The Pelican Inn, Froxfield

I live and grew up in the area and this was my first visit to the Pelican although a relative has visited once before to eat and another played a gig here. Now, we only headed out to the Pelican because the John O'Gaunt was doing a fish and chip night (on a tuesday!?) and we couldn't get their excellent goat curry. On arrival the Pelican it looks lovely outside and the inside has been styled in burgundy with leather and wood, pretty much what you see in every rural pub that's had a modern refit.There was only one bitter on draught (the other was off) which for a local country pub is shocking and disgraceful so I settled for the one that was on and it was like toilet water. At this point you know everything from then on will be a disappointment. Everything here is all mouth and no trousers. The food is served on big white fancy plates and looked the part but the cooking was really poor and lazy. The specialities which are typically there to allow the chef to show off a bit were nothing more than dishes using up leftovers. The lamb tagine was a pot (microwaved) with tomatoey gloop and some pitiful lumps of diced lamb which I imagine came from Sunday Lunch's leftovers. All the dishes were completely underwhelming and all could have been cooked at home five times better and at a fraction of the cost. We finished our meal and nobody said anything about it, usually you get some comments but, no, nothing. A real disappointed. If you are going past the pub and are tempted, please don't bother, just keep driving on the A4 and go to the Halfway instead and see how a real local rural pub works and does restaurant cooking. With 50 odd pubs closing a week The Pelican needs to up it's game because I for one will not be returning.

10 Jun 2010 14:56