The menu changes daily and on the friday night we went there was plenty to choose from:
10 starters (1 vegetarian), 10 mains (3 vegetarian) and 6 deserts (including a cheese board).
For starters we shared a baked camembert, studded with rosemary and garlic which came with apple chutney and two slices of bread and salad garnish. It was lovely but the garlic was on the raw side and we certainly could have used a bit more bread, the 2 small slices it was served with didn't stand the chance of bearing half a camembert each! No matter though, a large cheese to bread ratio never phased us...
For main course my Boy had Lamb Rump with fruity Cous Cous and Tapenade, which he said was "beautiful, the lamb was tender and the cous cous had a thick clumpy quality as if it had been roasted". I opted for the Pigeon wrapped in bacon with creamy polenta with peas and rocket. My dish was super rich (I hadn't realised how rich until I had some of the Lamb and it seemed almost tasteless in comparison) and delicious and a real treat for dining out; I tried to select something I wouldn't cook for myself. The peas in the polenta were an unusual choice but counter-balanced the butteriness perfectly.
We waited a while before having pudding but I couldn't resist the Chocolate Brownie. I had been warned by what I considered to be a reliable source that the puddings were not The Punters strong point but they must have upped their game. The Brownie was gorgeous: it was served warm (it reminded me of a steamed sponge pudding but much more stodgy as all good brownies should be) with a giant curl of vanilla ice cream and a hot burnt sugar fudge sauce. Although it stealthily contained Hazlenuts they were whole and therefore easy to pick out and made my Boy feel like he was doing me a favour eating it...
I would definitely recommend The Punter and would love to go again to try more of the dishes, the food was lovely, the prices very reasonable and the atmosphere before 10pm was very relaxing - we were seated in a romantic little nook with high backed arm chairs. The only downside was due to it being a very popular town centre pub that on the friday night we went it got very loud and busy around 10pm.
