NESTLING in a quiet Winchester backwater, the King Alfred pub is a bit of a city gem.

Visitors to this tranquil Hyde hostelry are confronted by a dazzling display of hanging baskets, literally dripping from the walls. Combined with the sea of green of the Riverside Park just across the road it's a lovely setting - ideal to walk off what I can tell you now is certain to be a fulfilling meal.

Winchester locals treat it as a bit of secret treasure, many gathering there on a Sunday for a lazy lunch and a quiet afternoon drink.

A Greene King house, it offers a fair selection of beers including the fulsome Speckled Hen, IPA and Ruddles County.

But it's the food that keeps the punters coming back for more.

A huge blackboard menu lays out the Sunday options. With this being Britain, there are roasts a-plenty on offer - all promising healthy portions, especially the lamb which, though a bit pricier than the rest at around £9, is a lump of ovine joy sufficient for the most ravenous carnivore.

Elsewhere on the board lurk such unexpected delights as wild mushroom and cheese pasta or hearty suet puddings as well as fish options and tempting one-offs too numerous to list here.

Deserts too are likely to inflate the waistline of all but the most resolute dieter - beautifully presented and every bit as tasty as your eyes would lead you to believe.

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra: Complaints, I've got a few. You could do with at least one more roast potato (it's a situation by no means unique to the King Alfred - why are restaurants mean with one of the cheapest and most filling ingredients there is?) and the sports on the telly can intrude a bit.

But these are mere empty gripes to the man relaxing with a good beer and a full stomach in the King Alfred's huge and verdant garden.

Simple food, well done and fairly priced - it's a meal fit for a king.

Reservations: 01962 854370.