Gav had originally planned for us to surprise Lisa at the Greyhound at Stockbridge, to celebrate her 40th. Unfortunately the restaurant called Gav just after 7pm to tell him that they had a problem with the gas supply, and were unable to open that night. We were within 200m of the restaurant at the time!

So Gav called the Yew Tree, a Marco Pierre White pub and restaurant at Highclere near Newbury, who were able to give us a table for later that evening.

The restaurant is in a whitewashed half-timbered building, with low beamed ceilings, white table linen and an original art deco mirrored room divider. The service was excellent, friendly and welcoming with good advice on wine and food. Although England has still to implement a smoking ban and people were smoking in other parts of the pub, it wasn’t too bad.

So, to the food. From a very large menu, we had:

Smoked salmon on rye bread, horseradish sauce
Chou farci (stuffed cabbage), tomato coulis
Croustade quails eggs Maintenon, sauce hollandaise

Half lobster, herbs, bernaise sauce
Lamb confit, creamed haricot beans
Roast partridge, chestnuts, sprouts, bacon, crumbs, gravy
10oz ribeye steak, escargots, garlic butter

Rice pudding, red fruit compote
Harvey’s lemon tart
Creme brulee

All washed down with a nice sauvignon blanc and an Argentinian malbec.