The Food Review: The Newbury, Bartholomew Street.
To The Newbury – to see if it lives up to up to its ‘gastropub’ rep.
Spoiler alert: it does!
Last year the Bartholomew Street venue made the Estrella Damm Top 100 list – the only gastropub in the Newbury Weekly News area to make the grade.
The pub is particularly proud of its Sunday roasts but also does a nifty line in bar snacks such as chicken liver parfait profiteroles or parmesan and thyme bread sticks with smoked sea salt and garlic butter.
However, we chose a Thursday evening for our feast and found the place already bustling with diners and customers enjoying an after-work drink.
Despite the fact it was busy, our waitress, Molly, was prompt and attentive, without being intrusive.
For starters, my partner chose chicken liver parfait, figs and candied walnuts on toasted sourdough – an imaginative combination which provided an amazing contrast of textures.
I opted for smoked mackerel pate with cucumber and a delicate potato salad.
The mains included game and seafood options including a ‘classic Marseilles fish stew’.
In the end, the confit duck, pork belly, garlic sausage and white bean cassoulet won the day for me.
This was a mighty, meaty revelation – the unctuous richness of the duck and hunk of crispy crackling atop the mouth-melting pork beautifully leavened by a crisp leaf salad dressed with a zingy vinaigrette.
My partner chose the 10oz rump steak (other options included bavette and ribeye) with watercress salad and chips.
This was pronounced a spectacular success, with the chunky chips doing some heavy lifting of their own.
This just left room for dessert - but we were equal to the task.
My partner declared the honey and bay leaf-infused panacotta a triumph.
It was accompanied by figs poached in red wine and white chocolate biscotti…’nuff said.
I finished with the mountainous chocolate salted caramel meringues, kept company by a good dollop of salted caramel ice cream.
The Newbury, in your writer’s opinion, definitely earns its keep in the Estrella Damm Top 100.
