Review: The Wild Duck Inn

The Wild Duck Inn is tucked away in the leafy lanes of Ewen in the Cotswolds – all grey slates, slanted doorways and ancient oak beams.

Ducking our way into the dimly lit interior our party of three was shown to a table where we were offered water and bread without any sense that we were being a colossal inconvenience – this was an excellent sign.

The lunchtime menu seemed to focus on traditional British grub, but with a sideways slant – for example Duck Shepherd’s Pie.

We ordered Scotch egg, sausage roll and croquettes for starters. 

Now I appreciate a Scotch egg as much as the next punter – but this thing had been re-invented from the ground up. 

No orange breadcrumbs, grey ‘meat’ and rubbery egg here.. 

Making the first incision, runny yolk oozed out all over the place – I think I actually said ‘Wow!’ – I don’t normally talk to my food, it just happened.

The sausage roll also stretched the definition of the genre – with a thin crust of pasty wrapped around an amazing looking sausage the girth of a bottle of wine; and as for the croquetes they were a gloopy intense experience of cheesy pleasure, and there is no finer form of pleasure than that.  This was rapidly followed by the mains – I went for Chalk Stream trout with fennel, Jersey Royals and salsa verde. 

The others went for Pan fried calves liver with mashed potato, streaky bacon, sage and onion; and duck shepherds pie with spring greens and root vegetables.  

The trout was stunning, I don’t know if the fact that it had been hauled out of a chalk stream had any bearing on this or the fact that it had been expertly seared and boned so that the skin was crunchy and delicious. 

The faintly aniseed of the fennel and Jersey Royals shook hands with the salsa verde and the whole lot got on like a house on fire. 

As for the liver, my dining companion enthused: “Usually you get liver chopped, but this was the whole thing, cooked to perfection. It was a ‘proper bit of meat’ really tender and full of flavour, it was just a good solid piece of meat which I loved.”

And as for the duck shepherd’s pie?: “It was lovely and rich. It sounded stranger than it was. But it was really nice. 

The duck was tender and I would have it again, very homely and comforting. It was exactly what I would want on a menu in a British Pub. Completely filling and flavoursome.