La Primavera Hungerford

Well did you know there was a wonderful Italian restaurant in Hungerford with its own pizza oven?  It is at the bottom of Hungerford High Street and is so lovely inside, open fires, lots of little rooms, delightful staff and magnificent food.

A picture of the inside, very well set out with open fires, secluded corners, very welcoming, clean and well decorated.

One of the clientele, there was an interesting mix of people who appeared to be locals and diners who had driven there just for the food.  Always a good sign in my thinking.

A slightly blurred picture of my dining partner, Rachel, who isn’t really blurred although you would be forgiven for thinking that if you listen to the radio interview where I am trying to make sense of our conversation which is made totally in food stuffed laugh talk.  Translating this is a true skill and does show how good the food was that neither of us could bear to waste a breath on talking when we could be eating.

This was my starter of garlic bread with mozzarella and was totally garlicky and delicious.  It was seriously garlicky but in a very good way, it shouted its flavour rather than whispered it, we are not talking gentle tones or notes we are talking about the best garlic bread ever screaming ‘eat me, eat me”.  It could be used as a form of contraception, in fact why not buy some to take away and give it to your naughty teenage children while they are off school.

Rachel’s calamari fritti, deep fried calamari with rocket and lemon aioli.  Perfectly cooked calamari, tender squid with a crisp coating served with a lovely sauce which provided more garlic.  We were going to be smelt long before we were seen for the next few days.

I don’t think this photo does Rachel’s calzone justice.  It was massive, like a giant pasty but made with the lightest dough and an incredible range of fillings which included a range of italian meats and cheeses.  Delving in was like diving for treasure, ooh what would come out next on Rachel’s fork to face the world for a millisecond before diving into different depths.

My main dish was superb, grilled rack of lamb cooked exactly in the way I asked for, rare.  This was served with sauteed new potatoes and braised red cabbage and a scrummy red wine jus.  This dish is the kind of thing I dream of every time I go on holiday to Thailand.  I have no idea why but to me it is perfection.  I love the meat when it is cooked perfectly like this, I love it if I am in a place where I feel able to pick all the meat off the bones and get every last morsel of juice off the plate.

There were specials on offer and dishes like stone baked sea bass and chicken al mattone with a beetroot salsa verde.  There was also a wide range of pizzas from the pizza oven which I should have got a picture of.  The pizza that the calzone was made of was perfect so I would be very happy to get any of their pizzas although they also do a great range of pasta  including a very tempting lobster tortelloni.

This was my pannacotta, isnt it cute with its tuile curl and range of fruits and sauces dotted around the outside, tasted great too.

Rachel had ice cream which she said was good but I liked mine more, mwahahaha

Rachel’s coffee, I don’t drink coffee or tea but just liked the stripe.  Simple to please me!

Yes La Primavera is a great place to go to, the food was great, the service was lovely and the surroundings were beautiful.  Weekday lunchtimes you will find a decent two course meal offered for £9.95

I didn’t pay for my food and these opinions are my own.

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Halfway Inn, near Hungerford and Newbury, indeed Halfway!

This is a stunning pub inside, something you wouldnt guess as you drive into the car park as there is a lot of building work going on putting down decking to go with the marquee.  James, the chef/owner is putting in a lot of outdoor equipment which will make outdoors eating fantastic.  In fact as I am here PLEASE WILL SOMEONE GET ME A PIZZA OVEN AND I WILL FEED YOU FOR EVER!!!!  Sorry, back to the Halfway.  This is a destination pub, situated on the A4 between Hungerford and Newbury and to be a destination pub you need good food.  Luckily this pub fits the bill perfectly.  The decor is really good, the landlady is also an interior designer and it shows, everywhere you look there are amazing things, funny things, fascinating and ancient things but best of all are the number of cook books.  I could curl up on the sofa and stay there for weeks although I am not sure how happy the owners would to find that I had moved in even though I am very small and self contained, I really dont need any entertaining.

