Kings Head Blofield

Sitting squarely roadside in Blofield, a village that all but touches Norwich’s eastern flank, is a pub that you’d quite easily drive straight past. Don’t. Freshened up and run by members of the Hogg family (which includes two brothers who are chefs), the focus is more on cooking up good food and looking after guests with easy warmth rather than cutesy prettification. It’s the right priority. Start with scallops, seared just so and arranged on cauliflower purée with a dash of attitude from chilli oil and chorizo crumb, plus some crunch from puffed potato. Follow perhaps with a well-loaded chicken, leek and bacon pie, set jauntily on a pile of mash with veg and a jug of gravy; it’s as generous as the Aberdeen Angus burger with properly molten smoked Norfolk Dapple cheese, pickles and bacon jam. Our Gressingham duck breast was tenderly pink and crisp-skinned, served with a croquette of leg meat and a fine fricassée of cabbage and carrots, alongside some pickled endive to cut sharply through the rich meat – a welcome detail that balanced this deliciously generous plate of food. Meat is where the pub really excels, with what one diner described as ‘outrageously good pork’ leading the charge. It might be rump from nearby Swannington Farm to Fork butchers, served with burnt apple ketchup and bubble ‘n’ squeak cake or, on Sunday, a piece of loin accompanied by giant Yorkshires and the rest. Room for more? Robust desserts tick all the traditional boxes, with sticky toffee pudding or spiced apple crumble rounding things off. Brixton Ales and Aspall cider supplement a decent list of gluggable wines.

2 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence