Review of Stow Bardolph's Hare Arms: Cosy country pub offers varied menu of quality food

For a small hamlet with a population of around 1,300, Stow Bardolph offers what many others cannot.

It not only boasts a fantastic family attraction in Church Farm Rare Breeds Centre, but also an excellent village pub.

The Hare Arms, which can be found five minutes from Downham just off of the A10, is where my parents, partner and I ventured for dinner on Thursday evening.

Upon entering the premises, I noticed that it has gone through some alterations since my last visit a number of years ago - a lick of paint and some new decorations among those.

Given the choice, we decided to eat in the bar area where most of the evening's guests were also sat and where we spotted one of the pub cats, which instantly boosted the place in my early estimations.

We immediately placed our drink orders, which were a Coke for me (£2.05), two Diet Cokes for my parents (£2.05 each) and an IPA for Shane (£4.50).

We then perused the menu (as though I hadn't already checked online for decent vegan options) and decided that, although there were some tasty-sounding starters, we'd go straight in for mains.

Never wanting to assume, I checked that they had the plant-based version of the celeriac and cheese 'meatballs' which come in a spicy tomato sauce with buttered orzo pasta (£13.50) and was very pleased when there was an affirmative response.

It was good to see that there was more than one vegan option on the menu, but I didn't fancy the Moroccan bean burger this time.

The chicken breast wrapped in pancetta (£17.95) was a popular option between the others as there was some debate as to who would get it, but eventually it was decided that Dad would be the chosen one.

This came with a roast red pepper, mozzarella and basil filling, crushed new potatoes, tenderstem broccoli and a white wine cream and garlic sauce.

Mum picked the roast fillet of cod, with a lemon butter sauce, capers, prawns, tenderstem broccoli and new potatoes (£16.25) and Shane went for one of the specials - venison with dauphinoise potatoes, tenderstem broccoli and a berry jus (£31.50).

Considering there were also other specials, the Hare Arms offers a pretty substantial menu, including steaks from nearby butcher Jeff Sargeant.

The wait for the mains to arrive was long enough to admire the decorations on the pub walls - including old photos of the village and the pub - and for our group to have a debrief on the last week, but not too long at all.

The immediate consensus was that each one of us had received a delicious dish that looked the part.

Dad said his chicken was "very well-presented with a pleasant sauce and was something a little bit different from what I might have at home". He summed it up as "very enjoyable and a generous-sized portion".

Mum agreed and said her cod was "different from something I would normally order". She said it was "really tasty" and went as far as to say the crushed potatoes were "excellent".

As for the venison, Shane said it was also well-presented and well-cooked.

"The venison was tender, and although I didn’t ask for the price, I did feel like it was on the pricey side for what was a very nice meal," he said.

He also enjoyed the dauphinoise potatoes, which were "well-cooked" but "could've been creamier".

And the meatballs were soft, with a sweet, spicy kick. They were very tasty, and were complemented well by the vegan cheese and orzo pasta.

Having all polished off our mains, we decided we had room for dessert.

Dad chose the warm chocolate cake with ice cream (£6.75) and I went for the vegan version, while Mum opted for the banana, toffee and chocolate bread and butter pudding (£6.50) and Shane the limoncello and raspberry meringue roulade (£6.50).

Dad and I both agreed that the chocolate cake was indulgent, paired with a sauce that was full of flavour and nicely set off by a good portion of ice cream.

While Shane said he wasn't a "big fan" of the roulade, he decided that was more due to his own palate than the pudding.

"It didn’t wow me but that was probably more me and not the dessert’s fault," he said.

But for Mum, it was a different story. Of her bread and butter pudding, she said: "It was light - you might think bread and butter would be stodgy but it wasn’t, it was delicious."

We all left the Hare Arms with full, satisfied bellies and in agreement that we should not leave it too long until our next visit.

Ratings out of five

Food: Everything we were served was tasty and of really good quality. There was also a decent amount of options. ****

Drink: Although only one of us ventured out of the realm of standard fizzy drinks, there seemed a good selection on offer. ****

Decor: I love nothing more than a cosy country pub and this was exactly that - the decorations including old photos, and the pub cats made it perfect for me. *****

Staff: Super friendly, helpful and attentive. Had a lovely chat with one of them about the pub cats, so it's got to be full marks. *****

Price: The meal came to a total of £116.35, so just over £29 per person for a main, dessert and drink. On the pricier side but we didn't feel that it was unreasonable for the quality. ****