Looking for some award-winning food and drink in Swindon? Then look no further. Helen Browning’s Chop House has been named in the Good Food Guide 2019, a 600-page guidebook featuring 1,200 of the UK’s best eateries.
Opened in 2016, the Old Town restaurant is devoted to serving organic meat sourced from Mrs Browning’s Eastbrook Farm in nearby Bishopstone. The chophouse has won an army of fans for its food, described by the authors of the Good Food Guide as “ingredient-led and flavour-packed”.
The Chop House formula is fast, simple, casual food from great ingredients - that means brunch, lunch and supper serving the farm’s own organic beef, pork and lamb. Choose from smoky pulled pork, BBQ ribs, prime beef steaks, proper burgers, hot dogs, moules frites, artisan bread and local charcuterie. The Wood Street restaurant also offers six different bourbons, more gins than fingers, milkshakes, wonderful coffee, and eccentric soft drinks.
Manager Anne Roberts was delighted to win a place in the guide. “It feels amazing,” she said. “It’s a huge pat on the back to know we’re doing this well. The chophouse is the only place in Swindon that’s organic. It does set us apart in the town. We’re a small place, filled with really good wine, good food and people who don’t come to work, they come to this building and have fun.”
Previously Helen Browning’s organic food was awarded a Great Taste award for its hot dogs and speedy sausages by Great Taste 2019, the world’s most coveted blind-tasted food awards, which celebrates the very best in food and drink.
Also celebrating recognition from those in the know is The Savoy pub in Swindon Town Centre. The Regent Street pub is listed in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2020, the UK’s best-selling beer and pub guide.
CAMRA branch members chose The Savoy following regular visits to check on the quality of real ales on offer, also praising its customer service, décor, and overall atmosphere.
The pub’s manager Sam Donaghy said, “I am delighted that The Savoy has been recognized for the quality of its real ales by CAMRA members. We offer our customers an excellent range of real ales at all times, including those from regional brewers and microbrewers, as well as hosting our own beer festivals.”
The Savoy is housed in a majestic old cinema originally of the same name, latterly the ABC. The art deco façade leads to a movie-themed interior with posters from the classic age of Hollywood featuring stars like Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Orson Welles.
As another Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson put it, and Savoy regulars would agree: “Beer, it’s the best damn drink in the world.”
