This will be our sixteenth Christmas at the Fox & Hounds. We like to offer delicious festive food and a relaxed convivial atmosphere in our elegant dining room with it’s striking chandelier and wood-burning stove, or a cosy table in our bar. The Fox & Hounds is a perfect place to celebrate the festive season, whether you’re looking for a casual dinner with friends and family or a proper party with work colleagues. And if you’re planning a large party, why not book our grand dining for a private event.
James has created a fabulous Christmas Party Menu which runs throughout December for tables of six or more. You’ll find something for every taste on the menu whether you like to stick to the traditional dishes or be a little bit more experimental.
Traditional starters include house terrine and home cured gravalax to start followed by Roast Turkey and all the trimming and Christmas pudding and custard, of course!
Alternatively you might enjoy grilled goats cheese salad, green beans, radish, apple & olives or French onion soup gratinée to start. If you’re saving yourself for turkey on Christmas Day, fillet of cod, mashed potatoes, curried mussel sauce & leeks is always really popular and vegetarians will enjoy Roast pumpkin & buffalo ricotta ravioli, Swiss chard, hazelnut & truffle pecorino.
We have several popular game dishes including peppered haunch of venison, dauphinoise & red cabbage and hand-rolled pappardelle & rich game ragout. All our game is sourced locally and meat and fish is cooked or finished in a charcoal Josper oven that works like an indoor barbecue to give the meat a fantastic flavour while keeping it moist and tender and enhance the flavour.
For something special to kick-off your celebrations, James makes our own barrel-aged Negroni which everyone loves – especially James! Our seasonal house aperitif usually features fizz for the special occasion – such as Blood Orange Fizz or a home-made Sloe Gin Fizz. We always seem to sell lots of Espresso Martinis over Christmas too!
As we live above the pub and restaurant with our two teenagers it’s all hands-on deck during the busy Christmas period and the children get roped in to help. It’s a true family affair – at the busiest times we sometimes even draft in our parents to help.
This year we’re going to close on Christmas Day so we can have a bit of family time, in other years we’ve kept the doors open on Christmas Day but we always try to find a balance so all of our staff can spend time with their families too.
We’re not sure yet what we’ll be eating on Christmas Day this year! If we’re at home, James cooks whatever he fancies sometimes beef or pheasant but never turkey! If we’re visiting family it’s such a treat to be cooked for, that we happily eat whatever is given to us. Having said that James usually gets involved in the cooking as he knows that gets him out of the washing up! We always close on Boxing Day and it’s become a tradition to go out with family for a big Chinese – we always over order but it’s great fun.