The Richmond Arms — Restaurant in Chichester

So it’s been a whole week since my 27th Birthday and so thought I should actually share the best pub food I’ve ever had with you. Set off the beaten track by a beautiful pond in West Ashling, Chichester sits The Richmond Arms. A locals bar and country kitchen serving locally sourced meats, seafood, game and vegetables in an innovative manner. The Sunday roasts cooked on our “Rotisserie” and meats/seafood grilled over local Wild Wood Charcoal, which I absolutely love!Decor was very well done, a folded piece of parchment with your table name on it and then next sittings time and name on there – telling you they will need the table back but in a really nice way.

The menu feels out of place (in a good way) in this country hide-away. I’ve heard people recommend the food and say,”It’s really good – you must go” and you go thinking it will be good – but WOW! Some of the items are executed beautifully and the flavours are sublime. We didn’t have starters as we were having the Sunday Roast and I wanted to make sure I could every last mouthful. But next time I will be going for the Hot and runny venison Scotch egg, pickled hedge hogs (mushrooms!!).

Sunday Lunch – Rotisserie style, we had one Pork and two lamb and they were served up in a very ‘Jamie Oliver-esque’ way with the enamel plates and rustic vegetables all cooked to perfection and way better than you could make at home.

Then came the puddings, which were stunning! The liquorice ice-cream that came out was the most unusual thing I’ve ever tasted and it was an unusual way to try the flavour, but it wasn’t over-powering it was perfect.Blackberry steamed sponge with liquorice ice-cream, Hot plum clafoutis with vanilla ice-cream & Hot chocolate and banana spring roll with honeycomb biscuit and honeycomb ice-cream.

The winner was the blackberry sponge. Honeycomb ice-cream rolled in crunchy honeycomb was delicious though and the spring roll was good as was the clafoutis – although quite wet in the middle, which I like but mum wasn’t as keen.Big thumbs up for this local pub that I will no doubt be moving into the vicinity of in the next year and will become a permanent resident on table 2.

They also have rooms so if you’re planning a getaway you can’t ask for much more with friendly service, gorgeous food and an...

We were waiting in the dining room for the order to arrive having been told there was 'no outside service so find a seat inside', when an aggressive, oafish man entered and asked in a loud voice if we had been invited to join him and his family for lunch as he had no memory of it. Embarrassed, confused and flustered we got up immediately apologising, saying that we had not realised it was reserved as there was no sign. He continued to be rude and we looked for a member of staff to help us. A waitress appeared and asked what was 'going on?' I explained that there had been a misunderstanding, that the man had been embarrassingly rude and asked if she could direct us to other seats but she was hell bent on removing us from the dining room ASAP, repeating the phrase 'we have no tables, they're all booked' several times over even though we informed her that we had already ordered, paid and been instructed to find a seat. She ordered us outside impatiently, waving her hand., implying we were at fault. This felt like an addition of insult to injury, it was handled carelessly and badly by staff. The thoughtless waitress and the boorish bully managed to spoil what had otherwise been a...

The latest reincarnation of the Richmond Arms is superb. Before it felt like a restaurant that sold beer when what I wanted was a pub that sold food so I am glad to see the changes. Some clever redesign has converted the former skittle alley into a bar area and the remaining area now fully utilised as the restaurant. The ambience, service and food could not be faulted with an imaginative if rather limited food selection. Our party had confit duck, lamb shank, pan fried cod and smoked haddock kedgeree all with an adequate portion size. However, while I am happy to give a five star rating there are a couple of constructive comments to consider. 1) Why the need to purchase two additional vegetable side dishes to make a complete and balanced plate. Does it really cost £4 to add potatoes to a meal or is this just a ploy to make the main course appear cheaper on first inspection?? 2) How about adding a couple of lighter lunchtime choices e.g. salads, sharing boards, etc for those that do not want such a dinner style meal?? Congratulations on the changes made and despite a couple of niggles we...