Superb evening of food and drink

THE WHITE HART

High St, Wroughton, Swindon SN4 9JX

Tel: 01793 812436

whitehartwroughton.co.uk

Parking: Yes

Disabled access: Yes

Adver ratings:

Food: 9/10

Choice: 8/10

Decor: 7/10

Customer service: 9/10

Main course prices: £8.95 to £11.50

TripAdvisor rating: 4.5

"CAN we get the bill please?" I asked, and our lovely little waitress was quick to return, placing it in front of us with a smile.

My partner and I looked down, then looked up at one another in alarm... then down again just to double-check.

Not that the bill itself was anything to be alarmed about - a perfectly reasonable £45 for what had been a perfectly lovely meal. No, what caused us to stop in our tracks was much more troubling than mere money; something far more likely to start a fight.

On the plate before us was one mint chocolate. Yes, just the {itals} one {itals}mint chocolate. Between two people. It was a disaster.

I checked the floor in case the other one had dropped off the plate. I turned the plate upside down - maybe I'd just missed it. I seriously thought about checking under my partner's mouth he'd managed to swipe it without me noticing, but he'd have needed the sleight of hand skills of David Copperfield to get that one past me.

And so, with a fit of the giggles brought on by the ridiculousness of it all (not to mention our own ridiculously British inability to ask for a second one), we took the only course of action possible to us: Ip, dip, sky blue, who's it?... and he got the mint. And then, in the true spirit of romance, bit it in half and shared anyway. Awww...

I really shouldn't dwell too much on the mystery of the missing mint, because it was, in fact, the only thing that was slightly awry in what had been a superb evening of food and drink. Whoever is doing the cooking at The White Hart clearly knows their stuff. Every dish we were served up was fresh and homemade and wonderfully tasty. And all for around the £10 mark - other pubs take note.

You can't really miss the place as you drive through Wroughton, thanks to the breath-taking display of colourful hanging baskets decorating the building. It had been a scorcher of a day but sadly we arrived too late to sit among the flowers in the pub garden - the sun was setting and making way for some great British drizzle so we ventured inside instead.

The interior is a bit of a mish-mash, with no real style to speak of. Pale green wood panelling, some pine tables and chairs and a bit of exposed brickwork make for an unpretentious interior; certainly not unpleasant, but not really noteworthy either.

But what the pub lacks in style it makes up for in substance. The choice on the menu isn't huge but it is hugely appealing - of the 10 main courses, there was only one I wouldn't have ordered, and my partner (usually fussier than me) said the same.

For starters I went for a stuffed Portobello mushroom, filled with halloumi cheese, roasted red pepper and a balsamic glaze (£5.50). Having just returned from a holiday in Cyprus, I've rekindled my love of the salty squeakiness of halloumi, and combined with the earthy mushroom and sweet roasted pepper, it was match made in heaven.

My partner chose chicken tikka skewers with raita (£5.95) and also loved his choice. Kebab meat can often dry out and stick to the skewers, but this spicy chicken was so moist it slid easily off the stick and into his mouth. The fiery tikka spices were perfectly cooled by a generous portion of cucumber and mint dip.

There are a selection of platters on the menu - usually a big winner with me - but after a lot of umming and ahhing I decided against the fish platter of salt and pepper squid, potted crab, fish goujons and smoked salmon (£11.50) and stuck to my vegetarian theme with a brie and beetroot tart with new potatoes and salad (£10.50).

And wow, what a tart it was; big enough for two, the crumbly herb pastry was clearly homemade and the filling just incredible, full of gooey, creamy brie with a caramelised, jammy ring of beetroot in the centre. I gobbled it so quickly I blistered the entire roof of my mouth (ouch!) but it was actually worth the pain.

The meat-eater was also sticking to his theme, ordering a bacon and cheese burger in a toasted pretzel bun (£10.50). The burger stack was so tall it needed a skewer to hold it together, which also doubled as a handy hoopla post for the onion rings. Dripping in melted cheese, the thick patty of meat oozed its juices enticingly, and well and truly enticed he was for the next 10 minutes at least, what with chips and tomatoes to demolish too.

Needless to say we declined desserts (all £5.50), in the knowledge that the obligatory chocolates would arrive with the bill...

Oh well, a double cheese feast for me and half a butcher's shop for him was probably quite enough for anyone.