STOP PRESS!

We have had a last-minute cancellation of a Christmas party this Saturday, 7th December. So, at the time of writing, we’ve plenty of room if you would like to come along for a Christmas celebration! Just call - 01491 628400 – to confirm the situation.

Book Your Pudding!

Given that it's already feeling wintery, it's perhaps not surprising that our home-made steak and kidney puddings are selling so well. 

The trouble is, we can only make 30 of them a week - on Tuesdays.

So, if you fancy a  proper warming winter pudding, do please phone ahead to book a table, and book your pudding(s) at the same time. We hate to disappoint!

November French Night

I'm delighted to say the most recent French Night was a great success, with a good crowd of noisy diners - which rather matched the wine we were serving!

Fifteen Years - The Party!

Here's some slightly blurred photographic evidence from our "15 Years At The Maltsters" celebration ... Over one hundred people came along and a 60 kilo hog was demolished by everyone - well done - and, of course, thank you!

(And no, no more details about the evening will be forthcoming - not even if you ask.)

Fifteen Years!

It’s been fifteen years since we took over at the Maltsters.  What can we say? The time has shot by, and we’ve enjoyed being your landlady and landlord throughout.  It’s to state the obvious that we couldn’t be here without the support of our customers – but just because it’s obvious doesn’t make it any the less true. So, please accept a sincere ‘thank you’ from both of us.  Here’s to the future.

Winter Warmer

Our very special, home-made, properly steamed Steak and Kidney Puddings are back on the menu from November 5th and available every Tuesday (lunch and evening) thereafter until spring.

To celebrate the return of this annual favourite, we’re including a free glass of claret with every pudding ordered throughout November.  A perfect warming combination if ever there was one.

A Christmas Reward

As you might imagine, it’s good for us to get our Christmas bookings sorted out as early as possible.

So, as an extra incentive to have your Christmas party with us  - over and above the great food and drink, great atmosphere and great staff – we will give the party organiser a 20% off voucher to use here at the Maltsters any time in January or February, if you book before the 17th November. 

Get in touch to talk over any special requirements; the Christmas menu details and a booking form are on the web site to keep things easy!

Top Notch

This month’s guest beer will be Brakspear’s ‘Top Notch’.  We’d call this a good autumn ale – dark golden brown in colour with a roasted malt aroma, biscuit flavour and dry hop finish. Call in and try a pint – it’s only here for a few weeks, starting on the 6th November.

More Fishyness!

Just a quick update to say our October 'fishy' special - see the previous entry  - has been tweaked, with a rather tasty smoked haddock and pea risotto replacing the salmon chowder.

The menu just gets more mouth-watering!

A Fixed Price Fishy Offer

For our October special, we’ve opted for a fixed price fish menu – two courses for just £12.50, lunch or dinner, Monday-Thursday.

To start, pick from:

• Moules Mariniere from Poole, Dorset -  with white wine and onions, simply cooked to perfection
• Everyone’s favourite: deep fried devilled whitebait dusted with cayenne
• Chef’s smoked mackerel and horseradish pate with Melba toast

And to follow, there’s a choice of:

• Homemade fish crumble  - with salmon, smoked haddock, cod and prawns
• Bread-crumbed cod loin on baby spinach, tossed in garlic butter - with minted potatoes
• Salmon chowder flavoured with dill and coriander - served with bread to dip

That has to be mouth-watering!

Pride of the River

This month’s guest ale will be Brakspear’s Pride of the River. We’ve had it on tap before, it’s been popular before, we expect it to be popular again! However, Brakspear’s say it’s not quite ready yet – and the expected date is now the 9th October.

Peter’s Pie Promotion!

For our September treat, we’ve three new pies to pick from -

• SHAMROCK PIE: British Beef in rich gravy with Irish Stout.
• PEAHOCK PIE: Outdoor reared ham hock, garden peas and mustard.
• HEIDI PIE: for the vegetarians amongst us - Goats Cheese, Sweet Potato and Spinach

 - or try them all over the course of the month!

All three are priced at just £11.95 including a generous portion of creamy mash potato and our homemade gravy.

But that’s not all!  After all, this is ‘Peter’s Pie Promotion’ and there’s Peter’s reputation for generosity to live up to! So, if you come in and order a pie we’ll give you – free – a 125ml glass of red, white or rose wine to go with it. Can’t be bad!

This special offer menu is available for both lunch and dinner, Monday-Thursday inclusive, from the 2nd September.

Wychwood’s Bountiful

September's guest ale is Bountiful, by Wychwood.   It’s a quite dark chestnut ale, fruity and biscuity – rich, sweet and malty. It’s on tap throughout September so come on in and sup a seasonal pint or two.

