The Hole in the Wall – Little Wilbraham

I have been following Alex on twitter for some time (@justcookit), so hearing he had finally managed to bag a venue he’d be looking for around Cambridge for so long, I was eagerly awaiting the Hole in the Wall opening.
The day started like any other, trudge to work, sandwich from the sandwich van for lunch? Well… for some reason I didn’t fancy this today. Having tried to see if they were open Sunday for us to pop along, by the time we were ready to eat the hole in the wall wasn’t open (closes at 4pm on Sunday), so today I thought a different lunch was in order.

By pure chance I then got a message from a friend of mine (hey Andy) who was still on holiday. Lunch? I know just the place. Luckily I called to book a table just in case, as I was told that they could fit us in at 1:15. Excellent.

We wound are way down the country lanes, eventually pulling in to the car park of this quaint looking pub. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day for it, people in the garden having a drink and a pretty full car park. Signs it should be good!

The old building has bags of character, low ceilings and exposed wood, which you’d expect from a country pub. We were promptly greeted when we entered by smiley staff, which is always a plus and asked if we’d like to get a drink from the bar and peruse the menu while the table was being set. That sounded ideal to me.

Andy opting for a Budvar and myself an Aspall’s, they currently don’t have a vast selection on draught, but they do also have a nice looking selection of wine and spirits too (of which I’m sure I will be back to sample!) Pints in hand we took to making our choice on the menu. I think it was a pretty unanimous decision once our eyes scrolled down the menu and we saw the steak, but what to have with it? Are we having starters too? Go on then, it’s nearly Friday. We asked the gentleman and bar lady if they recommended anything in particular to start and we were suggested the tomato and mozzarella salad. A nice light choice with steak and fresh too. We both agreed. That was easy.

The lunch menu consists of 4 starters, 4 mains and 3 desserts, which I think is a good amount. I’m not overwhelmed by choice but I have a select of meat, fish and vegetarian food to pick from.
We were asked if we would like to sit near the bar or in the dining area. We chose the dining room, a nice light room which although seemed a bit mismatched with furniture; there was a nice buzz of atmosphere, especially for Thursday lunchtime.

Our service was prompt and the first course arrived. Tomato and mozzarella salad. The plate was simple and colourful, with a medley of different coloured tomatoes that oozed freshness and flavour, the mozzarella was creamed and just melted in your mouth with a zing from the onion and levelled nicely with the, what looked like Greek Basil(?). If I was being super critical I’d personally have a little more onion. Not a lot, but just a bit to give it that bite. I could have eaten an entire ball of that cheese though, it has bags of flavour was a delight.

Next up was the steak. This is a dish that is shared between two people and so comes on a board, presented to you (of which you do the obligatory, look at steak, yes, it looks like a steak, nod and he takes it away to cut) and comes back cut on plates. I was a bit wary when we weren’t asked how we would like our steak done. Especially as I’m a steak snob and a connoisseur of my well-cooked (read: rare) meat. However, I wasn’t disappointed.

How could I think that Alex would overdo my steak? Well I needn’t have worried as it came out delightfully. I was also looking at the steak that was meant for two people and was thinking, ‘That’s just for me right?’ but was surprised how far it went. The weight of the cut (of which this was a sirloin on the bone, we were later told) was 1.4kg so a pretty big beast but the flavours bought out by the marbled fat through the cut were just fantastic. I could have eaten more, but hell, I can always shoehorn in more steak and it by no means left us anything but full. The sides served with the steak were French fry style chips and a fresh green salad, which again were great. Chips were crisp and not soggy and the even the dressing on the salad was perfectly balanced.

By this time we thought we’d go for broke. Asked if we would like desserts, ah go on then. We’re here now. You have to try it all, right?

There were three desserts on offer but the one that stood out for me was the honeycomb cheesecake. That’ll do nicely thank you. This was just as good as I thought it would be. Well presented on the plate but most importantly the baked cheesecake was rich, full of flavour but still light in consistency. All in all, a great end to a fantastic lunch and then to top it off Alex came out post service to see us in the restaurant. What more can I say, other than a very nice and humble guy!

I mentioned I would most likely do a little piece for here and so sent through a barrage of questions for Alex about his journey here post Masterchef and the difficulties faced opening The Hole in the Wall.

The Punter Pub, Cambridge – A Fresh £5 lunch? This I Have To See…

So it turned out I had a day off. Yea, I normally am aware of days off prior to the occasion as well, but this client apparently has a day off for the queen and her birthday. That’s nice of them, or nice for me I should say. This then left me at a bit of a loss at what to do. It was a Friday and I had nothing planned. It was at this point, casually browsing twitter I saw a tweet from Ben at the Punter (@thepunterchef);

“ThePunterChef Ben Pope
@randomshenans @12aClub Today we have Spiced fishcake, salad tartar sc. Rabit papardelle, olive and pinenuts. Tomato and mozarella gnocchi”

Now, I’d heard a little about the Punter from Mark (@12aClub), head Chef Ben’s brother that manages 12a, the private members bar in Cambridge, but only that they did a £5 lunchtime menu, which all of the above were a part of. This has to be worth a Friday lunchtime venture, you get bugger all change from £10 for a Burger King meal these days. I double checked what time lunch was served until (3pm FYI) and got to freshening myself up.

