The Hollist Arms Menu
Rooted in tradition. Served with quiet brilliance.
The menu at the Hollist Arms doesn’t shout. It doesn’t overreach. What it does is quietly outclass nearly everything else for miles — possibly more.
This is food with a French backbone and English soul. Every dish feels considered, restrained, and quietly confident — the kind of cooking that doesn’t need garnish for show because the technique speaks for itself. You’ll find 36-hour French onion soup so rich and deep it might count as a confession. Chicken liver parfait so silky you wonder if it should be whispered about rather than served. And then the rotisserie chicken — dry-rubbed, marinated, basted — perfectly crisp on the outside, tender within, and enough to make you swear allegiance to the bird.
It’s pub food in theory. In execution, it’s more like a love letter to country cooking, kissed with the kind of French technique that’s only possible when someone knows exactly what they’re doing and is modest enough not to say it.
Even the burger is a study in precision — built from a proprietary grind, cloaked in melting Taw Valley cheddar, and served with hand-cut fries that recall the best bistro in Paris or Brooklyn, depending on your mood.
There’s cottage pie, too — unapologetically rich, comforting, properly seasoned. A chopped salad for balance, colourful and fresh. And daily dishes that might include pork shoulder, lamb belly, or something caught on a whim from the coast that morning.
Paul’s kitchen doesn’t shout. It doesn’t need to. It just delivers. Night after night. Like a well-trained horse who knows the distance, the fence, and the finish line.
And it pairs beautifully — sometimes improbably — with the wines on offer: bright Picpoul, robust Cahors, a bottle or two from the legendary Mas de Daumas Gassac, and the kind of cold glass of Langham Ale that makes a rotisserie chicken feel like Sunday was invented for it.
Food
Autumn Specials
Salt N' Pepa Squid
10 pineapple cut squid pieces in a crispy salt n' pepa coating. Served with zesty lime aioli and crispy coated leaves.
£14.50
Slow Roast Mushrooms On Toast
Mushrooms slow roasted with extra virgin olive oil, thyme, cracked black pepper & sel de Gruissan. Served on toasted Sodt Original sourdough. Finished with shaved king cut French Gruyere & thyme.
£11.00
Baked Camembert
Paysan Breton Camembert topped with orange zest, rosemary from the garden, garlic slivers & ground pepper: sloshed with a generous splash of Reserve De Gassac Rose & a glug of extra virgin olive oil. Oven baked for 25 minutes. Served with toasted Sodt olive oil & sea salt focaccia. (Vegetarian)
£17.50
Duck Confit Leg With Flageolet Bean Casserole
Slow roast Gressingham duck leg on a bed of flageolet bean casserole with onions, leeks, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme & balsamic reduction. Served with a side of skinny Buddington Farm fries.
£22.50
Beef Bourguignon
Courtney's chuck and brisket with streaky bacon slow cooked for 36 hours in a red wine roux with mushrooms, tomatoes, shallots, onions, carrots, garlic, thyme and orange zest. Served with generously buttered Buddington Farm mashed potatoes.
£24.50
Chicken & Leek Pie
Courtney's chicken breast with leeks, fine beans & carrots in a classic bechamel sauce flavoured with white wine, thyme and a hint of Dijon mustard. Topped with all butter puff pastry. Served with Buddington Farm skinny fries or salad. (20 mins in the oven)
£21.50
To Share & Start
Chicken Liver Parfait
Rich, silky + meltingly delicious: flavoured with ruby port, cognac, thyme + a hint of garlic. Served with red onion chutney + toasted Sodt Original bread.
£14.50
Blanchebait
Crispy Whitebait covered in batter & fine breadcrumbs. Served with rocket and cherry tomato salad lightly tossed in Dijon vinaigrette.
£13.50
French Onion Soup
Mild Spanish onions slow cooked for 36 hours with olive oil, thyme and bay leaf in a red wine and sherry beef broth. Served with a Sodt Original crouton with melted French Gruyere and thyme.
