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Milton Keynes restaurant and pub food guide
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| Click on each name to show/hide
its review. More will be added in time.
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| Disclaimer
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These reviews are purely the opinions of individual members of MKIVC, who
are attempting to convey their own subjective perception of their personal
experiences after genuinely dining at the respective pub or restaurant.
The views expressed are in
context of each writer's own taste and expectations; as such, they are not
in any way representative of MKIVC, who accept no liability whatsoever for
any consequences resulting from conclusions drawn by persons reading the reviews.
The club cannot guarantee their accuracy in any way, and only offer them freely
as information that may be of interest or entertainment.
You should not rely on any material on this page to make or refrain
from any decision or any action.
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| Name |
Location |
URL |
Ambiance |
Atmosphere |
Drinks |
Food |
Price |
Value |
Overall |
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All Bar One
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CMK
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www
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£££
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The All Bar One is typical of the pubs in the chain with a huge open plan area full of high tables with stools as well as your usual low ones and a few couches. It also has an outdoor patio with rain proof umbrellas and heating lights for all year round al fresco dining or drinking.
It has a large selection of wine which is stacked up on the wall behind the bar and most can be bought by the glass. However, quite often the choice seems rather limiting. The food is freshly prepared every day and is your usual deli like platters to share. It's good without being outstanding and the price isn't too bad.
The bar is busy in the early evening during the week, with professionals who work in the centre and especially busy with a trendy crowd at weekends, however the service is excruciatingly slow and you sometimes have to shout over the noise made by the buzzy conversations everywhere.
Open till 12 on Saturdays.
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Barge Inn
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Woolstone
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££
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The Barge Inn at Woolstone is a very busy, recently renovated, village pub which dates back to the 1880's. It has preserved it's traditional features and has an open hearth, log fire which makes it cosy in the winter, while the lovely beer garden is perfect for the summer.
The menu is reasonably passable if you're not looking for a gourmet meal, but as part of a chain, has a packaged reheat feel about it. Prices are quite cheap though, so good to fill you up after a long walk along the nearby Ouzel Valley park.
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Birch
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Woburn
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www
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£££
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The Birch is presently my favourite restaurant in the Milton Keynes area. It is an small oldie world pub at the front and large restaurant at the back.
The focus is on the restaurant with the bar at the front a nice place to have a drink while you're waiting on your table.
The decor is very contemporary while being sympathetically rustic and very comfortable and light.
It's very busy, especially at weekends but if you book a day or two before they can sometimes squeeze you in.
Best to book in advance unless it's for a week day.
The service is what you expect of a decent restaurant and the welcome very friendly and warm.
You can have a drink at the bar and then are led to your table and offered the menus and wine-list and the waiter will inform you what the specials are and the fresh fish of the day.
The food is truly excellent for this level of restaurant and very good value indeed.
They mostly use local produce including venison from Woburn which will set you back about £15 for the medallions.
They are an excellent cut and very tender and tasty and come with the plenty of nicely cooked vegetables and potatoes and a sauce (or jus) to compliment the meat - so no need for side orders.
You can also order steaks from the griddle priced by the oz (£2.50 for fillet) and that includes the accompaniments too, and is perfectly done to your liking - rare is recommended by the chef.
There is plenty of fresh fish on offer as well and as previously mentioned there is usually a special.
Last time I went I had the red-mullet which was melt in the mouth delicious.
The best prepared fish I've had in a long time and probably not something I would attempt at home. It cost about £12.50 which was such good value.
The wine is also of a high standard with a smooth spice Australian Shiraz for about £14, opened ceremoniously at the table and served at a proper temperature. The mark up seems reasonable as it was very good for the money.
All in all an excellent dining experience for wanabe gastronomes on a budget. Fantastic food that definitely won't break the bank - just as well as I was paying!
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Carrington Arms
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Moulsoe
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www
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££££
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The nineteenth century exterior of this picturesque pub is very impressive but you then feel very let down when you find its entrance at the back and enter into its shabby interior. This place is in dire need of a refit to restore it to former glories and make you feel like you're going somewhere special.
After having pre-dinner drinks in the bar, I expected to be ushered to a proper dining area but instead we were seated at an unset table in another part of the bar which was a disappointment.
Choosing your meal is very novel, it's like literally stepping into a butchers/fishmongers and choosing your meat from a great selection including kangaroo, ostrich, bison and crocodile! It also serves the usual steaks and an ever changing variety of fresh fish and it has a tank of live lobster.
You specify the weight of meat you'd like and it is then cut, weighed and charged accordingly. You tell the chef how you like it cooked and he's pretty obliging about doing it to your choosing on the grill.
