French Horn
Steppingly
Nr Ampthill (J 13 MI 10 mins)
Beds
Tel: 01525 712051
Website

From a long time country pub with reasonable food frequented by locals from the surrounding villages to a gastro pub to another, redesigned, gastro pub to yet another gastro pub - or is it? It is now clearly branded with Novelli's name and face. In addition a recent visit reveals that the French Horn sells some truly special food that is much more restaurant than pub.
I recently lunched there with my sister and enjoyed one of the better meals of my five week European trip which incidentally included a few restaurants that enjoy Michelin stardom.
The decor change from the last innovation is minimal except that the old public bar is now the only real bar, and is incorporated into the food operation as a snack area or, maybe a better description, a light bite restaurant. The decoration is minimalist and white; Katy thought it was too bland. I certainly feel it will work better when the place is full rather than not so.
If you are used to massive choice the menu is somewhat limited but it was comprehensive enough in the sense that most tastes were covered. The starters included among others: a Soup of the Day, in this case butter squash with coconut foam, steak tartar, smoked salmon and smoked duck ham.
Katy had the smoked salmon and it was beautifully presented and was decent salmon. I had the smoked duck and a boudin noir scotch egg with sauce gribiche. In fact this scotch egg not only dominated the plate visually but was the piece de resistance of the dish. In simple terms it was a small scotch egg with black pudding instead of sausage meat, and the egg was runny. Laid out sparsely on a plate decorated with young leaves and half a dozen little slices of duck it looked excellent, although it was good that I was neither trencherman nor there for the duck!
For mains I opt for fresh halibut with a langoustine risotto and samphire. The risotto was delicious, the fish fresh and moist and the samphire (sometimes referred to as sea asparagus) being small and green topped off the pink and white of the other ingredients beautifully. Katy had calf's liver on a bed of spinach with mash which she rated seriously.
I felt I had to try a dessert and had apple strudel with flaky pastry that almost floated off the plate.
Washed down with a couple of bottle of Macon Lugny this meal set us back a hundred quid. I have paid much more and had much worse. This was serious cooking by a kitchen that knew what it was doing. My criticism would be that some of the male staff, needed cleaning up and maybe a trip to a decent coiffeur! So the French Horn brings some real gastronomic class to the glut of rather ordinary gastro pubs that have sprung up in the environs of Milton K. I just hope the standard is maintained