The Canbury Arms was the venue of choice for Robert’s birthday lunch on Sunday. I was massively hungover from his soirée the night before and so could only stomach a main when it came to the food.
The rest of the group tested out most of the starters; Rob’s duck terrine and toasted brioche was by far the biggest crowd-pleaser with a cute little china spoon topped with spiced apple chutney. The chilli squid and whitebait were also warmly received.
A main was more than enough as the food portions were extremely generous! I always think it is a good sign when you struggle to pick from the menu choices - I’m notoriously indecisive but after briefly flirting with the slow roast pork belly and bubble and squeak I opted for the confit of duck leg with dauphinoise potatoes, braised red cabbage, game chips and blueberry jus.
I initially thought that game chips were...chips made out of...game. Bit of an odd and unnecessary addition, I thought. They were actually trellis-shaped deep fried potato chips. They added an interesting texture to the dish but I don’t think they were needed, after all the duck skin was crispy enough and the tang of the blueberry reduction meant the dish was already quite busy.
Rob’s game pie was delicious and had lots of flavoursome gravy to help the pastry go down-it was probably too much pie even for the Gourmandiser but was so authentic tasting I thought four and twenty blackbirds were going to fly out!
The pub itself is what one would expect from an up-market gastro-pub. A roaring fire welcomes you at the entrance but unfortunately we were seated in the less cosy conservatory surroundings where there were lots of boisterous children running around. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not adverse to rugrats having fun but the acoustics made conversation with people sat at the opposite end of our table nigh on impossible. I’ll definitely return for a meal but perhaps on a school night when I have a fresher head and more of an appetite to try out the full range of entrées and sweets.
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