The Talbot Inn,
Ripley, Surrey - Ian Richards,
Head Chef
The Talbot Inn
Ripley
Surrey
GU23 6BB
Tel: 01483 225188
info@thetalbotinn.com
www.thetalbotinn.com
Ripley is a large
village on the old A3 about a mile
outside the M25. It was an important
place to change horses for carriages
travelling between London and Portsmouth,
and the Inn was a favourite resting
place for travellers including
Admiral Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton.
It's a proper coaching inn with
an archway connecting the highway
through to the yard at the rear.
The main restaurant
has its own entrance from the street,
and is most attractively laid out
with crisp white napery and gleaming
glasses. Shortly after the four
of us were seated, we were offered
the bread board, which came with
three flavoured oils and some decent
butter. The breads were excellent,
but we wondered whether this was
a good idea because we didn't want
to fill ourselves up too early
in the meal. I thought I would
limit myself to one piece of bread;
what a ridiculous idea that was! By
the time we'd finished it all,
we had also polished off a very
nice bottle of Chilean Sauvignon
Blanc (£15.95).
Ian Richards is the
head chef, and his menu has all
the hallmarks of the contemporary
gastropub, with ham hock, scallops,
duck breast, and belly of pork
which has become almost de rigueur.
The starters were good: there was
a nice "pressing of ham hock",
(£5.25) a terrine flavoured
with tarragon and served with an
excellent fig chutney. A mushroom
risotto (£4.50) was very
nicely done, topped with generous
slices of parmesan cheese. The
only disappointment was the white
onion and Stilton soup (£4.50),
which was rather thin and lacking
in flavour, the promised truffle
oil didn't really shine through.
By contrast, the Scallops (£7.95)
were nicely caramelised and their
tower of pea purée, black
pudding and onion rings may have
looked a bit like yesterday's presentation,
but it had today's flavour which
is what really counts.
All the main course
dishes come with their own vegetable
garnishes, so no short cuts there.
The braised venison pie (£10.50)
was rich and flavourful but I wished
it hadn’t been served in
a separate pie dish, plonked onto
the side of the main plate. The
plain boiled carrots and broccoli
seemed rather unimaginative in
comparison with the vegetables
everyone else was enjoying. So
my friend had his duck breast slices
(£16.95) tweaked with bubble
and squeak, spinach and a rich
sauce. Being an unreconstructed
diehard, he wanted his duck served
well done, a request that seemed
to cause no problem with the kitchen.
A grilled fillet of salmon (£12.95)
was really tasty and came with
a sort of cassoulet, with white
beans, tomato and Toulouse sausage,
a combination that worked surprisingly
well. The pièce de resistance
was the braised belly of Wiltshire
pork (£13.95), meaty but
unctuous, set on a delicious grain
mustard mash with a scattering
of green beans and a tangy apple
sauce. By now we were tucking
into a bottle of Chateau St Quentin
2006, a very drinkable claret at £16
95.
Although we were
already enjoying ourselves, the
puddings (in spite of all the bread
we managed to devour earlier) lifted
the evening even higher as they
were really something to write
home about. The pastry chef is
Siobhan Baker and she is clearly
very talented. There was a caramel
apple brioche pudding that was
light and delicious and came with
cinnamon ice cream (£5.95).
The warm dark chocolate cake (£5.95)
is very rich and further enhanced
with black cherries and vanilla
marscapone. Siobhan’s sticky
toffee pudding would certainly
have had Delia Smith's mouth watering,
but her Tart Tatin of green figs
was an absolute triumph. Sitting
on a perfect circle of thin but
crisp pastry, the figs were simply
delicious, but the really clever
thing was the combination of a
sharply flavoured pear compote
and the crunchy nut texture of
the praline ice cream.
Surrey probably
suffers from being too close
to London where many of the keenest
restaurant goers work. It is
encouraging therefore, to note
the existence of another decent
restaurant where we have experienced
very good food and service. For
the record, this review was written
after our third visit to the
Talbot Inn.
The Talbot Inn
Ripley
Surrey
GU23 6BB
Tel: 01483 225188
info@thetalbotinn.com
www.thetalbotinn.com
Clifford
Mould, September 2007
