British Larder

Literally one of the best meals that I have ever had – bursting with flavour – and such a wonderul menu to choose from. A definite keeper.

Lovely setting and layout. Tantalising menu but the food was just ‘fine’. No problems with it all but, just not special. Service was friendly but surprisingly amateur. Hard to believe that a place that set itself up as ‘special’ then lets itself down in this way. A couple of examples… all 3 of our party ordered the rib eye. Rare, Medium Rare and Medium. When they arrived the waiter allocated the medium rare correctly and then offered the other ‘medium rare’ to one of us to be told a medium was required – he studied the steak unconvincingly and said “I'll check with the kitchen”. He then returned with the rare and said the other one was being cooked some more to get it to ‘medium’. This is basic stuff and hard to get so wrong. Quite unbelievably we ordered a fine bottle of (red) Malbec from their great wine list, only to have it brought to us in an ice bucket – stunning mistake!

Nonetheless we had a pleasant lunch in great surroundings but really … ‘could do so much better’.

We have been going to the British Larder in Bromeswell (the old Cherry Tree pub) since it started – both my partner and I (fussy London folk who live part-time in wonderful Suffolk) would really recommend this restaurant.

There only a handful of restaurants in suffolk that compare in quality of food, atmosphere and service – don't get me wrong there are many good ones – but the British Larder is in a different league.

The owners care about locally produced and sourced food, they are both amazing cooks who enjoy to bring something a little different to the usual suffolk menu – but who also have some of the Suffolk classics you expect.

Yes – the building has been renovated and looks smart and comfortable but really it is the service and the food you go to the British Larder for.

We tend to visit most (well every) saturday, as a natural break in our journey to our Suffolk home for lunch. In winter this usually means the table next to the cosy wood burner, but this weekend it was in their large garden, sat in the sun, listening to the birds tweeting (not electronically!!)

Prices can be a little more than your average pub, but we find Saturday lunch very reasonable. We drank a glass of Rosé each, we had a bottle of still water, my partner has the salmon fish cakes (not like your usual fish cakes – 70% potato and 30% fish – these are packed with salmon with a touch of potato – really healthy and good value) I had the suffolk steak with local asparagus with their amazing chips (doesn't come with – thats just me with very little will power) – we shared the apple and rhubarb crumble with custard to finish.

Our meal cost around the £50 mark, which I was very happy to pay. The British Larder – Suffolk, I would say is one of my favourites and if you are looking for a country located restaurant, in a great area, with amazing food and great service I would recommend you give it a try – tell them you have been recommended by me (the guys who come every saturday) – they will love that. Happy Eating.

We ate here a couple of times when it first opened and thought it was a pretty decent gastropub makeover of an old Suffolk pub in all the latest tasteful Farrow and Ball colours with good Food , albeit not cheap. Reading the owner's blog and the various promotional blurbs on menus Etc, we got the strong impression that they really cared about ingredients and cooking standards.

Today (mid May 2011) we went back for a quick lunch. We were very disappointed.

With service, starters and main courses for two including a modest bottle of Beaujolais – the bill came to £92 – Pretty toppy prices for a quick lunch in a rural Suffolk pub, even near Woodbridge…

Not only that, while prices appear to gone on an upward trajectory, other standards appear to have gone downhill.

We both had smoked seafood as starter .. The Smoked Mackerel Pate was good, the smoked salmon was just about passable, the smoked prawns were iffy, the sourdough bread wasn't fresh and had a chewy crust. Portions were small

My main course of Pork Belly was poor .. Pork Belly needs long slow cooking to render and soften the fat .. This pork belly appeared to have been pan fried briefly like a pork chop, the result was horrible. The accompanying broccoli had been over cooked. My wife's shoulder of lamb was OK, nothing great, nothing bad.

Like many restaurants today, we had a number of routine enquiries as to ‘is everything OK?’ 'are you enjoying your food' Etc. Twice to two different waiters in response, I answered in a pleasant non confrontational way that the cooking of the pork belly wasn't to my liking .. No apology/comments/follow-up… Why do waiters ask these questions if they don't care?

Our conclusion is that next time we're in the Woodbridge area, we'll eat at The Crown in town. While the parking isn't so convenient, everything else was far superior on our last fairly recent visit.(and it was decent value…)