The Swan
Wavendon Road
Salford
Milton Keynes MK17 8BD
Website:

This is a gastro pub with a good sized modern bar area as well as the usual minimalist dining room, but this time with blessedly large and comfortable arm chairs. A nice feature of the dining room is the picture window with a view through to the kitchen, although partly obscured by the pub’s Swan logo.
The menu is not large, but there should be something for all and there were a few nice ideas. I had cassoulet with chirozos as a starter. It came in two sizes, and this was a clever dish with plenty of thick gravy in a good mix of white beans and not too spicy Chirozos. The other starter was Crab and lime soufflé with a real crab taste and pleasant light texture.
For mains we had marlin which was cooked lightly, a fact we were appraised of when we ordered, and calves liver and mashed cooked pink (they asked how). Both were good straight forward dishes, cooked and presented well.
Puds were a vast crème Brule and poached plums and apricot with ice cream. Again no complaints. The meal and atmosphere I thoroughly enjoyed although I was somewhat put off when booking, when an embarrassed staff member tried to explain that we could only have a table for a two hour slot. This seemed a little unnecessary as we booked for 7.45 pm and I hardly expect them to serve another table at 10. In any event it was not that busy on the Tuesday night I visited, making the two-hour cut off even more silly.