Page 50 - Phonebox Magazine September 2015

PutTING WOOTON ON THE Map
CHECKING OUT THE MENU AT THE LEGSTRAPS
Iadmit it’s not a difficult job. I simply have to eat somewhere half decent once a month and write about it. But when the editor says the deadline is this weekend, not next, and it’s already Friday and you’ve nothing in the bag... well, that’s tough. Luckily the Legstraps at Wooton was booked for Saturday. But, I only write good stuff and the article needs filing Sunday. No pressure then Legstraps. Muck this up and there’s an empty page in the Phonebox.
Which gives away the punchline really. The page isn’t empty. The restaurant did a lovely job. We’ve been meaning to visit since they opened, three years ago now. But Wooton, it’s just a little off our radar and not exactly a destination in its own right. This got booked as part of a planned series of bicycle based dining – in this instance the plan being to cycle over the next day to collect the car and burn away the serious calories consumed the night before. If you’re interested – it’s a nice 15 mile ride of mixed road and off road.
Sorry, back to the food. The Legstraps is the new, modern name for the old Rose and Crown pub. Although apparently the locals have referred to it as the straps for years. Straps being the bits of string (hung up on the wall at the pub) tied around your ankles to stop the rats and mice running up your trouser leg during harvesting. Probably. Anyway the point being this is a local pub at heart. It’s been fully refurbished and though it leans to the restaurant side with an open kitchen and large, smart dining room, there is still a cosy bar area and you could happily call in just for a drink. The restaurant is smart, modern. There’s a flock of 3D butterflies on one wall and some interesting artwork. It’s not a big room but there feels enough space. We were there on one of the hottest days of the year. So rather lovely that the restaurant opens up into the garden.
The garden is lovely too and we enjoyed a drink there whilst checking the menu. A little pot of hand cooked crisps with mayonnaise were delivered to us as we chose. The menu is good including some non-fancy basics like fish and chips and sirloin steak, but also a few interesting additions such as hangover hash, a sharing platter with tea smoked duck, crispy ham hock, pickled quails egg, and chargrilled veg. The specials menu had lots of good fish. We chose to share the mussels to start. These came in, not quite enough, creamy cider sauce. They were nice. I’ve had better, but they did the job and were served with a big chunk of gorgeous bread. I then had the Guinea fowl – roasted breast – and a sausage which comprised of shredded leg meat wrapped in prosciutto. This was all very lovely, especially the sausage. Great texture, bags of flavour. Little posh carrots and a braised baby gem lettuce were also perfectly cooked. The only failure was the fondant potato, which was dry and burned. A shame, but rescued as we had ordered triple cooked chips which were just perfectly soft and crisp.
The other half had swordfish from the special menu. It was a very pretty dish served with cous cous. Swordfish can be horrible in the wrong hands, but this was served still slightly pink, soft and delicious. We passed on dessert, though the jaffa cake trifle was hugely tempting. All in all it was a very good evening and we happily enjoyed a second bottle of wine in the garden whilst waiting for the taxi. It’s not a cheap night out – £92 including our drinks + a £20 taxi ride – but certainly worth the money. Maybe Wooton isn’t a destination, but the Legstraps are doing their best to put it on the map. HB
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50 Phonebox Magazine
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