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Home » The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, Yattendon, Berkshire RG18 0XX

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The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, Yattendon, Berkshire RG18 0XX

The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, Yattendon, Berkshire RG18 0XX

Frilsham, Yattendon, Berkshire, RG18 0XX

01635 201366

The Pot Kiln already has a lot to live up to. It has been featured on UK Food in Heaven's Kitchen, and chef/proprietor Mike Robinson is a 'celebrity chef', though celebrity cook would probably be a fairer description. Unfortunately, it fails on too many levels.

It's location is simply beautiful, views stretching over some of Berkshire's most beautiful rural views, spotted with rare breeds. It is also next door to the West Berkshire brewery, an independent and traditional brewer with beers that really need to be sampled, and the Pot Kiln has two or three permanently on tap (including their own exclusive brew). The bar area is small, but then again, Mr. Robinson is probably trying to do as little trade as possible for drinkers in order to increase revenue through food sales. The last thing any diner wants is a background fracas. However, the Pot Kiln is a pub, and we should not forget that.

The restaurant in layed out to maximise covers but retain it's ideal of spacious restaurant style dining. However, the space is used poorly, meaning that if you lean back between courses you are met by the head of the diner behind you, and also constantly watched by those not eating because everyone does feel like they are on top of each other. Do not attempt to dine here for a romantic meal or to have a private discussion, for there is no intimacy or privacy.

The Pot Kiln prides itself on the quality and locality of it’s produce, stating that they try to source everything locally, but there are too many ingredients that are out of season, especially vegetables, and they need to embrace the seasonality of the fruit and vegetables in the same way they do their meats.

The real disappointing thing about the Pot Kiln is the meat selection. Mr. Robinson shoots all his own game, and the superb Vicars Game Supplier at Ashampstead make up the quantities and I presume, aids with the butchering process. This is why it is so confusing that there rarely seems to be anything but offal or the ‘cheap’cuts of meat. Don’t get me wrong, I love a well cooked pork belly, but not with three vegetables for seventeen pounds. There may well be a reason for this, but the meat tasted as though it had never met salt and pepper, and if you can’t season a piece of meat properly, then you really don’t deserve to cook it. Mother had guinea fowl with fondant potato and to quote “I got three bits of meat with some mashed potato.” And all this for almost sixteen pounds.

Desserts were all six pounds and the small cheese board ten pounds. The desserts were fine, if slightly over chilled, as served straight from the fridge.

In conclusion, don’t be fooled by their website’s ‘sample’ menu, as when you get there, it will be considerably downgraded with regard to the meat. Go for the beer and the views, but one hundred pounds for 3 courses and a bottle of wine between 2 is massively over-priced and just not woth it considering what else Berkshire has to offer (look at the Hind's Head in Bray for instance).

Remember Pot Kiln, you’re a pub, and to be honest, not a very good one.

Nik Pure


www.potkiln.co.uk
By Nik Pure at 04/09/2006 - 15:20 | 2006 | Berkshire | Rejected | Review | Traditional | Views | ££££/$$$$ | 4 comments | read more | 3413 reads

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