The Pot Kiln is a country inn that lifts the bar for pub food. To get there, you drive down curly Berkshire lanes that go from thin to thinner, leafy to yet leafier. The lady on the phone gave good directions: Hermitage, then Yattendon, turn right at The Fox, follow for Frilsham. When the road's only a dirt track, you're there.
And here I am. There are cows on the hoof and a kestrel on a fence. The land round here is populated by farmers, fishers and shooting parties, and chef-patron Mike Robinson makes excellent use of their produce, all of which appears on the menu, which itself changes every day.
He is a media savvy chap who's turned the running of this place into a soup opera on UKTV; last week, he was even on The F Word, fishing for crayfish with His Gordonness. While Mike plans a chef's school, his oppo Tom runs the kitchen.
The Pot Kiln isn't really beautiful from the outside, being more of an up-and-down utilitarian kind of place, but step under the worn-out sign and over the threshold and you know that something good's going on. The snug is full of folk eating doorstep sandwiches of fresh bread filled with breaded ham and pommery mustard, or salt beef and own-made mayo. The bar offers beers from West Berkshire Brewery, whose premises are round the back behind the kitchen garden.
A half-pint of Brick Kiln (delightfully hoppy and quenching) and a stoop through the door and I'm in the dining room, ordering wood pigeon and sea bream. I'd hoped for some of the crayfish that Mike famously lifts from the River Leckford, but am told that a poacher (we know which restaurateur he is, they mutter, darkly) has half-inched them over the weekend. I would have ordered the pedigree saddleback pork chop with sage jus, but remember that I have friends who look like pigs. And that some of the best of them are jus.
Wonderful bread is offered and my wood pigeon starter arrives, surrounded by nuggets of local bacon and black pudding and squiggles of something orange. I'm told that the pigeons were shot the day before yesterday over yon. I'm glad they were - they taste great. My bream is perfectly executed.
Mike Robinson arrives with a mate who's wearing professional-type wellies. They clutch a Homebase bag in which are loads of massive black truffles they've just dug up in Wiltshire. He talks about bacon from here (points), game from there (points) and fresh veggies from the garden. He's truly a local hero. His food's not cheap, mind, but the quality's top-notch.
· The Pot Kiln, Frilsham, nr Yattendon, Berks (01635 201366, potkiln.co.uk).
