I'm thinking this is pretentious

[MikeRafone]

https://www.countrycreatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DRD-Dinner-Menu-23.05.25.pdf

just checking out places to eat as I'm staying nearby late August for one night. I expect the Cotswolds to be on the pricey side but the wording on this menu and the prices I find are all a bit much..

Or am I really that out of touch?

I live 50 miles north and am travelling through, so I do know what the area is like.

I shall not be eating there and will grab something in Lechlade I expect.

Looks pretty normal to me (and delicious).

The wording? It’s not anything I’d have thought of as unusual.

To me pretentious means a middling restaurant with aspirations, which this place doesn't look like. That menu says "fine dining (country edition)" to me. I wouldn't generally go to places that charge that much for food, and I wouldn't usually eat that sort of food either, so I'm clearly not the target audience. But I know they exist for people who like things like that and presumably there are enough people out there who like it and are willing to pay or they'd go out of business.

Looks quite nice. I guess all the mentions of the origin of the items but yet very basic lists of ingredients as description is a bit wanky.
And 'from the embers'? No idea what that means. Rice and duck cooked on an open fire?!

Price wise looks like quite high end London prices. Which I guess is the tourist market they're aiming for?

We sometimes have triple cooked chips by mistake when I find them in the back of the air fryer drawer

If it’s not for you then don’t visit.

It seems rather unnecessary to be rude about them on the internet though.

Unless this is some kind of reverse psychology advertising? In which case, weird.

😆

We have double roasted and double baked potatoes, as i batch cook them and freeze. Taste more potatoey and crispy. 😋

I genuinely can’t see anything remotely unusual about it. What specifically do you think is pretentious?

I don’t get what’s pretentious either. Yes a bit pricey but it looks lovely. What was wrong with the wording?

Looks good to me, similar to lots of nice pubs we would go to in Kent / Hampshire.

It looks bloody lush!

Looks good.

I find the missing £ sign irritating, if the menu is meant to be in £s and the prices/kg do you get to chose a smaller steak? And looks expensive but you don't have to eat there.

Its just cheffy words isn't it? Flowery words make a menu feel special it isn't harming anybody.

"From the embers" and any menu that doesn't use a pound sign, yeah a bit wanky. But the food sounds nice and the prices aren't too out of whack for that sort of thing. I'd definitely eat there!

It’s worded a bit like Gordon Ramsay says things, so I sort of get what you mean.

id also say a bit expensive for what it is, even for the location.

Looks yummy, but too much for me sadly 😔
£25 for chicken is pretty ridiculous

"From the embers" = we burnt it, but are using Hipster Wanky speak in the hope you won't notice.

Having worked in hospitality, the only thing I can find wrong with it is a bit of cheeky pricing which comes over as a lack of generosity.

I could be out of touch and admittedly, I haven't lived in England for a long time but if you are already charging give or take a hundred quid for a steak, the sauce or lack of should not be charged extra for. Perhaps with the exception of the foie gras.

But what do I know?

Surely you mean '25'?

It always amuses me when they remove the £ sign, like that's going to make it look cheaper 🤦‍♀️

Id say that's the opposite of pretentious, very straightforward and simple. I was expecting one of those essay length descriptions for each dish.

£37 for half chicken chips and salad 😮 glad I live up in north 😆

Thoight it was quite straightforward. There's definitely more pretentious wording out there!!

Certainly more expensive than Weatherspoons, but I'd say there's a chance it's nicer. 😀

It does though. There's been research showing people will spend up to 30% more when the £ sign is removed.

Got to love consumer psychology.

Puts me right off when there's no pound sign on a menu -pretentious , food sounds nice though.