I took my wife here for her birthday (with a few 'surprise' friends who she wasn't expecting) on Aug 16th for lunch, and it was a rather mixed experience. I chose it because I haven't seen a starred place so close to Oxford for a very long time. We had made the booking for 1pm, but because we got a little bit lost (the satnav thought we were in random fields occasionally), we only arrived at 1:10pm. When we arrived, the place was full, which always makes me worry - with the nice weather, would there be too many customers for the kitchen to deal with? I noted that the outdoor terrace was occupied, and the indoor tables full - thus making this a very heavy workload for the kitchen. The location is fantastic, the pub part atmospheric, and we eventually sat down in the conservatory. However, before that we were kept waiting for about 30 mins - we had made up our minds for food and drinks within 10 minutes, and despite asking nicely if the table was ready, and trying to make it obvious that we were getting rather restless, we still had to wait. A bit unnecessary, that, seeing that we had ordered. The menu was simple, classic and safe - given the location and the need to attract the locals, this was totally understandable. Can't complain about the table, it was sunny, not too warm, and we had a decent view outside. By this time it was around 1:50pm. I started with a ballotine of foie gras with sauternes jelly - this was fine, no complaints there, but it wasn't excellent either - strangely subdued flavours for some reason - I had expected more honeyed and exotic fruits from the sauternes. My wife had scallops - or technically, a scallop, since it was quartered in an attempt to make it look like there was more scallop than there actually was. It tasted fine, but it wasn't outstanding. The pace of the starters was fine - they arrived pretty quickly - but then it took ages for the main to turn up. As I was driving, I could only have the one glass of wine, and by the time the main arrived, the wine had warmed up too much. A pity, the wine list was good, and I'd have loved to drink more - it's one of life's little pleasures to get gently sozzled in bright summer sunshine with a bottle of fresh, crisp white wine. After about 40 mins of waiting, the mains eventually arrived (2:50pm). We speculated whether there had been a problem in the kitchen. I had ordered duck breast with port and foie gras sauce (aha, so that's where the trimmings from the starter ended up). Now this dish was very disappointing for me. The duck breast was a little tough - overcooked despite it being promised as pink - and the port sauce was distressingly grainy and pasty rather than a smooth, silky sauce like I expected. Maybe this was the kitchen problem? The port also came through as being a bit alcoholic, it felt like a hastily-put-together sauce. The presentation also indicated as such, with the sauces a bit messy. Again, I can understand why. Unfortunately, with 2 basic errors, I was very disappointed. On the other hand, the foie sauce was perfectly smooth. My wife had a salmon fish cake that was very attractively presented as a sphere. The texture was good (crust nicely crunchy, inside properly moist), and I think it shows good technique to get the textures correct. Service was polite and friendly but rushed and harrassed - it took ages for the plates to be cleared and for water to be replenished. By this time it was almost 3:20pm, and although I would dearly have liked to try dessert, but a friend had a 4pm train to catch, so we had coffee before leaving around 3:40pm. Total bill came to about 170 for 5 with wine, which was extremely reasonable given that it was for 2 courses per person. Verdict : the cooking is potentially excellent, but don't go if it's too busy. I intend to give it a second chance, and pick a cold, miserable, rainy weekday to see if the basic errors disappear and if the service can be faster. After all, we all know the problems that increased business (the 1 star, the great weather) can bring to the quality. I think they tried very hard, but the demand was just too much that day. I suppose we all don't expect too many glorious sunny weekends these days!
