Five Little Pigs, 26 St Mary’s Street, Wallingford OX10 0ET (01491 833 999). Starters £3.50-£8.50, mains £12-£25, desserts £7-£8, wines from £22.50
It’s always good to acknowledge your weaknesses. I’m beginning to think melted cheese might be one of mine. The menu at Five Little Pigs, a well-dressed, smart little bistro in the Oxfordshire town of Wallingford, lists many interesting-sounding things among the starters: fried anchovies with sage and a bone-marrow aioli catch my eye, as does the scotch egg, enriched with haggis, alongside their own brown sauce. It lists among the snacks, deep-fried olives, stuffed with capers and marjoram. We get some of those to nibble on casually, like deep-fried olives are something we always do, while giving the menu the attention it deserves. They are golden, panko bread-crumbed, salty sour, quail egg-sized orbs of brackish loveliness. They are a good sign.
