Elegant Swan
12.01.12
With an ex-River Cottage team behind it its no wonder The Swan is being welcomed with open arms by locals in West Somerset.
The great thing about restaurants that care about quality food and provenance is that their chefs leave to start up new establishments. They then, hopefully, take their ethics with them, creating yet more top notch restaurants that serve good local and seasonal ingredients.
Tom Blake, an ex-River Cottage chef is at the helm of the kitchen at The Swan, Wedmore, and it shows in the locally sourced menu. The Swan is the first venture from a new pub company, and it’s set in the village of Wedmore, nine miles west of Glastonbury and in a part of Somerset that could do with a decent pub.
An old 18th century inn situated in the heart of the village, the building has been completely gutted and beautifully refurbished by its new owners. Stepping into the front room on a chilly grey Tuesday lunchtime in November, a warm bar area welcomes us with a roaring log fire and flickering candles on the tables. The décor is familiar; Farrow and Ball muted greys on the walls, polished wooden floors, mismatched old wooden chairs and tables and antique mirrors on the walls. Pewter jugs sit on the tables holding chunky cutlery, and Persian rugs are scattered on the slate floor at the back of the bar. It’s classy and soothing and it’s familiar because it works, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. A pile of newspapers wait to be read in a basket by the fire and a row of antique cake stands sit on a long wooden table.
Peering behind the bar, there’s a good selection of local ales and ciders to sample, and decent soft drinks too – it’s always a good sign to find Luscombe drinks behind the bar of a pub.
The menu at The Swan changes daily and declares, “our mantra is local and seasonal.” This set me to wondering what mantra actually means. A quick Google search later discovers that it means ‘a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation, or a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer such as an invocation of a god’. This caused much amusement while we imagined everyone in the kitchen repeating mantras while they cook, trying to sum up the god of local and seasonal.
Joking aside, the sourcing here is admirably local, and is listed at the bottom of the menu. Organic beef is from The Story Group up the road, all fish comes from British waters and is supplied by Samways, a family business in Bridport who commit to a 24-hours ‘port-to-plate’ policy. Yoghurts are from Brown Cow Organics in Pilton and ice cream is from Mendip Moments – both of whom are just up the road. It’s lucky to have such good neighbours when you’re trying to source locally, you’d be in a bit of trouble if you put your pub somewhere less plentiful.
There is a restaurant out the back and on a Tuesday lunchtime in November, it’s busy. A wooden board arrives with bread freshly baked on the premises, and little dishes of butter, olive oil and dukkah. It’s quite surprising to find a Middle Eastern hazelnut spice mix on your table in a Somerset village pub, but why not I suppose? It was certainly very tasty.
A starter of devilled mushrooms on toast was creamy and spicy and warm, and sat on top of a slice of the kitchen’s toasted handmade bread. It was a great starter to have on a chilly autumn day, sitting by a log fire. Our second starter of roasted butternut squash with English mozzarella salad and green herb dressing was dainty and full of autumnal colours – deep orange pumpkin contrasting with creamy white mozzarella, dotted with a rich green herby sauce and wisps of purple salad leaves. It was just what I felt like eating.
Read the full review in Issue 21 of Fork Magazine: http://www.forkmagazine.com/subscribe.php
