The Good Intent, Puttenham

Date of visit:   Saturday 6th May

Guest reviewer  Tim Merricks

The reason for choosing The Good Intent was that it performs very well as a traditional country pub - unspoiled, simple and welcoming to locals and visitors alike. As a rule, this would reflect in the food - hearty, straight-forward staples. To an extent, this was true.

Having booked a table for 8.00PM, we arrived and had a pleasant drink at the bar (Timothy Taylor's Landlord), we were pointed towards the dining area - effectively an extension of the bar, which only had one occupied table. So took our choice of table and waited to be served. It was a long wait - we had failed to notice a sign requesting that we order at the bar. The barman came over anyway and took our order - there was only one steak on the menu, rib-eye (8 oz at a guess), so choosing was easy; 3 medium rare, one rare.

Unfortunately no mushroom were available, even as an extra. Sides were somewhat uninspired so we didn't order any.

We allowed the barman to talk us into a cheap Italian wine at £10. Our mistake - in truth it tasted like a cheap Italian wine (and was served a little cold). The wine list was short, but Rebecca followed with a glass of Rioja which was good.

The medium rares arrived first - causing jokes about why rare took longer to cook. In the event, the rare was actually more cooked than the medium rares - much to Tim's disappointment. They also brought the peppercorn sauce separately (full marks for not smothering the steak with it) - which was slightly anemic and not terribly inviting.

The quality of food was good. Rebecca encountered some gristle, but we agreed that it was inevitable on occasions.

On the wall were blackboards featuring desserts - including sticky toffee pudding as a special.  We were tempted and went to order only to be informed that the kitchen was closed so no desserts were available.

Overall, The Good Intent offered the basics done fairly well, but really didn't present itself as dining experience - probably more suited to hearty nourishment after a long walk

Go there for a great country pub vibe, decent beers and some lunch - not for a special dinner!

Steak:

Choice       5 (universal) 

Value          7.5 (universal)

Cooked      7 (marketddown by a 3 from Tim)

Texture       7 (averaged from 6 - 8) 

Overall       7 (averaged)

Condiments:

Mustard     7

Peppercorn sauce  5 (but not ordered so no real loss)

No others ordered

Accompaniments:

Chips         8 (average 7 - 9)  Not enough of them!

Mushroom  None

Onion          9 - onion rings, hand made

Tomato        8 - on the vine baby tomatoes

Veg              None

Wine: 

Choice        3

Temperature 3 - a little cold

Taste             5.  Bought cheap and paid for it!

Service:      3. Friendly but very bar-centric

General notes:

Still a great little pub. just not a steak night winner.

http://www.thegoodintentpub.co.uk/index