Dolphin

It’s worth coming here for the garden alone, a formal criss-cross of box, privet and gravel around a central water sculpture, edged by apple trees. The pub’s occasional cultural event programme means you may find live theatre taking place, or a string quartet playing inside. The menu is less adventurous, however, offering pretty standard contemporary pub grub. Our starters of scotch duck egg and mackerel pâté – creamy, almost mousse-like, nudged along by sour capers – were both well executed, but there was more fun to be had with a main course of grilled sardines on toast. The dish showed a kitchen unafraid to go simple and get it right: moist fish, crispy toast and cheekily piquant salsa verde made for perfect alfresco eating. Lamb kofta wasn’t quite as impressive – good meat but the flatbread was a little unhappy – and the unexceptional house white was pricey at £13.90 a bottle. However, the pub has a reasonable range of beers and lagers (Adnams, San Miguel), though it’s poor on perry and cider. Desserts – a nicely paired lemon posset with shortbread biscuit, and a treacle tart with crème fraîche – were more than fine, so we left happy.