The Old Drum, Petersfield

The Shires can prove difficult sometimes for securing a good quality meal in warm and inviting surroundings. Think of poor 'Withnail and I' when they venture out of London. I don't think Petersfield has necessarily been known for its culinary offerings, perhaps for selling local organic produce, but definitely not for any gastronomical eateries.


So it was with suprise and glee that Gipsy Spread I had popped into the Old Drum for a quick afternoon libation whilst visiting Mother in law Spread this summer. I had been very taken with the local Champagne Cyder and we had noted that the menu looked interesting. It was with this in mind that we returned this Saturday to take Mother in law Spread out for her birthday meal.


We arrived at the Old Drum having shared a couple of bottles of Champagne at the house and having done the exchanging of the gifts for Mother in law Spread and Brother in law Spread, who's birthday it had also been this week. We arrived in a merry mood to find the table reservation as planned in my name. We sat down and took in the real fire and cosy atmosphere of the space. It all started really well. 


Mother in law Spread was keen to order as she normally eats much earlier than 8pm. When we asked for the food menu and said we'd order the drinks at the same time, we were told that as our table was booked for 8pm, we could not order before then. However, we were also told this twice after it had turn 8pm (we were only 5-10 minutes early).

 



The menu is extensive enough if you are not vegetarian. I had thought there might be a couple of vegetarian starter options I could supplement with sides if I didn't fancy the vegetarian main. The starters were just starters really. So, I was left with the main of... you guessed it, a risotto. My pet hate as at best it shows that the chef is complacent about vegetarianism and at worst lazy or indignant. On this occassion however, I opted for this as it was a pearl barley risotto supplemented with chevre fritters and a beetroot fondant.


Before the main courses, the extensive and generous bread basket arrived with rapeseed oil. This was tasty enough, however the bread was all quite heavy and dense and the flavours were not always distinguishable between the breads.

We nibbled on regardless until the arrival of the mains. First up was mine, I was happily surprised on this occassion with my risotto. This might be though because I was starting with particularly low expectations. It was the chevres fritter and beetroot fondant that intially drew me that were the most delicious and were excellently supplemented with nutty pistachios and chanterelle mushrooms. It has to be said, that without a doubt, the food looked beautiful. Brother in law Spread said it was the best looking 'Masterchef' type plate of food he'd eaten in a while.

 

Brother in law Spread (the advocate of raw food and vegetarianism) opted for the pork on this occassion. He was thoroughly happy with his choice and I observed Gipsy Spread sampling the pork that he sliced through like butter.

Gipsy Spread had the lamb with dauphinois potatoes, which included lamb breast(?). Yes, this was enquired after. He did enjoy his lamb, however, as can be seen from the photo below, the lamb was almost too rare, looking like it should be slicedmore thinly and served as a carpaccio.

Mother in law and Sister in law Spread both opted for the brill and monkfish stew. This was a £17.50 dish which proved a disappointment to those sampling it. In particular, the plate was cold and therefore the stew became cold very quickly, possibly on it's way from the pass. The pub was very busy and a spoon was not provided to sample the flavours in the stew until it was cold (and requested by us) and therefore the flavours had been lacking. Never one to hold back, Mother in law Spread mentioned this to the staff. She was offered a coffee from the house. Not being a coffee drinker, she suggested they might give her a small glass of wine on the house.

The glass of wine arrived and was split between the fish stew takers. There were also only two of the party who wanted dessert (yes, you guessed it, Gipsy Spread was one). These were ordered as we were having a good time and I think we all thought that was the end of 'fish gate'.

Gipsy Spread opted for the pistachio tiramasu (with a little encouragement from me) and Sister in law Spread went for the chocolate fondant. I'm not going to spend too much time on these, other than to say, the fondant was better than the tiramasu. The deconstruction did not work for us.

 

Well, all in all, we had enjoyed the company and the space was warm and quaint. The food was hit and miss in reality, but we could almost forgive the cold fish stew on a busy Saturday evening. We were ready to head out into the cold brisk Petersfield evening and walk back home. We asked for the bill and received that pretty swiftly!

 

 

I was the first to look at it and checked that everything we had ordered was indeed on the bill (and nothing else). However, I was surprised that for the five of us it was £250. We had only had one bottle of wine between us and we didn't all have two courses. Regardless, being a Londoner, £50 a head is often a bargain. So we were all preparing to pay this when Brother in law Spread took a closer look at the prices and identified a MASSIVE error. My main course which should have been billed at £12.50, had been added to the bill as £125!? How does this even happen when tills are electronic these days?

 

 

We notified the staff who quickly resolved this, but we were all however taken aback and still reeling that we could have quite easily overpaid an extra £112.50 on our bill.

 

 

The Old Drum, tries to deliver a fine dining menu in lovely surroundings - the usual gastropub model. Unfortunately for us, on Saturday night when we arrived, it had promised a lot on which it did not deliver. This was very disappointing, especially for Mother in law Spread as it was meant to be her birthday treat.