The Foragers

Roast dinner: from £11 (veggie wellington) to £15 (beef)
Avg drinks prices: Pint lager £3.80; bottled cider £4.00; half pint coke £1.70
Desserts all £5.00

The Foragers is a great little gastro-pub. Tucked away in a residential corner of Hove, it's a word-of-mouth marvel that shouldn't do as well as it does, given it's location. However, its clean, bright decor, large decked and heated beer garden and great selection of food and drink ensures that it has made its name in Hove. But what of the roasts?

Firstly, The Foragers isn't cheap. No, sirree. Their food is locally sourced and usually organic, prepared fresh on the premises and so there is a premium one has to pay. Their roast dinners are among the most expensive in Brighton and Hove, but hey - I'm not going to complain if the food matches the price. I'd rather fork out a little more for a top-notch roast than spend a fiver and end up feeling dismal. After all, this is the last day before it's back to the grind - if you can't treat yourself then, when can you?!

When we arrived, the first thing that struck us about the place was the sheer number of children. Yup, snotty, noisy, dirty children. They're everywhere. Needless to say, if your idea of a hero is the Child Snatcher from Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, you'd be better off staying away from this place. Saying that, I don't have a massive problem with children themselves - I am a teacher, after all. It's the parents that get me - those middle-class, snobbish oiks who glare at you accusingly if you dare to step into the beer garden for a cigarette whilst their precious little Maximillian is running amok. No, thanks - this is my Sunday! I shall smoke to the death if I so wish!

Undeterred by the noise surrounding us, we sat down to order our roasts. I plumped for the beef; my companions opting for the pork belly and venison respectively. As we waited, we perused the drinks and decided to whet our appetites with a Weston's Organic or three. Reasonably priced for the area at £3.90ish a bottle, though it's never going to be student-friendly. It was looking good - food was coming out of the kitchen looking vibrant and fresh, colours fighting for attention on the plates. This is a good thing - snot-coloured veg do not satisfy me...

Eventually, the plates arrived at our table. Beautifully presented, as the others we'd witnessed traversing the dining room had been. Broccoli, carrots and cabbage all fought to display their colours beneath a considerable sliver of pinkish beef. Meat gravy - substantial, but not excessive - crowned the food beautifully. However, on closer inspection, my companion was somewhat distressed to find that his pork belly was severely lacking in belly, and was more pork skin than anything else. Now, if you knew my companion, you'd know how distressing this would be for him. No matter, we'd call the waiter over. However, this led to disaster two - his pork was the last in the kitchen. After drying his tears, he opted to replace the pork with chicken, which arrived within five minutes, just as beautifully presented.

The beef melted beautifully in the mouth; comments from the others suggested the same of the chicken and pork. The pork belly was salty and smooth, the crackling shimmering with rock salt and crunching satisfyingly in the mouth. The venison, though teeny, was cooked to perfection.

However, The Foragers has a flaw. For all of its beautiful presentation, by the time we'd finished we were still hugely hungry. There just isn't enough of it. I counted two small roast potatoes, three carrots, two small sprigs of broccoli, one parsnip and a dessertspoon of cabbage for my vegetables. I'm no fatty but come on - surely a good roast needs at least four good roasties? Comments from the table were all similar - great quality, just not enough. And for the price, you'd expect to get enough to fill you up until your evening meal.

It was disappointing for us, as every mouthful had been savoured. Technically there was nothing at all wrong with the food; it was perfection on a plate. However, we couldn't help feeling just that little bit ripped-off. We had no option but to engage with the desserts menu, which for a fiver offered equally delicious and equally feebly-sized portions. It's frustrating - I understand I'm at a gastro-pub, but what happened to generosity?

The staff were excellent, by the way - they did not flinch when we returned the pork and when a drunk companion showed up without notice, they were quick to recognise his lack of suitability for the venue and accommodated our requests not to serve him without getting irate. They chatted to us about different drinks and answered all of our (sometimes inane) questions. I really can't fault them - plus, they're all super-attractive. So there's a bonus. We were slightly disappointed on receiving the bill to see that we had still been charged for the belly-less pork belly, despite the chicken replacement costing £3 less on the menu. A quick word in the ear rectified this, though, without much fuss.

To summarise - brilliant quality food, excellent service - but take a sandwich with you, just in case, as the price reflects quality, not quantity.

8/10

The Foragers, 3 Stirling Place, Hove BN3 3YU
Tel: 01273 733134
Booking recommended; credit cards accepted
www.theforagerspub.co.uk