Page 46 - Phonebox Magazine October 2014

FIT FOOD
Time to consider the waistline...
It happens to every foodie at sometime, I’m sure. Time to shave off a few inches around the midriff. But dieting is not really my thing, so recently we have been taking to walking or cycling in order to earn our supper. Here is a selection of superb places to eat and drink within a 30 minute walk of Olney.
Cowpers Oak - Weston Underwood
Thirty minutes amble up a quiet country lane. Take the back route across the fields for a much prettier hour-long ramble and you can pop a few more chips. The Cowpers is a great pub. On the Friday night we went, it was heaving with happy locals, providing a fabulous atmosphere. They have Woodforde Wherry on draft – a big favourite of the other half. Prosecco by the glass keeps me happy. Obviously with fit food in mind, we should have opted for the special: a tuna nicoise salad that looked superb when it came out the kitchen. But hey, we’d walked and the long way too. So we opted for ribeye steak and chips. I do prefer sirloin as a steak cut, but putting that to one side, the ribeye was a lovely piece of meat and cooked perfectly medium rare as requested. Great chips too. (£16.95 for the steak including two sides).
Robin Hood - Clifton Reynes*
Only twenty minutes across the river and up the hill. This pub has recently been taken over by Simon (of Cafe Rosco). Very early days when we took a trip up there and we just stopped by for a drink. It was pretty early Friday evening and the pub was quiet, but already a few were coming in to eat and the menu, chalked up on a blackboard, looked pretty good. I’ll be back soon to try out those venison sausages, or the fish pie, and maybe...
The Old Mill - Newton Blossomville*
...Carry on another 15 minutes or so and you’ll come to The Old Mill. It’s usually lunchtime when we visit here and we’ve spent some lovely sunny moments in their pretty garden. A welcome addition to their menu are the bar snacks, including whitebait, tempura vegetables, welsh rarebit and sautéed potatoes with chorizo, all around £5. The latter is a big enough portion to satisfy two for lunch and is to be thoroughly recommended.
The Bell and Bear - Emberton
A gentle 25 minute stroll through Emberton Park (or extend your ramble by heading out the back of the park up the hill for a 40 minute hike) brings you to the Bell and Bear. Their restaurant menu is as delectable as ever. But even better is their new bar menu. Small tapas style dishes including black pudding with apple dip, filo wrapped king prawns, chorizo and bean stew, Wodehill blue cheese with figs and Emberton smoked garlic mushrooms. £20 will get you five dishes plus a free salad. Plenty enough for two and all absolutely delicious. Remember to add some of Amazing Grains real bread to your order to mop up all the delightful juices and sauces.
*Finally, if you fancy stretching the muscles a little longer, head all the way to Turvey and The Three Cranes (reviewed in August). It’ll take you about an hour, and you can take in The Mill and the Robin Hood on the route home. Hmmm, maybe we’re doing this fit food all wrong - I think the only pounds we’re going to lose is into the tills of the local hostelries! HB
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46 Phonebox Magazine