Change for the better ...no porkies (From Swindon Advertiser)

Change for the better ...no porkies

5:44pm Friday 25th November 2011 in Reviews

EAT AT: The Pig On The Hill, 8 Devizes Road, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 4BH. Tel: 01793 979226

Food served: Monday to Saturday 11am to 9.30pm. Sunday noon to 6pm (bar snacks after 6pm)

MICHELLE TOMPKINS samples the menu at a pub known by many names

AS A Swindonian born and bred, I have seen the building which is now The Pig On The Hill go through numerous transformations.

When I first started drinking in Old Town, many moons ago, it was The Fountain, and not really my kind of place. It later became Cartoons (briefly), The Rock Garden, Hobgoblin and then The Pipers Arms, before it was boarded up and became an eyesore in an otherwise salubrious area of Old Town.

Then last summer, just in time for the World Cup, it was taken over and revamped as the oddly-named The Pig On The Hill, a title derived from the original name of our town, Swine Dun, meaning ‘hill that was a pasture for pigs’.

Historic though the name may be, the current incarnation is a modern, light and stripped back pub, increasingly becoming a foodie destination over a drinking hole – and if owner Chris O’Connell has anything to do with it, the dining side of the business will continue to grow.

“We are aiming for fine dining here, cooked by people with a passion for top quality ingredients that have been locally sourced,” he said.

“It’s taken us a while to decide which direction we are going in, but now that we know what works, we want to be the best in this area at what we do.”

Part of that ambitious plan has been to employ chef Luke Evans, who has been instrumental in both designing a new menu and creating The Dining Room, the pub’s new bistro style dining area on the first floor, which is also available to hire.

He speaks passionately about the “beautiful” cuts of meat he has sourced for the grill menu and the “superb” cheeses from Cirencester; “some of the best in the whole of the UK”.

And, certainly, that quality was evident in the food we chose when we visited (uninvited) to eat there last week.

I chose asparagus with a fried duck egg and hollandaise sauce (£4.50) to start and it was an excellent choice. The crisp green asparagus, dribbled with vivid yellow yolk, looked as good as it tasted; proper comfort food for a drizzly November night.

My husband went for sautéed woodland mushrooms on toast (£4.50), which hit the spot too. The bread was thicker than we’d imagined and the mushrooms more lightly sautéed, but he loved the flavours and the dish set him up nicely for his main course steak.

Steaks are something of a speciality here, and his 8oz rump (£10.95) was cooked with due respect. Perfectly medium rare, it came laid on a board alongside chunky chips, a field mushoom, watercress and tomato compote. The presentation was amazing, and the flavours weren’t half bad too.

Incidentally, the 8oz rump is the cheapest of the steaks, but you can also treat yourself to a 16oz rib-eye at £16.95, a 16oz T-Bone at £19.95 or a magnificent 8oz fillet at £22.95. Accompaniments include mustard shallots at £2.50, scallops and brown butter at £7.95 and parsley and garlic butter at £1.95.

My choice was a seafood pie (£11.95), which promised smoked haddock, cod, salmon, mussels and scallops in a béchamel sauce, topped with creamy mash. I loved the mix of textures on the plate; the soft, succulent fish, the rich, creamy mash and the crisp sugar snap peas and asparagus on the side.

We didn’t have time for dessert but if we did I’d have gone for those Cirencester cheeses with chutney and celery (£8.95). Or maybe the Kentish strawberries with cream and Limoncello (£4.50). Or possibly the rhubarb and ginger syllabub (£3.95)... oh dear, just as well we had to leave.

Of all the changes this building has undergone over the years, this is the most dramatic – both in name and in nature. I hope the Pig continues to get fatter and fatter.