Hardwick, The

Any suggestions that The Hardwick is a gastropub, no matter how authoritatively put, should be disregarded. Here they predate the gastropub era, back to those days of innocence when it was possible to walk into an old traditional pub and find there good, soundly prepared food of an unpretentious and satisfying nature.

It's not gastropubs as such, nor even their ghastly terminology with its hint of upset stomachs that does them no favours at all; no it's none of these things - it's the lack of that feeling of marketing lurking in the background.

So, by now, no surprises for the good old pub that sells decent food, often, as here, with more than a flourish of imagination and natural skill. Amongst the starters, a promising start with a black pudding and bacon salad, bread-crumbed belly of local Old Spot with bok choi, or a very capable fish soup that avoids being a chowder.

A main course of convincingly pale smoked salmon arrives with well executed scrambled egg rounded off with a good blob of crème fraîche, and the double-cooked Middle White pork with bubble and squeak, are but two examples of the versatility of this place.

Amongst the desserts on offer look for the warm Italian white peach with honey and amaretto for a happy experience likely to remain with you for a long time.

If your little black book has a section for outstanding restaurant finds, pencil in The Hardwick and take the first opportunity to complete the entry after close personal inspection.