Road Closure Over

And the news just in:  the road north of us has now re-opened. Hurrah!

So, access is fully restored, whichever direction you're coming from. We've spaces for diners over the weekend so do come along and have a relaxed bank holiday meal with us.

(And to celebrate the road being open, we'll have a special "Open Road" menu for three days next week - 3 courses for £11.50, lunch and dinner)

See you soon.


Peter and Helen

Road Closure! Complete With Special Menu!

Oxfordshire County Council have decided to close the road near the pub from the 5th August, for "approximately" 12 days. (The work is to stop the road from flooding, hopefully.)

What they haven't bothered to tell everyone is that access from the Henley side is absolutely fine - the road works will only block access from the north side.

So, if you’re coming from the north (e.g. from Sonning Common), you can always just park in the lane and walk the last few yards to the pub, or you can loop around and come to us via Henley. If you need more help or directions, don’t hesitate to call - 01491 628400. And don’t forget the web site has links to road and Ordnance Survey maps.

 To, ahem, 'celebrate' the Council's help with things, we're offering a special 'Road Closure Menu' – two courses for just £11.50!

To start, pick from:

• Soup of the Day with Crusty Bread 
• Deep Fried Devilled Whitebait 
• Flat Field Mushrooms and Garlic on Toast 

And to follow the choices are:

• Chef's Fish Pie with Salmon, Smoked Haddock and Prawns 
• Crispy Chilli Beef with Stir fried Noodles and Sweet Chilli Sauce 
• Pea and Ham Risotto with Parmesan Shavings 

This special offer menu is available for both lunch and dinner, Monday-Thursday inclusive, from the 5th August. We hope there are a few combinations there to tempt you!

August's Ale: Ringwood Brewery’s Bold Forester

This month's guest ale is Bold Forester. We can't describe it any better than the official tasting notes, which say: "Bold Forester has an attractive amber hue, a smooth biscuity malt character and a crisp dry finish. It has a bold and beautifully balanced hop bitterness and a fine fresh aroma." So there you have it – if beer's your tipple, come and see what you think. It's on tap throughout August.

Eating out in the sun

As I write, the sun's beating down and we're basking in a heat wave. Fortunately, our seafood and wine promotion is currently running, so if you can't get to the sea then you can at least come up to us for some fine fresh seafood, and our terrace is a lovely place to eat on a warm day - with the huge umbrella providing shade.

Seafood and Wine offer details

Ascot Outing

A crowd of regulars went to Royal Ascot this year.  The sun shone, the alcohol flowed ... but we didn't win a bean. I think it's fair to say, though, that a good time was had by all.

It's July, and we're saying it's summer!

Hooray Henley on Tap

 Of course it’s Henley Regatta and Henley Festival during July, and so naturally our guest ale this month has to be Hooray Henley – it’s a good one for summer: a zesty blonde with a nice tangy, citrus overtone.

And, if you think you can manage to enjoy four pints over the course of the month you can get a free Hooray Henley Boater! *


Seafood and Wine for Summer

And while all that is going on in the town, here in the country, every day except Sundays, lunch or evening, 1st-27th July, you can take advantage of our three ‘Seafood and Wine’ offers.

Take your pick from any of the following, and enjoy a 125ml glass of chilled refreshing rose or dry white wine included in the price. To tempt your taste buds, we have:

Moules Mariniere or à la Crème, served with skinny fries – featuring excellent Scottish mussels and a snip at £13.95.

Our delicious Fish Smorgasbord, at just £14.95, which includes Poached Salmon, Hot Smoked Trout, Herring Rollmop, Crayfish Tails, Marinated Anchovies and Smoked Mackerel.

Fresh Brixham Dressed Crab Salad for only £13.95 – and that’s for fresh crab that’s delivered to us from Brixham every day.

Seafood and chilled wine** – it’s always a great combination. And the forecast suggests at least a hint of summer during July too.

See you soon.



Peter and Helen


* To participate, we will supply you with a promotion card that we will stamp once for each pint purchased. 

 ** Sorry, but we can’t substitute other drinks for wine during this promotion.

Sirloins from Smithfield

We often go up to Smithfield Market in London to buy our meat ourselves - we've good relations with suppliers there and it means we're getting the cuts of meat we want, at the high quality we want. During this most recent visit, we picked up some particularly wonderful beef and spring lamb. On the downside (!), that means being up in London at 3am. Yes, 3am. Even in the rain.

I have to say that it never ceases to surprise me how busy Smithfield Market is, at a time when most of the world is still tucked up in bed.

