The Shoe Inn

The Shoe Inn is a beautiful country pub tucked away in the tiny village of Exton that provided myself and my friend with a wonderfully rewarding dinner after a hard days walk on the South Downs Way. Although we were staying in another pub in the adjacent village of Meonstoke, we had heard so many good things about the Shoe Inn, we couldn’t resist pulling back on our boots and walking through the rain for dinner.
After the obligatory pint of real ale to celebrate the end of our walk, we perused the menu on the blackboard. There was almost too much to chose from as I was ravenous and everything took my fancy. We were brought warm homemade bread to start, then I went for the goats cheese en croute served with beetroot, red onion and avocado. Next came pork belly with the most divine cracking (I know, but I earned it!!), rich dauphiniose potatoes, cabbage and a cider jus — delish. After a 30 minute respite, I decided I could fit in a portion of homemade treacle tart with ice cream — probably a mistake in hindsight as I could hardly move afterwards, but it was tasty! A cheeky bottle of red helped wash all this down.
The pub itself was really busy for a rainy Thursday night — it obviously has a lot of loyal customers. The staff were all really young but provided a high level of service. In the summer, the garden that backs on to a babbling brook would be the perfect place to enjoy a drink as the sun goes down. We even got to play a couple of games of dominoes while we waited for our meals. It doesn’t get much better than this!

I visited the Shoe Inn part way through a country stroll: about twelve miles through twenty five. We were might glad that we’d booked ahead because at 2pm on a Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, even a traditionally wet and dreary one, this place was heaving.
The staff didn’t seem quite to have anticipated this and, with only two people on the bar, it took us quite a while to get our order in and, more importantly, to pick up our pints. So, to start with the most important thing, the Shoe Inn has a great range of things on tap — some nice local beers, as well as various visitors, and more unusual ones at that. Because it comes from my home town, I went for one from Wadworth, and it was a very nicely served pint. I could happily have tried a good few more, but was sadly limited by the looming miles ahead of me.
The food menu is lengthy, impressive, varied and seems to change a lot over time. Hungry, three of us went for the Venison Cheese burgers, and one for a Scallop /​Chorizo creation. The food was great, filling and original. I also appreciated the local sourcing of many of the ingredients, and the occasional use of organics where possible.
Again, the only thing that let the food down was the service. After the lengthy wait to order, we waited half an hour before being told that one of the original dishes we’d ordered wasn’t available. Then another fifteen minutes before the final choices arrived. I know that’s not that long if you’re having a leisurely, booze-​filled pub lunch, but if you’re keen to get back out (not to mention being starving), it did feel pretty long. And it meant that I didn’t have time to try one of their fantastic-​looking puddings, which is of course the real tragedy…

Fine food and a good selection of wines and ales can be found here in the attractive village of Exton, just off the A32. It has open fires in winter, but in the summer, sit in the garden next to the River Meon and comtemplate the view up to Old Winchester Hill while feeding the ducks.

On a country walk that seemed to be going on forever, this place was a welcome sight. It’s very much a restaurant pub, with good selection of main dishes chalked on the board just as you walk in. There’s a nice garden just across the road with a stream at the bottom.
The food isn’t cheap but is excellent — all home-​made and they source local produce where possible. Highlight for me was the pudding — raspberry bread and butter pudding with custard, and it was joyous :)
Service is friendly and efficient, and nice atmosphere all round.

Normal country pub, it has a beer garden that has a stream running through it. All very quiet and peaceful.
So the food. Wow. So take into account this is a pub the presentation was pretty good. It looked freshly cooked too. The menu had pork (£10), lamb, fish and steak (£15).
Wine — A small to reasonable, pub selection of wine. Some nice ales and few of the standard lagers on tap, plus the usual unexciting bottle lagers.
Based on my «what can I get for the price of a TGI Fridays meal?», this place delivers so much more and yet its a pub.