The Bakers Arms

The Bakers Arms in Droxford manages to pull off a rare combination of fantastic food and a genuinely friendly, unpretentious atmosphere. We had an amazing lunch of crispy ham hock and black pudding salad with a glass of local ale outside in the sunshine at the tables at the back. It was the best food I’ve eaten for ages and was made all the more enjoyable by the welcoming staff who manage to create an atmosphere which still feels like a pub rather than a restaurant masquerading as one.

We visited the ‘Bakers Arms’ after reading a number of good and well-​deserved reviews. The Sunday lunches are excellent and beautifully presented; could almost be a work of art. Before the roasts arrived, we were served slices of homemade bread. I have sampled the chicken in thyme gravy and sirloin of beef, both of which were delicious. The beef is cooked medium/​rare but the waitress always asks if you would like it cooked more. On our last visit, I took along my two children, and the staff were extremely helpful in making sure they were served their favourite vegetables, with extra Yorkshire puddings — mine are quite fussy eaters and were dubious of eating celeriac mash, red cabbage, butternut squash etc. For those with a smaller appetite, they are more than happy to serve a small roast.
We just about managed to finish the meal with chocolate brownies and honeycomb ice cream, also excellent.
The pub is in the pretty village of Droxford and has lovely river walks close by.

The Bakers’ Arms has been garnering a lot of good press recently. It was the ‘Hampshire Life’ Dining Pub of the Year 2007 and has local webzines such as
have given it rave reviews. I took the vicar to lunch there on a wet Palm Sunday and found it a charming place, simply furnished and with a welcoming open fire. The original small public and saloon bars have been opened up so that the pub now consists of one large L-​shaped room, one wing of which is at a lower level.
Being a Sunday, the menu was short — basically roast beef, pork or chicken with all the trimmings. Our Gloucester Old Spot pork with cream mustard sauce came commendably quickly and was delicious, with ample crackling, a tasty Yorkshire pudding and superb roast potatoes. There were no less than five additional vegetables, including red cabbage and parsnips, all fitted comfortably on a large square plate. Slices of crusty brown bread were served automatically, all for £16.95 each. Puddings were apple crumble, bread and butter and brownies, all with cream. We failed to tackle any of them.
The wine list is short and we allowed Anna, (who with the chef, Adam Cordery are the proprieters) to recommend an excellent Rioja at £17. No service charge was added to the bill, which I find a little tiresome as you the have to calculate it, but the service itself from Anna and her team of two young girls was exemplary, and the pub was full.