Plenty of porcine pleasures

Pity the poor swines whose appendages have become synonymous with objects of ridicule. In fact, piggy bricabrac is popular with young children and spinsters, and their ears are completely inoffensive. I'd go so far as to say that I love pigs' ears - although I couldn't eat a whole one - but more of this later.

Anyone who's ever visited the Cotswold village of Uley, near Dursley in Gloucestershire, will no doubt have sampled some of the fine ales from the Uley Brewery --a small, community operation whose relatively minuscule production levels manage to satiate the thirst of a handful of neighbouring villages.

Uley's Pig's Ear bitter has somehow strayed into a new Chelsea watering hole. I am reliably informed that the new owners had already named the venue before stumbling across its namesake's ale, but shhh, don't tell anyone - we don't want the entire world pitching up and drinking them dry of what is one of the finds of the year.

This bitter sports a beautiful golden colour, is perfectly bitter, has a strong alcohol content of five per cent and has a huge hoppy and fruity taste. Young's bitter stands beside it on the pumps and seems ordinary in comparison, but Young's beers are always a pleasant find.

Cidre Breton is available from the bottle (nice), as is Budvar beer (very nice), but, and surprisingly for a venue that appears to be trying to be different, things then take a bit of a quality tumble into the shady realms of mass-produced beers: Kronenbourg is on tap, Stella Artois and Beck's are available by the bottle.

With increasingly discerning punters and tough competition, the drinks offer is as much a marketing tool as it is a prime source of profit, and the wine list here manages to cover most of the bases. It's long (30 or so bins), has a dozen by the glass, mostly French - not necessarily a bad thing - and is pitched in the middle market with a bottle price range of £12-£37.

And so to the food. A restaurant is due to open upstairs in September in what was a function room. The food in the bar will then be 'dumbed down' to more traditional pub fare but, in the meantime, the proposed restaurant menu is being offered to punters downstairs.

Which brings me back to pigs' ears. Yes, they're on the menu, sliced into thin strips, battered, deep-fried and served with a sauce ravigotte (capers, onions, parsley, tarragon and mustard). Happily, they don't really taste of anything, with the batter disguising what you might imagine to be a wholly unpleasant taste sensation.

I didn't eat a whole one, and a boxer dog at a nearby table turned his nose up at them. And if they don't appeal to you there are starters of English asparagus with tarragon butter (£6.50), chicken livers (£6) and seared sea scallops (£8). Mains include a Cornish crab and courgette omelette (£8.50), sea bass (£12.50), steak frites (£9.50) and a goats' cheese and broad bean risotto (£7.50). Food is not served on Mondays - people in Chelsea don't eat on Mondays.

Now, this is the bit where I'm expected to say they've made a pig's ear of the design of the place, but they haven't. The team - some of whom hail from the Westbourne in Notting Hill - have completed a sensitive makeover of what was the Front Page pub. They might want to rethink the furniture --the banquettes are a bit high for the tables and some swift repositioning of the tables would almost double the capacity - but I'll be more than happy to go back again to enjoy almost all of their porcine pleasures.

The Pig's Ear
35 Old Church Street, SW3 5BS