"You Choose" — The Butchers Social

Venue: The Butchers Social, Henley-in-Arden, B95 5AT; website 
Choice: Halibut (£60, six-course taster) Chooser: Chef director, Mike Bullard

Don't tell anyone, but our editor is an imposter. From a little village between Bath and Bristol (no, you haven't heard of it), lovely pubs with lovely beer gardens and even lovelier menus course through her food-obsessed veins. Further up England, the great country pub is a little harder to come by. But come by it we did. For a big slab of Midlands lovely, get yourself to Henley-in-Arden and Mike Bullard's Butchers Social, the first version of which you might remember from Harborne High Street. Opting for the tasting menu, the sweet intensity of the roasted Roscoff onion broth, in which scallops and charred leeks sit, was standout. The roast halibut with a potato roulade, wild mushrooms, romanesco and crispy chicken skin was, however, Clubber Lang levels of knockout — with buttery, flakey, melty fish just perfect. Looking at the standard of steaks flying out of the kitchen (we'll be back for you my friend), the team is also clearly very comfortable with red meat, and the navarin of lamb — a rich, slow-cooked, flavour-filled thwack of neck — was our carnivorous highlight.  If The Butchers Social were in the city centre, it would be heaving every night. Whether you're there for a pint and kilo of chicken wings, or you've booked into the restaurant, you're going to be checking Zoopla on your way home — this is a relaxed, happy place that we'd clamour to call our local. Sample menu