THE WHITE HORSE - 16 Keyhaven Road, Milford on Sea

Over the weekend, we headed in to Milford on sea, in search of some good food. We ended up in The White Horse. I ate here once before with friends, and had a wonderful time ploughing my way through a very tasty roast dinner. We would now take a wider look at the food on offer, and as always, deliver our findings directly to you.

At first glance, it is probably fair to say that the decoration inside is a little tired. However, this ceases to be an issue once you have immersed yourself in to the warm and friendly atmosphere. The pub is split in to two halves. One side is very much for eating, with a relaxed feel and appropriate music, in our case an stream of reworked classics. The other bar is very much for other things, and being a Saturday night, we could hear the exuberance filtering through. After enquiring about a table, we were welcomed in and told our drinks would be brought over. Our liquid refreshment arrived in short order, fortifying us as we took on the task of meal selection. It was refreshing to find that a pub in the foodie hub of Milford on sea, hadn't let the phenomenon push their prices in to silly town. Average meals are available at £10 - £12. After much deliberation, I picked a trio of vegetarian sausages with mash, vegetables, parsnip crisps and vegetarian gravy. Dad went for the pork belly with mash, veg and an apple gravy.

As we waited for our order, we had a chance to get to grips with our surroundings. The pub has a good feel to it, making it easy to relax. We did however feel that the pub as a whole is teetering somewhere between the new breed of gastro pub and the old school locals boozer, and I suppose in essence that's what it is. Two pubs at once offering a relaxed eating experience on one side, and a traditional drinking environment on the other. Our ruminations were cut short by the welcome arrival of our food. As it was set down before us, we were accosted by a delicious and comforting smell of real and honest cooking. I forgot to mention, I also ordered a side of onion rings. Our vegetables were delivered in their own dish, more than enough for the two of us. We had carrots, leeks and cauliflower, all of which were cooked perfectly. It took me a while to notice, but all three of my sausages were different, a true trio of individual sausages, a rare treat indeed. But what really warmed my cockles was the mash and the gravy. Let's start with the mash as me and Dad both had it. At first it struck me as having an unusual texture. Not unpleasant at all, just different, slightly elastic as though it may have been finished off with a blender of some kind. Regardless of texture, the mash was delicious. It was buttery, well seasoned and smothered in my case with the most wonderful vegetarian gravy. On past occasions when I've had vegetarian gravy, it can be a bit limp, a bit lacking in intensity, but not this one, quite the opposite in fact. It was thick and full of deep gravy goodness, crying out to be shovelled down with a fork full of mash. Dad's pork was also delicious, capped off beautifully by the apple gravy. He agreed with me on the mash front, but whatever they do to it,we approve. I would also like to point out the high quality of the humble onion rings. They were chunky, and obviously homemade. They were crisp and tasty without the greasy finish that so many homemade onion rings suffer from.

We exited The White Horse stuffed and satisfied, content with our evenings work. The interior could do with a simple facelift, but there's nothing wrong with the food here. You are without doubt spoilt for choice when it comes to eating in the Milford area, but you could certainly do a lot worse than giving The White Horse a try. Where else can you get three types of vegetarian sausage?

Atmosphere          8

Service                 8

Food                    9

Value                   8

Verdict                 4*

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