Old blokes often find change difficult. That is often because decades of experience teach us that change is not usually for the best. Of course sometimes it is and I hope that is the case with Cheal’s of Henley, considered by me to probably be the best restaurant in the West Midlands, which is to leave the home where it began its life and is now to move to Knowle. When I read the news I felt I must pay one last visit to Cheal’s in its present home which has always been a very simpatico sort of place to dine in.
Getting there was not easy, a combination of another strike by our extremely well-paid but apparently impoverished train drivers and the sheer incompetence of those who run West Midlands Trains ensured that there were no trains running and that a return taxi journey to Henley was necessary. I was also limited on time, having another appointment arranged for 4 o’clock back in Birmingham and so I was unable to indulge myself again in the excellent Tasting menu offered in the restaurant but chose to lunch from the three course lunch menu (with various trimmings included) exceptionally well priced at £40. After olives, enjoyable bread and butter and an amuse gueule, I had a starter of ponzu cured sea trout finely combined with cucumber, pink grapefruit, samphire, yuzu vinegar and tasty little crisps as light as a feather.
And so farewell to this Henley restaurant which was once home to a restaurant where Andy Waters was Head Chef and subsequently to the Thai restaurant, Thai Cottage. As Cheal’s moves out from there hopefully to success in its new home, one wonders what will next happen to this charming cottage on Henley’s main street.
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