Restaurants

Restaurant

Deborah Ross

24 November 2007

The Pheasant, Ballinger Common, Great Missenden; tel. 01494 837236

Still, in the scheme of things, a frozen roll is not a tragedy and the rest of the meal goes without a hitch. I have the sea bass served with pesto couscous (£16) and a side order of spinach. Although I can’t say the pesto couscous particularly does it for me — too much chilli, and it’s strangely oily — the fish is beautifully cooked, sweet and moist, as is the spinach. I never do spinach at home because I can’t bear wrestling tons and tons of it into a pot only to end up with a teaspoonful. This spinach is a wonderful, vivid green, flavoured slightly with nutmeg, and not too wet. I do hate spinach that drips. My partner has the navarin of lamb (£14), a sort of lamb stew served with green beans, carrots and super-fat chips with the skins still on. He describes it as ‘the lambiest lamb I’ve had in ages; beautifully tender’.

We finish with an apple crumble, served with crème anglaise (£6) and a cheese platter (£7). The crumble is gorgeous, not too sweet, with one of those fabulous toppings that crunch for one bite and then melt in the mouth. The cheese platter comprises oatcakes, grapes and crackers as well as huge chunks of mature cheddar, a blue and a blissfully runny Brie. I should add that my partner is keen on beer and he says the beer here — Tribute, from a Cornish brewery — ‘has a lovely, honey aftertaste and has been extremely well kept’.

The Pheasant is a good pub that has its heart in the right place, offering good food that isn’t gammon and pineapple (why, why, why?) but isn’t poncy or pretentious either. We leave, although not before Jim who, on his exit, is talked into buying one of the £10 calendars on sale to support the local kids’ football team. ‘Tell you what,’ we hear Jim say loudly. ‘I’ll give you twenty for one.’ No wonder he’s bankrupt; he’s just so generous. Like I said, it’s so easy to get people wrong.