Rev Gav

A Slice of Foodie Heaven

It was my birthday weekend and my daughter, Rowena, had raved about a pub she had visited where the food was fit for the Gods. It sounded ideal, but to my dismay, a quick Internet search revealed The Swan in Bampton had acquired new owners, for back in March 2024, a young couple named Jack and Charlotte had taken it on, however, from the pub’s social media photos the food still looked excellent, and a good smattering of five-star Google reviews sealed the deal. I noted on their website (but nowhere else — I will come to that later), that they were hosting a five-course Wine Night that would coincide with the second night of our stay, and so I emailed to see if it was still happening. We were in luck, Charlotte (affectionately known as Char) had just received a cancellation, and so I booked our reservation for the Wine Night and a room at the pub.

The Swan is an unassuming village pub, sitting on a narrow road by the village carpark, where one can park for 50p a day by way of an honesty box. We arrived a little too early to check in which gave us time to explore, and it was not long before we found our way to the village wine merchant, Corks & Cru. This delight of a shop is managed by the very knowledgable and super-friendly Nick Payne, and we swiftly honed in on a very reasonably priced Napa zinfandel. It turned out that Nick would be running the ‘wines’ the following evening, so after bidding adieu, we returned to the car (we always carry wine glasses and a bottle opener) and supped a glass or two before the pub opened and we could decamp to our room.

Charlotte, who runs front-of-house, was a delight from the moment we met her, and we were warmly welcomed by the couple’s slightly loopy but gorgeous border collie, who is a fixture of the pub and also has a thing about chasing shadows. My wife Helen is not sure who was entertained more for the duration of our stay, the dog or I!

The first thing that struck me about Charlotte was her infectious passion and excitement for the food prepared and served by her partner Jack. I could see on her face that to refuse to dine that first evening would be a deep disappointment, not for her, but for us, because we would be missing out, and she was not wrong.

What was this witchery?

As Helen and I sat at a comfortable table by the wood-burner and played cards, Alfie chasing shadows by our side, we nonchalantly glanced at the menu and ordered a plate of ‘fried mushrooms with black garlic mayonnaise’ from their ‘Nibbles’ section. At this point in the article, I find it difficult not to swear, for as Helen and I popped the first of the mushrooms into our mouths it was as if the world had come into focus and our taste buds had been resurrected from the bowels of Hades. What was this witchery? The deep intense umami flavours were out of this world, and with the card game now abandoned, it was a fight between us to wipe the plate and lick the savoury mayonnaise from our fingers. If this was just the nibbles, what was going to be next?

The witchery of fried mushrooms and black garlic mayonnaise

I followed with a starter of mackerel (the featured image) and Helen chose the whipped cashew cream with roasted roots and smoked almond dukkha which she declared to be one of the finest dishes she had ever tasted. Char confirmed that it was the only plate that had remained on the menu since they took the reins, replacing the winter roots with seasonal, local, organic veg. To say our starters were sensational would be an understatement. We followed with mains of bavette steak and deep-fried cauliflower with sweet potato — both excellent, but the starters and those unforgettable mushrooms would be the stars of the show. Could the food get any better? Oh yes — much, much better!

Whipped cashew cream with roasted roots and smoked almond dukkha

Not your average Wine Night!

The following evening it was Wine Night, and as Char and the staff decorated and prepared the dining area, she could barely contain her excitement about the food. The menu would be a surprise and that would be fine by us — a five course menu, each dish paired with a wine selected and poured by Nick from Corks & Cru. Wine pairing is no easy thing to achieve and can be highly subjective, yet over the five courses, Nick got three out of the five bang on with outstanding pairings. This was no fluke, for Nick had sat with chef Jack, tasted the options, and used his fine skills to select the perfect wines.

