The Boot Inn — Restaurant in Test Valley

Well well well what do we have here? A true gem of a countryside pub with a talented chef in the kitchen, creating exceptional dining experience. We were impressed with every aspect of our food. Had some duck croquettes for starters - great value for money to begin with, filled with plenty of juicy meat and served with an oriental twist. Guinea fowl leg cooked to tender perfection, appeared to have lemon juice injected into the meat. Perhaps meat was marinated in brine beforehand. Creamed cabbage served with al dente peas was truly impressive. Onion soup truly surprised us, it was thick and appeared to be baked in the oven with cheese topping. I respect the chef a lot for the attention to detail that is paid to both cooking quality as well as presentation. I’m still trying to figure out how to achieve an oval flattened baked potato, atop of which the fowl leg was resting when served. Potato variety was also picked not by coincidence in my opinion. I was under the impression that the chef overall has drawn some inspiration from French cuisine. With all this extraordinary starter and main meal experience, I must admit that the bread and butter dessert has room for improvement. There is a lot more that can be achieved in this dessert, with nutmeg, larger raisins and more sweetness. Apart from outstanding food, I was also mostly impressed with the staff and service they provided. We were welcomed warmly and seated as soon as we stepped inside. The dining room is cosy and stylish, nothing to add here. Please do yourself a favour and visit The Boot Inn for this fine dining experience, powered by a truly talented and passionate chef. Great work! I will visit again to taste other positions...

Visited today on the way back from Stockbridge first time and last time visit, the pub is nice enough looking, but not good food I had sausage and mash and seasonal veg, sausages cheap mash lumpy no real flavour, only two veg carrots and white cabbage both very hard, I only ate the two sausages because I was hungry, my partner had the pork belly bites only, a starter quite chewy and overcooked., I said to the young girl who came with the bill the mash was lumpy no flavour the veg is too hard, she could see I'd left all of it but didn't seem interested in whether we enjoyed it or not no smiles from the staff either, We eat at 1000 places all around the country £15.50 for sausage and mash is not overpriced if it's good quality, but the quality of that one not even worth...

Really disappointing visit today, having eaten here on numerous previous occasions. Beautiful weather so chose to sit in the garden but restricted to limited menu and collecting our meals ourselves from the bar. I do believe that when charging premium prices (£15 for a salad) you can expect your food to be brought to you. We had to move to the front, roadside eating area for dessert otherwise we were not allowed to order anything hot (health & safety - not allowed to carry hot food ourselves!) despite having been allowed to carry fish and chips to the garden.. The front seating area was full of smokers. The desserts were not at the standard I would expect. Such a shame that we will not be returning until we hear that the previous high standards of service and quality...