The Bib Gourmand award is our way of recognising restaurants that offer good food at a great price. While all Bib Gourmands are unique in style and approach, they share the same spirit of generosity and a commitment to quality cooking. That’s why, in this series, we’re highlighting the MICHELIN Guide Inspectors' Bib of the Month. These restaurants are the bedrock of our selection, providing an affordable dining option that doesn’t skimp on precision, skill or flavour. From cosy pubs to buzzing counters, we’ve got a Bib for you.
The Bib Gourmand restaurant being highlighted this month is the wonderful Hare & Hounds in Aberthin. Run with a commitment to seasonality and great produce, it’s become a huge hit and the team now run fellow Bib Gourmand The Clifton in Bristol too.
Here are the thoughts of one of our Inspectors on why the place is such a success:
“‘Unfussy’ is a compliment we throw around a lot as Inspectors and in the case of the Hare & Hounds, it could not be more apt. It is a place where the cooking is simply delicious and deliciously simple, with unnecessary adornment stripped away in favour of pure, natural flavour. The kitchen team here understand fully that quality ingredients speak for themselves, which is why they allow them to shine in dishes that combine a few boldly flavoured, wholly harmonious elements to brilliant effect. That this all comes with great prices and a crackling atmosphere is a testament to the fact the Hare & Hounds is the epitome of a Bib Gourmand restaurant.”
Now, let’s hear from the Hare & Hounds’ Chef-Owner, Tom Watts-Jones, on his culinary identity and the importance of quality ingredients.
What was the idea behind the Hare & Hounds?
To create a casual and informal setting, serving very good food, within a traditional local pub environment – with a strong focus on daily changing menus, short-supply chains and seasonality. We were influenced by chefs such as Fergus Henderson, Stephen Harris and Jonathon Jones.
How would you describe your approach to food and cooking?
Homegrown or very well-sourced ingredients, influenced by day-to-day seasonality, nose-to-tail cooking and reflecting the local environment in the style of French terroir cooking. Our ethos is that no more than three ingredients or elements are used in a dish at once, as too many take away focus from the quality of the produce.
London by The MICHELIN Guide
What price range can customers expect and how are you able to keep your prices affordable?
We offer a range of menus, with our à la carte being about £10 for a starter, £20 for a main and £9 for a dessert. At lunch and early evening, we also offer our ‘Saver Menu’: 2 courses for £25, 3 courses for £30. We also offer a ‘Daily Tasting Menu’, at £45 per head, or a ‘Full Tasting Menu’ at £70 per head, with wine matching options with each.
We price control our menu through growing a lot of our own vegetables and fruit, paying a full-time gardener to manage our smallholding. We adapt our menu twice a day as to what is in season and what is available that day at a good price. The chefs have the skill and ability to break down the whole animal and utilise everything. Nose-to-tail cooking is a much more cost-effective way of running a kitchen.
What is the dish to order at Hare & Hounds?
In line with using lesser cuts, a staple on our menu for the last nine years has been ‘Crispy Pig Cheek, Chicory, Mustard and Pickled Apple’. We use a lot of Torgelly Farm lamb, from just down the road, which we serve in a variety of ways throughout the year. Whether with heritage tomatoes from our field in the summer, or as a slow-braised shoulder to share in the winter, this produce particularly reflects the terroir of our surroundings here at Hare & Hounds.
Your menu changes twice daily and you have a commitment to seasonal produce. What drives this? Is it for culinary or sustainability reasons, or both?
Both. Over the last three years since we’ve had our smallholding, our menu has been heavily influenced by what we get daily from the field. We grow organically; we keep our own bees, not just to produce honey for ourselves, but for the benefit of the wider area. The ethos of sustainability doesn’t just have a positive environmental impact, it works positively from a financial point of view as well, and we’re driven to ever-decrease the distance of our supply chains. We aim to increase the size of our smallholding over the next year to become more sustainable and supply more of the produce to our pubs and bakeries.
Tell us about your sister operation, The Clifton in Bristol, which also has a Bib Gourmand. Do the two pubs share the same ethos?
Yes, they definitely do: serving good quality local and seasonal food in a relaxed pub environment. The main difference is the addition of our wood-fired grill at The Clifton, which we thought would suit our style of cooking, the produce we buy and the produce we grow. The Clifton also has a twice-daily changing menu, full carcass butchery and a nose-to tail ethos with more of a focus on a sharing style of eating and banqueting.
What can people expect from the atmosphere at Hare & Hounds? Do you consider yourself a pub rather than a restaurant?
The Hare & Hounds is a pub of two halves. On one side is the traditional bar, that has been the same for years; it’s perfect for a local ale by the fire and is full of our local drinkers. On the other is our relaxed and informal dining room, with an open kitchen, a log burner and French doors onto the garden. It’s a wonderfully warm and welcoming atmosphere, and perfect for any occasion. We will always see ourselves as a traditional local pub at heart, just one that serves really good food.
Hero Image: © Hare & Hounds/Hannah Patterson
Thumbnail Image: © Hare & Hounds/Jake Morley
