Pub review - The Alma

Tucked away in a residential area, the Alma is run by two friends and gastro connoisseurs - Caroline Hamlin and Kirsty Valentine. The pair met at Time Out's Best Gastro Pub for 2000,

the Duke of Cambridge, where Caroline was

the founding head chef.

The Alma sports the usual gastro features - wooden floors, odd chairs and church candles. The staff are really friendly and offer jeans-and-T-shirt table service.

The food, also true to gastro form, is simple but effective. We started with the goats' cheese and cherry tomatoes baked on bruschetta - a nice combination of flavours, although a little pricey at £6 as you only get one slice of bruschetta bread and there wasn't much goats' cheese.

For the main we ate roast chicken with swede and celeriac purée, roast potatoes, greens, gravy and bread sauce. It was good example of a roast and they didn't mess about with it too much.

For dessert we opted for the pear and vanilla cream tart (£4.50). This really was a treat. Slices of poached pear with a caramel flavour on mascarpone cream all laying on a light puff pastry. It was murder on the waist line but worth every extra sit up.

Other mains on the daily-changing menu included linguine, chilli and garlic, broccoli, parsley and Parmesan (£8.50, or £4.50 as a starter) as well as braised lamb with cumin and tomato and basmati rice (£10.50).

Puy lentils were on offer as an accompaniment - they seem to be the new gastro-garden pea - and were very tasty.

We drank coffee and hot chocolate because the weather was foul, but the selection of wines and beers was pretty good.

Co-owner Kirsty Valentine hails from New Zealand and has introduced a range of kiwi products for sale at the Alma - including pineapple lumps and Watties tomato sauce. The pub also offers a picnic-bag service in the summer.

You could comfortably visit the Alma for just a drink, and the pub features quiz nights among other pub-related activities.

Lucy Britner

PubChef rating (out of 10)

Ambience 7, Value for money 6, Flavour factor 8, Overall impression 7

Wines on list: 10 white, 10 red.

Main Courses: £8.50 - £10.50

Another thing: The Alma offers a weekday £6 lunch special that includes ½ pint of beer or a glass of house wine.