These photos show the inside and how beautifully it has been decorated, hanging over the second table are two pairs of riding boots and two saddles amongst other things.  Fantastic.

This is a really interesting starter of crispy asparagus, blanched then coated in penko breadcrumbs and quickly fried and served with ribbons of parma ham and hollandaise on a bed of mixed leaves and watercress.  The asparagus was crunchy but still sweet and juicy inside, the parma ham was hidden around the plate and the hollandaise sauce was delicious and fun to dip the other ingredients into.

Whilst this may look just like any old steak and chips it was really good and well above average.  The 28 day aged rib eye steak was well charred (maillard effect?) yet still medium rare and juicy inside with a magnificent flavour.  The tomatoes and mushrooms were big, plump and juicy with a drizzle of balsamic which mixed really well as the vegetables got chopped out and all the juices mixed to form a new flavour.  The chips were skin on thin chips, crisp and very moreish and the coleslaw was not too sweet, it had a tang that married well with the steak.

There is the steak opened up smiling at me and asking me to eat it – I obliged for the steaks sake because I am a steak pleaser not just a people pleaser.  There was plenty of tap water with ice, the service was excellent, the music was lovely – old jazz playing softly in the background.

On a practical level they have wifi, will have outdoor seating and welcome dogs in the bar area.  I would definitely recommend this pub, currently number one on Trip Advisor locally and well deserved.  They also serve Rickety Bridge wine.  I am really looking forward to returning when the outside has been finished and the new equipment has arrived including a pizza oven, barbecue and paella oven.  What fun!

I didn’t pay for my meal.

A quickie on the Halfway Bistro A4

This is a quickie post as I am doing a full interview with the Halfway Bistro in a couple of weeks.  You can find this lovely pub on the A4 between Newbury and Hungerford and it is a great place to eat.  The restaurant is nicely decorated with a roaring log fire in the winter and very amenable staff.  They offer ‘buckets’ which I haven’t tried and these include chicken or vegetables in tempura batter or whitebait or crispy potato skins.  Starters include soup of the day (I think todays was red pepper), also grilled honey and pepper goats cheese salad, pressed chicken terrine with asparagus and mushrooms.  Very tempting (but I had no time for starters, damn) were pan seared scallops with chorizo sausage, black pudding and parsnip purée.  They had smoked salmon roulade with Thai cream centre or crispy asparagus with Parma ham and hollandaise or tomato and mozzarella salad with avocado and pesto.

spicy fish stew with butter poached pepper sauce, mixed fish, prawns and mussels in aromatic sauce with warm baguette

The fish stew was a delight, full of flavour with 2 crayfish, 2 giant prawns and lots of prawns and mussels in a very tasty sauce that made me glad that I had the bread there to dip into it.

Mains included 24 hour roasted lamb shank, thyme and garlic grain, roasted honey and butter chantenay carrots and parsnips glazed with rich jus.  There was also oven finished chicken supreme glazed with honey stuffed with butter roasted wild mushrooms, smoked mash potatoes and purées, an interesting dish of duo of pork, milk roasted pork belly and cheek croquettes with apple purée and sautéed greens and smoked mash, very tempting.  There was also an assortment of classic pub dishes including haddock, toad in the hole burger and steaks.  I do like having some choices on the menu that are familiar and a sort of comfort food.  I try to always choose something I wouldn’t normally have but occasionally I give in to what I really fancy and I like to have that choice.  It feels like a mistake when a pub/restaurant knock off every familiar dish even if you weren’t going to choose it.

Thai green prawn curry with rice, poppadoms, mango chutney and raita.

I had a delightful dining companion, the wine was excellent, Rickety Bridge and I was given a quick lesson on wine tasting which was useful.  I did not pay for this meal and am looking forward to going back to record for Kennet Radio.

Finally please will someone buy me a Kamodo barbecue, you will be fed delicious food for ever if you do so!