Dish name: Oxtail and kidney pudding with buttered cabbage.
Description: A wobbly, suet pastry dome filled with slow-cooked oxtail and kidney, and a dark, rich gravy. It was served with a separate white bowl of buttered cabbage.
where you will find it: Hind's Head, in Bray, Berkshire. The pub, which opened in September, has just been awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide to Great Britain & Ireland 2005.
Price: Priced at £14, it was one of seven main courses. Other choices included Lancashire hotpot, pork chop with pease pudding, Gloucester Old Spot sausages with mashed potatoes and onion gravy and rump steak with bone-marrow sauce and triple-cooked chips.
Why it's so good: This is the ultimate in traditional English comfort food. The suet pastry was surprisingly light and, once pierced with a fork, the gravy flooded out onto the plate. The slow-braised oxtail was so tender, it could have been eaten with a spoon and the accompanying buttered cabbage had retained its bite and was perfectly seasoned. A great winter warmer.
InventoR: Hind's Head owner, threeMichelin-starred superchef Heston Blumenthal, who also runs the world-famous Fat Duck restaurant three doors away. Blumenthal's aim with his first pub was to bring back traditional English dishes, using seasonal ingredients from local suppliers, many of whom also supply his acclaimed restaurant.
