The Crooked Billet wins Best Sunday Lunch in The Observer Food Monthly Awards 2004 in association with Waitrose.

You might have to negotiate your way through a web of slight country roads, perhaps a little woozy from the night before, but since the Sunday lunch served here is the best, it will be worth the effort. Just try their roast pork, it's meltingly soft. 'The Billet deserves its award,' says Antony Worrall Thompson, a local and a regular, 'I do like my hearty, country food, that's what they do well here.'
The pub was built in 1642, and it remains 'unmodernised': the beer comes from casks straight from the cellar as a bar was never built. And it's got history: it provided a hideout for highwayman Dick Turpin, who went out with the landlady's daughter, Bess. It wasn't until self-taught chef and proprietor Paul Clerehugh took over in 1990, that the pub started turning out exceptional food and pulling in the celebrities, including Paul Weller, Sir John Mortimer and Kate Winslet held wedding reception number one here. As the name suggests, the place is a little wonky. If you're over six foot you'll have to stoop, and a Michelin inspector said it would never get Michelin status because, 'the chairs look like they cost £2.50'. It's not flash, most of the food is simple, but there are exceptions like the Sevruga caviar and salmon tartare blinis (£25).

The Observer Sunday February 15, 2004