A food critic has sampled a three-course meal at Jeremy Clarkson's Cotswolds pub, The Farmer's Dog, and declared that one thing needs to change. Robbie Thompson, who posts as @streetfoodanalysis on TikTok, admitted that he 'missed all the hype' when the pub opened in 2024, but described his visit as 'better late than never'. He gave the establishment a score of 6.5 out of 10.
Venue and Drinks Impress
Thompson took a seat on the pub's 'gorgeous' terrace overlooking the beer garden on a bright, sunny day, with punters enjoying drinks beneath parasols and the rolling Cotswolds countryside beyond. He described it as a 'little slice of English heaven' while enjoying a pint of Hawkstone lager from the Clarkson's Farm star and a glass of cloudy apple juice. The pint cost £7, and the apple drink £3.40.
Starter and Main Course
He started with the cold-smoked Bibury trout with horseradish cream and sourdough bread, priced at £12.50. Thompson said the trout was 'excellent', though he felt the horseradish was 'very mild'. Even so, he described the dish as 'absolutely fantastic', praising the 'beautiful ingredients'.
Moving on to the main course, he chose the Cotswolds sausage with mash, roasted carrot, seasonal greens, caramelised onions and gravy, costing £22. He dubbed the sausages 'fantastic', loading up his fork with sausage, onion, gravy and mash for a 'proper British bite'. However, he noted the gravy was cold, saying: 'Honestly, this is all about those sausages. They're absolutely fantastic. Meaty, real quality, real flavour. Just a bit of a shame with the gravy. There's not much to it. It's a little bit cold, as I said, and there's not much flavour to it. Aside from that, the ingredients are fantastic.'
Dessert and Overall Impressions
Looking at the dessert menu, Thompson said there wasn't 'much choice'. Diners could choose from a raspberry, honey and oat tart, a rhubarb crumble cake, two types of cheeseboard, ice cream and sorbet. He found it not 'inspiring', suggesting classic British fare like Victoria sponge, Eton mess, sticky toffee pudding or Bakewell tart would be better. He opted for the rhubarb crumble cake at £12, but was less than impressed with the 'tiny' serving of ice cream. The cake itself was 'lovely and moist', despite the alleged lack of rhubarb flavour.
Summing up his thoughts, Thompson said: 'The plus point was this amazing venue. I absolutely loved the views. I love the beer garden and I love that terrace. But aside from that, yes, there was some quality in the ingredients throughout those three courses. But overall, it was very uninspiring for me. I just felt like, "Make the whole menu British". Make all the courses British. You've only got five or six dishes on each course. Make them all British. Make it more inspiring. Two choices of desserts. I understand it's seasonal ingredients and that's what it's about, but just be a little bit more inspiring with it. It was quite expensive as well. Beyond that, the service I thought was very, very good. Very young group of servers that were all absolutely fantastic. Overall, my score for The Farmer's Dog, I think that is a 6.5 out of 10. There were some great points there, but it just wasn't inspiring enough, and the execution for me wasn't quite there. I really, really, really wanted to love it, especially when I got here, and I was like, "Wow, this is amazing". But the food, it didn't quite live up to it.'
Thompson's total bill came to £57.40 for the three courses plus drinks.
