The King's Arms
The King's Arms
Market Square
Stow-on-the-Wold
Gloucestershire
England
Tel: +44 (0)1451 830364
Web: www.kingsarmsstowonthewold.co.uk (www.greenekinginns.co.uk/gloucestershire/inn_01/index.htm)
Serves lunch and dinner Monday to Sunday lunch; bookings accepted (dining room only); children welcome.
Peter Robinson, the chef-owner here, has a pretty stellar cv. He worked at Bibendum and Stephen Bull in London, then the eminently classy seaside hotel, The Tresanton in Cornwall, before winding up in this refurbished pub in Gloucestershire.
Peter’s culinary hero is Alice Waters, the mother of modern Californian cooking. When he feels down, he goes back to the introduction to Waters’ first book, The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook, to remind himself that it’s the flavour of good ingredients and the basic cooking skills employed to bring that out which are important.
The word ‘simple’ crops up a lot in The Gastropub Cookbook, but Peter’s cooking style is simpler than simple; it is so pared down that it could almost be described as elemental. He does practically nothing with ingredients except cook them. You will get eight fat, sweet langoustines with a dollop of basil mayonnaise and half a lemon; cured salmon with a soft boiled egg and a caper salad; warm, pink duck breast with a green olive relish and a handful of dressed rocket.
With dishes like these, there are no tricks to hide behind. It is the kind of cooking that helps you to understand what the word ‘taste’ really means. And if the food alone isn’t enough to entice you, it is served in two rustic but elegant rooms. Peter Robinson is an exceptional chef cooking in a lovely space. This place is worth queuing in the rain for.