Review: The Village Gate, Wendover, Bucks
I’ve driven past this pub a million times in my lifetime, but it wasn’t until English Dad and the brevren popped in one lunchtime when I was in Dubai that we discovered what a little gem it is. They kept promising to take me and then, finally, when our anniversary came round and we were thinking of somewhere to go for a bit of a celebration, we remembered the Village Gate.
I was seriously impressed. The main dining room is really nice – light and airy with lovely high ceilings, but with a bit of a gentleman’s club vibe about it too:
The menu is compact, but perfect – we had trouble ordering as we couldn’t choose - and they catered incredibly well for the small fussy one who wanted ‘a burger with no salad and no sauce’. In fact, our waitress absolutely made our evening: she was attentive, funny and nothing was too much trouble. We fancied a bit of fizz to celebrate our special occasion and were recommended several affordable options before settling on a lovely sparkling rosé (again, forgot to note the name – slapped wrists!).
My red mullet was absolutely gorgeous, moist and delicate. The prawn risotto cake, although slightly odd sounding, was deliciously crispy on the outside and soft and creamy in the middle and the surrounding sauce was really nicely flavoured:
I also pinched quite a few of these little beauties:
Even though we were stuffed, there was a lovely plum dessert screaming out to be ordered (can’t remember what it was called now, but it was beautiful), and after a small glass of Taylor’s each you could have rolled us out like Violet Beauregarde.
All in all, The Village Gate delivers tasty, creative food without the ponciness or inflated prices of some of our local ‘gastropubs’. Add to that the friendly service and beautiful location and you’re on to a winner. We’ll be back.
The Village Gate, Wendover – tel: 01296 623884
