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Whoever the chef might be at the Queen\u2019s Head in the village of Newton, six miles south of Cambridge, they clearly never worked for Farrow & Ball. The pub, a small establishment in a pleasant if nondescript kind of place, specialises not just in beer but its daily-made soup. The ingredients, however, are something of a mystery, as the staple variety goes simply by the name \u201cbrown soup\u201d. Sometimes the kitchen will mix things up and offer \u201cgreen soup\u201d or alternative shades \u2013 including the dubious-sounding \u201cyellowish brown\u201d. No hint of the source of the colours (although the soups are designated \u201cnot suitable for vegetarians\u201d) nor of the \u201cnymph\u2019s thigh\u201d naming conventions of heritage paint-makers. This is soup unplugged.<\/p>\n
On the oche<\/p>\n
Indeed this is a pub unplugged: a snug place with a minimal-capacity public bar, an even more breathe-in saloon bar and a rudimentary games room where the shah of Iran once played darts. The beers are predominantly local and the pub is just one of five nationwide to have featured in every edition of Camra\u2019s Good Beer Guide. The cider is cloudy, the gin comes from a nearby distillery and the juices from Cambridge.<\/p>\n
Fifty shades of brown<\/p>\n
The food offerings are pre-industrial too: roast beef or ham cut from joints on the bar, smoked salmon, British cheeses \u2013 everything ballasted by brown bread \u2013 and, for cholesterol embracers, toast and home-made dripping. You might suspect this is all served with a heavy dose of irony too, brown perhaps, but apparently not.<\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s Head, Fowlmere Road, Newton, Cambridge<\/p>\n
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