Kim and Sam

Just to keep you updated with Kim and Sam's whereabouts since they left us - they are now having a great time camping down the west coast of France near La Rochelle and enjoying the sea and sunshine.  They're recently sent a message saying they are missing us all.  (I'll let them know we're all jealous of them ... and the weather!)

Exotic May!

We thought a little taste of the orient might be good for a couple of weeks, so we've put together a nice selection of three main dishes, all from far further east than Norfolk, and all of which come with a drink for just £10.

We're starting this special on the 6th May (Bank Holiday Monday), for just a fortnight - so don't delay coming along!

Click here for the menu and full details.

Awesome April Offer

Two courses for less than £12 - that has to be madness! But that's what we're offering from the 8th April, Monday-Thursday, lunchtimes and evenings.

We hope our selection has something for everyone, and if you fancy them all then there's no limit to how many times you can come back!

Click on this link for the menu.

SIN!

As regulars will know, the landlord is often tongue-tied and shy (!).  However, he has promised to overcome all this on Friday the 19th April at St Nicholas Church, when he'll be among a bunch of SINners (Such Interesting Neighbours) talking about what they get up to.  For more details, click here."

March Mussels

Hot on the heels of our British Pie Week specials, for the rest of March we’ve a very tasty mussels offer.

Every day from the 11th March to the 30th (excluding Sundays), we’ll be having three dishes featuring excellent Scottish mussels on the menu.  Take your pick from Mariniere, A La Creme or Thai Spiced.

Of course, you can always come back three times and try them all!

Whichever you pick, the price is just £11.95 and that includes skinny fries or crusty bread to go with them, and a 125ml glass of French dry white wine too.

That has to be a bargain!

See you soon,



Peter and Helen

National Pie Week 4th-8th March

Monday-Friday 4th-8th March is 'British Pie Week' - a great opportunity to support British Food.

At the Maltsters our savoury and our sweet pies are made right here by our chefs  - we can vouch for the quality, and the ingredients!

To celebrate the week, we're offering a 'One Pie Meal' for just £10.95 or a 'Two Pie (Savoury and Sweet) Meal' for £13.95.

For details of the pies we'll be making, just click on this link to visit our web site.

See you for pie week.

The Car Park!

This is just to offer our apologies for the state of our car park at present.  We are very aware that it's not good!

Brakspear have promised to make some repairs soon - and we'll be very happy to see at least the worst potholes filled in.

Thanks for your patience - and please drive slowly when you're parking until it's all sorted out.



Peter & Helen.

February Money Saver

January’s always a lean month for the ol’ budgets, and February isn’t normally a time of great abundance either.

To cheer things up, we’ve come up with a great money-saving offer: a two course lunch or dinner for just £11.50. Yes – two courses for less than £12!

There’s a choice of three really tasty dishes to start with and another three treats for the main course so there should be something for everyone.  And, of course, you can come along and take advantage of this as many times as you like, Monday-Thursday, lunch time or evening, throughout February.

The menu is on the web site here.

Solid Old Walls

As anyone who’s passed by recently might have noticed, the snow and ice brought us a Volvo ... colliding with the pub one morning!

Fortunately, no-one was hurt and the car hit the old part of the building – and that’s one very solid wall. Not a huge amount of damage was done and it’s now been temporarily patched-up, so we’re fully functioning again. (The rather chilly draught has been blocked up as well, so we’re back to being cosy too.)

It must be said it did make your landlord splutter a bit as he was eating breakfast!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Phew!  Well, we've finally made it to getting on towards the middle of January and things are starting to return to normal.

It always seems to feel a bit of a marathon as we start with our first party on the 1st December, ending with a massive New Year's Day when, this year, we did 110 covers.  All the staff worked incredibly hard over  the entire  seasonal period - and hopefully kept a smile going throughout!

Our New Year's Eve party was a great success (there's some photographic proof below) and fully booked as ever.  We laid on a beautiful fillet steak stuffed with Barkham Blue and that went down a treat.  And then the landlord did his impersonation of a DJ ...  His 'latest tracks' included Abba's Dancing Queen and YMCA ... but he did get everyone up and dancing!

And now it's the New Year.  We've made a few changes to the main menu to keep things feeling fresh - and of course that's on top of the regularly changing specials board.  This year pheasants are in abundance and all the pheasant-related dishes we've put on have been selling like hotcakes!

We've also reinstated our Steak and Kidney puddings on Tuesays - great food for winter - and of course we're still doing our trips up to Smithfield to personally buy our beef and whatever else takes our fancy - all at 3 in the morning!

Sometime soon we hope to get to France to collect some more fresh King Scallops, but in the meantime we hope you all have had a good start to the New Year.

Best wishes for the coming year.



Peter and Helen