The George at Babraham: 20 Jul 08

I often refer to the advantages of living in a village, Histon having a village green and its own parish council which seem to be two necessary if not sufficient criteria. However given that Histon and its twin village Impington have 3000 houses, north of the A14, between them it doesn’t match most people’s concept what’s really a village. However there are hundreds of such villages in Cambridgeshire and not all of them have been blighted by major roads running through them, ill-conceived housing developments or lost pubs and other key amenities. Brabraham seems to be one such village

We went to the George in Babraham for dinner last night. That’s me and the wife, David, who works for the county’s largest employer,  and Jane and Tony and Christine, who run Anthony’s, that rather smart gentleman’s outfitters in Trinity Street.

We had a smashing evening. Not because the food was ‘out of this world’. It was good and worth repeating but what made the evening was all the other factors: plenty of space, and that meant it wasn’t noisy and tense, excellent service in the persons of Pawel and Zoe, neither starchy stiff nor enthusiastic amateur, an uncomplicated menu and a decent choice of wines which didn’t break the bank.

We enjoyed gravadlax and king prawn tempura, rack of lamb, pork fillet and gilt head bream along with vegetables of which my dentist would approve, definitely al dente. Desert disappointed; too complicated so that my interest after the first few words of description waned by the time I got to the end of the second line. But coffee redeemed the situation although I noticed it wasn’t a real espresso machine.

Total cost including wine about £35/head. Excellent value and worth the trip. Now why doesn’t one of the 5 pubs in Histon do the same?

And finally: in case you’re interested in top quality men’s clothing but can’t always afford it … Anthony’s summer sale starts next week!