Phillipe de Azavedo, l'auberge General Manager
A welcome awaits you
The idea of housing a French restaurant inside a traditional English pub came about in 1996 when our first auberge opened inside one of our first pubs - The Kings Head in Teddington.
The concept was developed - quite appropriately - by an Englishman and a Frenchman. Peter Linacre, a Francophile pub owner, and Rachid Noui, a postgraduate physics student originally from Mazamet near Toulouse in south west France. They met when Rachid needed work to support his studies. The simple idea was - 'why can't we have a couple of pints of real ale and, in the same venue, then order steak frites and drink a decent bottle of Cotes du Rhone?' The principles remain the same. We offer fantastic set menus throughout the week - all our food is cooked fresh every day - just as it always should be.
Along with Rachid came a group of his friends from Mazamet who formed the basis of the auberge ideal - a food loving, wine loving, rugby loving group resident in the UK. The business grew and much fun was had along the way - rugby tours, wine visits, food explorations around France - and all nestling alongside lovely English pubs in great settings and serving great ales.
The auberges now consist of three lovely pubs in lovely locations. The Hare & Hounds in Claygate, Surrey, The Cricketers in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire and The Black Lion in Hammersmith. Our focus remains unchanged - to bring you the very best food and wine in an atmosphere of - entente cordiale'.
The Mazamet connection still runs though The Black Lion with Marine Sadowski who supports Philippe. The Hare and Hounds has Veronique Loux who runs our l'auberge and at the Cricketers, Hervé Bource leads our French contingent.
Our wine list is aimed at bringing you wines of all styles and prices from around France. The south and south west are well represented and in particular we are very close to the family owned vineyard of Chateau de Campuget. But we are also very keen to offer some of the great wines too. The top end wines are deliberately priced to be drunk. So if Alsace, Sancerre, Bordeaux or Burgundy is your favourite there is no better place to sample them than with us.
We host regular wine dinners based around combining great food with great wines - usually five course and five wines. We hold these every six weeks or so and are led by Daniel O'Keefe of Hallgarten.
We also have a Wine Society where, in an informal manner, we hope to bring you greater knowledge of the great grape varieties of the world.
Details of our wine dinners, wine societies or new wines can be found on our websites.
www.thecricketers-hartleywintney.co.uk
www.thehareandhounds-claygate.co.uk
www.theblacklion-hammersmith.co.uk
Menus