The Jolly Poacher

Personal friend I must admit. Fantastic food made with fresh produce and a new take on a lot of dishes. Also must say head chef is a master !

When this place first opened it was just down the road from us. We went 3 times in one week it was so good. Then it went a bit rubbish, think they had a new chef or something who must have since been sacked (we went in once and the whole place stank of weed!!?).
Good news is it’s back on track, staff super friendly and attentive without getting on you tits, food is really tasty. I’m a particular fan of their various starters and deserts although never had a bad mains either.
The Sunday roasts are good, the gravy is particularly worth a mention. It wasn’t particularly large but hey that’s what deserts are for.
So glad they are back on track as I have been racking up the loyalty points for my free meal you can get two courses for £20 also which is pretty decent these days for the quality.
Definitely worth a look, especially on a Sunday!

Came here to enjoy a dinner with our European team. Definitely more of an upscale gastropub than a pub where all the ingredients and preparation of the dishes were fantastic.

The Jolly Poacher is a new gastro pub recently opened by the people behind the excellent Jolly Sportsman in East Chiltington. It’s taken over from the Roundhill, a pub with a heavy student focus, and it is definitely aiming to make an impression.
The restaurant area isn’t that big, and the open kitchen at the back is tiny — it’s amazing they manage to make it functional — the head chef and sous chef obviously have a very good working relationship! The lady that served us was nice but a little stand-​offish.
The menu was very interesting and was the main reason we were tempted to try this place. It features items such as veal brains and pigs trotters, but surprisingly, none of us usually adventurous foodies went for these dishes this time round. There is also a specials board but unfortunately, we weren’t told about this and only spotted it on the way out!
The wine list is extensive and not over priced. We plumped for a bottle of Chilean red that was deliciously chocolaty in flavour. Homemade bread was delivered to the table, very tasty, just needed a little more butter.
For starters, I went for the scallops and crispy squid served with a mango and bean shoot salad. Flavours were lovely, but the squid was a little tough and although it went well with the salad, the scallops were a bit lost in the dish. Other starters included a goats cheese and onion soup which was tasty but a little cold, and duck liver parfait.
For main courses, we went for two duck dishes and the house specialty, the choucroute. The duck was tasty but again not very warm, and although I enjoyed the dish it wasn’t one that will stand out in my memory. The choucroute received good feedback from my partner — it’s definitely a man’s dish as it’s very heavy on the meat!
For dessert we decided to share a chocolate tart and the cheese plate — both were well received and the plated cleared. The boys finished off with an espresso each from the rather elaborate golden coffee machine!
Although this was a good meal, it wasn’t outstanding and there were quite a few errors. Not to mention that the room was a little chilly and the service was exceptionally slow — I don’t like to be rushed through dinner but three hours for three courses in a half empty restaurant is a little hard to swallow.
(They do have a winter warmer offer on at the moment — two main courses for the price of one — quote when booking but check the bill as the waitress forgot to take it off first time around!)