The Hammer & Pincers

"Arriving on a weekday for lunch, we were pleased to hear lively chatter from the restaurant and intrigued by a huge fridge by the door full of seeds sprouting under LED lights... We enjoyed cocktails in a small lounge before being taken to our table in a small room where one other table out of three was occupied. The other room seemed fully occupied. From there we enjoyed a view of traffic on the road through the village, the sounds mercifully deadened by double glazing – tractors, farm lorries, a bus, a coach, a boat on a trailer…all human life was passing by. The décor throughout the restaurant was corporate-bland; beamed ceilings, the dgrey and beige walls and furnishings enlivened by highly textured and brightly coloured ‘paintings’; background music was a touch intrusive but not bad, even featuring Nick Drake at one point. We ate from a lunch menu offering three courses, with three choices per course, including a vegetarian option, for £45. An amuse-bouche of pea and mint velouté was tasty; sourdough bread came with whipped noisette butter – we might have preferred ordinary salty butter – then we had starters of duck with ‘hedgerow’ hoisin sauce (it apparently had pear in it) and shallot tart, which were good, though the duck – two small fingers of it – was a tad overdone. We ate mains of beef short rib with a dill pickle and ‘Reuben‘croquette, and cod with roast fennel and a prawn… flavours were delicious. The burnt basque cheesecake for dessert was well judged, but the pastel de nata had too much pastry, although the peach cooked in Sauternes that came with it was superb. It felt as if a lot of thought and skill had gone into each dish. Service was charming and knowledgeable. Staff coped with the fire alarm going off with aplomb. The bill (including a discretionary 10%) came with two lovely profiteroles."

"I visited the Hammer and Pincers recently for the first time, to celebrate a friend's milestone birthday. The food was the best I had had in a long time and the service was impeccable. The tables are spaced well apart and the atmosphere was convivial. I have lactose intolerance and the team understood this well and advised me of appropriate items on the menu that were suitable. Highly recommended."