The Stile Bridge, Linton / Marden

How nice it is to come across somewhere new that ticks all the boxes!  Having asked for suggestions earlier in the week (see my last post) I got a handful of suggestions, many of which I'd tried before, including a couple of ringing endorsements for The Stile Bridge at the bottom of Linton Hill on the way to Marden.  It's well over ten years since I last visited The Stile Bridge, so I thought it was probably time to give it another try.

The Stile Bridge fronts right onto the road between Maidstone and Staplehurst in the middle of nowhere.  It's a welcome sight on a cold, dark, winters night, a feeling that grows as you enter to find a roaring open fire and a busy little bar.  The walls and ceilings are covered in pub, brewery and booze memorabilia, including a fine collection of miniatures in a nice old display cabinet and a collection of printed pub mirrors.  There are five real ales, several unusual lagers and one cider on draught and a selection of more than forty bottled beers from which to choose.  Sorry about the blurry picture, but you get the idea...

Having ordered our drinks (a pint of Horsham ale for me!) we were seated straight away in a cosy side room just off the bar.  The menu was short enough to suggest minimal use of the freezer, but long enough to contain a number of unusual and interesting choices.  I'd never heard of Onglet steak before, but the waitress was able to explain that it is a cut of beef taken from just behind the rib.  I'll give it a try on our next visit, sounds good.

We started with deep fried brie with cranberry sauce for Liz and chicken liver parfait for me.  The brie was rich and creamy, and the parfait was as light as a feather.  We were off to an excellent start.

As well as a well balanced menu there were a number of specials on offer, including a pie of the day.  Now, I have a real problem with what most pubs seem to think passes for a pie.  (For the record, a bowl of stew with a flaky pastry lid is not a pie!)  Imagine my delight, then, on being told that the special was a short crust pastry mixed game pie of generous proportions!  How could I refuse?  It was lovely!  If I was being hyper-critical, it could have had a bit more meat inside, but it was delicious, filling and definitely a real pie.  The accompanying veggies were cooked to perfection and the skin-on chips were crispy.

Liz chose the lamb leg steak with rosemary butter and roasted winter vegetables.  This turned out to be a big slab of melt in the mouth lamb smothered in melted butter with a stack of mixed beetroot, potato, carrot and parsnip chips that added a lovely earthy dimension and a few unusual flavours.  We also had a bowl of the best beer battered onion rings either of us had ever had to share.  As it turns out, there was no need to order side dishes as the main meals were more than filling enough, but we'll certainly be ordering them again, maybe with a house special burger or freshly made pizza next time.

We both chose desserts from the specials board, in the hope that we'd manage to squeeze them in.  Liz fancied the chocolate pot, which was dark, delicious, and came with a lovely little filo basket of red berries to cut through the richness.  I had a blood orange posset with shortbread, mostly because I'd never had it before. It was sweet and creamy with a citrus twist, the perfect end to a very good meal.

 I think it won't be long before we're back.  The beer was excellent, the food was good, the staff were friendly and knowledgeable.  I'm told there might even be some house brewed beer on offer soon and I'd certainly like to try that.  We are very lucky here in Kent, we have a number of genuinely nice pubs that go the extra mile.  This is certainly one of them. 

The Plough at Langley

This isn't really a review, just a quick comment or two. We stopped at The Plough at Langley for lunch while we were out and about today, and I'm rather glad we did! It's a lovely old building with a little garden area at the front with half a dozen picnic tables with umbrellas on it where you can sit and watch the world go by. It's one of those places I've always liked the look of, but never actually been to.

Although the interior decor is quite dated, the excellent selection of real ales (including a house ale brewed just done the road in Tonbridge) on offer and a menu of really traditional pub grub classics more than makes up for it.

Dee had ham, eggs & chips. A couple of nice lightly fried eggs on a vast amount of Yorkshire style ham and a pile of fat, crispy chips. Not too imaginative, but very tasty! I think I came out ahead though because I had The Plough Burger, which was just great. A big, juicy, homemade burger in a nice bun with a pile of salad and a handful of chips. It was delicious! As a burger maker of some experience myself, I must say I was impressed. It had a generous amount of herbs mixed in with the beef, giving it an interesting twist and plenty of flavour.

Pick a sunny day, have a pint of something you've never tried before, order a burger (a bargain at just £7.50) and sit out the front. Make sure you grab a proper bottle of ketchup from the bar on the way out though, because the cheap nasty stuff in sachets they give if you sit outside you is awful.

The Swan on the Green, West Peckham

The Swan is a real hidden gem, nestling as it does down a dead end road in the middle of nowhere. First opened as a pub in the sixteenth century, The Swan retains many of the traditional features that have been lost in so many other public houses. There is a roaring open fire, many unusual soft drinks including cloudy lemonade and ginger beer, and real ales brewed on the premises. In fact, there are no ales brewed anywhere other than the pubs own micro brewery! The ales mostly follow the Swan theme, there is Cygnet at 4.2%, Trumpeter Best at 4.0%, Fuggles Pale at 3.8% and a seasonal special, Christmas Ale at a head-swimming 8.4%! A couple of lagers, English ciders and Guinness are also available on draught and there is a fair wine list too.

We have eaten here a few times and generally find we need to book in advance, particularly at weekends and on bank holidays and today was no exception. We got the last table available and the place was already busy at quarter past twelve when we arrived. The menu is varied and interesting, with a fair amount of flair and seasonal flavours. There were half a dozen starters on offer, ranging from £6 to £8.50. It was a day for warming, hearty food so I started with bubble and squeak with wilted spinach and a poached egg (which was lovely, although the warm milk sauce was a little unnecessary).

A fairly short menu of main courses includes local pork, lamb, duck, brill, chicken and rib eye steak. Something for everyone (except vegetarians, apparently!). Dee chose a grilled double lamb chop in a mint jus, which came with rosemary carrots, red onions and mustard mashed potato. On paper, that's a great dish, but somehow it just failed to deliver. The mash was perfect, in my opinion at least, but the rest was lacking something. The carrots were just the raw side of al-denté, and the large chunks of red onion lacked finesse. Even the lamb was a little chewy and short of flavour.

My choice, however, showed what we already know the Swan is really capable of. I went for duck confit with rosemary roast potatoes, cabbage and pancetta in a port jus and it was fantastic. Just spot on. The meat fell from the bone, the potatoes were hot and tasty and the salty pancetta with the slight sweetness of the cabbage really worked well. A traditional dish cooked well and presented nicely, and at £13.50 for a pub lunch it wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny.

There are half a dozen deserts available, grand marnier chocolate mousse and sticky toffee pudding to name but two, but we decided to head home to finish off the lemon torte in the fridge instead.

The pub looks out over West Peckham village green, from which there are several really nice country walks. On summer afternoons one can even sit outside the Swan with a pint and watch village cricket at its finest. Settle down with the mixed cheese ploughman's lunch and a pint of Cygnet and just unwind. Well worth taking the trouble to find, we won't be put off by one poor dish and will certainly be back.