There are plenty of reasons why a person would come to Fox & Hounds, besides the good pour, the gastronomical food located in a pub, the fact that it's one of the few good restaurant in the Haverhill surrounding neighourhoods, the gorgeous back terrace, the quaint homey English interior, the roasting fireplace - I can go on...but the real reason why you should come here is because you want to check in into a town called Steeple Bumpstead. I mean come on! What a great little English name!!
So the price is steep (pun intended) if you think you're having pub food, but if you realize you're getting a real hearty and gorgeously plated meal using local produce, you might not think about the price so much. My fillet of seabass sat on top of a crab and potato cake, covered with cooked spinach and samphire, drenched in lemon butter sauce was an explosion of complementary flavours. The dish was ginormous, even at 15GBP, and even though my stomach was hardly able to take it, i gorged it without really thinking of the consequences. And sadly, the consequences were quite severe, as my coworkers started ordering dessert, and i could only sit there teary eyed, staring at the menu and coveting the Bailey cheesecake that no one ended up ordering. I did have a taste of the sticky toffee pudding and the bread and butter pudding. Yup. Fantastic.
They also have blackboards of daily menus and funky little things on there like venison sausages, and tempura battered fish, etc., bringing in a lot of fusion into this traditional pub. Although the website claims that it's "homecooked meals" they're seriously professional about it.
The place is small, so best to call first before going to ensure you will get seats. Again, beer garden in the summer, fireplace inside a 15th Century inn in the winter. You can't go wrong eating here. read more