I arrived at the Punter and managed to park right outside, which was nice. The pub, for anyone that hasn’t been, is just off the A1303 in its technical name, just on to Pound hill on the upper side of town.
Inside there was a buzz about the atmosphere, not so busy that I couldn’t move but that hum of Friday lunchtime conversations that kept the place feeling alive. The décor is that of distressed wood and furniture, nice light and airy and an oldie feel about it. The bar is situated on the upper part of the pub, I grabbed a stool and propped myself up. It was evident that the girl behind the bar was struggling a little on her own as she took numerous food orders while I sat there. I was in no rush at all and let the girl know this, she apologised profusely for keeping me waiting. The only downside of the five minute wait was now I was unsure what to choose to eat AND drink.

I’d narrowed it down… slightly. Chenin blanc or Sauvignon blanc to drink and spiced fishcake or the gnocchi to eat. The girl asked if I had chosen and so I laid down my predicament. She let me know that the chenin was her favourite wine, but I was more than pleased when she asked if I would like to try both. Now, I wasn’t more than happy due to the fact that I’m a lush, more so that although a small token of hospitality, so many places nowadays will refuse to allow you to try the wine. Especially when busy.

My mind was made up. “Large glass of Chenin and since I’m here to try the food, both the fishcake and the gnocchi please…”

I chatted for a few minutes to the girl behind the bar, who confirmed that they were in fact under-staffed for the day but I assured her that this wasn’t a problem. I found myself a nice table next to the window and proceeded to watch the world go by, sipping my glass of wine.

It wasn’t long before the food arrived and I realised that it was a good job I was a). hungry and b). didn’t mind looking like a complete pig as the 2 plates were put down in front of me. I swear the affluent couple on the table near me were expecting another person to take a seat. No, just me today.

 
As you can see in the pictures, I had plenty to tuck in to, but what was it like?

The gnocchi was really very good; I chose it because I know that fresh gnocchi can often go either way, but this was light, soft and perfectly cooked. The sauce was rich and vibrant but also fresh and so massively filling! The fishcake was good, for me the tartar could have done with those gerkins in to add a bit more punch (I like a good hit from my tartar!) and also find it helps cut through the fishcake. This is me being very picky mind, you almost forget you're eating from the cheap lunch menu.

Again, for the £5 menu this is very good food, it all tastes so fresh and couldn’t be further from something that made its way out of the deep freeze.
While I was sitting there, I thought I should tweet about my experience (hell, I was on my own!) so I did:

“randomshenans
Do I appear to be a pig? All in the name of tasting, I'll have you know!@ThePunterChef http://lockerz.com/s/105195402”

Seeing my tweet, Ben came down to introduce himself, say hello and assure me I’m no pig. We didn’t have a chance to chat properly, as I was stuffing my face with multiple plates of food but I did manage to get a couple of questions to Ben.

I hope you don’t mind me quizzing you slightly, I promise I will be gentle.

Me: How long have you been at The Punter now?

Ben: I started at the Punter at the beginning of November. I was bought in to run the kitchen after the owners opened a second site in Oxford last Autumn. My last job was as a junior sous chef at the Hilton Doubletree and before that I spent time at the Hotel Felix, Alimentum and a stage placement at Midsummer house, as well as an attempt to get myself in to freelance cooking. Other than that I did most of my training at boutique hotels in Manchester.

As you can see Ben’s experience is vast and not to be sniffed at!

Me: What made you think of the £5 lunch menu and where do you get inspiration for your dishes?

Ben: The £5 lunch menu was something that was in place when I started and it’s incredibly popular. We rarely have a quiet weekday lunch! As for inspiration, we change our main menu almost daily, so it’s a good way of using such things as chicken legs and fish, whilst attracting new customers at the same time.

This is one thing I love about the £5 lunch menu, and their main menu. Changing almost daily means you get some incredibly fresh food and never tire of going back to try something new!

Me: How have you found Twitter has been for the pub since you started tweeting?

Ben: I’ve only been tweeting a week now, but already it seems to have created some business for the pub, however this account is as much for me as it is the pub. An official Punter Pub twitter account should follow in the next month or two.

So there we have it, The Punter pub in Cambridge. Try and find such fresh, ever changing food for less than the cost of pre-packaged crap? Go on, I challenge you!

Thank you for your time Ben, it has been a pleasure and I will be coming back, maybe one dish at a time next time. We shall see.

Ben has just returned from getting married, so do congratulate him!

You can find all the details below.
The Punter Pub, 3 Pound Hill, Cambridge CB3 0AE - 01223 363322 ‎
http://www.thepuntercambridge.com/
info@thepuntercambridge.com or you can follow Ben on twitter @thepunterchef