A popular good value destination for the\u00a0Rawlinson household throughout the year\u00a0is The Fox at Newbourne. In the summer\u00a0it is a great venue to sit outside and enjoy\u00a0its chocolate box exterior, festooned with\u00a0beautiful hanging baskets, but for me it is\u00a0the winter when it really shines.\u00a0It is what I call a cosy pub, a perfect\u00a0destination and refuge on a winter\u2019s day.\u00a0The bar area with its inglenook\u00a0fireplace, beams and red tiled floor is,\u00a0to my mind, the template for what an\u00a0English country pub should look like.\u00a0It is small enough to be intimate but\u00a0large enough to drink and dine in\u00a0comfort. In addition to the bar area\u00a0(where dogs are very welcome) The Fox\u00a0has a separate dining room and it was\u00a0here that my wife and I chose to eat on\u00a0our recent Sunday lunchtime visit.\u00a0Like the great country pub Sunday\u00a0lunch is a very British affair and one\u00a0I enjoy in winter more than summer.\u00a0There is something very comforting\u00a0about a roast dinner \u2018with all the\u00a0trimmings\u2019 and as much as I enjoy\u00a0cooking, knowing that someone else is\u00a0doing the washing up makes it taste even\u00a0better. Also with our children now away\u00a0at university going out for Sunday lunch\u00a0seems to make sense on a number of\u00a0levels. The first is that I think a roast\u00a0always taste better when it comes from a\u00a0large joint rather than a smaller one that\u00a0your are more likely to cook at home for\u00a0two people, and the second is choice \u2013whether that choice be a different roast\u00a0or something entirely different.\u00a0The Fox offers a menu of regular \u2018set\u2019\u00a0favourites which is changed throughout\u00a0the year, daily specials and, on Sundays,\u00a0a roast menu generally featuring pork,\u00a0beef, a vegetarian nut roast and\u00a0sometimes lamb.\u00a0With a busy Sunday morning behind\u00a0us and having arrived with heightened\u00a0appetites we had already decided that\u00a0we would have a starter and were both\u00a0tempted by options from the specials\u00a0board. I went for whitebait and Lesley\u00a0for slow roasted belly pork bites served\u00a0with a chilli sauce. Both were excellent\u00a0but I was particularly impressed with\u00a0the pork belly which was supremely\u00a0succulent and melted in the mouth.\u00a0For my main course I was set on a roast\u00a0and enthusiastically plumped for the\u00a0pork with my wife taking an alternative\u00a0path and choosing the steak, mushroom\u00a0and ale suet pudding from the regular\u00a0menu. As we waited the short time for\u00a0our meals to arrive I, as my wife tells me\u00a0I often do, \u2018rubber necked\u2019 watching\u00a0other diners choices arrive. As I did so\u00a0I was wondering, despite my hunger,\u00a0whether having a starter (and sampling\u00a0some of Lesley\u2019s) had been such a good\u00a0idea. To say the roast portions are\u00a0substantial is an understatement.\u00a0Nouvelle cuisine this isn\u2019t and while it\u00a0may not make the prettiest of\u00a0photographs the real picture that shouldbe captured is the look of delight on\u00a0customer\u2019s faces as it arrives.\u00a0I was not disappointed. My pork was\u00a0moist, flavoursome and far more\u00a0generous a portion than I would serve at\u00a0home \u2013 even on my most indulgent days.\u00a0The vegetables, roast potatoes and\u00a0Yorkshire pudding were all top notch\u00a0and at just \u00a311.95 I don\u2019t think anyone\u00a0could ever say that it didn\u2019t represent\u00a0exceptional value.\u00a0Lesley\u2019s meal was perfect comfort food.\u00a0The suet of the pudding was light and the\u00a0ale gravy and meat delicious. It was also\u00a0a very generous portion that ultimately\u00a0defeated her and again was just \u00a311.95.\u00a0One the reasons we are fans of The Fox\u00a0is that it is a relaxed pub. Having really\u00a0over indulged with our first two courses\u00a0we were in no hurry to decide if we\u00a0were going to go blow our calories for\u00a0the week and have a dessert. As we sat\u00a0chatting and just enjoying some time\u00a0together I realised although the dining\u00a0room is separate from the bar area and\u00a0is designed to be brighter, there is a\u00a0clear line of site between the two areas\u00a0that joins the parts and, in doing so,\u00a0creates a consistent affable atmosphere\u00a0wherever you choose to sit.\u00a0After a suitable break and another lovely\u00a0pint of real ale \u2013 a definite strength of\u00a0the pub \u2013 we decided we may as well be\u00a0in for a penny as a pound and asked for\u00a0the dessert menu. I knew that if I went\u00a0for options such as sticky toffee\u00a0pudding, chocolate brownie or spotted\u00a0dick I would have to be extracted with a\u00a0fork lift so went for what I always\u00a0consider a lighter option \u2013 a selection of\u00a0ice creams of which I would certainly\u00a0recommend the morello cherry and\u00a0honeycomb and fig. Also looking for a\u00a0lighter option my wife chose the citrus\u00a0tart which had a well-balanced\u00a0sharpness, an excellent end to the meal.\u00a0After a coffee and more time to talk we\u00a0said goodbye and headed home with\u00a0another excellent visit under our belts.\u00a0We shall return and suggest if you want\u00a0a little treat on a dull day, or even a\u00a0bright one, in the next couple of months\u00a0you should too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A popular good value destination for the Rawlinson household throughout the year is The Fox at Newbourne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1000,"featured_media":705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-food-specials","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1000"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1059,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions\/1059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debeninns.co.uk\/fox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}