The Nut Tree, Murcot

[david goodfellow]

Had a very pleasant meal here last night.

The menu surprise has to be one, if not the best value in the land. £40 bought us eight courses of wonderful food from new Michelin star Mike North.

Mike was also one of the youngest Michelin starred chefs ever aged 25, at The Goose, Britwell Salome before setting up here with his vivacious wife Imogen.

The pub is a picture perfect example of Cotswold charm, set amongst some of the most scenic countryside you can imagine.

I almost forgot the table d' hote at lunch and dinner at £18, quite stunning value, for the quality.

Will write it up when I have a bit more time

http://www.nuttreeinn.co.uk/home.html

[david goodfellow]

Well if anyone had said to me that I would be standing in a field with my long suffering wife, torch in hand , 10.30 at night, looking at Dexter rare breed cattle, I would have said "bullocks" or words to that effect.

I do have an interest though because I fancy keeping a few myself

The said Bullocks are part of Mike and Imogen North,s stock in trade, along with ten wee Gloucester old spot, Tamworth piglets that we did,n't have time to look at.

We shall be eating some of this produce on a return visit.

Mike's dad is a butcher and Mike's not bad himself much preferring to butcher the carcase himself.

Well, this is perhaps the ideal local if you like a drink and a great social life, especially if your a bloke.

The place was fully booked for dinner and a very happy group of locals were at the bar making merryment.

Again generosity in the form of leftovers from evening service was freely distributed amongst the locals.

Imogen stressed that this is first and foremost a pub, not a fine dining restaurant, and that is perhaps why we like it so much.

Lest I forget, if you travel from afar, if you sat nav it, as we did from Oxford, it may get you on the M40, beware, Murcott lies either side of the motorway and has no turn off miles and miles.

We sat in the pub proper although there is a conservatory also, which looked great, or you can of course dine outside.

To start with, an amuse of Pea puree with foamy top tickled the taste buds, then,

Ballotine of Landes Foie Gras, toasted brioche, rhubarb compote, was a little bit of luxury to follow.

Bread was Walnut and Date ( I made some yesterday ) Olive, wholemeal, and white, freshly made of course.

French butter, beurre cru a la Barratte bros was excellent.

Scallops, (diver caught) with a lemon curd dressing, fennel salad, olive dressing, and a sprinkling of coriander leaves hit the spot, but guess the lemon curd might not appeal to every one.

Open roasted vegetable tart with goats cheese and red pepper, and aubergine puree went down well, as the meal gathered pace.

Pave' of Nut tree smoked Salmon, jersey royals, peas, and Rectory Farm asparagus was a highlight as the salmon was exceptional, wonderful flavor, if slightly over salted,

Mike is reported to use an old fridge with an ill fitting door to " smoke in".

Slow roasted " home grown " shoulder of Pork, potato puree, fricasse of wild mushrooms, and apple gravy was also a must eat, I could eat another plateful, now

Poached Rhubarb, with a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet was ok,

Hot lime and coconut souffle with mango sorbet was better, as was the,

Bitter chocolate tart, with golden raisin and rum ice cream.

Surprisingly light , this tart had a soft heart much to my delight.

We skipped coffee as were not really" coffee people", truth be told, besides we wanted to look at the Dexters and had a two and a half hour drive home, dedication eh ?

Had a chat with Mike after service about the merits of keeping Dexters and other foodie things of course, whilst Imogen chatted in between keeping the hearty drinkers at the bar topped up.

Now then if you stumbled on this place, or were one of the lucky locals (pinch yourself) you would fall in love with it straight away, its got the lot, we will be returning pretty soon, but next time will have an overnight stay to have a drink or three with the locals

2 x Menu Surprise £80

7 Glasses of Various Wines £25

Tap water FOC

Total £105 + tip

Fantastic value

[Charles Reid]

Well if anyone had said to me that I would be standing in a field with my long suffering wife, torch in hand , 10.30 at night, looking at Dexter rare breed cattle, I would have said "bullocks" or words to that effect.

I do have an interest though because I fancy keeping a few myself

The said Bullocks are part of Mike and Imogen North,s stock in trade, along with ten wee Gloucester old spot, Tamworth piglets that we did,n't have time to look at.

We shall be eating some of this produce on a return visit.

Mike's dad is a butcher and Mike's not bad himself much preferring to butcher the carcase himself.

Well, this is perhaps the ideal local if you like a drink and a great social life, especially if your a bloke.

The place was fully booked for dinner and a very happy group of locals were at the bar making merryment.

Again generosity in the form of leftovers from evening service was freely distributed amongst the locals.

Imogen stressed that this is first and foremost a pub, not a fine dining restaurant, and that is perhaps why we like it so much.

Lest I forget, if you travel from afar, if you sat nav it, as we did from Oxford, it may get you on the M40, beware, Murcott lies either side of the motorway and has no turn off miles and miles.

