Review: The Lamb Inn, Crawley

If music is the food of love, then bread and butter is the way to my heart.

Which leads me to suspect that The Lamb Inn at Crawley must have seen me coming.

Because no sooner had we sat down at our table in the quintessential Oxford country pub near Witney than the freshly baked rolls appeared on the table.

And, wait for it, not only were there two kinds of home-made bread – plain and beer – but there were also two kinds of butter, a salty farmer’s pat and a soft smooth Marmite butter.

I could stop there actually, because whatever came after could never eclipse the moment when the warm, crispy fresh, bouncy rolls met the velvety taste and texture of that Marmite butter. It was a genius move.

Now entranced, the scene was set to take us on a waltz of a meal from the treacle cured Loch Duart salmon with horseradish and beer bread (£7) to the butternut squash soup (£6.50) with parmesan and pumpkin seed oil and beyond. We were sitting ducks.

This culinary awakening continued throughout the next three courses, the black oozy treacly crust, the perfect accompaniment to the sharp bite of the salmon. The butternut soup lacked that nasty metallicky taste of the squash, replacing it with a gentle silkiness that warded off the dark autumnal evening outside.

Torn between the beef rump and ox cheek and the chargrilled lamb and braised belly with crispy sweetbreads, we finally settled on the suckling pig, a Pedigree Middlewhite cooked at 68 degrees for 48 hours, it told us on the menu, which was over-sharing in my book. Instead my attention was focused on the braised red cabbage, celeriac, apple, crackling and cider gravy accompaniments.

Not a cheap dish at £22 but well worth it, the juicy, flavoursome components a far cry from the often over-cooked dull dryness you end up with when sometimes ordering pork.

The potato gnocchi with cauliflower cheese, roasted onion, spinach, cheese and a rosemary sauce (£15) was another heart-warming seasonal dish, the gnocchi marvellous little parcels of potato goodness.

But if you sense that I’m rushing, it’s because I’m racing to get to the best bit. Dessert. A battle had ensued because so many of the entries had my name on that it was like a mini-me festival. The dark chocolate set custard with caramelised banana, lemon, bayleaf ice cream and a cocoa crisp was yelling at me from the page.

But just as I was about to order, my eyes chanced on the words soufflé, this time raspberry with clotted cream and raspberry ripple ice cream (£8.50) and my soul soared up to the rafters. It was mine.

My dining companion went for the chocolate – a hot chocolate fondant with stout ice cream and cocoa crisps (£7), which she went on and on about, but to be honest I wasn’t listening. Instead I was totally transfixed by the dish of splendour placed in front of me, rising up from the copper pan it was served in like a phoenix of sugary wonderfulness, just waiting for me.

It didn’t disappoint – sweet, dusty, crunchy sugar followed by a sharp hit of the raspberry and then the almost marshmallowy bounce of the soufflé itself. An absolute masterpiece.

I nearly ran into the kitchen to kiss head chef Matt Weedon right on the lips, except that Rachel his wife is front-of-house and might have objected. The pair, formerly of Fallowfields fame set up here last year.

Replete, we spurned coffee, cheese and titbits, took a deep breath and summoned the courage to leave, a hard task I can tell you.

So there we have it, the perfect top and tail of a meal with a whole heap of scrumptiousness in the middle.

Will I be back? Will I ever. I know which side my bread is buttered!

The Lamb Inn, Steep Hill, Crawley, Witney
01993 708792 lambcrawley.co.uk