Located in the small village of Horningsea, The Plough & Fleece sits on the main road enticing people in with it’s quaint charm. I know this because I lived in Waterbeach for many years and it would always tempt me in as I drove past.

The pub has had a bumpy ride over the years. Once a Greene King pub, it then faced closure but was taken over by a group of local investors to keep it alive and kicking. Since then, they have rented it out to run and manage. The pub has recently changed hands and the new team looks keen to make a bold statement with a new menu.

The Plough & Fleece is already well known for being picturesque from the front and charmingly historic on the inside. Its timber beams and fire place really take you back to a different time. This all looks aesthetically pleasing with a warm fuzzy sense of familiarity, like something from a novel or TV show, but these old historic pubs aren’t always the most comfortable places to eat.

This is why the new team has spent a lot of time (and no doubt money) refurbishing the back of the pub to add a spacious, light, and comfortable place to dine.

🅿️ Parking also located around the back

The menu is small, concise, and well balanced. It appears to focus on a selection of well-executed dishes rather than pages and pages of clutter. I think this is generally a better way to go, though, disappointingly, I only saw one vegetarian option under the mains options. The menu will change frequently to give you a reason to come back and to keep things interesting, so hopefully this may be rectified in the future. 

Everything on the menu looks good, with a large emphasis on traditional and classic cuisine that will be familiar to everyone. There won’t be many things to push you out of your comfort zone but I am certain you will find something you can enjoy.

Starters

We started with a few dishes from the Starters and Nibbles section of their menu.

Our first dish was the crispy fried buttermilk chicken wings, chilli and spring onions. I’m not sure what these were doing in the Nibbles section because it was quite a substantial dish, containing four reasonably sized chicken wings. These were some of the juiciest and most succulent pieces of chicken I have had in a while and the spring onions added a satisfying crunchy freshness to the bite. I couldn’t taste a tremendous amount of chilli but there was definitely a robust flavour that was familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Either way, for £6, I thought this was a good deal and beautifully executed. Top marks!

Next was the vegan feta, basil and polenta fritters, with smoked tomato puree. When the waiter mentioned these were vegan it really took me by surprise, as I honestly couldn’t tell. They were chunky with a crispy skin and a soft fluffy centre.

The choice of tomato puree was interesting and worked much better than a tomato sauce. Its concentrated flavour and savoury taste added a deep complexity with an added smokey finish, which paired well with the fritters.

Next, was the tempura salmon nori roll with kohlrabi slaw, soy and lime glaze.

This unusual looking dish was the perfect starter. It was light, delicate and came with a crispy seaweed skin that brought out the best in the soft and tender salmon in the middle. The kohlrabi cabbage added a colourful purple pop that visually complimented the green salad that also brought some vibrancy to the dish. It was a stark reminder that this isn’t just a place for tasty food but beautiful food.

And lastly, we were presented with a pea and mint risotto, whipped feta, roasted radish, and crispy onion. This colourful dish had a very distinctive pea flavour with a mild hint of mint. Even though I enjoy a good pea, this was a little bold for me but I know there are people out there that will cherish a proud dish like this.

For me, the texture was where it really shined, with soft crunchy radish, smooth and creamy risotto, and crispy onion. It all pulled together to make a punchy dish with a satisfying consistency.

Mains

We were lucky enough to try three of the eight main options.

The first dish was from their “whole fish of the day”. Today, it was the iconic seabass served with jumbo couscous, char-grilled courgette and aubergine, pea shoots and caper butter.

Both my guest and I were incredibly fond of the seabass. It was firm, delicate, and well-flavoured, with a nice meaty body that held together well. There were quite a few bones, which were easily removed with a bit of on the table filleting but the fish itself was incredibly juicy and succulent.

I thought that the jumbo cous cous was quite interesting and novel. I had never had anything like it before. The subtle flavour didn’t overpower the fish and allowed me to really savour its flavour.

One of the highlights of the both of us this evening was the creedy carver honey roasted duck breast, with smoked garlic dauphinoise, pak choi, baby carrots, served with hedgerow sauce.

The duck was absolutely sensational. It had a beautifully coloured crispy skin with a succulent and juicy centre. This beast was a generous size too, with my previous experiences with duck at other restaurants often being nothing short of measly, this was a refreshing change. The dauphinoise (baked potatoes in cream) complimented the duck perfectly, so much so that it has inspired my guest to go home and start learning how to cook it. It’s not often we can say a dish is literally inspiring.

The Pak choi, baby carrots, and hedgerow sauce added a colourful pop to the dish that brought it all together nicely by eye and by flavour. The carrots had such a bold and incredible fresh flavour that had a satisfying crunch.

And lastly, we had the dingley dell stuffed and rolled pork belly with beef dripping potatoes, char-grilled broccoli, red onion, salsa verde.

This was gorgeously presented as a complete cut of pork wrapped in crispy crackling. The cracking was absolutely perfect and was not only light and crispy but was easy enough to cut with your knife.

The broccoli was delicious with a real freshness to its taste. The potatoes were cooked to perfection, with a nice crispy skin and a soft fluffy centre. The beef dripping added subtle flavour which I really enjoyed, though we were both in agreement that it could have done with some extra seasoning.

I thought that the salsa verde was an interesting choice. It really worked but it took me by surprise somewhat as I was expecting apple sauce.

Dessert

We ended the evening with two desserts. The left is the coconut panna cotta with pineapple carpaccio and the right being the dark chocolate nemesis, crème fraiche, honeycomb.

My favourite was the aptly named “dark chocolate nemesis”, due to the ominous incoming intensity of dark chocolate. The honeycomb was incredible and added delicious crunchy bites to the smooth creamy crème fraiche. The dark chocolate was thick and soft with a deep flavour that will send any choco-holic wild. An absolute must!

Conclusion

The Plough & Fleece offers well executed traditional cuisine from a concise menu of classic dishes. All the produce is really well sourced and incredibly fresh, with the meat portions not only being tender and carefully cooked but are also generous portions.

The new dining area is a pleasant place to be and somewhere you can spend the evening comfortably. The service was faultless and the historic charm of the pub invites you to enjoy a cosy pint afterwards on the way out.

Vegetarians may struggle to find a dish they like with limited options but otherwise there should be something for everyone.

Thanks for reading