George & Dragon

The white-fronted, red-roofed country pub is to be found in a Saxon village in the South Downs National Park. Log fires blaze on chilly days, there's cask ale from the Arundel Brewery, and blackboard menus advertise the day's specials. It's a classic rustic formula, and long may it reign. The culinary aim, however, is to present food you wouldn't normally eat at home, so expect to open with something like gruyère-topped scallops in crab cream sauce, and motor on with maple-glazed duck breast and smoked banana purée in Madeira jus, or a complex fish dish such as poached fillets of sole rolled around a mousse of crab, salmon and spinach in tiger prawn broth with saffron potatoes. Sides include a substance billed as 'potato liquid', which you definitely wouldn't be having at home.