

The Malt House only opened in January of this year so is still a reasonably new affair and joins sister pub the Fox and Grapes in Wimbledon under Claude's ownership. Despie this food influence, The Malt House very much remains a pub for drinking in also. Even with the food, despite Marcus's ultimate CV, he's very down to earth and on Thursdays and Sundays for example, they offer a BBQ menu done on a Big Green Egg in the beer garden, and despite having just eaten, that kind of made us wish we were staying for the evening also.

There's a handful of pubs in London with a strong food offering, but it does feel like only a handful. The Malt House is a worthy and welcome addition to that list.      

Additional Note
Marcus is one of the chefs cooking at EatPlayLove2013, a day of food, music and cabaret to raise money for London's homeless and disadvantaged. Click through the link for more details.

It's probably no longer correct to describe Bermondsey Street as up and coming, by now, surely, it has properly arrived. The Garrison Public House however has been there since 2003, making it something of an original feature of this much changed neighbourhood and 10 years on, it is still going strong.

I came across The Garrison (as a lunch venue) via the internet, despite having walked past it a good number of times. From the outside after all, it looks like just another public house, but researching new places to eat on line (specifically pubs), The Garrison is recorded as one of London's top 10 gastro-pubs, and so immediately made our 'must visit' list. 

Inside The Garrison it's quirky but endearing with a mix of old fashioned pub tables, high counters with stools and a further row of booths. There's a good view into the mostly open kitchen, a wall of wicker baskets filled with fruit and veg, plus signs, knick-knacks and curiosities that gives the place keen visual interest. On a Friday lunchtime, the place is also buzzing with diners giving atmosphere without being too loud. Perfect then.

What I hadn't realised (until 10 minutes ago) is that I had hit exactly their 10 year anniversary and to celebrate that, they are currently running the 2003 menu with 2003 prices - I thought it seemed ridiculously good value at the time. By the time you read this however, that promotion has probably ended. I don't know how different the current menu looks compared to their 2003 offering, so this blog post might be a poor representation of what The Garrison more ordinarily serves up in 2013.

But for what it is worth, lunch was this: to start, roasted quail, celeriac & apple remoulade, beans and walnut salad; main, pan fried cod, baby vegetables, crab sauce; for dessert, apple crumble, mascarpone ice cream. The quail was probably the best dish and the sum of the ingredients worked well with both flavours and textures. The only imbalance came from the substantial amount of remoulade compared to the half quail on top but it was a overall a nice dish. The cod, when it arrived, was an instant disappointment because the skin on the fish had failed to crisp up leaving me to wonder why they were happy to send it out this way. The crab sauce looked thin and watery and overall, the presentation really did let the dish down. It wasn't in fact a bad piece of cod in the end, but the carrots became monotonous early on and crab sauce never rose to the occasion. The dessert, fresh out the oven, was super hot, but the effect was to melt the ice cream mostly into the crumble layer which then lost some of its crunch. The apples too were really quite tarte. 

On service, they were friendly, and visibly busy, but perhaps a little disorganised. When asked if I wanted a dessert menu (yes), despite them being just five feet away, the waitress instead attended another job, and five minutes later returned and asked if there was anything I wanted - a dessert menu perhaps? In the end, my regular three course lunch during an ordinary lunchtime took almost an hour and three quarters which is simply too long for pub food.

I really wanted to really like The Garrison because if, as a nation, we are to claim that British food has moved from up and coming to arrived, it is places like this, not just the fancy Michelin starred places, that must deliver compelling food. They've survived 10 years so far, so they are clearly doing something right, but for me, on the day, it fell short of carrying the banner.  

The Prospect of Whitby is my favourite pub in London which pretty much makes it my favourite pub in the world. In my earliest days in London, I'd happily walk a couple of miles to drink here on a Sunday night passing half a dozen other pubs on the way because I've always felt The Prospect to be special. In Winter, a real fire keeps you snug inside and you don't want to leave; in Summer, there's a riverside terrace or if you're really lucky, you can nab the balcony that overhangs the Thames and drink alongside their famous hangman's noose. Outside and in, it's a beautiful pub with as much character as you'll find anywhere, character that comes with 500 years of history.

The menu here is extensive and the website divides it into miniplates, burgers and grills, fish and chip shop, pub favourites, pie shop and sharing plates. We generally are wary of anywhere that tries to do too much and it certainly suggests a big bought in component. Now, the POW is a Taylor-Walker pub, and when I bring up the TW website, it reveals 112 locations for their pubs. The first pub on that list is the Leicester Arms, Piccadilly, and they show an identical menu to the POW. Next up is the Rose & Crown, Stratford upon Avon, and they show an identical menu also. Indeed, the menu is the same at all 112 Taylor-Walker pubs as far as I can see from my web research. 

There's nothing wrong with this of course, it ensures a consistent quality and ensures nothing goes too wrong in any of the pubs. The downside is obviously that you'll never find a hidden gem (when it comes to the food) and it is closer to re-heating than cooking. The corporate centralisation was evident in my meal despite choosing the least risky options: a prawn cocktail to start, ham egg and chips for my main. The food wasn't too bad because centralisation ensures minimum standards, but it is very much a place where you eat because it's local or because you like drinking there, which of course I do.

What was really great to see however was the attitude of the staff, who demonstrably cared about me as a customer and still cared about the food (staff were unaware that I was a blogger, just in case you're thinking). Peter, one of managers there and who looked after me on my visit was friendly, courteous and thoughtful enough to even ask if my eggs were cooked okay (they were). The pub then may not have options on the food, but the environment they create is their choice and the friendly tones they set left me loving the Prospect of Whitby as much as ever when I left that day.
   
The food here is what it is, a consistent standard set across all Taylor-Walker pubs, but the Prospect of Whitby itself is unique, a pub with a heritage that has been enjoyed by generations of drinkers (including Pepys and Dickens) and is without doubt a fine place to spend a few hours drinking whatever day of the week, whatever month of the year. You might not make a special journey to eat there, but hand on heart, we can fully recommend you make a special journey to drink there. It's simply the best pub in the world.