06 Jun 10 Jockey Inn, Baughton, Worcestershire – very disappointing

Yesterday Carolyn and I palmed the kids off on a sleepover with friends and in celebration of Carolyn’s birthday booked a table at The Jockey Inn at Baughton, near Earls Croombe In Worcestershire.

We last went there about eight years ago when our eldest son was about a month old in a carry-cot. While we ate, he spent the evening asleep on a spare table. I remember, it was very good. Since then, the pressure of children, money, and time means that Carolyn and I have probably been out, by ourselves, less than once a year.

So with this in mind, we thought – ‘night off, lets have a good meal, don’t want to travel a long way – lets go three miles down the lanes to The Jockey at Baughton’. What a disappointment!

We had booked the table the day before. But we seemed to be met with a hint of surprise once we got there. Still, no problem, there was a table and in fairness, the place was pretty busy. We wanted to order drinks, but no one wanted to take our order. Again, one of The Jockey’s virtues is its bijou cosiness and with a couple locals camped out at the small bar, it is difficult to get your message through.

So we took our seats and studied the blackboards and ordered food. In my case a mozzarella and tomato starter, followed by a rump steak and side salad. Carolyn went for the pork stoganoff; at least she did once we had explained to the waitress what stroganoff was.

And then it arrived. If you have ever wondered what it is like to have your taste buds removed, I suggest you go to the Jockey and order this selection. I genuinely mean it. There was not a hint of taste in the entire meal. The mozzarella and tomatoes formed perhaps the worst of it. It was devoid of any taste at all – it was just stuff. If I had been blindfolded, from the texture, I would has guessed it was industrial residue and jelly. I know that mozzarella can be a bit like that, but you might normally expect a dressing of oil and balsamic vinegar with a few herbs to tease out the flavour. But not at the Jockey – just beef tomatoes and white lumps and no taste in any of it at all. There was some rather insipid oil on the table – not the rich golden / green  colour of extra virgin olive oil, but the wee colour you get from catering packs of cheap olive oil of the non extra virgin variety. No black pepper, just the standard chip shop collection; salt and grey pepper, some acrid malt vinegar plus the cheap olive oil. I experimented with combinations of the available seasoning, but it was not possible to find any taste in the dish.

The Steak and Chips showed up. The chips were oven chips and devoid of taste again. I had really thought that a decent restaurant would either have made their own. You know – cut up potatoes and use one of those chip fryer gizmos. It’s easy. Or I would have been happy some really good ready made chips. But at the Jockey you get really cheap catering pack stuff that you might expect to get from burger vans.

The steak was cooked properly for Medium Rare. The texture was okay, the cut had a bit of stringy fat running through it, but within the bounds of acceptable. It was tender and cooked properly. But there was again barely a hint of taste. I asked for some mustard and pepped it up that way, but it was a very poor meal. The side salad turned up a little late and was more kitchen temperature than fridge temperature. It had all the right stuff in it. it looked quite nice, but warm salad tends to droop when you pick it up and is not something you want to put in your mouth.

I kept waiting for someone to ask “Is everything alright?” or “Are you enjoying it?”. I had mentally prepared the words – roughly to say “I have a little feedback, please take it the right way. We found the food a little lacking in flavour. I think some of the ingredients are not as good as other restaurants in the area and the food preparation feels a little slap-dash.” I wouldn’t have had a rant – I am typically English and I get embarrassed when I want to complain.

In addition, no one offered us a wine list. No one thought to ask us if we would like water, no one really seemed to care very much at all.

By the time we had asked for a wine list, we had decided to skip a desert, finish and go home as quickly as possible. So the entire evening was over before 9.00pm. We had envisaged it might have extended from 8.00pm until about 10.00pm with maybe a twenty minute expedition to the bar for a brandy at the bar .

The two starters and two main courses cost under £50 (obviously with wine it would have been more). On the face of it, that seems cheap. The trouble is, it tasted cheap, the service felt cheap and it was, as I said, a disappointment.