WE'D heard pretty good things about the Foresters Arms, and it seemed the archetypal country pub that my wife and I like (our city life boozing days now a distant memory since the birth of our little one 18 months ago).

On moving to the Fordingbridge area from Bristol, the range of country pubs was a big attraction. Living on the edge of the Cotswolds in our previous life, we had developed a fondness for drinking and eating in the countryside.

All the signs at the Foresters Arms were promising. Inside looked cosy, the behind the bar area festooned with frogs of all shapes and sizes, there was a healthy crowd in, but no need to fight your way to the bar or wait for a table.

There is a separate restaurant area, and it looked fine, but we decided to plonk ourselves on a table for two next to the bar. Easier to get the drinks in, you understand.

The printed menu doesn't stand on ceremony, none of your a la carte foreign spellings here, just old-fashioned English food.

I don't know about you, but when I scan a menu I want to see the likes of scampi, steak, ham and eggs, ploughman's, sausage and mash rather than phrases such as 'drizzled' or 'laid out on a bed of fresh leaves'.

Anyway, for starters we decided to share two - potato skins with a sweet chilli dip and prawns in filo pastry with a sweet and sour dip.

The prawns were faultless but the potato skins could have done with a mayonnaise-based dip as well as the sweet chilli one for a bit of contrast.

Having toyed with the grilled gammon steak for my main dish, I eventually chose the wholetail scampi, while my wife went for the steak with a cracked black pepper cognac sauce.

The scampi was great, a generous portion meeting with hearty approval. Sadly, my wife didn't have the same joy.

Being pregnant, she had asked for her steak to be "well done", as she obviously can't eat red meat. On receiving her dish, the steak, when cut open, was exactly the colour she had hoped it wouldn't be.

On returning the meal to the kitchen, she had to wait a further five minutes before it was brought back out to her. Imagine her dismay when the second attempt was no different. The original mistake was bad enough, but to repeat the error was just ridiculous and left a taste certainly a lot worse than the steak which finally arrived at the third attempt, and just as I'd finished my scampi.

On asking for a refund on the steak when paying the bill, I was told "Well, your wife did eat the first steak", which was a large fib as all she had done was cut it open.

Anyway, a reduction was made to the bill after we had skipped dessert.

Overall, the food was good, it was just a shame we had the problem with the steak.

Reservations: 01425 652294.