Here’s A Gastropub An Hour From London You Need To Visit
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26 mins ago
The Fox & Hounds, Hunsdon
Hunsdon is a Tudor village in Hertfordshire within easy reach of London. Its gastropub The Fox and Hounds has received praise from Michelin and Jay Rayner alike. Our reviewer, though, knew it well before visiting. Tessa Dunthorne revisits the superlative restaurant in the village in which she grew up.
Review: The Fox & Hounds, Hunsdon
I moved to Hunsdon, a village in Hertfordshire, in my teens. When you’re a teenager, a place like Hunsdon feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere. Of course, that’s youthful melodrama – it’s about an hour from central London. Nonetheless, you’d probably still be surprised to find it contains a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant with foodie fans including Jay Rayner.
When Bianca and James Rix opened the Fox & Hounds in 2004, they completely transformed the village dining scene. Hunsdon suddenly had options – it previously had a corner shop and a fish-and-chips type boozer – and, to boot, the enormous talents of a chef like James, who’d learned his craft under Gary Rhodes before heading up Tom Conran’s The Cow. It thrived; it survived Covid by opening a deli; it created a community hub. My own interest in food probably owes to the Fox & Hounds, Hunsdon.
The restaurant isn’t huge – with the deli outpost opened, half of its bar is dedicated to this Fox Shop, where you can pick up foccacia, marinated bits, tipples and frozen meals all handmade by the team. There is a back room, which is more formal, and which gets busy in the evenings and hosts larger groups. But the front room is cosy – this is where it’s really at.
This front room has the undeniable charm of a countryside pub: light spills in through sprawling windows, walked-out dogs spread out underfoot, and you’re tucked into rickety old tables and chairs by a roaring fire. You can pop out to a garden where, thanks to both industry trends and the vital importance of eating-local, you can spy the flowers, leeks, squash, etc., that’ll grace the menu in a few weeks’ time. (That’s not to say that the Fox has hopped on a trend; Bianca and James were doing seasonality way before it was cool. But the garden is new).
Look like a country pub though it may, the food is exceptional. This isn’t some steak-and-kidney offer – although, to be fair, I do get a beef pot pie for my main. But it’s not pub grub. It’s served up on a whopper board and could serve about three people; slow-cooked, its meat pulls apart at the fork and is obscenely rich. My starter is a cheese hazelnut soufflé which is more a vehicle for cream, wine and chives than anything else, and the herbs in this leave your mouth buzzing. This is French style drench-in-butter-and-hope-to-survive-the-meal cooking – in the best way possible.
I’d been nervous to return, in a way. You know those childhood meals you glorify? I had my first ‘proper’ steak here; I still recall its summer menu’s mango and crab soft shell tacos. But thank god – it’s as good as I remember. Which somehow makes it even better. At (over) 20 years old, Bianca and James have still got it nailed at the Fox & Hounds.
Do try: the flourless chocolate cake, which is served up with crème fraiche and Griottine cherries. I’m pretty sure it has been on the menu in some form since I was 14 years old, and for good reason.
