The Fish Inn
Above: The Fish Inn in Ringwood
Above:
Some might say I’m a bit of an anomaly – I’m 26, female and a big fan of real ale. Hampshire is blessed with an increasing number of breweries, both large and micro, which means you can now enjoy a different beer for every week of the year. The downside to so much choice is that old favourites often get left behind.
When we arrived at The Fish Inn in Ringwood on a blustery Monday evening and discovered Ringwood Brewery’s 49er on tap, I just couldn’t resist a pint. It was like being welcomed back by an old friend, and I imagine that anyone that hasn’t been back to The Fish for a while would feel exactly the same way when they returned. The manager of 15 years left last spring, which for many pubs can spell the end. However, The Fish was lucky enough to fall into the capable hands of Mat and Missy who are keen to keep the tradition and ambience alive.
The Fish prides itself on providing informal everyday dining to adults old and young. The food is sensibly priced and hearty and not fiddled about with. You can roll up at any time of day and order sandwiches and snacks from the printed menu; and between noon and 2.30pm, and from 6pm onwards you can choose something more substantial from the blackboard.
A little test I always do in restaurants is to rub a corner of the writing on the board: if it doesn’t come off, you can bet the selection never changes, or worse that the board came free with the latest delivery of freezer-to-fryer meals. I’m happy to say that The Fish Inn didn’t fall into this category. The food is freshly prepared every day and if they run out of a particular dish, that’s it until they start again from scratch another day. That said, there is still a lot of choice – around 10 starters, 20-odd mains and 10 desserts.
The pricing is incredibly reasonable with starters ranging from £2.95 to £5.95, and most mains around the £9 mark. This is one place where your money goes on the food, not a ridiculously expensive refit and purple walls. And who needs it? The Fish, with its gnarled oak beams, open brickwork and fishing memorabilia is a refreshing return to a good old fashioned British pub.
Old favourites
The dishes on the blackboard are predominantly old favourites too – steak and Guinness pie, lasagne – with a few more modern additions such as the local New Forest barramundi with garlic butter. We decided to go for a mix of old and new: whitebait and tempura king prawns to start with, followed by gammon, egg and chips and whole sea bass with salsa verde.
Our starters arrived without delay, served with a smile (Mat and Missy also have a talent for employing lovely staff). The whitebait was speckled with the lightest coating of fresh breadcrumbs, while the prawns were skewered and encased in a superb chip shop batter – nothing to do with Japanese tempura, but none the worse for it.
Our main courses didn’t disappoint either – something as delicate as sea bass can be easily overcooked or left to dry out on the pass, but my fish was moist and tender all the way to the bone. The gammon was a generously sized steak, cut from a real ham, not one of those reformed jobs a lesser pub would try to pass off as gammon. The fried egg had a delightfully runny yolk and the chips were hot, crisp and golden, just as they should be.
The real stars of the evening though were the home-made desserts. I’m slightly obsessed with sticky toffee pudding and can rarely resist when I see it on a menu. This particular portion was spectacular – both in quality and quantity. Rich and dark and utterly naughty tasting. On the other side of the table a similarly gigantic helping of rhubarb crumble quickly disappeared without so much as an offered spoonful.
For approximately £22 a head we had enjoyed three courses of good home cooking and a well kept pint of local beer. If you haven’t been to The Fish for a while, or if like me it was you first visit, make sure you pop back soon.
The verdict
Service: 4 tars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Decoration: 3 stars
Food: 3 stars
Value for money: 5 stars
Book your table
The Fish Inn, The Bridges,
Ringwood BH24 2AA
Tel: 01425 473185
www.thefishinn.net