Nut Tree Inn

Genuine Italian atmosphere, excellent food and service.

I must be honest and say that I don't eat in pubs too often. I tend to prefer restaurants and even cafes than pubs with food. But there's plainly a trend in that direction and I hope I have a sufficiently open mind to enjoy giving different things a try, especially when my wife was kind enough to research and make the reservation. But I must admit that my experience in the area west of London in pubs awarded a Michelin star hasn't been great, and establishments like the Hinds Head in Bray, The Royal Oak near Maidenhead, and the Hand and Flower in Marlow are rated higher by Michelin than they would be by me, the latter after a very good first visit some years ago hasn't been maintained IMO. It's a pleasant place- still looks like a pub restaurant. The fairly elderly table didn't really have enough room between the legs for our two sets of feet, and between the wood-burning stove and the radiator near us it was a bit warm for me. But both the outside and the inside absolutely look the part of a pub that's been upgraded without losing character. I bet the tourists and overseas business people love it. Decent bread and coffee; pleasant service. I had a salad of home-made salt beef, a roast partridge, and passion-fruit souffle. All this food was decent, and one or two components( the Brussels sprouts with the main and the passion-fruit ice-cream with the soufflé) were better than that. The parsnip soup amuse-bouche and the salted caramel pre-dessert were fine too. I need to say though that for me the menu wasn't as imaginative as I'd hoped and the food wasn't as flavoursome as I like. Whilst I have little doubt that this is one of the better pub-restaurants around, it is not IMO of Michelin Star quality. My wife possibly chose better than I, but I don't think she thought that this represented a real experience either. In the last few weeks we've eaten at Fera and Pollen Street Social in London, also one star but in my view significantly under-rated by Michelin and serving food that is much more innovative and interesting, of a quality I think the Nut Tree doesn't approach. It seems that the One Star award has to cover a very wide range indeed. So, a decent meal and a feeling that at £115 including service for the two of us, it was a fair price for what we'd eaten and drunk. Just not in conception nor delivery the sort of food that I'd expect to be receiving awards.

We went to the Nut Tree for lunch after a morning shopping in Bicester. It's about a 15 minute drive away, but feels a million miles from the hurly burly that is Bicester on a Saturday before Christmas. Driving down winding lanes through pretty Oxfordshire villages totally erased all the shopping-induced mania , and we were thrilled when we saw the Nut Tree's pretty thatched roof and cosy interior. The pigs in the sty in the garden are very friendly, rushing over, squealing, to be fed. Some people may be squeamish knowing that they will end up in the Nut Tree's kitchen, but it's all about provenance, and how better to know that the pork is top quality and not pumped full of antibiotics? We were a bit disappointed to be seated in the modern extension rather than the more atmospheric original pub, but on the plus side the extension is very bright and airy so we could see the beautifully presented food better than we would have in the dark but cosy pub. The Nut Tree's tasting menu looked lovely; the pick of the best things from the a la carte, and at £55 per person (plus £35 for matching wines) is pretty well priced compared to London. We ate from the a la carte, with the girls having two starters after gorging ourselves on the fabulous bread (the walnut and raisin was particularly good). The pan fried terrine of pigs head and black pudding, served with sauerkraut, piccalilli dressing and fried quails eggs was delicious and beautifully presented; meltingly soft and the gutsy piccallii cut through the dense pork flavours really nicely. The parfait of chicken livers with fig chutney and toasted brioche was rich and creamy. The grilled diver caught scallops with butternut squash puree, cavalo nero and ras al hanout caramel were plump and juicy, perfectly cooked – not at all rubbery or overdone. Lastly, the pave of Nut Tree smoked Loch Duart salmon with whipped horseradish cream, Avruga caviar and salmon skin biscuit was really good – the horseradish cream was a nice light touch. The grilled fillet of aged Oxfordshire beef with triple cooked chips, baked tomato, onion rings, béarnaise sauce was nice but not as good as Chez Bruce's chateaubriand. For dessert we shared the chocolate fondant with orange jelly, which was decadently oozy, and the prune and armagnac souffle with caramel ice-cream. The souffle had a touch too much armagnac in it for my taste, but was light and fluffy. The bill came to £120 including tip for a glass of manzanilla, 5 starters, a main and two desserts. We really enjoyed lunch and will definitely be back.