Crispy Ham Hock

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have also stayed at.  The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel bit is now a new build at the back.

When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities. 

For my starter I went with the Crispy Ham Hock with pickled cucumber & apple salad and tarragon & mustard mayonnaise.

I have to say I wasn’t sure what to expect from the dish, but was still not that impressed with what arrived at the table.

Crispy Ham Hock

The dish comprised three ham hock, probably best described as, patties, which had been breadcrumbed and deep fried. This was served with a slice of cucumber, some apple sticks, and tarragon & mustard mayonnaise.

Well it has to be said if I wasn’t impressed with the way the dish looked, the taste of the dish wasn’t much better. I struggled to taste the ham hock, and the cucumber & apple salad didn’t add much to the experience.

Overall it was a disappointing dish, and not one I would order again.

Nice steak

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have also stayed at.  The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel bit is now a new build at the back.

When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities. 

I had stayed here before, and on that visit I had the starter of Owton’s dry-aged skirt steak back then.

The steak was lovely and tender and the chargrilling added flavour and texture to the surface of the cut of meat. The pecorino  and salsa verde added some nice saltiness to the dish. The accompanying pea shoots gave the dish a little bit of freshness.

I have to say I enjoyed the starter so much that on the following night I had it again! 

They have changed the menu since then and sadly the skirt steak is no longer on the menu.

On the mains though was a Owton’s Dry-Aged 6oz Fillet Steak with dauphinoise potatoes, wilted spinach and peppercorn sauce. I had steak at the Drayton Court and though once I wasn’t too impressed, on other occasions the steak was really nice.

My steak arrived, I did feel though that this was somewhat a small dish. Not that I wanted a huge plate of food, but if you were expecting a decent sized plate of food for dinner, I think you would feel a little disappointed.

Steak

The steak itself though was quite large (for fillet steak), but the dauphinoise potatoes seemed lost under the steak and watercress garnish. The steak was sitting on some wilted spinach and there was a micro saucepan of peppercorn sauce. The sauce came with the dish and wasn’t a paid for extra.

I felt it was a little heavy on the chargrilling, almost burnt and bitter in places. However, the steak itself was delicious, it was very tender.

The dauphinoise potatoes were nice and creamy, and I enjoyed the sauce and wilted spinach.

Overall it was a really nice plate of food, and would be something I would have again.

Pan-roasted lamb at the Fox and Goose

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities. 

Looking over the menu there was a lamb dish, pan-roasted Dorset texel rack of lamb with pine nut pesto crust, Jersey Royal potatoes, crushed minted peas and anchovy & caper butter.

I did like the sound of that, so I ordered it.

pan-roasted Dorset texel rack of lamb with pine nut pesto crust, Jersey Royal potatoes, crushed minted peas and anchovy & caper butter

The dish a bit of a mix of good and not so good. The lamb was lovely and tender and had a great flavour. I wasn’t enamoured with the pine nut pesto crust, which I think could have had a stronger flavour and a firmer crust. I enjoyed the Jersey Royal potatoes and the peas. I wasn’t sure about the anchovy & caper butter, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.

Overall it was a nice dish and I enjoyed it. It’s not the best lamb dish I have had, but it was a good plate of food.

I fancied the idea of fish and chips

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities. 

That evening I really fancied the idea of fish and chips after my excellent steak starter.

The menu described this as Fuller’s Frontier battered haddock, triple cooked chips, crushed minted peas, tartare sauce, lemon.

The plate had a large portion of fish, the batter was nice and crisp and it was cooked well. I quite enjoy the crushed minted peas and it was a nice accompaniment to the dish.

Well, I was looking forward to the triple cooked chips, but what I got was fries. They were nice, but they weren’t triple cooked chips! Sometimes when I order a dish I want fries, but other times I want triple cooked chips. Having said that, these were nice fries.

Overall a great plate of food and filled that craving for fish and chips.

Breakfast once more at the Fox and Goose

I was in London and staying again at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. 

On my last visit there I had a great breakfast and some good coffee. So I was expecting another great breakfast and the good coffee.

The breakfast was superb. It consisted of pork sausage, Mrs Owton’s bacon, Hampshire black pudding, grilled tomato & field mushroom, hash brown, Heinz baked beans, and two poached eggs. 

Alas the coffee machines were broken, so they had to revert to standard breakfast coffee, which was disappointing. Well the breakfast was excellent.

Starting at the Fox and Goose

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities. 

I really liked the sound of the seared Owton’s dry-aged skirt steak with salsa verde and pecorino for my starter, so I ordered it.

Owton's dry-aged skirt steak with salsa verde and pecorino

The steak was lovely and tender and the chargrilling added flavour and texture to the surface of the cut of meat. The pecorino  and salsa verde added some nice saltiness to the dish. The accompanying pea shoots gave the dish a little bit of freshness.

I have to say I enjoyed the starter so much that on the following night I had it again!

Owton's dry-aged skirt steak with salsa verde and pecorino

Once more a delicious starter which I really enjoyed. It was less chargrilled than the previous evening.

Breakfast at the Fox and Goose

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had an excellent breakfast.

The breakfast plate was beautifully presented. The three rashers of bacon were cooked to my liking, not overdone, full of flavour. I enjoyed the sausage and the black pudding. The poached eggs were perfectly cooked, and had runny yolks. The field mushroom was delicious, though I would have liked my tomato a little more cooked. The beans and hash brown were nothing to write home about, but did help complete the breakfast plate. I really enjoyed the breakfast and is one of the best breakfasts I have had at a hotel. 

I did make one criticism of this otherwise excellent breakfast, which was about the coffee.

However one criticism, was the quality of the coffee, which was standard filter coffee, and not very good. 

I would have appreciated better coffee to go with such an excellent breakfast.

So when staying at the Fox and Goose, part of the same Fuller’s chain, I knew (and hoped) I would have a similar excellent breakfast.

Upon arriving in the breakfast room, I was given a warm welcome and shown to my table. I ordered the full English breakfast and they also cooked the toast, so no need to mess about with the breakfast room toaster that I normally have to contend with.

Coffee was from a machine, but was so much better than the filter coffee that was on offer at Drayton. I could have my morning double espresso.

I also had a nice pot of Greek yoghurt before the main event, and dressed with some honey, delicious.

The breakfast arrived and it consisted of pork sausage, Mrs Owton’s bacon, Hampshire black pudding, grilled tomato & field mushroom, hash brown, Heinz baked beans, and two poached eggs. 

Well as with Drayton Court, it was excellent. It was a great start to the day.