Review: The Crab and Boar Chieveley

As part of our quest to highlight potential foodie trips into south Oxfordshire, the Crab & Boar is a well known hostelry with rooms, now owned by Butcombe Brewery. It’s situated in the picturesque gallops country of West Berkshire and located just off the A34 near the M4 and Chieveley & Newbury. There are 14 beautifully appointed bedrooms and it’s very dog friendly. The pooch receives his own gourmet chews and water bowl.

Bristol-based brewer Butcombe purchased a number of country pubs when both Wadsworth and Cirrus Inns experienced difficulties during the pandemic. Butcombe has provided much needed investment to what was a tired estate and its portfolio now numbers 50+ sites. They won “Best Managed Pub” in the Publican awards and are increasingly getting known for the quality of accommodation and pub food. It’s not your dull, corporate Greene King or M&B “cookie cutter” approach to pub chains. Chefs have a high degree of autonomy per site and cook everything fresh on the day, only ever using the best possible ingredients. They care immensely about the quality, provenance and seasonality of the produce used and are proud to work with the likes of Walter Rose Butchers, Kingfisher of Brixham and Hobbs House Bakery.

The Crab and Boar is not trying to be the finest gastrofood. It’s offering well prepared, quality pub food with some interesting food ideas. It is not over-claiming and it’s not ridiculously priced. There’s a 25% off deal every Wednesday.

Head chef Sam Seedhouse is in his mid 30s but has certainly earned his stripes. Stints at The Belgian Arms in Holyport, The Royal Oak at Paley St (Nick Parkinson’s 1 Michelin* eatery), The White Oak at Cookham and a head chefship at The Bird in Hand at Knowl Hill have skilled him well. This culminated in Sam winning The Pub Chef of The Year 2022. He prides himself on the pub classics, plenty of modern twists and lots of innovative seasonal and specials dishes.

We shared a freshly baked homemade focaccia platter with three unusual flavoured butters (marmite; spinach; harissa & honey). Starters of Chalk Stream Farm trout gravadlax, dill, home smoked rillette & cucumber piccalilli, and a small Chicken Kyiv with Lye Cross Farm Cheddar polenta, confit garlic butter and tarragon were brave ideas and made a pleasant change to the usual pub starters.

Mains were pushing the envelope again…

We sampled Cornish cod cheeks with Thatchers cider and anchovy sauce, autumnal potatoes, courgette and cobnut gremolata sounded far better than it looked but it certainly set the tastebuds racing. The wholesome veggie main course of miso fondant potatoes, charred broccoli, coconut braised lentils, smoked chilli jam and cavolo nero was tasty, filling and colourful. We tried a side of harissa roasted aubergine with yoghurt and mustard. I was probably vegged out by this stage but it felt a bit artificial and was certainly not a patch on James Martin’s similar creation at The Grill in Broadway.

However, the highlight was a pudding of South African-inspired sticky ‘koeksisters’ with peanut butter, cinnamon ice cream and crystalised peanuts. A rare dessert indeed – hard to describe but a koeksister is a traditional Afrikaner confectionery made of fried dough infused in syrup or honey. Naughty but nice!

Butcombe are planning a major refurbishment of The Crab & Boar dining areas in the coming year, so watch this space for more news. This is definitely not The Woodspeen but there’s an interesting enough selection of good pub dishes on offer at decent prices.