£10.00
Welsh Rarebit
Rich bechamel sauce loaded with Taw Valley Cheddar, Mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano melted on toasted Sodt Original bread, Lea & Perrins.
£9.00
Hummus
Nutty + earthy, balanced with a zesty lemon lift: finished with olive oil + smoked paprika. Served with crunchy crudites.
£12.50
Blue Cheese Dip
Tuxford & Tebbutt Blue Stilton crumbled into a Hellmann's mayonnaise, sour cream lemon juice and fresh parsley base. Served with crunchy crudites.
£14.50
Artichoke Dip
Finely chopped artichoke hearts blended with Parmigiano Reggiano, Hellmann's mayonnaise and a hint of garlic. Served warm with a toasted breadcrumb topping with tortilla chips.
£12.50
Onion Rings
Hand cut large mild Spanish onions dipped in homemade Langham's beer batter, fried in Rapeseed oil. Served with Dijonaise dipping sauce.
£8.50
Cheese Plate
Tuxford & Tebbutt Blue Stilton, Taw Valley Cheddar, French Brie, toasted Sodt Original bread with farmhouse chutney and pickled onions.
£16.00
Mains
Fish + Chips
Faroe Islands & Svalbard frozen at sea cod, Langham's beer batter & tartare sauce. Add mushy peas £1.50.
Regular
£19.50
Large
£23.50
Burger + Fries
6oz Courtney's custom ground burger blend with Taw Valley crunchy cheddar, 2 slices unsmoked streaky bacon and Dijonaise sauce in a toasted Sodt floured burger bun.
£19.50
Lamb Sandwich
Red Tractor certified British Leg of Lamb slow cooked in a Red Wine, rosemary and garlic jus. Served on a toasted Sodt ciabatta with reduced jus and mint sauce.
£18.50
Wholetail Scampi
Whole tails of scampi caught in the waters of the Atlantic, frozen and lightly coated in a crispy crumb. Served with rocket and cherry tomato salad lightly tossed in Dijon vinaigrette.
£19.50
Fish Finger Sandwich
Faroe Islands & Svalbard frozen at sea cod hand cut into three goujons coated in Langham's beer batter, served in a Sodt floured burger bun.
£18.50
Vegan Burger
Two kale and quinoa patties served with melted 'cheddar' and rocket lightly tossed in Dijon vinaigrette on a Sodt Ciabatta roll.
£17.50
Rotisserie Chicken
Rotisserie Chicken
Half a chicken with skinny fries and slaw. Naturally slow grown free range Rotisserie chicken from the heart of the Sussex Downs dry rubbed and marinated for 36 hours in a piri piri blend of paprika, chilli, onion, bay leaf, garlic and black pepper. Basted in flavoured rapeseed oil with a rosemary besom. Available Friday evenings and Saturday lunchtimes – please order in advance.
£21.50
Sides
Homemade Buddington Farm Chips
£5.00
Lightly Dressed Mixed Leaf & Cherry Tomato Side Salad
£5.00
Cheesy Chips
£7.50
Hellmann's Mayonnaise
£1.00
Reggae Reggae Mayo
£1.50
Extra Toast & Butter
£2.50
Happy Endings
Affogato
Meadow Cottage Vanilla ice cream drowned in a Chimney Fire double espresso. Add a shot of Amaretto £6, Kahlúa £7 or Frangelico £7.
£8.00
Pecan Pie A La Mode
Sodt pecan pie with your choice of a scoop of Meadow Cottage ice cream
£12.50
Chocolate Brownie
Sodt chocolate brownie topped with your choice of Meadow Cottage ice cream and Ferrero Rocher
£12.50
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich
2 large Sodt chocolate chip cookies sandwiched between luscious Meadow Cottage ice cream
£11.50
Ice Cream Cone
2 scoops of luscious Meadow Cottage ice cream. Flavas: vanilla, chocolate, honeycomb or pistachio.
£5.50