Roebuck

There’s a degree of accomplishment here that’s missing from many otherwise distinguished gastropubs. Perhaps the well-spaced chairs and tables to one side of the bar lend an air of Parisian-brasserie dignity that would be lost if the front sofas-and-slouching section extended further; perhaps it was just the combination of a leafy beer garden, a summer’s day and a zingy lemon and ginger mojito. Duck egg with brown shrimps, unadvertised but welcome capers, samphire and sourdough toast made a perfect starter, while the wonderfully textured main of plump orzotto (pear barley risotto), rendered an appetising green by its broad beans, only suffered from a degree too much parmesan. The menu is inventive – in the addition of slightly overpowering hazelnuts to asparagus with pea shoots, perhaps too much so – and due attention is given to details such as an excellent side of mash. The onglet could have been rarer, and offering a whole marrowbone to scrape out might be too much of a good thing, but the accompanying dressed parsley salad with thin rings of onion was superbly judged. Drinks on tap are also worth exploring: on this visit, Sharp’s summer pilsner flavoured with thyme.