Review by j wilkinson on 2nd November, 2008

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Excellent meal in this first class pub and dining room.Free House, good beers. We booked late to confirm they could cater for us on a Monday night. Most welcoming and when we arrived already beer drinkers at the bar and diners. Local ingredients, properly (long) hung beef well-prepared by keen and interested chef. Steak cooked, sirloin and filet, with veg cooked to perfection. Compares as good as a recent Michelin experience. Fish choices again made this a spoilt for choice meal. Most of our visits to Colchester and area have been tainted by over-priced poor or mediocre restaurants/licensed eating places in several guides and categories. Warm on a cold autumn evening, well decorated and good atmosphere.

Date visited: 27 Oct 2008

Review by Barry Mason on 1st September, 2005

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And yesterday was a wonderful long day out in fantastic weather. Train to Manningtree. Coffee in Harwich. South to Point Clear for the samphire picking. We stopped at roadside stalls for wild damsons, plums, pears, courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes, beetroot. Blackberries everywhere. Ferry over to Mersea Island. We stopped to help a grounded weekend sailor, the ferry was just about to go home but ran the special trip for us. Then we swam on that shingle beach, one of the best sea swims I've ever had suddenly we were surrounded by a hundred various gulls dipping into a big shoal of tiny silvery anchovies. Then over the causeway back onto the mainland. Around 6.30pm we found foodey The Whalebone pub in Fingringhoe. Table outside with great views over a little valley as hundreds of rooks chattered home. Cloudy cider, cheesy chips, ceasar calad (and fresh anchovies) and cold chardonnay. Lovely meal before the last bit to Colchester waiting train. Snooze. 50 miles. Barry Mason www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk