Despite the sunshine, I was glad to finally be inside a restaurant again - not eating al fresco under a pub garden tarpaulin.
My venue for the evening was Wallingford’s newest charming little neighbourhood bar and restaurant, Five Little Pigs.
On a Wednesday evening I expected it to be quiet - but I was met with a bustling restaurant. It almost felt like life before Covid, despite the clear screens dividing each table.
Carnivores will appreciate the menu. Picture: Rebecca Whittaker
Inside, the restaurant had a modern art deco feel with pig-themed paper clips holding the menus together, and even a small pig sitting on the bar as a nod to the name.
Speaking of, the name was inspired by the Agatha Christie novel - and it also represents the founding members of the restaurant.
The restaurant prides itself on being sustainable. They source locally produced food and drinks and say they have set themselves the ambitious goal of sourcing 70 per cent of their menu from within 15 miles of the restaurant’s front door.
Two of the restaurant's founding members own The Keep gin and craft beer bar, which opened in 2016 and has since become an off-licence to keep business running throughout the pandemic.
A range of starters. Picture: Rebecca Whittaker
Five Little Pig’s drinks menu offers The Keep’s ‘Albino Flamingo’ gin, flavoured with pink ingredients such as pink grapefruit, pink lady apples and pink peppercorns: the only thing not pink about it is the colour.
Although it is a meat-heavy menu - which should come as no surprise considering the name Five Little pigs - the restaurant does still have some delicious looking vegetarian and vegan options.
As we settled in, we tucked into some pork belly scratchings served with chilli and banana jam.
Although scratchings are not my usual choice of bar snack, the sweet jam really made the dish pop.
The skinny fries lived up to their name. Picture: Rebecca Whittaker
To start, we ordered pig cheek and Witheridge bon bons and Albino Flamingo gin-cured rainbow trout with caraway soda bread and yoghurt.
Both starters were beautifully presented, topped with edible flowers and capers and most importantly they were delicious.
For our mains we devoured a confit pork belly with pickled fennel on a bed of warm borlotti beans, and a bone-in chicken kiev with wild garlic butter Jerseys and The Clays salad.
The portions were generous, but we still polished off our plates.
We also decided to order a side of shoestring fries seasoned with rosemary salt.
These fries certainly were skinny and are far from a chunky chip as they are fried until fully crispy.
With just about enough room left, our eyes turned to the dessert menu. We ordered a warm St. Clement’s cake with sweet mascarpone and negroni syrup and a house donut with rhubarb jam and dipping sugar. This place is perfect for your first inside dining date night.
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