An 8oz fillet steak will cost you about £16.80 but then you realise that you need to order vegetables and chips etc on top. That can easily bring your steak main course up to almost £22 which is expensive especially considering that the vegetables were overcooked and the chips nothing special. Compare that with the plough in Simpson at £16 all in with everything excellently cooked and the best homemade chips around.
The wine wasn't bad and not too expensive.
Overall very overpriced and disappointing although tasting crocodile and kangaroo was interesting and of course the company was very good.
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Loch Fyne
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Woburn
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www
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£££
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Loch Fyne is a sea food restaurant that although is part of a chain, provides food of very high quality in an atmospheric old building in the heart of Woburn. They of course also do meat dishes such as steak and venison.
We ordered the "Hot and cold crab platter" for two for a very reasonable £30 and also a couple of side orders of vegetables. We thought this might have to be an expensive starter as we didn't know how much food would be served but our fears were allayed when a huge tower of food was delivered to our table. The food was actually prepared in full view by the chef/fishmonger.
The platter had about three layers with the cold shell-fish on the bottom tier (oysters, squid, clams, langoustine, prawns and many others), the dressed crab and legs in the middle and the hot moules mariniere on the top. The food was fresh, delicious, filling and very, very enjoyable: I highly recommend this restaurant to sea food fans.
It was accompanied by a very nice white wine at a reasonable price - about £15. The flip side was that the vegetables were very disappointing and not worth the money and I recommend you give them a miss and just have a sea food feast.
The dessert also went down well as did a nice glass of port to finish off the meal.
The restaurant is tastefully decorated in a modern style and they also have al fresco dining in the summer where they also hold regular party nights.
The service was also attentive, chatty and polite and definitely deserving of a tip.
All in all an excellent place for a fishy gourmet meal - where you can also take a red meat eater along.
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Plough
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Simpson
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www
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£££
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The Plough at Simpson is an old village pub with a contemporary shaker style décor and furniture which is very light, uncluttered and tasteful, with a restrained number of framed photographs on the wall from the owners' extensive travels.
The bar mostly caters to the locals but the clientele and staff are friendly to everyone. The separate dining area provides high quality, modern, gastro pub style food for reasonable prices which is definitely a refreshing change from the usual plastic food from the chains. The steak is to die for and the excellent chef also specialises in sea food so book early for weekend dining as it's very popular.
There is a separate bar menu which isn't as cheap as some pubs, but the quality makes the price very reasonable. There is also a pool room and a beer garden by the canal. A party of 13 from MKIVC visited on 12/08/06 and everyone was impressed with the food and service.
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Swan
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Salford
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www
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£££
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The Swan at Salford has become a cracking pub with a London wine bar feel, since the Edwardian pub was very tastefully renovated to make the most of it's original features, while appearing modern and trendy. It now has quite a few lovely french windows with tables next to them, opening onto the nice beer garden which are open in the summer.
The buzzing ambiance at weekends is pefect for professionals who like a more sophisticated atmosphere, to unwind and enjoy a good night out.
The food in the brasserie type dining area is very good and reasonably priced with a tasty tapas like bar menu for those who just want to nibble.
It's a bit out of town but really only a 5 to 10 minute drive for most.
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Swan Inn
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Middleton
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www
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£££
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This pub has had a very modern but sympathetic decor upgrade and is now the trendy rustic but contemporary norm for refitted pubs.
A bunch of us recently ate here at Easter 2007. We sat outside in the decking area under the huge canvas cover with heaters and lights where the two dogs we brought along were welcome. It was just about warm enough considering the time of year and was a nice, comfortable area to be.
The drinks and the company were good but unfortunately the food was very mediocre and well overpriced. An 8oz rib-eye steak was £16, which is the same price as a similar sized, totally superior fillet steak in the Plough and although "chunky chips" were advertised they ended up being your normal pub chips and nothing like the gorgeously tasty, jenga like chips you get at the Plough.
The burger was nice and cooked to order - you can't get a rare burger in many pubs, but £8 for what is effectively a burger and chips is a bit much.
The platter was huge but the waitress could have warned me that I could have got by with the starter size but she seemed to hint that they were a bit small, but the quality was poor in any case and for the price should have had more upmarket ingredients that you'd get elsewhere - like the Swan in Salford.
The service was fine if a little slow as we were a bit out of sight out of mind.
The bar itself is very nice for a drink and is lively on a weekend, especially with the progressive, midnight licence and complete smoking ban.
The wine list is reasonably good and has some decently quaffable bottles in the cheaper bracket.
Overall a decent, lively place for a drink which doesn't send you home at a silly time at the weekend, but best avoided for meals.
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