We sat in the pub proper although there is a conservatory also, which looked great, or you can of course dine outside.

To start with, an amuse of Pea puree with foamy top tickled the taste buds, then,

Ballotine of Landes Foie Gras, toasted brioche, rhubarb compote, was a little bit of luxury to follow.

Bread was Walnut and Date ( I made some yesterday ) Olive, wholemeal, and white, freshly made of course.

French butter, beurre cru a la Barratte bros was excellent.

Scallops, (diver caught) with a lemon curd dressing, fennel salad, olive dressing, and a sprinkling of coriander leaves hit the spot, but guess the lemon curd might not appeal to every one.

Open roasted vegetable tart with goats cheese and red pepper, and aubergine puree went down well, as the meal gathered pace.

Pave' of Nut tree smoked Salmon, jersey royals, peas, and Rectory Farm asparagus was a highlight as the salmon was exceptional, wonderful flavor, if slightly over salted,

Mike is reported to use an old fridge with an ill fitting door to " smoke in".

Slow roasted " home grown " shoulder of Pork, potato puree, fricasse of wild mushrooms, and apple gravy was also a must eat, I could eat another plateful, now

Poached Rhubarb, with a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet was ok,

Hot lime and coconut souffle with mango sorbet was better, as was the,

Bitter chocolate tart, with golden raisin and rum ice cream.

Surprisingly light , this tart had a soft heart much to my delight.

We skipped coffee as were not really" coffee people", truth be told, besides we wanted to look at the Dexters and had a two and a half hour drive home, dedication eh ?

Had a chat with Mike after service about the merits of keeping Dexters and other foodie things of course, whilst Imogen chatted in between keeping the hearty drinkers at the bar topped up.

Now then if you stumbled on this place, or were one of the lucky locals (pinch yourself) you would fall in love with it straight away, its got the lot, we will be returning pretty soon, but next time will have an overnight stay to have a drink or three with the locals

2  x Menu Surprise              £80

7 Glasses of Various Wines £25

Tap water FOC

Total                                  £105 + tip

Fantastic value

←

Glad you had a great time David , I must have gone on a bad day.I couldn't understand what all the hype was about , very average but thats just my opinion .....

[david goodfellow]

Congratulations are in order for Mike and Imogen, winning" Newcomer of the Year",in the Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Catey Awards 09

Runners up were Hereford Road, ( where I dined last week) and Texture.(where we are over due dining)

Among the judges were Jason Atherton (Maze) and Tom Kerridge (Hand and Flowers)

[acinonyxjubatus]

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!

Edited September 2, 2009 by acinonyxjubatus (log)

[MaLO]

We stopped here for some lunch a few weeks ago on the way to Heathrow and holidays.

It was a very sunny Saturday and as luck would have it, the Nut Tree has a large garden at the rear with comfortable furniture and parasols. We took a seat, ordered a pint, and then ordered the tasting menu. The alc had plenty of good options and was quite reasonably priced, I think some sort of sandwiches or bar snacks were also available but the tasting menu was far too appealing.

We started with an amuse of Gazpacho. It was quite nice and suited the weather.

First course was West Coast Lobster with Mango Salsa and Mascarpone. It was good. The lobster cooked nicely, non chewy and the mango added nice sweetness to offset the soft cheese. Pea shoots look nice but can be a bit strong flavoured, as can many micro leaves. The pea shoots were a little strong flavoured so I ate the after the rest of the food.

Next came Foie Gras with Parkin and Cherries. Fresh cherries, jellied cherries and cold Foie dusted lightly with ras-el-hanout sat on some parkin. Very nice too.

Third course was Turbot with Jersey Royals, Asparagus and Sauce Vierge. I do like Turbot a lot and this was really good. A very decent lump of fish and a simple, seasonal garnish.

The meat main was Beef Fillet with Wild Mushroom Risotto and Summer Truffles. All good. I wasn’t expecting much from the truffles but they had a distinct truffle flavour. The beef was nice too although it could have been a little more rare.

Vanilla and mango Egg and Soldier. I like vanilla a lot and quite like mango so this one disappeared in no time.

The final plate was an Apricot Soufflé and Milk Ice Cream. Very enjoyable, nice light soufflé and some very welcome ice cream.

Coffee came with a couple of chocolate truffles.

Service was good, food was good and the portion size for a tasting menu was good too. We ordered a bottle of house white at about £15-16, a refreshing change from the cheapest wine option being in the mid £20’s and not having to drive after lunch I drank most of it! The tables in the garden have a view of the kitchen and were mostly all taken. A nice mix of people too, families, a large group of friends with their children and lunching couples made a happy noise and with the sunshine it made for a good couple of hours.

[david goodfellow]

Good review. Sounds like we need to make another visit here Soon.

Can't quite believe its three years ago since I started this thread. Where did they go.

What livestock have they now, Ducks, Pigs, Dexters?