The Three Horseshoes is a family-run, country pub and restaurant located on the outskirts of Colchester in Essex. Nestled in a beautiful historic building, it has all the features you might expect from a classic rural inn, with ceiling beams, wooden floors and exposed brick walls, while the exterior features pretty, pastel details like a sage green door and awning.
The team are inspired by the local countryside and are passionate about creating a menu reflective of this. The main menu is a la carte and starts with some creative aperitifs such as a smoked rum sour and Gusbourne rosé, to be enjoyed with snacks like puffed pork skin with burnt apple, as well as crispy corn and balsamic pickled onions.
Starters include elevated dishes like velouté of broccoli with whipped feta, puffed rice and preserved lemon, while mains offer something for everyone between slow cooked hake with celeriac fondant, seaweed and citrus beurre noisette, alongside Dedham Vale beef sirloin with potato rosti and English peas, as well as whipped ricotta agnolotti with Fordham courgette, roasted tomato, basil and pine nut. For those who like to share, consider the Dedham Vale chateaubriand for two with triple cooked chips, and there's also pub classics to get stuck into, like beer battered fish and triple cooked chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce.
If stopping by for something light while the weather's fine, the Garden Menu has some lovely lunch options such as dips and flatbreads, a grain salad with pearl barley, quinoa, giant couscous and butternut squash, and burrata with Isle of Wight tomatoes, basil pesto and sourdough crouton. Plus, the newly-refurbished coffee shed is a cute place to pop in for croissants, sausage rolls and drinks whether out on a walk or just stopping by.