Crown, Cuddington

I'm a little surprised by the review comments here. I'm fairly local to the Crown half of the time and so have been a few times. While it's a lovely village pub in a lovely village, which should all but be encouraged, it's got a little ahead of itself in both menu and price. Yes, it is the village local for some fairly affluent people, but �3.80 for a pint of Stella makes my pocket smart a bit up in Notting Hill, let alone here. A great tradition of village pubs has been interesting ales but as another reviewer pointed out, it's a shame this one is a Fullers pub as taps are tedious. While the lamb is good, so it should be - this is stock fare for pubs these days, but isn't necessarily what you want if coming for summer lunch. The charcuterie platter does less well - the meat is distinctly rubbery and smacks of supermarket packet, as does the tomato relish its served with. The fish and chips is solid but nothing special. Sea bass isn't bad, and is again a stock gastro-pub dish these days, but it's overpriced given that it's the same price as in fish-specialist gastro-pub The Anglesea Arms, Hammersmith or The Bonaparte in Notting Hill, both of which have professional chefs. While the service has recently become significantly friendlier, the Crown should work on getting the basics done better. Until it does, it remains somewhere to drink inside or out (albeit expensively) rather than to eat, and seems to be supported largely only through a lack of competition for local affluence in the surrounding catchment area.

25 Jul 2010 16:04