Our Autumn Menu Is Here

Autumn in a country pub is less about anything new and more about what returns. Coats go back on the hooks, the lanes around Wickham turn gold and muddy in equal measure, and appetites shift towards the kind of food you want to take your time over. Duncan’s autumn menu is built for exactly that.

It starts as the best evenings do, in the middle of the table. A honey and chilli baked camembert arrives with toasted sourdough, olives and onion chutney, and if you’re settling in for the night, it’s worth adding the board of coppa, prosciutto and salame alongside. If you’d rather begin lightly, there’s lemon and pink pepper whitebait, or a soup of the day with warm artisan bread for anyone who’s come in from a walk with cold hands.

Then there’s the dish that tells you the season has properly turned. The suet pudding is back. A rich, slow-cooked filling sealed in soft suet pastry, served with thick cut chips, skinny fries or mash. It’s the kind of cooking that has quietly gone missing from a lot of pubs, and exactly the kind Duncan believes belongs on ours. If you’re more of a crust person, the shortcrust pie of the day sits right beside it, changing with whatever the kitchen has to hand.

Before you order, though, look up at the specials board. It changes with the week, but there is always a fish special, and the story behind it starts long before you sit down. Our fish comes from Flying Fish Seafoods in Cornwall, where buyers are on the quayside at dawn choosing the best of the day’s catch. It’s prepared through the day, driven up overnight, and lands in our kitchen in time for service. A day or so after leaving the boat, it’s on your plate in West Berkshire.

The rest of the menu keeps one foot in the familiar. The inside out chicken Kyiv comes with house slaw and a generous lick of garlic butter. The mushroom linguine is creamy with crème fraîche and lifted with lemon zest and the 10oz dry aged rump steak arrives with chunky chips, grilled mushroom and tomato. Everything is made from scratch, so we can talk you through any allergy or dietary need before you order. Just ask.

And this autumn, there’s something new on the bar. Wickham Ales has teamed up with Will Twomey of Field + Theory Brewing Co. to create Best in Theory, which has taken the place of our house ale for now. Will has spent decades in brewing and hospitality, and his beers are made for exactly what a pub like ours does best: long, unhurried evenings around a shared table. It’s poured alongside our rotating guest ales from local breweries, and it tastes best with a seat near the fire.

So settle down, order something that takes a little time for perfection, and let autumn get on with itself outside.