Two of the five dishes were the finest plates of food I have ever eaten, and this is no exaggeration. Every mouthful of the understated ‘Cheese and Onion’ dish was a warm embrace into the plump breasts of yumminess. The toasted crumble combined with the creaminess of the brie and sweet and savoury caramelised onion was a delight, and being a big softie, my eyes actually welled up with the joy of flavour and it was the perfect winter dish and pure genius. This was followed by the equally excellent ‘Ray Wing’ with a sunflower seed satay that again had me wiping my finger across the plate and left me wondering how food could look and taste this good.

Charlotte and Jack are a young couple who have found their calling and are at the top of their game. The food was unpretentious, wonderfully presented, and perfectly executed, but above all, it was all about flavour. Jack is clearly a genius in the kitchen, and we could not have wanted more from our host who welcomed us into her pub as if we were members of the family. Oh, and want to know why we could not find the Wine Night advertised? It was because they get full-booked by members of the local community pretty much as soon as the date is announced, and it turns out that Helen and I were incredibly lucky to get a table. That evening, as we rubbed our bellies on making our way to bed, Char told us, “We pretty much know everyone here.”

In a way, I hope The Swan in Bampton never changes, and I hope it will not become a victim of its own success. Right now it is producing some of the best food I have ever eaten, and it might just be worth selling up and moving to Bampton just so you can make The Swan your local pub. Well done Jack and Char!

Amen!

The Menu

Bread and Snacks

A beef dripping, burnt honey, and thyme brioche made with clotted cream. The flour was wild farmed and the honey was sourced from Shillingford (a village on the outskirts of Bampton). The thyme was picked by Gill at Venn Farm just around the corner.

The cured meat selection was from The Organic Cure based in Axminster.

Puff pastry straws filled with anchovies and dried seaweed paste, topped with Parmesan.

Hash browns with grated potato, vegan butter, tapioca starch, onion, and garlic powder had been baked, pressed, and fried. These were topped with a black garlic ketchup and a pickled walnut ketchup made by cooking black garlic cloves and pickled walnuts in red wine and the juice from the pickled walnuts.

Paired with a Classic Cuvée, Quoit at Cross Vineyard, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK (local)

Cheese and Onion

Caramelised onions in the base of the bowl, topped with a cream made from Tunworth brie and cream, garnished with a crumble made from roasted Old Winchester cheese, rye flour, roasted buckwheat, crispy onions, onion seeds, and butter. A scattering of cider-pickled onions and nasturtiums decorated the plate to help cut through the richness.

Paired with Chardonnay Reserve 2022, Long Barn, Napa, California

Brown Butter Ray Wing

A ray wing was taken off the bone, brined, rolled, and poached at 50ºC for 15 minutes before being finished in a bath of brown butter. This was served with roasted pumpkin, caramelised pumpkin seeds, and a sunflower seed satay, using a British sunflower seed butter. There was also a raw salad of pumpkin dressed in lime laced with pumpkin seed oil.

Paired with 20,000 Leguas Orange Wine, Dominio de Punctum, Castilla, Spain

Organic Haye Farm Chicken

Organic chicken from Haye Farm based in Axminster. The chicken was filleted and a truffle paste and roasted pistachios mousse stuffed under the skin. This was then poached, roasted, and brushed with roasted chicken fat butter. The smoked mushroom cream was made with mushrooms cooked in Madeira. The savoury bread and butter pudding was made with cream, spent coffee grinds, croissants, then fried and topped with roasted chicken skin. The sauce was made from roasted chicken wings, stock, thyme and garlic, and split with all the chicken fat from roasting the bones. It was then finished with some pickled foraged girolles, and a baby leek and nasturtium, the latter picked fresh that morning from Venn farm.

Paired with Le Vieux Logis 2022, Organic Rasteau, Southern Rhone, France

Caramelised brown sugar tart

A vanilla pastry filled and baked with a brown sugar custard, malted milk crumble, and malted milk ice cream, topped with a brown sugar biscuit and a compote made from quince and honey with some wood sorrel.

Paired with Banyuls Rimage 2018, Cornet et Cie, Roussillon – Banyuls, France

Rooms at the The Swan are available from £80 per night.

Wine Nights are £65 per person.

Entertaining shadow-chasing dog comes free.